Crucial to the early development and success of the copper mining industry in the Keweenaw and the Portage Lake region of Michigan was the development of locally-based mining machinery manufacturers and distributors. The most enduring and successful of these enterprises was the Portage Lake Foundry and Machine Company. The company grew, prospered and withered along with the Portage Lake copper mining industry between the 1860s and 1920s. The company designed and built mining machinery for the copper mines and later iron mines (including an existing rock crusher built about 1893 for the Soudan Mine, Tower, Minnesota). The primary products of the company included stamping equipment, stamp shoes, rock crushers, jigs and pumps. The company designed and patented many of its own products. In order to stay competitive with larger big city manufacturers, the company built and rebuilt its manufacturing facility several times. The facility grew in size with separate and dedicated foundry, pattern shop, machine shop, blacksmith and storage structures ("The Portage Lake Foundry and Machine Company (Ripley, Michigan): An early mining machinery manufacturer for Michigan copper mines," Don Durfee, MTU).