Red Metal Minerals and U.P. Candle Co.

Richard Whiteman, well known in the world of regional mineral collecting, has two rooms of attractively displayed minerals, those from Michigan and Lake Superior, and those from other areas. Some minerals are choice collectors' specimens, some are priced for children. Freeform native copper, amethyst crystals, shiny copper slabs, agate and fluorite bookends (around $35), jewelry of many kinds—there's quite a variety.
Here, too, Guinevere Whiteman makes and sells candles—highly scented candles, she emphasizes—with regionally appropriate scents ("Northwind Breeze," "Michigan Meadows," "Hot Apple Pie," "Lake Superior Breeze"). They come in various sizes and shapes (crocks, soapstone boxes, votives). Rock candles are agates and other kinds of rocks, drilled for tea lights and votive lights.

Both businesses sell online and mail order: see www.upcandle.net and www.redmetalminerals.com (in the works).

A mineral enthusiast since boyhood, Richard studied geology and mining engineering at Michigan Tech in Houghton. In 1986 he obtained the mineral rights to 20 Ontonagon County mines. He reopened the Caledonia Mine near Rockland, currently the Upper Peninsula's only active underground mine. There he breaks up rock to find mass copper and other valuable minerals (datolite, epidote, even some silver) found in the fissures and bubble pockets of the ancient lavas here.

Much of the copper sold as specimens or decorative accessories in Copper Country gift shops was mined at the Caledonia Mine and cleaned up or sliced and shaped in Richard's workshop.

A 2008 episode of the Travel Channel's Cash & Treasures has led Richard to offer more for-pay collecting opportunities at the Caledonia Mine. See our guide under Mass City. Or visit www.caledoniamine.com.

In 2007 Richard received the prestigious Carnegie Mineralogical Award from the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh. The museum's mineral department head called Richard "an unsung hero in the world of earth scientists. He has greatly advanced mineralogical education, preservation, collecting, and research."

202 Ontonagon, southwest of River St. downtown, nearly on the river. (906) 884-6618. Open year-round. Days and hours vary by season. Wheelchair-accessible.

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