Copper Country

On the Keweenaw Peninsula…

…which was a center of copper mining for well over 100 years. The Pittsburgh and Boston Mining Company began mining near Copper Harbor in 1844.  From 1850 to 1881, Michigan produced more than three-quarters of the country’s copper, and in 1869, the state produced over 95%.  Calumet & Hecla Foundry is the last to close on the Peninsula, in 1968. Between the mid-1840s and 1968, Keweenaw Peninsula mines produced an estimated 10.5 billion pounds of copper.

Four days to visit multiple sites of 1 new National Park:

Keweenaw National Historical Park (#256), where the stories of people and copper in the Keweenaw Peninsula have been intertwined for more than 7,000 years. Indigenous Peoples made copper into tools and trade items. Investors and immigrants arrived in the 1800s in a great mineral rush, developing thriving industries and cosmopolitan communities. The mines have since closed, but the National Park Service manages a Visitor Center in Calumet and coordinates with 22 Keweenaw Heritage Sites that together, tell the story of how the Copper Industry left its mark on the land and people of the Keweenaw Peninsula. We managed to do a Ranger Talk/Walk and visit 6 of the Keweenaw Heritage Sites:

• How Does Geology Affect Your Life? (@ Calumet VC and 1 mile walk around town)
• Keweenaw Heritage Center at St. Ann’s, Calumet
• At Eagle Harbor Light, all maintained by Keweenaw County Historical Society: Eagle Harbor Lighthouse Museum, Maritime Museum in the old fog signal building, a Keweenaw History Museum located in the old U. S. Coast Guard Station garage, and Commercial Fishing Museum located in one of the assistant keepers’ buildings.
• Eagle Harbor Life-Saving Station & Museum at the old US Coast Guard Boat House
• Fort Wilkins Historic State Park, Copper Harbor, where we explored the old fort, built in 1846, to keep the peace in Copper Country and decommissioned 2 years later as not needed.
• A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum of Michigan Tech, Houghton…AWESOME!!!
• Quincy Mine Tour, Hancock, which included going to the 7th level…ultimately, Quincy Mine went 91 levels!!!

And for General Touring…

Well, we did stop at The Jam Pot, run by the monks of the Society of Saint John, where we bought some Cherry and some Thimbleberry Jam and 3 muffins. Near there, we also checked out Jacob Falls, before driving over “rough road” of Brockway Mountain Drive, with a stop at the Brockway Mountain Viewpoint and the Copper Harbor Overlook.

Taking the Isle Royale Queen IV to Isle Royale tomorrow, 8:00 AM!

(Still packing!) We should be on Isle Royale for a week, staying in a cabin on the northeast end of the (~50 miles long / ~9 miles wide) island. Lizzy will remain in camp on the Keweenaw Peninsula. There is NO Cell Service on Isle Royale (or Lake Superior), but we may have internet access in the main lodge.

For more pictures, see (in-work) Adventure Album:  Great Lakes Superior

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PS! As of August 16, 2024, the National Park Service has one more site (just a month after the last one), Springfield 1908 Race Riot National Monument in Illinois, now up to 431 Units!