The History of Copper Mining in and Around Copper Harbor, Michigan

Visitors to the small town of Copper Harbor in the Upper Peninsula often ask about the history of the area. After all, the town has the word copper in its name, and it is located in the "Copper Country." The names of other towns, sights, and businesses also reflect the importance of copper to the area, such as Copper City, Copper Falls, Copper King Motel etc. Since I grew up in this small tourist town, and my parents owned the Keweenaw Agate Shop, copper was very important to our lives. So where's the copper?

When I was a child, my sister and I used to take the two-mile walk out to the Copper Harbor lighthouse. Today that road is closed to the public, but the Copper Harbor Lighthouse Boat Tours will take you there by boat. But when we were young, we would pack a picnic lunch and spend the day exploring. My favorite activity was to sit on the rocks at the edge of Lake Superior and gaze at the prominent blue-green vein of copper silicate, known as chrysocolla. which runs out into the lake at that point. It was this "green rock" that first drew the attention of the explorers to the area of the presence of copper, because where you see chrysocolla, you'll know that copper is nearby.

The first copper mining rush started at Copper Harbor in the 1840's after Douglas Houghton, the state geologist, published a report about the area's copper deposits. The first commercial mines in Keweenaw County were sunk near Copper Harbor. Prior to that it had been a fur-trading outpost. All travel was by boat as there were no roads, resulting in Copper Harbor becoming a busy port. In 1844, the Federal Government built Fort Wilkins in order to protect the miners in this wilderness area. However, there was no hostility between the local Native Americans and the miners. When the miners moved on to more productive mines further south, the fort was closed.

Scattered around the area are the remains of even earlier copper miners. Out near Fort Wilkins, which is now a state park, you can see evidence of these old copper mines, dug by prehistoric people using primitive tools. For some reason, I have always been drawn to these strange holes in the ground that are now filled with water. I have trouble imagining the mysterious people who were the first ones to take the native copper from the ground.

The evidence indicates that they were mining copper as far back as 7000 years ago. Numerous prehistoric mining pits are also found on the island of Isle Royale. There are some fantastic theories being circulated concerning these ancient miners. Some of the theories state that these miners were from the Minoan culture, Bronze Age Europeans, Phoenicians, and even Vikings!

Susan Martin, in an abstract entitled, "The State of Our Knowledge About Ancient Copper Mining in Michigan" (first published in The Michigan Archaeologist 1995), refutes these theories. She states, "There is absolutely no archaeological evidence that anyone but indigenous Americans and subsequent French, British and Euro-American miners took copper from the Keweenaw." She goes on to say, "The competent excavation of many prehistoric archaeological sites in the Lake Superior basin reveals the continuous use of copper throughout the prehistoric time range, in association with all of the other items of material culture (projectile points, pottery and the like) that are without a doubt the products of native technologies."

However, there is no doubt that the Keweenaw area of the Upper Peninsula had one of the largest deposits of native copper in the world. Native copper is copper found uncombined with other minerals. When I was growing up, the Keweenaw copper mines were still in operation. It seemed most of my friends' fathers worked in the mines. I remember that on a visit to my best friend's house, we could often hear the miners talking underground. It sounded like it was coming from the basement. There would also be frequent blasting of the rock, which would shake everyone's houses. The mines closed down for good in 1969 when the miners went on strike. Now most of the world's copper supply is produced in open pit mines.

Because of this history, copper remains very important to the area. Visitors can visit old copper mines such as the Delaware Copper Mine, which was in operation from 1847 to 1887. You can take the tour and go underground to the first level at 110 feet. You'll see veins of pure copper exposed in the walls of the mine along with other geologic points of interest. You can also visit the Quincy Mine and Hoist near Hancock. This tour demonstrates the technology the mining companies developed to extract copper, such as a steam hoist. From Copper Harbor you can also drive to the old mine site of Clark Mine, where all that remains are the smelting stacks to testify to the industry that once was so much a part of this area.

Visitors to Copper Harbor also like to shop in the various gift shops, almost all of which have items of copper for sale, whether it is pieces of native copper, or copper jewelry, bowls, or kettles. I even have a copper dipper used to toss water on the hot rocks in the Finnish sauna. Some of the shops I always find time to visit include the Copper Harbor Lighthouse Gift Shop, Fishermen's Daughter, Laughing Loon, Swede's Gift Shop, Thunderbird Gift Center, the Country Village Shops, and Shea's (located across the street from the Keweenaw Agate Shop, previously owned by my family).

Lest anyone doubt the importance of copper to the Copper Country, I cannot forget to mention that the sports teams at my old high school alma mater, Calumet High School, are known as the Copper Kings. Thus, I am proud to announce that the Copper Kings hockey team received the title of the 2008 State Hockey Champions.

Sources:

Official Website of Copper Harbor
http://www.copperharbor.org

Website: Fort Wilkins State Park
http://www.michigan.gov/hal/0,1607,7-160-17447_18595_18604-51222--,00.html

Article:, "The State of Our Knowledge About Ancient Copper Mining in Michigan"
by Susan Martin (first published in the The Michigan Archaeologist 1995
http://www.ramtops.co.uk/copper.html

Wikipedia - Native Copper
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_copper

Article: A Short History of Copper Mining
http://www.exploringthenorth.com/cophistory/cophist.html

Website: Hunts' Guide to Michigan's UPPER PENINSULA - Copper Harbor
http://hunts-upguide.com/copper_harbor.html

Website: Timeline of Michigan Copper Mining Prehistory to 1850
National Park Service
http://www.nps.gov/kewe/historyculture/copper-mining-timeline.htm