Michigan’s Copper Country

an introduction for Michigan History Studentsat Redford Union High School

So, first things first. Where is Copper Country?It’s located in the northwestern part of the UP.

Its way up there →

Almost a ten hour drive from Redford Township.It took me nine hours and 25 minutes, with two quick stops.

The distance between Redford Township and Copper Harbor, MI is 598.5 miles.

In comparison, the distance between Redford Township and Washington, D.C. is 532 miles.

and, from Redford to

• Des Moines, IA 584.2 miles

• Nashville, TN 540.2 miles

• St Louis, MO 536.2 miles

It’s a hilly region with high mountains, where copper, and many other minerals, lie far below the surface.

The first people to mine for copper in Michigan were Native Americans

Michigan

Native Americans lived here before the Europeans arrived, but when, and how, did Europeans reach the land that became Michigan?

French Explorers in the Great Lakes RegionFrench explorers had been traveling through the Great Lakes for many years, fishing and hunting beavers for their pelts to trade back home, but they never bothered to establish any settlements because they were always on the move. However, when the English founded their first permanent settlement at Jamestown in 1607, the French countered by establishing their first permanent settlement at Quebec, in 1608.

From Quebec, explorers traveled further inland, finally reaching Lake Huron by way of the Ottawa River.

Sault Ste. Mariebecame the first European settlement in the region that became the Midwestern United States, when, in 1668, Father Jacques Marquette, having heard of the Native American village, traveled there to found a Catholic mission.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sault_Ste._Marie,_Michigan

Sault Ste. Marie

Is located along the St Mary’s River, which connects Lake Superior to Lake Huron.

From France to Britain

After the French and Indian War ended in 1763, the Treaty of Paris ceded the Great Lakes region to the British.

From Britain to America

The area then became part of the new United States of America, after the American colonists defeated the British in the American Revolution.

After the Treaty of Paris (1783) was signed, new land for settlement became available. People move west, and Michigan was organized as a territory in 1805.

The Toledo WarAs Michigan prepared to become a state, a problem with neighboring Ohio emerged. Ohio established its boundaries and became a state in 1803. However, as Michigan was determining its borders, a dispute over the area surrounding the Maumee River surfaced. The question became hot after Ohio revived it in 1832 by deciding to create a city (now Toledo) at the mouth of the Maumee River in the "Toledo Strip." Both Michigan and Ohio called out their militias and issued proclamations in what became known as the "Toledo War." The country was amused, but the administration at Washington squirmed with embarrassment and hastily dispatched peace commissioners. An act of Congress in 1836 admitted Michigan on condition that the Upper Peninsula be accepted instead of the "Toledo Strip," which was awarded to Ohio. http://web2.geo.msu.edu/geogmich/toledo_war.html

Why the Upper Peninsula?

The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is not connected to the Lower Peninsula, so it seems strange to many people that this area that appears to be more a part of Wisconsin, was awarded to Michigan. Maybe it’s because Wisconsin did not become a state until 1848.

The La Pointe TreatyDuring the time of the Toledo War in 1835, most people knew very little about the Upper Peninsula. A Detroit newspaper of the day reported the region as “a wild, comparatively Scandinavian tract of 20,000 square miles of howling wilderness on the shores of Lake Superior.”From Michigan Ghost Towns of the Upper Peninsula Roy Dodge (1973) p.6

The western region of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where Copper Country is located, did not officially become a part of the state until 1842.

The Keweenaw Peninsula Becomes Copper CountryFrom the Keweenaw National Historic Park brochure/map -

In 1843 reports of mass copper on the Keweenaw Peninsula spurred one of the first mineral rushes in the United States. Copper was valued for its use in everything from guns to cookware to telegraph wire.

By the 1870s the Copper Country was earning its name and producing over three-quarters of the nation’s copper.www.nps.gov/kewe

Copperwas one of the first metals ever extracted and used by humans, and it has made vital contributions to sustaining and improving society since the dawn of civilization. http://geology.com/usgs/uses-of-copper/

Although rumors of huge nuggets of native copper had circulated for centuries, it took the documented reports of Michigan’s first state geologist, Douglas Houghton, and the excitement generated by the exhibition of the “Ontonagon Boulder” in 1843 to catch the nation’s fancyFrom Copper Trails and Iron Rails Larry Massie (1989) p.87

The Ontonagon Boulder

is a 3,708 pound boulder of native copper originally found in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and now in the possession of the Department of Mineral Sciences, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. The boulder is a relic of the mining rush to the Michigan Copper Country, and was well known to Native Americans in its location on the Ontonagon River.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontonagon_Boulder

Where the Copper Lies

In western Michigan particularly, the vein of copper in the earth runs like the spine of an animal through the counties of Ontonagon, Houghton and Keweenaw. Down inside that vein are miles of twisting tunnels lined with the labors and memories of men who lived and died in that spiny womb.”From Towns at the Turn, Gene Scott (1999) p.5

Moving from a miniscule population in the 1840s, the three-county Copper Country boasted a population of over 100,000 by 1910.

The early immigrants were largely Cornish, Irish, German, and French Canadian; the later arrivals came from Finland, Italy and eastern Europe.From Cradle to Grave Larry Lankton (1991) p.22

In all, over 30 nationalities came to call the Keweenaw Peninsula home.www.nps.gov/kewe

End Copper Country PowerPoint I

• Next, Text Questions• Maps &• Data Analysis

• Then, CC PP II to prep for• project explanation• And a quiz