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

Nuggets from a Native, Part 3

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.