Northernmost part of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, projecting into Lake Superior and was the site of the first copper boom in the United States, leading to its moniker of "Copper Country"
Places to See in Keweenaw Peninsula
Russell Harrison Photography from Raleigh, NC, US, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted
Brockway Mountain Drive
8.8-mile-long scenic roadway in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with everal viewpoints along the route allow for panoramas of Copper Harbor, Lake Superior, and undeveloped woodland
Mestos, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted
Calumet, MI
Village in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, that was once at the center of the mining industry, sitting on 2,000 miles of underground mine shafts, drifts and stopes, empty for many decades
National Archives and Records Administration, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted
Copper Country Trail / U.S. Route 41
Highway system that runs through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan,passing through farm fields and forest lands, and along the Lake Superior shoreline
James Conkis, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted
Copper Harbor, MI
Community located at the northern tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula is the northernmost permanently populated community and northernmost point of mainland in the state of Michigan
Chris Light, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted
Delaware Mine
Mine provides tours of one of the oldest copper mines in the Keweenaw, dating back to 1847
Pavel Trebukov, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted
Fort Wilkins Historic State Park
Park preserving the restored 1844 army military outpost, Fort Wilkins
Scott en:User:Nationalparks, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted
Keweenaw National Historical Park
Park celebrates the life and history of the Keweenaw Peninsula and its copper mining heritage in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan
Yinan Chen, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted
McLain State Park
Public recreation area on the Keweenaw Peninsula with park's offshore sights include sunsets over Lake Superior and the art deco-style Keweenaw Waterway Upper Entrance Light
The Keweenaw Peninsula is the northernmost part of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. It projects into Lake Superior and was the site of the first copper boom in the United States, leading to its moniker of "Copper Country." Its major industries are now logging and tourism, as well as jobs related to Michigan Technological University and Finlandia University.
The ancient lava flows of the Keweenaw Peninsula were produced during the Mesoproterozoic Era as a part of the Midcontinent Rift between 1.096 and 1.087 billion years ago. This volcanic activity produced the only strata on Earth where large-scale economically recoverable 97 percent pure native copper is found.
The northern end of the peninsula is sometimes referred to as Copper Island. It is separated from the rest of the peninsula by the Keweenaw Waterway, a natural waterway which was dredged and expanded in the 1860s across the peninsula between the cities of Houghton on the south side and Hancock on the north.
A Keweenaw Water Trail has been established around Copper Island. The Water Trail stretches approximately 125 miles (201 km) and can be paddled in five to ten days, depending on weather and water conditions.
The Keweenaw Fault runs fairly lengthwise through both Keweenaw and neighboring Houghton counties. This ancient geological slip has given rise to cliffs. U.S. Highway 41 (US 41) and Brockway Mountain Drive, north of Calumet, were constructed along the cliff line.
The Keweenaw's rich deposits of copper (and some silver) were extracted on an industrial scale beginning around the middle of the 19th century. The industry grew through the latter part of the century and employed thousands of people well into the 20th century. Hard rock mining in the region ceased in 1967 though copper sulfide deposits continued for some time after in Ontonagon.
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Keweenaw Peninsula" which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0