Keweenaw County, Michigan, once the heart of America’s copper mining industry, now stands as a quiet testament to the rise and fall of an industrial empire.
By Paul Gordon
The Keweenaw Peninsula in Northern Michigan was once the largest producer of copper in the world. By the time the mining ended in the mid 20th century, the region had produced 11 billion pounds of copper. Today there are no active industrial scale copper mines.
At the top of Mt. Ripley, overlooks the Quincy Mine shaft (seen above). The structure towers over Houghton as an ever-present reminder of the peninsula’s industrial past. (photo below taken from Houghton)
The Quincy mine earned the nickname “Old Reliable” due to its consistency of turning a profit between 1862-1920. As the “easier”, closer-to-surface ore was mined, the company went deeper underground. In order to service these deep shafts, the mining company commissioned the Nordberg Steam Hoist (seen below), the largest steam powered hoist in the world, and you can still see it today. It is absolutely massive, weighs over 880 tons and is capable of lifting 10 tons of ore at speeds of up to 36 miles per hour. Over time the reliability of the shaft dwindled, and by its closing in 1945, the Quincy shafts plunged 9,260 feet into the ground. For reference, the Empire State Building is 1,454 feet tall.
Extracting and processing copper takes a lot of labor, infrastructure, and power. The industrial boom reshaped the peninsula fundamentally by connecting it to the railway system and extracting millions of pounds of copper every year. Mining companies often built entire towns to support the industry including homes, stores and schools, all of which were carved out of the northern wilderness.
Thousands of immigrants came from around the world to work in the mines, namely from Finland and Cornwall, where the work could be treacherous. Without strong labor protections, workers found themselves doing grueling manual labor in near dark environments, thousands of feet beneath the surface. The laborers brought their cultures, customs and food — like Finish pannukakku on the left and a Cornish pastie on the right, which can still be found at restaurants in Houghton.
For a first time visitor, you need only visit the UP (Upper Peninsula Michigan) once to fall in love with it. Majestic white pines line the horizon and there is a crispness to the air unlike anywhere else. Between the vast forests and many avenues for outdoor recreation, it is hard to imagine that heavy industry once dominated the area. In reality, it is hard to over estimate the impact that the mining industry had in the Keweenaw. From street names, to generational livelihoods, to the name of the local newspaper (which is still around), the copper industry was once pervasive.
Houghton, MI is sometimes called the “Gateway to the Keweenaw” and it is famously known as one of the locations to take the blue and cream-colored ferry to the least visited National Park, Isle Royale. Tourism trends show that many new, and first time visitors are making their way up north seeking a natural respite and outdoor recreation. With the renewed interest in the region, it is worth remembering the area’s industrial past and honor the immigrant laborers who used to live and work there.
Paul Gordon is a Chicago-based independent journalist, photographer and urban forester. His work appears in The Nation, Grist, The New Lede, Sierra Magazine, Civil Eats and In These Times. Gordon graduated from DePaul university where he studied international relations. He was awarded the Congress-Bundestag Exchange fellowship where he worked as a correspondent at Clean Energy Wire in Berlin and furthered his education in journalism at Freie Universität.
