Keweenaw National Historical Park ⓘ

Broadly speaking, architecture can be thought of as the art of building . Nearly 2,000 years ago, Roman architect Vitruvius wrote that a good building should have durability , utility , and beauty , and we recognize these same qualities in a good building today. When we think of historical architecture, often the first buildings that come to mind are those magnificent examples that were formally designed to impress and to endure: here in the Copper Country, many early churches, schools, and civic buildings were built with Jacobsville Sandstone and imported brick. These kinds of splendid buildings are really just the architectural highlights though, while the vast majority of the buildings in the Copper Country – as everywhere — are almost so common as to be invisible, and often aren’t even noticed as architecture . But to really try and understand a place and its history, it’s important to also consider its vernacular architecture – the ordinary and commonplace buildings that are the warp and weft of the built environment. Wooden mineworker’s houses, small commercial storefronts, and farm buildings were built following standard designs or inherited traditions. Exhibiting attributes of both formal and vernacular architecture are the many marvelous examples of industrial buildings and structures punctuating the Copper Country. Hoist houses, Shaft-Rockhouses, Boiler Houses, Dry Houses, Machine Shops, Blacksmith Shops, and more were designed and built to perform specific work functions at mining locations; mills and smelters contribute still further to telling the story of industrial copper production and the recent history of the Keweenaw.

A cultural landscape is defined by the NPS as a geographic area, including both cultural and natural resources and the wildlife or domestic animals therein, associated with a historic event, activity, or person, or exhibiting other cultural or aesthetic values , and architecture is one facet of the cultural landscape of the Copper Country. The composition and arrangement of the built environment today reflects the area’s history of copper extraction and processing, as well as the associated activities such as lumbering, commerce, and simply dwelling. Where copper was found, mines were established, and housing was built within walking distance of the mines; villages and towns grew up near the larger and longer-lasting mines. Mines were connected to one another and to mills by roads and rail, and mills to docks and smelters with still more. The historical industrial landscape of the Keweenaw was an active, interconnected network of people and the places they worked and lived. Today’s descendant landscape has evolved, but ample evidence remains to tell the fascinating and nationally significant history of the Copper Country.

Helping to conserve a living cultural landscape like the Keweenaw is an interesting and challenging undertaking. Keweenaw National Historical Park is a partnership park, and only has direct responsibility for a fraction of the thousands of historic buildings and structures that remain in the Copper Country’s postindustrial landscape. Furthermore, since it is constantly changing and evolving, how can preservation principles even be applied? Our conservation work follows the guidance provided by the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties. While historic preservation may be the treatment option most people are familiar with, the Standards also provide guidance for restoration , rehabilitation , and even reconstruction work. In addition to caring for those buildings owned by the park, we provide technical assistance to Keweenaw Heritage Sites and other partners, as well as to individual property owners located within the Calumet and Quincy Unit boundaries to help owners make informed decisions that may affect the heritage value of their properties.

Archeology is the study of humans in the past. Archeologists use the objects, or artifacts, historic and prehistoric people left behind to understand how they lived and interacted with one another. Some archeologists study people who lived thousands of years ago, and others study those who lived in the recent past. Sometimes, the way the past has shaped the present is obvious. Large stone and brick buildings, crumbling foundations, and poor rock piles around the Keweenaw are some of the physical evidence left behind by the copper mining industry in Michigan. However, there is always more to the story than meets the eye! Archeologists use history, chemistry, geology, art, and many other fields to interpret the past.

Industrial archeology is the study of the people, equipment, and buildings that were once used in industry. At Keweenaw National Historical Park, we preserve and interpret the history of the copper mining industry in Michigan through rehabilitating and restoring historic landscapes and buildings, and also with the help of artifacts like the Western Federation of Miners pin. In addition to copper mining, logging, agriculture, shipping, and smaller commercial enterprises, like brewing, were important in shaping the landscapes and communities we see today.

An artifact is any historic object that was modified by a person or cultural practice. Seeds, bone, metal, wood, stone, dolls, photographs, and even shoes can be artifacts! For this reason, even the small pieces of pottery, copper, and other metal you see when walking around the industrial core of Keweenaw National Historical Park are artifacts, and should be left in place. While it is tempting to pick up or even collect artifacts it is important to leave them where you find them. Once an artifact is removed from its original location, it is very difficult to learn anything beyond what the physical object can tell us. It is very important not to collect artifacts and take them home because then others will not be able to enjoy and learn from them. Artifacts are evidence of past activity, and professional archeologists are like crime scene investigators. Just as you wouldn’t tamper with a crime scene, so that police can learn as much as they can to solve the crime, you shouldn’t tamper with archeological artifacts. Leaving items in place helps archeologists to learn as much as they can about the object, and the people that used it.

Copper was first mined in the Keweenaw 7,000 years ago by Native peoples living in the Great Lakes region. They left behind tools used to mine the copper, like hammerstones, as well as the mines themselves. These objects and places are important to archeology, and are used by professional archeologists to learn about the past and share their knowledge with everyone. Thousands of years after copper was first mined in the Keweenaw, Europeans attempted to profit from the large deposits of native copper. They were unsuccessful at first, but by the 1840s the copper mining industry on the Keweenaw Peninsula was picking up. The last of these copper mines closed in1996 . Evidence of the more recent, industrial copper mining industry can be seen all over the Peninsula. Remember, you don’t have to be an archeologist to appreciate archeology and artifacts! Visitors and researchers at the park are able to experience the copper mining story by visiting buildings and poor rock piles, looking at photographs and written records, and by walking around the same spaces that people in the past did. They provide a unique sense of place and identity for the people who live in the Keweenaw. Archeologists have conducted several projects within the park to learn about the history of the C&H and Quincy mining companies. More projects will be underway in the coming years. The park’s museum staff works hard to preserve many of the artifacts that have been recovered during these projects, artifacts that teach us about the copper mining communities in the Keweenaw’s past. The National Park Service’s mission is to preserve the natural and cultural resources of the national park system “for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations.”

Welcome to Working Wednesday, where we'll be exploring the variety of occupations that kept the Keweenaw busy. Follow residents from their homes as they labor in mine or mill, store to salon, and many places in-between. We'll be hearing from the workers themselves using recordings from the park's oral history collection.

Women have always been a vital part of the Copper Country economy. Although they didn’t work underground, by the late 1800s and early 1900s they worked in payroll, accounting, and other clerical departments. Many women operated boardinghouses, which meant managing finances, cooking, and doing the laundry for their own family and multiple boarders, most of whom worked for a mining company. Some were laundresses and domestics, hired to clean, cook, and provide childcare for other families. Many started their own businesses as seamstresses and milliners, or worked in a family grocery, jewelry store, or other commercial enterprise. Some even made extra money selling homemade wine and spirits. They also trained as midwives, nurses, teachers, librarians, and musicians

One way in which the National Park Service cares for special places is through the Museum Management Program. Most parks maintain museum collections that help document the history, culture and mission of their particular unit and area. Collections include archival materials as well as artifacts. Museum collections at Keweenaw National Historical Park help tell the story of Michigan's Copper Country, and represent a broad range of historic activities on the Keweenaw Peninsula. Materials in the park's collections include objects of all sorts, ranging from fraternal organization regalia to miners' lunch pails and geological specimens. Archival materials in the park's collections include photographs, mining company and other business records, personal and family papers, and records from fraternal, religious, and other organizations.

The museum collections support Keweenaw National Historical Park's mission to preserve and interpret the story of copper in the Keweenaw in four basic ways:

Keweenaw National Historical Park is also dedicated to working with Heritage Sites, private individuals and other partners to preserve the documentary record and significant artifacts in their own collections. For more details, contact the museum services staff for information about periodic workshops offered on various topics related to collections care and management. The historic Calumet and Hecla Mining Company Public Library now serves as the Keweenaw History Center, located at 25947 Red Jacket Road in Calumet, Michigan. The Keweenaw History Center is home to the park's museum and archival collections, and the park library. Museum collections at Keweenaw NHP are managed by the Museum, Archives, and Historical Services Division.

The Keweenaw History Center is not an exhibit museum, but it is open to the public for research by appointment.

“I engaged myself to Captain Teague, believing that I should be safer with Englishmen in the mines than anywhere else... We went from Detroit to Copper Harbor to [probably via] Mackinaw and Sault St. Mary, and thence to the mouth of the Ontonagon River, Michigan. From this place we went to Cyrus Mindenhall's [sic] location, and afterwards to the Porcupine Mountains.”

In 1846, John Brown a self-emancipated freedom seeker headed north to the Upper Peninsula rather than cross the Detroit River into Canada. Brown later explained that while in shared captivity with a man named Glasgow, who claimed to be English-born and falsely enslaved, he began to believe, “if I could ever get to England, where he came from, and conducted myself properly, folks would respect me as much as they did a white man.” The prospect gave him hope through many challenging experiences. Born into slavery and raised in the deep south, Brown’s formative years were filled with trauma and loss. Brown eventually escaped to Marshall, Michigan aided by friends from the Underground Railroad network. In Marshall, Brown worked with other freedom seekers to build a church, among them future Ontonagon County mine speculator Noel Johnson. After the church’s last stones were laid, Brown went to Detroit where he “fell in with” a group of migrant Cornish miners led by mining captain Joseph Teague. Teague and his compatriots were in Detroit as they prepared for a voyage to the Copper Country under contract with a Boston-based copper mine investor named Jones. Remembering his English friend Glasgow’s advice, Brown decided to join them, “believing that I should be safer with Englishmen in the mines than anywhere else.” Copper Harbor’s newspaper takes up our story, its columns noting Teague’s arrival in Copper Harbor on board the propeller Independence on July 3, 1846. From Copper Harbor the party continued to Ontonagon, from whence, “we went to Cyrus Mindenhall’s [sic] location, and afterwards to the Porcupine Mountains.” In the Porcupine Mountains, Brown worked as a carpenter with Teague’s group near Lake of the Clouds.

After eighteen months or so of working in the Copper Country, Teague’s party prepared to return to the Captain’s home in Redruth, Cornwall, Great Britain. Brown, recalling his prior companion’s advice, determined to follow him. Brown took a detour to Ontario’s Dawn Settlement, and upon his arrival in Cornwall learned that Joseph Teague died in Boston on the way home. Other Redruth miners of Teague’s party vouched for Brown, providing a letter of recommendation, which wasshared at lectures and, later, published in Brown’s book. Through Brown and his acquaintance Noel Johnson we see Underground Railroad freedom seekers choosing the Copper Country before the end of the Civil War. Do other such stories remain to be told? Nearly a decade later and an ocean away, Brown dictated his memoir, Slave Life in Georgia: A Narrative of the Life, Sufferings, and Escape of John Brown, A Fugitive Slave, Now in England to Louis A. Chamerovzow of London’s “British and Foreign Anti-Slave Society.” The book mentions a number of historical Keweenaw people and places. The veracity of his narrative is reflected in a number of other period sources. You can find a transcribed version of his book at Documenting the American South's website .

These "mini-histories" are a historical research method that looks at the history of a small--mini--segment of society: specific communities; people or families; and even objects as a way to explore larger historical questions, such as "Why did so many people immigrate to the US at the end of the 19th century?" and "What were working conditions like in early 20th century copper mines?"

Individual life experiences--say, those of a 14 year old girl leaving Croatia in 1888 to work in her aunt's boardinghouse in Calumet, or those of a 21 year old Finnish trammer working 10-12 hour shifts in the Quincy mine in 1904--can help provide specific, relatable answers to those big questions about how people responded to political and economic turbulence, and changing expectations of workplace safety.

The Keweenaw minihistories presented here explore immigrant and migrant stories through primary sources from the 1500s through the early 20 th century. These individuals’ life experiences can provide rich, diverse, and specific detail about the history of places, events, and communities. Pieced together, these details reveal a bigger, more complex picture of the Keweenaw’s past.

This guide provides an overview of some of the museum and archival collections at Keweenaw National Historical Park. As more collections become organized and catalogued, additional descriptions will be added to these pages. For some collections, you will find a link where you can download the finding aid for the collection. Finding aids provide further information on the collection and its organization that researchers may find useful. You can use the letters below to search through the different collection names.

Two miners' helmets and one binder containing issues of C&H News and Views belonging to the late Ruppert [?] Aho, who worked for C&H. ACC # KEWE-0032

A book about Finnish-American churches in the United States, including churches of the Copper Country and elsewhere, published in Hancock in 1911. ACC # KEWE-00318

A small collection of photographs and records documenting the life of a Swedish immigrant family in Calumet in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. ACC # KEWE-00115

A large assembled collection of photographs, postcards, clippings, historical publications/memorabilia, and some historic records. The collection has a particular emphasis on the commercial districts of Calumet and Lake Linden. ACC # KEWE-00270

A collection of clippings and some photographs documenting life in the Keweenaw in the early 20th century, and clippings documenting the establishment of Keweenaw National Historical Park. ACC # KEWE-00283

A small collection of correspondence to and from brothers Crawford and Perkins Burnham, who lived in the Keweenaw in the mid 19th century, and copies of genealogical information about the two men from various sources. ACC # KEWE-00243

A small artificial collection of books which were once included in the holdings of the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company Public Library. [Multiple Accessions]

An artificial collection of mining company records and objects, many of which were used by the company in their mine office and library (later office annex) buildings in Calumet. Furniture, equipment, casting patterns, core samples, blueprints, mine maps, surface maps, and large-format photo-reproduction glass plate negatives make up the bulk of the collection. The records in this collection complement those held by the MTU Archives and Copper Country Historical Collections. [Multiple Accessions]

A collection of plans and specifications documenting the interior layout and finishes of the C&H General Office Building as remodeled for the Calumet Clinic doctors’ offices.

A collection of records documenting the establishment of Keweenaw National Historical Park. ACC # KEWE-00197 & ACC # KEWE-00248

A collection of records and objects documenting the history of the Community Church of Calumet and its predecessor churches, Calumet Congregational Church, and First Presbyterian Church of Calumet. ACC # KEWE-00221

A collection of oral history interviews with people associated with the history of professional hockey and hockey on the Keweenaw Peninsula. [Multiple Accessions]

An assembled collection of photographs on loan from Coppertown USA, many originally produced by and given to Coppertown by Universal Oil Products, and others donated by various people. Photos in the collection primarily document the industrial history of the Calumet area, though some commercial and social subjects are also included. ACC # KEWE-00295

A brochure describing the preliminary concept development plan for Coppertown USA. ACC # KEWE-00039

A collection of photographs, postcards, correspondence, clippings, and some objects and business records documenting the lives of Irish and French-Canadian immigrant families in the Keweenaw in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. ACC # KEWE-00294

An artificial collection of records of Copper Country Croatian Fraternal Union lodges including St. Rok Red Jacket Lodge, No. 48; St. Trojstvo, Quincy Lodge, No. 262; Slovanic Croatian Union St. Rok Lodge, No. 9; Vinodolac Lodge, No, 153; Ahmeek Lodge, No. 270; and Slovene National Benefit Society Lodge, No. 136, produced between 1897 and 2004. The bulk of the records in the collection are in Croatian or Slovenian. Also included in the collection are associated parade banners and ribbons and medals worn by individual members of the various lodges. CAT # KEWE 40506 To receive the finding aid for the Croatian Fraternal Union Collection please email: jeremiah_mason@nps.gov

Copper mining was extensive in the Keweenaw. As in, every city and town on the Keweenaw has its origins in the copper mining industry extensive. Copper mining formed the backbone of the economy here and similarly, copper deposits were found along the spine of the peninsula. The majority of copper mined here was native copper, 99.99% pure copper. Fortunately, this means that the waste products of mining here were more benign than in other parts of the world—but there still are long lasting environmental impacts.

The main byproducts of copper mining in the Keweenaw were waste rock piles from the mines, tailings from the stamp mills and slag piles from the smelters. Waste rock piles, locally called poor rock, once dotted the landscape, accompanying every shaft of every mine. These piles have slowly disappeared, as the poor rock is a cheap and readily available material to be used in road construction. The sand and silt from the stamp mills, stamp sands, were often directly deposited into waterways in very large volumes.

It is these stamp sands and associated materials that have caused the most severe environmental hazards. Indeed, in 1986 a Superfund Site was established that includes Torch Lake, the western shore of Torch Lake, the northern portion of Portage Lake, the Portage Lake Canal, Keweenaw Waterway, North Entry to Lake Superior, Boston Pond, and Calumet Lake. These areas were home to milling and smelting activities for over 100 years. During that time, the waterways served as dumping grounds for virtually all mining industry related waste products produced, including tailings, slag, and various chemicals. It is estimated that around fifty percent of the Torch Lake's volume was filled with 200 million tons of tailings and other waste products.

Mining activities continued until 1968 around Torch Lake and shortly afterwards environmental concerns arose over the use of the lake as a dumping grounds. Fish were found with cancerous tumors and high levels of copper, arsenic, mercury and PCBs were found within the lake and the mine tailings. Because of these hazards the area was listed as a Superfund Site and remediation efforts were conducted. Some areas were capped with soil and revegetated, in places heavily contaminated soil and drums containing toxic material were removed, and other areas were left to recover naturally.

After remediation the site was removed from the national priorities list, as human health is thought to have been adequately protected by the actions taken, but the area remains a Michigan Department of Environmental Quality Area of Concern. Torch Lake has been left to recover through natural sedimentation, which means that the lake bottom still has high levels of toxic metals that severely impact bottom-dwelling organisms and that fish in the lake have elevated PCB and mercury levels to the point that they should only be eaten in very limited quantities.

For stamp sand deposits on Lake Superior itself, no remediation efforts were conducted as the erosive power of the lake makes stabilization efforts all but futile. Some of these deposits are quite extensive, with the sands near the town of Gay now covering over 5 miles of shoreline. These sands are also starting to work their way into the bay, where within 10 years they may cover 60% of Buffalo Reef, an important White Fish and Lake trout spawning area.

Even though serious challenges remain, not all of the effects from our mining legacy have been negative. Countless miles of mine shafts and stopes were excavated, which turns out to be excellent bat habitat. Indeed, bats have been found hibernating in dozens of abandoned mines throughout the Keweenaw, with as many as 250,000 bats now utilizing this new habitat. Additionally, recent efforts have highlighted the potential of using flooded mine shafts for geothermal heating and cooling, as an environmental and economical alternative to traditional heating methods. Copper mining shaped the Keweenaw for over 100 years, but it's legacy will continue affecting lives for many years to come.