The north shore of the Keweenaw Peninsula has several small harbors and towns that served as shipping points for copper.  Lake Superior also provided the vital supply line for residents before roads reached the area.

Picturesque lighthouses at Copper Harbor, Eagle River, and this one at Eagle Harbor helped guide shipping traffic to its final destination.

Erik Nordberg explains the mines along the greenstone ridge in the eastern end of the Keweenaw.  The MHAers are facing the site of the Delaware Mine.  The Delaware Mine is open for tourists although it was not visited on the 1997 tour.

Little remains of the mining community of Delaware, Michigan except a few miners’ houses along Highway 41.  To learn more about the history of the Delaware Mine, join MHAers Mike and Pat Kaas on their 2015 underground and surface tour.

The earliest discovery of copper took place in 1844 near the present-day Ft. Wikins State Park.  The fort was established to provide protection for the early miners.

Some of the original copper discovery pits and development shafts can be seen in the park.  Production was minimal and the miners moved on to the more productive Cliff Mine also operated by the Pittsburgh and Boston Mining Company.

(Above)  The restored Ft. Wilkins is located just outside Copper Harbor.  Archaeologists have unearthed the remains of the original buildings as well as some of the traces of mining.

(Right) It didn’t take a stop at the famous Keweenaw Snow Gauge for the MHAers to appreciate the hardships endured by those who prospected and mined the copper, especially from the 1840s until the Soo Locks were opened in 1855. Their isolation once the Great Lakes froze in winter could not have been more complete.