Copper Island
Encyclopedia
Copper Island is a local name given to the northern part of the Keweenaw Peninsula
(projecting northeastward into Lake Superior
at the western end of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan
, United States of America
), separated from the rest of the Keweenaw Peninsula by Portage Lake and the Keweenaw Waterway
.
of the Keweenaw Peninsula from Portage Lake—on the east side of the Keweenaw Peninsula—to Lake Superior on the west. The ship canal is 100 feet (30.5 m) wide and 21 feet (6.4 m) deep. The resulting "island" was called Kuparisaari (meaning "Copper Island") in Finnish
, Irish
and French
/French Canadian
settlers to the area. However, neither the United States Geological Survey
nor the state of Michigan identify this area as an island or use this name. Isle Royale
is the largest naturally isolated island in Lake Superior. However, considered as an island, Copper Island is the largest island in Lake Superior.
of the Upper Peninsula. Inhabitants of the area wryly claimed "that they were outside the American mainland. In practical usage, however, the term included towns such as Oskar, Atlantic, Baltic, South Range, Houghton, Dodgeville and Hurontown" all of which were south of Portage Lake. Nevertheless, "unquestionably" Finns in those locales considered themselves to be "Copper Islanders." As the foregoing source indicates, "Copper Island" has sometimes been used as a sobriquet
for Michigan's "copper country."
But in a larger sense, "Kuparisaari" was an amalgam of geographic location and cultural identity, particularly for the Finns. As one scholarly source notes:
and Calumet
. The area is connected to the rest of the Upper Peninsula by the Portage Lake Lift Bridge
, the latest in a series of bridges between Hancock
and Houghton
. The bridge crosses the Portage Canal.
US 41
crosses this bridge
. It enters Michigan at Menominee
and goes north to it terminus just east of Copper Harbor
at the far eastern tip of the peninsula
.
Copper island is the core that the Keweenaw Water Trail wraps around. It is a designated loop
route (which eliminates any need to use a shuttle or spot two vehicles) around and through the Keweenaw Peninsula for canoes and sea kayaks. The Keweenaw Waterway
is central to it, crossing the peninsula. Established in 1995, it was designated “A Superior Sports Port” by National Geographic Adventure Magazine. The trail "exemplifies the Keweenaw Peninsula in the most literal sense." The Lake Superior coast line—craggy, varied and forbidding—is claimed to be comparable to Isle Royale
(sans the ferry). Uninhabited wilderness, parks, and nature preserves and parks offer counterpoint to sheltered harbors and towns, where paddlers find the option of civilization, including warm bed, hot meal and shower. The Copper Island grand tour takes an 'average paddler' six to eight days, but extra days should be planned "to compensate for being wind-bound." This circumnavigation is on its way to becoming "Michigan’s top paddling destination." Shorter trips are possible.
The 'Copper Island Classic' is an ice hockey
tournament contested annually between Hancock Central High School and Calumet High School. Such local usage still persists, and there are many business in the area that use it.
The Race for Copper Island (New York: Benziger Bros., 1905) is a novel written by Henry Sanislaus Spaulding (1865–1934) that involves the area.
in the region.
Keweenaw Peninsula
The Keweenaw Peninsula is the northern-most part of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. It projects into Lake Superior and was the site of the first copper boom in the United States. As of the 2000 census, its population was roughly 43,200...
(projecting northeastward into Lake Superior
Lake Superior
Lake Superior is the largest of the five traditionally-demarcated Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded to the north by the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of Minnesota, and to the south by the U.S. states of Wisconsin and Michigan. It is the largest freshwater lake in the...
at the western end of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan
Upper Peninsula of Michigan
The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is the northern of the two major land masses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan. It is commonly referred to as the Upper Peninsula, the U.P., or Upper Michigan. It is also known as the land "above the Bridge" linking the two peninsulas. The peninsula is bounded...
, United States of America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
), separated from the rest of the Keweenaw Peninsula by Portage Lake and the Keweenaw Waterway
Keweenaw Waterway
The Keweenaw Waterway is a partly natural, partly artificial waterway which cuts across the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan; it separates Copper Island from the mainland. Parts of the waterway are variously known as the Keweenaw Waterway, Portage Canal, Portage Lake Canal, Portage River, Lily Pond,...
.
Geography
The area was "isolated" by dredging in 1859 and construction in the 1860s of a ship canal across an isthmusIsthmus
An isthmus is a narrow strip of land connecting two larger land areas usually with waterforms on either side.Canals are often built through isthmuses where they may be particularly advantageous to create a shortcut for marine transportation...
of the Keweenaw Peninsula from Portage Lake—on the east side of the Keweenaw Peninsula—to Lake Superior on the west. The ship canal is 100 feet (30.5 m) wide and 21 feet (6.4 m) deep. The resulting "island" was called Kuparisaari (meaning "Copper Island") in Finnish
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
and French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
/French Canadian
French Canadian
French Canadian or Francophone Canadian, , generally refers to the descendents of French colonists who arrived in New France in the 17th and 18th centuries...
settlers to the area. However, neither the United States Geological Survey
United States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The organization has four major science disciplines, concerning biology,...
nor the state of Michigan identify this area as an island or use this name. Isle Royale
Isle Royale
Isle Royale is an island of the Great Lakes, located in the northwest of Lake Superior, and part of the state of Michigan. The island and the 450 surrounding smaller islands and waters make up Isle Royale National Park....
is the largest naturally isolated island in Lake Superior. However, considered as an island, Copper Island is the largest island in Lake Superior.
History
Historically, "Kuparisaari" ('Copper Island') was used to mean the Keweenaw north of Portage Lake, but more generically the copper countryCopper Country
The Copper Country is an area in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the United States, including all of Keweenaw County, Michigan and most of Houghton, Baraga and Ontonagon counties. The area is so named as copper mining was prevalent there from 1845 until the late 1960s, with one mine ...
of the Upper Peninsula. Inhabitants of the area wryly claimed "that they were outside the American mainland. In practical usage, however, the term included towns such as Oskar, Atlantic, Baltic, South Range, Houghton, Dodgeville and Hurontown" all of which were south of Portage Lake. Nevertheless, "unquestionably" Finns in those locales considered themselves to be "Copper Islanders." As the foregoing source indicates, "Copper Island" has sometimes been used as a sobriquet
Sobriquet
A sobriquet is a nickname, sometimes assumed, but often given by another. It is usually a familiar name, distinct from a pseudonym assumed as a disguise, but a nickname which is familiar enough such that it can be used in place of a real name without the need of explanation...
for Michigan's "copper country."
But in a larger sense, "Kuparisaari" was an amalgam of geographic location and cultural identity, particularly for the Finns. As one scholarly source notes:
Finnish immigration to Michigan’s copper district grew to become the most populous ethnic group with an enduring cultural identity. Kuparisaari, “copper island,” went beyond the Finnish immigrant identification of the island that comprises the northern half of the Keweenaw Peninsula to a symbolic island of landing, an Ellis IslandEllis IslandEllis Island in New York Harbor was the gateway for millions of immigrants to the United States. It was the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station from 1892 until 1954. The island was greatly expanded with landfill between 1892 and 1934. Before that, the much smaller original island was the...
. Michigan’s Copper Country is recognized as focal to Finnish immigration to America, the birthplace of many Finnish-American institutions religious, political and educational. This “island” includes both settlements in growing industrial urban communities like the QuincyQuincy, MichiganQuincy is a village in Branch County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,701 at the 2000 census.The village is located within Quincy Township on U.S. Highway 12. Note: there is also another Quincy Township in Houghton County.-Geography:...
, Calumet & HeclaCalumet and Hecla Mining CompanyThe Calumet and Hecla Mining Company was a major copper-mining company based in the Michigan Copper Country. In the 19th century, the company paid out more than $72 million in shareholder dividends, more than any other mining company in the United States during that period.-History:In 1864, Edwin J...
and Champion mining {See, Copper Range CompanyCopper Range CompanyThe Copper Range Company was a major copper-mining company in the Copper Country of Michigan, United States. It began as the Copper Range Company in the late 19th century as a holding company specializing in shares in the copper mines south of Houghton, Michigan...
} settlements, and cleared forestland for traditional Finnish agriculture as in ToivolaToivola, MichiganToivola is an unincorporated community in Houghton County, Michigan, United States. The far-flung rural community is divided between Stanton Township, Adams Township, and Bohemia Township. It is found along M-26, southwest of South Range...
, TapiolaTapiola, MichiganTapiola is an unincorporated community in Houghton County, Michigan, United States. Tapiola is located in Portage Township, west of Keweenaw Bay.- History :...
, Elo, PelkiePelkie, MichiganPelkie is an unincorporated community in Baraga County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The community is on the Sturgeon River in the northeast part of Baraga Township at ....
, and Waasa; Finns settled north and south of the Portage Waterway that bisects the peninsula. Perhaps more than any other immigrant group, the Finnish communities in the district were bisected into divisions of politics and faith. The Finns who immigrated to the copper mining district held to a pietistic Laestadian (Apostolic) Lutheran belief, to the state-sanctioned Lutheranism of Finland (Suomi Synod) or rejected faith altogether. Within these divides of conscience of faith was a wide political spectrum: conservative to liberal adherents, resolute temperance advocates and active radical socialists. The social and economic conditions that emigrants left in northern Scandinavia and the Duchy of Finland influenced these allegiances and beliefs.
Communities and transportation
The principal towns on the Copper Island end of Keweenaw Peninsula are HancockHancock, Michigan
Hancock is a city in Houghton County; the northernmost in the U.S. state of Michigan, located on the Keweenaw Peninsula, or, depending on terminology, Copper Island. The population was 4,634 at the 2010 census...
and Calumet
Calumet, Michigan
Calumet is a village in Calumet Township, Houghton County, in the U.S. state of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, that was once at the center of the mining industry of the Upper Peninsula. Also known as Red Jacket, the village includes the Calumet Downtown Historic District, listed on the National...
. The area is connected to the rest of the Upper Peninsula by the Portage Lake Lift Bridge
Portage Lake Lift Bridge
The Portage Lake Lift Bridge connects the cities of Hancock and Houghton, Michigan, USA, across Portage Lake, a portion of the waterway which cuts across the Keweenaw Peninsula with a canal linking the final several miles to Lake Superior to the northwest...
, the latest in a series of bridges between Hancock
Hancock, Michigan
Hancock is a city in Houghton County; the northernmost in the U.S. state of Michigan, located on the Keweenaw Peninsula, or, depending on terminology, Copper Island. The population was 4,634 at the 2010 census...
and Houghton
Houghton, Michigan
Houghton is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan's Upper Peninsula and largest city in the Copper Country on the Keweenaw Peninsula. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 7,708. It is the county seat of Houghton County...
. The bridge crosses the Portage Canal.
US 41
U.S. Route 41 in Michigan
US Highway 41 is a part of the United States Numbered Highway System that runs from Miami, Florida, to the Upper Peninsula of the US state of Michigan. In Michigan, it is a state trunkline highway that enters the state via the Interstate Bridge between Marinette, Wisconsin, and Menominee,...
crosses this bridge
Bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...
. It enters Michigan at Menominee
Menominee, Michigan
Menominee is a city in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 9,131. It is the county seat of Menominee County. Menominee is the fourth-largest city in the Upper Peninsula, behind Marquette, Sault Ste. Marie, and Escanaba...
and goes north to it terminus just east of Copper Harbor
Copper Harbor, Michigan
Copper Harbor is a small unincorporated community in northeastern Keweenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is within Grant Township on the Keweenaw Peninsula that juts from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan into Lake Superior.-History:...
at the far eastern tip of the peninsula
Peninsula
A peninsula is a piece of land that is bordered by water on three sides but connected to mainland. In many Germanic and Celtic languages and also in Baltic, Slavic and Hungarian, peninsulas are called "half-islands"....
.
Modern usage of the name
A newspaper named Copper Island News was formerly published in Hancock, at least in the 1880s. and an unrelated now-defunct newspaper called the Copper Island Sentinel was published weekly in Calumet from 4 April 1978 to August 1986.Copper island is the core that the Keweenaw Water Trail wraps around. It is a designated loop
Loop
- Technology :*Loop , sending a signal on a channel and receiving it back at the sending terminal*Loop , a method of control flow in computer science*Loop device, a Unix device node that allows a file to be mounted on a directory...
route (which eliminates any need to use a shuttle or spot two vehicles) around and through the Keweenaw Peninsula for canoes and sea kayaks. The Keweenaw Waterway
Keweenaw Waterway
The Keweenaw Waterway is a partly natural, partly artificial waterway which cuts across the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan; it separates Copper Island from the mainland. Parts of the waterway are variously known as the Keweenaw Waterway, Portage Canal, Portage Lake Canal, Portage River, Lily Pond,...
is central to it, crossing the peninsula. Established in 1995, it was designated “A Superior Sports Port” by National Geographic Adventure Magazine. The trail "exemplifies the Keweenaw Peninsula in the most literal sense." The Lake Superior coast line—craggy, varied and forbidding—is claimed to be comparable to Isle Royale
Isle Royale
Isle Royale is an island of the Great Lakes, located in the northwest of Lake Superior, and part of the state of Michigan. The island and the 450 surrounding smaller islands and waters make up Isle Royale National Park....
(sans the ferry). Uninhabited wilderness, parks, and nature preserves and parks offer counterpoint to sheltered harbors and towns, where paddlers find the option of civilization, including warm bed, hot meal and shower. The Copper Island grand tour takes an 'average paddler' six to eight days, but extra days should be planned "to compensate for being wind-bound." This circumnavigation is on its way to becoming "Michigan’s top paddling destination." Shorter trips are possible.
The 'Copper Island Classic' is an ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
tournament contested annually between Hancock Central High School and Calumet High School. Such local usage still persists, and there are many business in the area that use it.
The Race for Copper Island (New York: Benziger Bros., 1905) is a novel written by Henry Sanislaus Spaulding (1865–1934) that involves the area.
Alternate use
The phrase "Copper Island" was also used, especially in the 18th century, to describe a possibly mythical island in Lake Superior where there is an abundance of copper sitting on the surface of the land. While some scholars believe this was a reference to Isle Royale, the "island," because of its abundance of copper, could also have been the northern Keweenaw Peninsula., especially given the presence of vast quantities of native copperNative copper
Copper, as native copper, is one of the few metallic elements to occur in uncombined form as a natural mineral, although most commonly occurs in oxidized states and mixed with other elements...
in the region.
Further reading
- An Interior Ellis Island: Ethnic Diversity and the Peopling of Michigan’s Copper Country, Keweenaw Ethnic Groups -- The Finns. MTU Archives and Copper Country Historical Collection, J. Robert Van Pelt Library, Michigan Technological UniversityMichigan Technological UniversityMichigan Technological University is a public research university located in Houghton, Michigan, United States. Its main campus sits on on a bluff overlooking Portage Lake...
. - Burt, Williams A., and Hubbard, Bela Reports on the Mineral Region of Lake Superior (Buffalo: L. Danforth, 1846), 113 pages.
- Thurner, Arthur W. Strangers and Sojourners - A History of Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula (Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A.: Wayne State University Press, 1994) ISBN 0814323960.
External links
- Exploring Houghton and Hancock in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan
- In-group Finnish Place Names - Michigan
- Keweenaw Ethnic Groups - MTU Archives and Copper Country Historical Collections, J. Robert Van Pelt Library
- History of the Finns in Michigan, p76 ISBN 9780814329740