*Includes pictures
*Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading
Copper mining is as ubiquitous to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan as the automobile industry is to the Lower. Centuries before the first white man set foot in the New World, local natives used rocks to pound copper free from the earth, shaping it into goods traded across the continent. It was not long before European settlers followed up on the natives' work, and when industry came to Copper Country, mines sprung up, quickly dominating the economy and lives of the Upper Peninsula's residents.
Copper was not the only mineral harvested from the earth. Iron mines spread out as well, becoming profitable if less known than their copper cousins. Even less well known but just as integral to the Peninsula's history, gold and silver prospectors prowled the land, looking for metals whose value had started and ended empires.
Mining, especially copper mining, left a deep mark in the Upper Peninsula by affecting the region's growth, landscape, culture, and economic structure. Where once a booming industry churned out tons of copper, feeding the nation's need for the ever utilitarian metal, there now lay empty shafts and a few mines, still scraping metals from the earth. Though the heyday of mining in the state has long passed, its mark on the region, the state, and the nation itself remains, and it all started long before the first men of Europe set foot in the Americas.
Iron mining continues, though the industry is now a pale shadow of its former self. Though not as extensive or well known as copper mining, the iron mines also played an important role in the region, and they also supported much of the region's silver and gold prospecting and mining. Though no great gold or silver mines came as a result of the exploring conducted by the many prospectors, the constant efforts to pull the precious metals from the region demonstrate the grit, determination, and sheer gumption of those who traveled north to stake their claims and build new lives.
The miners and workers faced their hard times like many others, but, by and large, the history of the mines, as well as the companies that ran them and the miners who worked them, is one of technological progress and impressive output that proved a great boon to the region, the state, and the nation. Though the mining companies faced their share of ups and downs, their story is largely one of success, even if it o