Keweenaw landmarks

The Keweenaw Peninsula, pronounced kee-weh-na, is the part north of Houghton that juts out into Lake Superior. It is affectionately known as “the Copper Country.” Copper mining history here is strong with mines dating as far back as 1771. In 1841, Dr. Douglass Houghton, Michigan’s first state geologist, reported on rich copper deposits in the Lake Superior region and the copper mining boom started in the Keweenaw the year following.

Quincy Mine Hoist, aka Old Reliable. Photo courtesy Clay Dobrovolec.

The mines generated incredible wealth. It is estimated that more than 12 billion pounds of native copper have been mined from the area in the past 150 years. Float copper and much larger specimens of sheet copper can be seen at the A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum in Houghton.

The Quincy Mine Hoist is now a National Historic Landmark and part of the Keweenaw National Historic Park. Tours are offered daily. Visitors are enthralled by the passion and perseverance of the men and women who toiled deep below the surface to extract the copper ore.

Other local landmarks:

⛏ The Portage Lake Lift Bridge, opened in 1959, connects the cities of Houghton and Hancock and is the gateway to the Keweenaw.

⛏ The historic Calumet Theatre opened in 1900 and brought marquee talent to the area including Sarah Bernhardt, Douglas Fairbanks, Lon Chaney, Jason Robards Sr., John Phillip Sousa, and Harry Houdini.

⛏ A giant snow gauge stands on US-41 north of Calumet, and is a popular roadside attraction. The all-time record snowfall was in 1978-79 at 390.4 inches.

⛏ The start of US-41 is in Copper Harbor at the very tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula. This major north-south highway crosses eight states, ending nearly 2,000 miles later in Miami, Florida.