Copper Harbor, Michigan Explained

Official Name:	Copper Harbor, Michigan
Settlement Type:	Census-designated place (CDP) & unincorporated community
Pushpin Map:	Michigan#USA
Pushpin Label Position:	right
Pushpin Label:	Copper Harbor
Pushpin Map Caption:	Location within the state of Michigan##Location within the United States
Mapsize:	250
Subdivision Type:	Country
Subdivision Name:	United States
Subdivision Type1:	State
Subdivision Name1:	Michigan
Subdivision Type2:	County
Subdivision Name2:	Keweenaw
Subdivision Type3:	Township
Subdivision Name3:	Grant
Established Title:	Established
Established Date:	1844
Unit Pref:	Imperial
Area Footnotes:	^[1]
Area Total Km2:	6.28
Area Land Km2:	3.92
Area Water Km2:	2.37
Area Total Sq Mi:	2.43
Area Land Sq Mi:	1.51
Area Water Sq Mi:	0.91
Population As Of:	2020
Population Total:	136
Population Density Km2:	34.71
Population Density Sq Mi:	89.89
Timezone:	Eastern (EST)
Utc Offset:	-5
Timezone Dst:	EDT
Utc Offset Dst:	-4
Elevation Ft:	605
Coordinates:	47.4689°N -87.8883°W
Postal Code Type:	ZIP code(s)
Postal Code:	49918 49950 (Mohawk)
Area Code:	906
Blank Name:	FIPS code
Blank Info:	26-18100^[2]
Blank1 Name:	GNIS feature ID
Blank1 Info:	623809

Copper Harbor is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located in Keweenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located within Grant Township. The population of the CDP was 136 as of the 2020 census.^[3]

The community is located at the northern tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula and is the northernmost permanently populated community in the state. Due to its natural environment and surroundings, which include Fort Wilkins Historic State Park, Copper Harbor is marketed as an all-season tourist destination.^{[4] [5]}

Etymology

The name of the community, Copper Harbor, alludes to the former use of its harbor as a port for shipping copper mined from local deposits during the mid-19th century.^[6]

History

The Keweenaw Peninsula and the area that would become the Copper Country was home to the Ojibwe people prior to European settlement. In 1836, the Upper Peninsula was officially ceded from the Native American Chippewa to the United States following the signing of the Treaty of Washington. The treaty was signed in the national capital, Washington, D.C., by Henry Schoolcraft and Native American representatives from the Ojibwe and Odawa nations.^[7]

Copper Harbor was host to the first mineral land agency throughout the entire Lake Superior District. Captain Walter Cunningham was appointed by the United States Department of War to act as a Special Agent to the area. As soon as wayfinding was established in the spring of 1843, Cunningham had come to the area and opened his office, which was thereafter named the "Government House". It was positioned on Porter's Island, a small rocky island just opposite of present-day downtown Copper Harbor.

The Pittsburgh and Boston Copper Harbor Mining Company, formed by John Hayes of Cleveland, Ohio, began excavating some pits near Haye's Point in Copper Harbor in 1844. It was a small development at first, but its mine was modern for its time, and the company struck it rich in 1845. The Pittsburgh and Boston mine operations were some of the first in the state of Michigan.

A few years later, the Central Mine, Cliff Mine, and others were opened and became successful.^{[8] [9] [10]} However, by 1870 the copper resources in the community had been largely worked out.^[11]

The community of Copper Harbor was listed as a newly organized census-designated place for the 2010 census, meaning it now has officially defined boundaries and population statistics.^[12]

Geography

In 2010, Copper Harbor was listed as a census-designated place. The CDP contains a total area of 2.43sqmi, of which 1.51sqmi is land and 0.92sqmi (37.86%) is water.^[13]

Copper Harbor is located at the northern edge of the Keweenaw Peninsula, which also extends for several miles to the east. Copper Harbor has its own post office and ZIP Code (49918).^[14] Some areas within the community and the surrounding area may use the Mohawk 49950 ZIP Code.

Beyond the community center, there are thick forests, limited roadways, and few developments.^{[15] [16]}

Relative to other communities in the Keweenaw, Copper Harbor is 9miles from Mandan, 12miles north of Delaware, and 16miles east of Eagle Harbor. The village of Ahmeek is the nearest incorporated community at 30miles to the southwest.^{[17] [18] [19]}

Climate

Copper Harbor has a humid continental climate.^[20] Summers are warm but rarely hot due to the moderating influence of Lake Superior, while winters are cold and snowy, albeit milder than areas on similar parallels to the west, due to the low-scale maritime moderation. Although winter temperatures are similar to those in the nearest large metropolitan city Minneapolis, a couple of degrees latitude south-west, the main difference is that April is also a winter month in Copper Harbor, since the marine effects delay spring. The temperature lag effect is so great that March holds the town's record low, and April's record low temperatures are not much warmer than those of December.

Notable attractions

• Hunter's Point is the name of a flat point, running out from the west into Lake Superior. It was named for an early settler of the area named Hunter who owned a tract of land on what is now Hunter's Point. He is buried in the Fort Wilkins Cemetery. Today, Hunter's Island is a Grant Township park, hosting a wide variety of both flora and fauna alike. It is also a well-known stop for migratory birds.^[21]
• Just outside the town is the northern terminus of U.S. Highway 41, which runs 1990miles from Copper Harbor to Miami, Florida.^{[22] [23]}
• Just east of downtown Copper Harbor is Fort Wilkins Historic State Park, an early restored frontier United States Army base originally built in 1844 to protect the vital port of Copper Harbor from the Ojibwe during the early years of the copper mining boom, America's first great mining rush. It became clear later that issues in the region were their own—rough and icy winters, isolation, and sheer loneliness.^{[24] [25] [26] [27]}

• The Copper Harbor Schoolhouse, one of the oldest one-room schools in Michigan, is found here. In 1999, this 140-year-old school had nine students who attended classes. The school district it lies in is called Grant Township Schools, District No. 2. The District motto is "Searching For Knowledge" and the mascot of the schoolhouse is the Copper Harbor Prospectors.^{[28] [29]}
• Copper Harbor is home to a Fourth of July fireworks show that is locally notable on the Keweenaw Peninsula.^[30]
• Lake Fanny Hooe, named after the mining Captain William Albutrtis' juvenile sister-in-law, borders Fort Wilkins and is well known in the area for the origin of its name. This lake is one mile east of Copper Harbor, and runs parallel with the highway M-26. The lake is two miles long and a quarter mile wide, with a total depth of thirty-five feet and numerous points.^{[31] [32]}
• The historic Copper Harbor Lighthouse is situated at the opening of the physical harbor itself. The lighthouse was rebuilt in 1866, replacing an original light from 1849, and is only accessible via a short ride in a compact, open vessel from the Copper Harbor Marina. Taken out of service in 1933, the historic navigational aid is one of the oldest lighthouses on Lake Superior. Within the yellow-bricked maritime post, furnishings from the era remain to conceptualize the life of the lighthouse keepers. Exhibits in the lighthouse museum cover both the lighthouse's history and the local shipwreck culture of the area.^[33]
• The historic Copper Harbor Cemetery discloses the gravestones of some of the earliest settlers in the Copper Country, with the first recorded interment in 1853 and a number of other tombstones that predate the year 1900.^[34]
• Characterized as "the most beautiful road in Michigan," Brockway Mountain Drive is a 8.9miles roadway that follows the spine of a 735feet ridge between the communities of Copper Harbor and Eagle Harbor, and it is the highest-paved road between the Rocky Mountains to the west and the Allegheny Mountains in the east. The notoriously picturesque road was constructed during the 1930s in the midst of the Great Depression by the Works Progress Administration. It offers views of Lake Superior, and the Keweenaw Peninsula, as well the archipelago of Isle Royale on an especially clear, transparent day. There is also a close on the drive called Brockway Mountain Lookout that offers a view of the community of Copper Harbor itself.^[35]
• In addition to the main 1849 Copper Harbor Lighthouse, the Copper Harbor Front Range and Rear Range Lights, both completed in 1869, remain and are locally considered to be iconic, as well as being the subject of memorabilia. The purpose of the Copper Harbor Range Lights was to do what the main lighthouse could not; it guided vessels and their sailors past the hazardous reefs on either side of the waterway.^[36]

Demographics

According to the 2020 census, the CDP had a population of 136. According to the 2021 American Community Survey, its median household income was $54,583.

Transportation

Highways

• travels through Copper Harbor and has its northernmost terminus just east of the community.
• has its northernmost terminus at U.S. Route 41 within the western portion of the community.

Ferry services

Copper Harbor contains a ferry port that provides transportation to Isle Royale National Park. The Isle Royale Line, Inc. (formerly named Isle Royale Ferry Service) operates the Isle Royale Queen IV out of Copper Harbor during the warmer months from May to September. The ferry takes 3.5 hours to travel 60miles across Lake Superior to Rock Harbor.

See also

• Copper mining in Michigan
• Shipwrecks of the 1913 Great Lakes storm

External links

• Official community of Copper Harbor website
• Copper Country Explorer
• Copper Harbor biking and hiking trails
• Astronomy Picture of the Day May 5, 2021 showing a STEVE (Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement) in the night sky - similar to aurora and often accompanying a green picket-fence aurora

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2020 U.S. Gazetteer Files. United States Census Bureau. May 21, 2022.
2. Web site: U.S. Census website . . January 31, 2008 .
3. Web site: Explore Census Data . 2023-08-03 . data.census.gov.
4. Web site: Michigan Economic Development Corporation . Keweenaw Convention & Visitors Bureau: Copper Harbor . 2021 . August 4, 2021 .
5. Book: Monette, Clarence J. . Some Copper Country Names And Places . 1975 . 0-942363-04-3 . Lake Linden, Michigan .
6. Book: Lankton, Larry . Hollowed Ground . Wayne State University Press . 2010 . 9780814334904 . 13–14 .
7. Book: Magnaghi, Russell M. . Native Americans of Michigan's Upper Peninsula: A Chronology to 1900 . Center for Upper Peninsula Studies . 2009 . 978-0-557-33460-5 . 2nd . Marquette, Michigan .
8. Web site: Copper Mining History and Copper Harbor Michigan . www.exploringthenorth.com . May 15, 2019 .
9. Book: Whittlesey, Charles . 1852 . 4000 Years of Copper Country History . Greenlee Printing .
10. Book: Mansfield, John Brandt . 1899 . History of the Great Lakes . 199 . J. H. Beers & Co. .
11. Book: Dunbar . Willis Frederick . May . George S. . 1995 . Michigan: A History of the Wolverine State . 358 . Grand Rapids . Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing .
12. Web site: Michigan: 2010 Population and Housing Unit Counts 2010 Census of Population and Housing . September 2012 . . . August 8, 2016 . III-6 .
13. Web site: September 2012 . Michigan: 2010 Population and Housing Unit Counts 2010 Census of Population and Housing . . . 31 Michigan . March 7, 2021.
14. Web site: UnitedStatesZipCodes.org . ZIP Code 49918: Copper Harbor (Calumet) . 2021 . August 4, 2021 .
15. Book: Vachon, Paul . Michigan's Upper Peninsula . Avalon Travel . 2015 . 978-1-61238-986-8 . Berkeley, California .
16. Book: Penrod, John . Michigan's Copper Country: Michigan's Historic Wilderness . 2001 . 0-942618-69-6 . Berrien Center, Michigan .
17. Web site: Seeing The Light - Eagle Harbor Range Lights . www.terrypepper.com . May 22, 2019 .
18. Web site: Copper Harbor Rear Range (Michigan) - 1910 . uslhs.org . May 22, 2019 .
19. Book: White, Mel . National Geographic Complete National Parks of the United States . National Geographic Partners . 2016 . 978-1-4262-1692-3 . Second . Washington, D.C. .
20. Web site: Copper Harbor, Michigan Climate Summary . Weatherbase . November 10, 2015 .
21. Web site: Hunter's Point Park - Grant Township . https://web.archive.org/web/20160422083824/http://www.hunters-point.org/ . dead . April 22, 2016 . April 22, 2016 . May 22, 2019 .
22. Web site: End of US highway 41 . US Ends .com . en . May 15, 2019 .
23. Web site: Terminus of U.S. 41 at Copper Harbor, Autumn Scenic Drive . May 13, 2018 . TakeMyTrip.com . en-US . May 21, 2019 .
24. Book: Hintz, Martin . America The Beautiful: Michigan . Children's Press . 1998 . 0-516-20636-2 . Danbury, Connecticut . registration .
25. Book: Molloy, Lawrence J. . A Guide to Michigan's Historic Keweenaw Copper District: Photographs, Maps, and Tours of the Keweenaw—Past and Present . 2011 . Great Lakes GeoScience . 978-0-9791772-1-7 .
26. Book: National Geographic Guide to State Parks of the United States . National Geographic Partners . 2018 . 978-1-4262-1885-9 . Fifth . Washington, D.C. .
27. Book: National Geographic Guide to Scenic Highways & Byways: The 300 Best Drives in the U.S. . 2018 . 978-1-4262-1905-4 . Washington, D.C. .
28. Web site: schoolcopperharbor . schoolcopperharbor . en . May 20, 2019 .
29. Web site: Copper Country Intermediate School District . Hancock, Michigan . May 20, 2019 .
30. Web site: Annual Festivals Keweenaw Michigan . Keweenaw Convention & Visitor’s Bureau . en . May 20, 2019 .
31. Web site: Lake Fanny Hooe Resort & Campground. Located at Keweenaw's Copper Harbor, in Michigan's Upper Peninsula . www.fannyhooe.com . May 22, 2019 .
32. Web site: Lake Fanny Hooe . Keweenaw Convention & Visitor’s Bureau . en . May 22, 2019 .
33. Book: James, Barry C. . Lighting the Way: A History Of The Copper Harbor Lighthouse . Fort Wilkins Natural History Association . 2000 . 0-9675103-0-9 . Copper Harbor, Michigan .
34. Web site: MI State Historic Preservation Objects . https://web.archive.org/web/20120612201743/http://www.mcgi.state.mi.us/hso/sites/8147.htm . dead . June 12, 2012 . June 12, 2012 . May 22, 2019 .
35. Book: Howard, Philip J. . Yankee Yooper On The Keweenaw . 2014 . Xlibris Corporation . 978-1-4931-8789-8 . 2014905453 .
36. Web site: Michigan / Copper Harbor Old Rear Range light - plate (mitko) . World of Lighthouses . en . May 22, 2019 .