Copper Island

Copper Island
Kuparisaari
Region
Official name: Northern Keweenaw Peninsula
Country	United States
State	Michigan
Copper Island is on Lake Superior, separated from the rest of the Keweenaw Peninsula by Portage Lake and the Keweenaw Waterway

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.^[1]

Geography

The area was "isolated" by dredging in 1859 and construction in the 1860s of a ship canal across an isthmus 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 m) wide and 21 feet (6.4 m) deep. The resulting "island" was called Kuparisaari (meaning "Copper Island") in Finnish^[2], Irish^[3] and French/French Canadian^[4] 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, if Copper Island were considered an island, Copper Island would be the largest island in Lake Superior.^{[citation needed]}

Historically, "Kuparisaari" ('Copper Island') was used to mean the Keweenaw north of Portage Lake, but more generically the copper country 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."^[5] As the foregoing source indicates, "Copper Island" has sometimes been used as a sobriquet for Michigan's "copper country."

Communities and transportation

The principal towns on the Copper Island end of Keweenaw Peninsula are Hancock 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.^[6]

Modern usage of the name

A newspaper named Copper Island News was formerly published in Hancock, at least in the 1880s.^[7] and an unrelated now-defunct newspaper called the Copper Island Sentinel was published weekly in Calumet from 4 April 1978 to August 1986.^[8][9]

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.^[10] 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."^{[citation needed]} 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.^[11]

The 'Copper Island Classic' is an ice hockey tournament contested annually between Hancock Central High School and Calumet High School.^[12] Such local usage still persists, and there are many business in the area that use it. ^[13]

The Race for Copper Island (New York: Benziger Bros., 1905) is a novel written by Henry Sanislaus Spaulding (1865-1934) that involves the area.^[14]

Alternate use

The phrase "Copper Island" was also used, especially in the 1700s, 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.^[15], especially given the presence of vast quantities of native copper in the region.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Copper Country
• Keweenaw National Historical Park
• Native copper

References

Further reading

• 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