Author John R. Halsey, former state archaeologist of Michigan, uses mining reports, newspaper accounts, personal letters, and other sources to reconstruct what these nineteenth-century discoverers found, how they interpreted the material remains of prehistoric activity, and what they did with the stone, wood, and copper tools they …
Timeline of Michigan Copper Mining Prehistory to 1850. Colton's 1872 Lake Superior Map. 7,000 years ago. The earliest known metalworking in North America begins when …
This native metal has an exceptional ratio of pure copper, typically over 95%. The most heavily utilized mines were discovered at Isle Royale, Keweenaw and Ontonagon. The following is an excerpt from the turn of the last century by Mr. J.T. Reeder of the Tamarack Mining Company in Calumet, Michigan, as he describes the ore deposits in this region.
Carbon dating of wood timbers in the pits has dated the mining to start about 2450 BC and end abruptly at 1200 BC. Officially, no one knows where the Michigan copper went. All the "ancient copper culture" tools that have been found could have been manufactured from just one of the large boulders. A placard in London's British Museum ...
Michigan's unique contribution to archeology is found in the ancient copper mines of the Lake Superior region. The presence of copper in the rocks of the Keweenaw Peninsula has been known for centuries. ... In summary, the ore deposits of the Michigan Copper District are of two basic types that differ in mineralogy, host rock type, and ...
The railroad construction was built during a harsh winter and by May of 1899 the Champion Mining Company started mining copper along the western shore of the Keeweenau Peninsula. Champion Mining Company was a subsidiary of the Copper Range Consolidation headed by . . . William Alfred Paine. The Champion Mine shaft #4 in …
After the Civil War, copper mining in the Keweenaw expanded. For forty years (1847-1887), Michigan produced more copper than any state in the nation. One of the nation's biggest copper enterprises was the Calumet and Hecla (C&H) Mining Company. During the 1870s, C&H produced half of the nation's copper.
These passageways led to copper deposits that made Central one of the many successful mines on the 150-mile-long Keweenaw Peninsula, the northernmost appendage of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, in ...
The State of Our Knowledge About Ancient Copper Mining in Michigan The Michigan Archaeologist 41(2-3):119-138. Susan R. Martin 1995 ABSTRACT Popular literature contributes to the persistence of fantasy and mythology surrounding ancient copper mining in Michigan. This paper points out some of the major elements of mis …
Schertz, J.P., Old Water Levels and Waterways During the Ancient Copper Mining Era (about 3000 BC to 1000 BC), 1999, no ISBN ... Martin, S.R., "The State of Our Knowledge about Ancient Copper Mining in …
on Isle Royale that receives drainage from a watershed that contains numerous ancient copper mines. At McCargoe Cove, concentrations of lead, copper, and potas.
The earliest known metalworking in North America begins when Indigenous Peoples start mining copper on the Keweenaw …
What are the latest findings on proof of early Norse copper mining in Michigan ? ... With the technology of ancient and medieval times, it would not have been economical to ship copper to the olld world. Also, there is zero evidence from any Viking presence in the interior of North America. Lake Superior is a lomg way from the Atlantic …
The restricted geographic distribution of the Keweenaw Peninsula study area relative to the larger Michigan Copper District region limited the scope of the investigation and raised new questions regarding the timing, intensity, and spatial pattern of the ancient copper mining industry. For example, on the Keweenaw Peninsula, ...
Ancient Copper Mining. Copper mining on Isle Royale is no recent thing--in fact it has spanned a period of more than 4,500 years. When man first arrived in the New World, perhaps 15,000 to 20,000 …
Evidence for ancient copper mining in Michigan The earliest references to copper in the Great Lakes area come from Jacques Cartier's second voyage to the region in AD 1535–1536. Cartier noted the presence of copper among the native peoples inhabiting the Gulf of St Lawrence (Biggar, 1924; Griffin, 1961). In
There is a rich lore about ancient copper mining in the Lake Superior region. Most of it is highly speculative and is unsupported, but fervently believed. There is no doubt that copper was mined at Isle Royale thousands of years ago. Most likely this was done by indigenous miners who traded the copper with people who lived far to the south.
Isle Royale and the counties that line the northwest coast of Michigan's Upper Peninsula are called Copper Country because of the rich deposits of native copper there. In the …
Copper was probably the first metal used by ancient cultures, and the oldest artefacts made with it date to the Neolithic period.The shiny red-brown metal was used for jewellery, tools, sculpture, bells, vessels, lamps, amulets, and death masks, amongst other things. So important was the metal in human development that it gave its name to the …
Isle Royale and the counties that line the northwest coast of Michigan's Upper Peninsula are called Copper Country because of the rich deposits of native copper there. In the nineteenth century, explorers and miners discovered evidence of prehistoric copper mining in this region. They used those "ancient diggings" as a guide to establishing their own, …
The regions surrounding Lake Superior in the United States, including Isle Royale and the Keweenaw Peninsula in Michigan, are home to widespread copper deposits that were extensively mined in ancient times by societies associated with the Old Copper Complex (Martin, 1999, Martin and Pleger, 1999) (Fig. 1).
It was deduced that early miners lacking heavy equipment could only mine protuberances, and left the remains behind. With these discoveries, Michigan's copper boom, which would become bigger in dollar value than the gold rush, was on. According to Halsey, hundreds of ancient mining sites were discovered in Michigan between the …
They created colonies even in Canada and exploited local copper mines. All this before Columbus! ... talking specifically about the possibility of ancient Greeks had arrived in …America, searching for new sources of metals. ... on the shores of Lake Superior, Michigan between the U.S. and Canada, where there have been exported …
An ancient 12.1-ounce (340-gram) nugget of natural native copper from the glacial drifts of Michigan. (Rob Lavinsky, iRocks – CC-BY-SA-3.0 / CC BY-SA 3.0) In her research project, Bebber and …
Evidence shows that someone was mining copper in northern Michigan starting around 5,300 BC. It continued until 1,200 BC. Around 1,000 AD mining was restarted and lasted until 1,320 AD. The largest mine discovered was located on Isle Royale, an island in Lake Superior near the Canadian border.
Isle Royale and the counties that line the northwest coast of Michigan's Upper Peninsula are called Copper Country because of the rich deposits of native copper there. In the nineteenth century, explorers and miners discovered evidence of prehistoric copper mining in this region. They used those "ancient diggings" as a guide to …
Copper mining in Michigan continued to expand through the late 1800s and early 1900s, with new mines opening and old ones being reworked. The peak of copper mining in Michigan occurred in the early 20th century, with the total production of copper from Michigan mines reaching over 11 billion pounds by the mid-20th century.
A very ancient copper ax found along Munch Creek in Pennsylvania baffled many archaeologists. You see, according to them - LINK: "I believe this ax was made by the Old Copper Culture of Upper Michigan.Noninvasive testing shows the purity of the copper is consistent with the Keewenaw Peninsula, which extends into Lake Superior."
Ancient Copper Mining ... The 47-mile stretch of US-41 from Houghton to Copper Harbor was designated a Michigan State Heritage Route in 1994, and later became known as the Copper Country Trail National Byway because of its historical significance. Make sure to take US-41 all the way to the end and grab a photo with the …
The Michigan Copper Mining Co. holdings consisted of 4,870 acres of mineral land, 1,466 acres of timber land and a 150 acre mill site. This included the sites and of the old Minesota, Superior and Rockland mines. ... In 1854, John Shawson, an agent of the Cliff Mine, discovered native copper in the bottom of an ancient indian pit several miles ...
Former state archaeologist and UMMAA author John R. Halsey will give a presentation on Michigan's prehistoric copper mines on Saturday, November 10, at the Library of Michigan in Lansing. The Museum published Halsey's book, Prehistoric Copper Mining in Michigan: The Nineteenth-Century Discovery of "Ancient Diggings" in the Keweenaw …
Scientists find evidence of ancient copper mining in polluted lake sediments from Isle Royale National Park. by J. Rosen 24 …
Learn how nineteenth-century explorers and miners discovered and exploited the ancient copper mines in the Keweenaw Peninsula and Isle Royale. This book by John R. Halsey, former state …