Michigan’s Keweenaw: A land of transitions

After stomping through deep snow under brilliant sunshine, a dark hole in a tall ridge loomed ahead. Minutes later Clayton Gomez led us into the dimly lit tunnel. We followed him deep into the bowels of the ridge, where he stopped in a wide spot.

“We’re about 350 feet below the surface,” he told us.

Gomez is chief of interpretation for the Quincy Mine on Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula. The mine and other fascinating places are part of the Keweenaw National Historical Park and is one of several mines that welcome visitors.

As our group gathered Gomez switched off the dim electric lights, leaving only one candle to barely penetrate the gloom.

“That’s all the light miners had to work with down here. On 10-hour shifts men toiled in the near darkness pounding holes in the rock, packing in powder and lighting a charge. They then loaded chunks into a cart and pushed them to a hoist that whisked the copper-laden rocks up to the surface,” he explained.

Miners earned $2 a day and worked a six-day week. Deaths and injuries were common in those days before OSHA and worker’s comp created safer conditions. When a miner died or was disabled his compensation ended, and often his family was evicted from company-owned housing.

Well before Christopher Columbus, Native Americans mined copper nuggets scattered about Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula and traded them far and wide across the continent. European immigrants in the early 1800s flooded into the area and soon worked several copper mines. Others logged the region's forests and established farms. They quickly transitioned a wild area into a heavily populated industrialized region. Most of the copper used in the United States from just before the Civil War until about 1945 came from the Keweenaw area and was used to electrify houses, stores, factories and cars.

The transition from ancient forests to an industrial area included building towns, railroads, mines, smelters, ports, farms and sawmills. There’s still plenty of copper in the ground, but mining ceased in the mid-20th century when Utah’s open pit mines were able to produce the metal at lower cost than Michigan’s shafts.

Towns shrank as people abandoned the infrastructure and moved away. Cleared land gradually restored itself to forests, and logging continues. Today the Keweenaw Peninsula is a prime recreation area for snow and water skiing, snowmobiling, fishing, hiking, berry picking, rock hounding, boating and viewing the heavens from one of the darkest places on our continent.

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The Keweenaw Peninsula is a geographical oddity. It’s a peninsula on Michigan’s much larger Upper Peninsula. The Keweenaw may not technically be a peninsula at all. Years ago, a natural waterway, partly extending through it, was expanded to create a shortcut waterway from the western part of Lake Superior to the more southerly portion of lake. Thus, avoiding the deadly shallows at the tip of the Keweenaw.

The shortcut transformed the land from peninsula to island. The Keweenaw is still called a peninsula and is a long, curved finger-shaped land that juts north into the huge lake.

Many Iowans enjoy vacationing on Minnesota’s North Shore yet know little about the Keweenaw. Both places offer many of the same fun outdoor activities at almost exactly the same driving distance from Cedar Rapids.

We chose to visit in the depth of winter to enjoy winter as we remember it when growing up in the East. Iowans often grump about the cold and sparse snow that falls here. In contrast, Yoopers, as residents of the Upper Peninsula call themselves, embrace the cold and snow. So did we for a few February days of diverse wintery adventure.

We based out of Houghton and Hancock, Michigan. The two towns face each other across “the canal” and are linked by one of the world’s largest lift bridges. Come warm weather the waterway swarms with commercial ships and flotillas of pleasure boats, but it was locked in ice during our stay.

Quincy Mine welcomes visitors all year and boasts that its underground temperature is 43 degrees summer and winter. Dress warmly. After touring the mine, we stopped at Takka Saunas. We’d heard that Finnish immigrants enjoyed sitting in super-hot steamy buildings before dashing outside to roll in the snow. Sounds nuts, but we did it.

Only a few minutes away we lunched at Mont Ripley Ski Hill. Opened in 1934, it is owned and operated by nearby Michigan Technological University. The hill features a 440-foot vertical drop and welcomes snowboarders, skiers and tubers. Snow’s rarely a problem. No matter which way the wind blows, lake effect snow falls on the Peninsula. The area averages 202 inches a winter, and in some years 300 inches falls from the sky.

We wanted to get as close to the Peninsula’s tip as possible. That proves to be the tiny town of Copper Harbor about 40 miles north of Houghton. Before town we strapped on snowshoes and hiked uphill to watch expert skiers swish between trees at Mount Bohemia. It features a 900-foot vertical drop and an average of 273 inches of snowfall every winter. Its non-groomed, twisty tree-lined runs are for experienced skiers and boarders only. One of our group was an accomplished snowboarder who often frequents Utah’s famed ski runs. She tested Mount Bohemia and declared it “excellent!”

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Needing to warm up we stopped at Keweenaw Mountain Lodge near Copper Harbor.

Built during the depression, the lodge welcomes visitors to stay in their cabins and, in winter, enjoy groomed snowshoe and cross-country ski trails. It is a designated dark sky location offering views of stars and the northern lights above Lake Superior – when it’s not cloudy or snowy.

Probably our most fascinating time on the Keweenaw was during our last night. For two days we’d watched crews craft a challenging snowboarding course on a steep city street in preparation for the annual Rail Jibba Jabba. We were amazed viewing about 30 young snowboarders somersaulting, jumping on and off iron rails, and whizzing through a snowy tunnel. It’s a fun event to watch yet one we’d be too scared to personally try.

Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula transitioned from industry to recreation, with tourism and Michigan Technological University being major employers. It flip flops seasons.

Summer brings warm weather fun, but a recent focus has been expanding winter adventures and events.

We visited several restaurants and especially enjoyed grilled whitefish, caught in nearby Lake Superior. A featured Yooper meal is the pasty. (pronounce with a soft “a.”)

Brought to the area by Cornish miners as a lunch that they could carry deep into their subterranean work places, pasties are meat and vegetable pies that are as delicious as they are portable. They’re perfect to tuck into a day pack and eat while snowshoeing.

Many hotels are clustered in towns, especially Houghton and Hancock. Lodges are scattered in scenic and wilder places. Many are open all year. During summer months both private and public campgrounds welcome both RVers and tenters.

February is an outstanding month to visit. There’s a Winter Carnival early in the month. College fraternities craft amazing ice sculptures, and activities are sprinkled around the area. The annual Rail Jibba Jabba is held on the second Saturday of the month. Admission is free. Crowds are jovial. Skiing, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, ice fishing, mine touring and shopping are all possible.

Since many activities are outdoors wise winter visitors bring layers of warm clothing and insulated boots. Hand warmers help fend off the chill.

We traveled north in two days with an overnight in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, scoping out the Hodag Hunt – the mythological forest creature. From there Eagle River lured us in with the amazing ice castle created annually by firefighters. We easily drove home in one day.

A useful resource to research area adventures is visitkeweenaw.com. The group also operates a visitor center in the small town of Calumet. They are happy to help possible visitors locate lodging, eateries, events, activities, fishing guides and places to simply unwind.

We’d gladly return to the Keweenaw come summer or fall and take in the warm weather ambiance and more pasties!