Tracing the far northern shore of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, the Copper Country Trail reveals the story of prehistoric people who lived here for 7,000 years before European explorers set foot on the land. They ceded their homeland to the United States just as abundant copper was discovered.
Like so many other drives for precious metals, between 1867-1882, two mining companies produced more than half of all the copper used in the United States. As the world learned about these vast deposits of ore, Cornish, Italian, Finnish, German, French Canadian and Irish immigrants began arriving to mine and create lasting, cohesive communities. The boom lasted until the 1930s, with the last mine closing in 1968.