Western Upper Peninsula

Douglass Houghton and Michigan’s Copper Discovery On this day in history, October 14, 1845 Dr. Douglass Houghton died at just 36 years old. He was Michigan’s pioneering state geologist and the man often called the “father of copper mining in the United States.” In 1840, Houghton conducted a detailed survey of the Upper Peninsula’s mineral resources. His 1841 report included more than 27 pages on copper and copper ore, famously noting that “the copper ores are not only of superior quality, but also that their associations are such as to render them easily reduced.” He even observed that the ore… Read More »

The 1844 Discovery That Built Michigan’s Mining Legacy On September 19, 1844, William Austin Burt and his surveying crew were trekking through the rugged Upper Peninsula wilderness when their compasses began acting strangely. The needles wavered and swung off course and not because of supernatural forces. But because they were standing atop one of the richest deposits of iron ore in North America: the Marquette Iron Range. The following year, the Jackson Mining Company opened the Jackson Mine, and with it, the foundation for the city of Negaunee, Michigan. Before long, Ishpeming followed. While the California Gold Rush of 1848… Read More »

🎡 From 50 Cents to a U.P. Tradition: If there’s one thing the Upper Peninsula knows how to do, it’s throw a fair that celebrates hard work, community pride, and just the right amount of fried food. On September 17, 1928, Escanaba welcomed visitors to the very first Upper Peninsula State Fair. It was a celebration born out of a 1927 law signed by Governor Fred W. Green to promote agriculture and industry in the region. Tickets cost just 50 cents for adults (a bargain even back then) and dropped to 25 cents after 6 p.m. The fair is an… Read More »

Michigan Tech, Then Called Michigan Mining School, Holds First Classes On September 15, 1886, the future of higher education in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula began… in a fire hall. That’s right — the first classes of the Michigan Mining School (today’s Michigan Technological University) were held in the Houghton Fire Hall, with just four faculty members and 23 students eager to learn the science and engineering of mining. The school’s founding was the result of determined lobbying by Jay Abel Hubbell, a local politician who convinced the state legislature to establish a school to train mining engineers for the booming copper… Read More »

The Six-Foot Strike Leader Who Defied Calumet Police in 1913 On September 10, 1913, a tall, determined woman named Anna “Big Annie” Clemenc made national headlines. She refused to step aside during a tense miners’ strike in Calumet, Michigan. Standing over six feet tall, carrying herself with quiet but unwavering strength, Big Annie became a symbol of labor resistance in the Copper Country Strike of 1913–1914. Married to a miner Annie was deeply connected to the struggles of the Western Federation of Miners. Annie threw her support behind the fight for better wages and safer working conditions. On that September… Read More »

The Legacy of America’s First Finnish College On this day in history, September 8, 1896, a groundbreaking institution opened its doors in Hancock, Michigan — Suomi College, the first Finnish college in the United States. With just 27 students in rented quarters, the small school had an ambitious mission: to train Lutheran ministers and preserve Finnish language and culture in America. The driving force behind this mission was J.K. Nikander, a Finnish immigrant and pastor with the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (the Suomi Synod). Nikander saw the influx of Finnish settlers to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula — many drawn… Read More »

The Day Michigan Changed Hands (Sort Of) On September 3, 1783, Great Britain and the United States signed the Treaty of Paris, officially ending the Revolutionary War. Among its many consequences, it ceded Michigan—and the rest of the Northwest Territory—to the United States. Sounds neat and tidy, right? Well, not exactly. Britain, eager to keep its profitable fur trade alive, refused to give up its military or political strongholds in Michigan for another thirteen years. In fact, British troops didn’t pack up and leave until after Jay’s Treaty in 1796. Their influence still lingered until after the War of 1812…. Read More »

Reimund Holzhey’s Wild Ride Through Michigan History Before the Old West officially rode off into the sunset, Michigan had one last brush with outlaw justice. On this day in 1889, 22-year-old Reimund Holzhey—known dramatically as the “Black Bart of the Upper Peninsula”—staged the final stagecoach robbery east of the Mississippi River. What unfolded that day was part dime novel, part tragedy, and all true Michigan history. Holzhey wasn’t your run-of-the-mill bandit. He was a young man with a flair for drama, a penchant for train and stagecoach holdups, and an unfortunate taste for dime novels, including those about the infamous… Read More »

The Vagabonds Land in the U.P. On this day in history—August 17, 1923—three of America’s most iconic innovators set foot in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. They arrived for a camping trip that was anything but rustic. Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Harvey Firestone, along with their wives, friends, and an entourage of staff, arrived in Escanaba aboard Ford’s massive luxury yacht, Sialia. The group, known as “The Vagabonds,” wasn’t just on a vacation—they were making history. The Sialia, a 300-foot sea-going vessel equipped with every modern safety and comfort feature, cruised through dense fog across Lake Michigan after a tour of… Read More »

On August 4, 1929, a small but mighty boat named the Water Lily made her maiden voyage from Copper Harbor, Michigan, to Isle Royale—a rugged, remote island in Lake Superior. For the first time ever, Michiganders could board a ferry in their own state and travel to Isle Royale’s pristine wilderness by boat. Before this historic trip, anyone wishing to explore the island had to depart from Duluth, Minnesota, or Port Arthur, Ontario. Charles Kauppi The man behind this bold new service was Charles Kauppi, a former commercial fisherman from the tiny town of Gay, Michigan. With the country on… Read More »

Copper Country Shaken On July 26, 1905, the quiet towns of Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula experienced a startling natural event that left a lasting mark on the region’s history. The Keweenaw Peninsula earthquake, estimated at VIII on the Mercalli Intensity Scale—equivalent to about a 5.0 to 5.9 on the Richter Scale—rattled the area, toppling chimneys, breaking windows, and sending tremors far beyond the immediate vicinity. Residents from Calumet to Copper Harbor and as far east as Marquette felt the shaking, causing such fear that many copper miners refused to descend into the mines for their night shifts. The 1905 quake was… Read More »

Fire on Isle Royale Summer of 1936 was hot, dry, and tense on Isle Royale. On July 25, a fire broke out near the Consolidated Paper Company’s lumber mill camp on Siskiwit Bay. What began as a localized blaze quickly escalated into the largest wildfire in Isle Royale history. The island, already home to Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps building the newly authorized national park infrastructure, became the frontline for a fierce battle against the flames. Back then, Isle Royale was experiencing a drought that gripped the northern Midwest, and the tinder-dry mossy ground combined with strong winds created the… Read More »