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Keweenaw National Historical ParkThe Calumet & Hecla general offices now serves as the headquarters for Keweenaw National Historical Park. NPS Photo, Dan Johnson
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Keweenaw's Copper Story

From 7,000 years ago to the 1900s people mined Keweenaw copper. Native peoples made copper into tools and trade items. Investors and immigrants arrived in the 1800s in a great mineral rush, developing thriving industries and cosmopolitan communities. Though the mines have since closed, their mark is still visible on the land and people.

 
Fifth Street in Calumet retains much of its appearance and feel from the early 1900s. Click here to learn more about the park.

Exploring the Park

Keweenaw National Historical Park consists of two units - Quincy and Calumet - twelve miles apart. The two units are located at the sites of former large-scale mines. Quincy Mine illustrates the processes and technologies of copper mining. The social, ethnic, commercial, and company-planned aspects of a mining community are revealed by the former Calumet & Hecla mine and village of Calumet.
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Keweenaw National Historical Park works with partners such as Quincy Mine & Hoist to preserve and interpret the region's copper mining story.

Keweenaw Heritage Sites

Dozens of other cultural sites along the length of the Keweenaw Peninsula, inside and outside official park boundaries, also contribute to the park story, including historic districts and nineteen official Keweenaw Heritage Site partners. Together the National Park Service and partner sites preserve and interpret the stories associated with the mining history. Many of these sites provide tours or exhibits to help you learn more about our heritage. 
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photo: A ranger leads visitors during the Quincy Ruins Walk

Ranger Programs

Want to learn more about Keweenaw National Historical Park? Come join a ranger for a guided-tour. Regularly-schedule programs are offered beginning in late June and run through late August.
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Write to

25970 Red Jacket Road
PO Box 471
Calumet, Michigan 49913

E-mail Us

Phone

Park Headquarters
(906) 337-3168

Staff Extensions
(906) 337-1104

Fax

(906) 337-3169

Climate

Lake Superior controls the region's climate. Spring is brief, damp and cool. Summer is sunny and mild with daytime highs in the 70s F near the lake and warmer inland. Fall arrives early in September. Through October the days are often mild but nights are crisp. Winter arrives with the first accumulating snow - often in mid-November. The ground is normally covered from Thanksgiving to late April. Average annual snowfall ranges from 180 to 250 inches. Besides creating abundant snowfall, Lake Superior moderates temperatures, making winters milder than in surrounding areas.
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Miners pose outside the #5 Tamarack Mine shaft in this 1908 photograph by Adolph F. Isler. Keweenaw NHP Archives.  

Did You Know?
The Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan was home to one of our nation's first mineral rushes. Prospectors seeking copper travelled there in the middle 1840's, a few years before the "49'ers" sought gold out west. The story of this rush is told today at Keweenaw National Historical Park.

Last Updated: September 16, 2008 at 17:00 EST