Copper smelting facility, Upper Peninsula Michigan. Photo: Larry McKee, L McKee Photography. PLEASE NOTE: This image comes in sizes 4x6, 6x9, 8x12, 12x18, 16x24, 24x36, 32x48, 40x60. 7,000 years ago. The earliest known metalworking in North America begins when Native peoples start mining copper on the Keweenaw Peninsula. Digging pits and using heavy stones to break waste rock away from copper masses, they fashion bracelets, beads, tools, fishhooks and other items for trade. Between 1843 and...
more »Copper smelting facility, Upper Peninsula Michigan. Photo: Larry McKee, L McKee Photography. PLEASE NOTE: This image comes in sizes 4x6, 6x9, 8x12, 12x18, 16x24, 24x36, 32x48, 40x60. 7,000 years ago. The earliest known metalworking in North America begins when Native peoples start mining copper on the Keweenaw Peninsula. Digging pits and using heavy stones to break waste rock away from copper masses, they fashion bracelets, beads, tools, fishhooks and other items for trade. Between 1843 and 1846, thousands of prospectors arrived from the East with the hope of "striking it rich." These events brought a rush of copper-seeking prospectors into the Upper Peninsula in the early 1840s. Copper mining has been almost continuous in the Keweenaw Peninsula area for the 150 years since then.
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