Copper Country

The view toward Lake Superior from the campsite I showed a couple days ago. One of the prettiest places I know. McLain's got a beach, but very few swimmers. That water's cold. Camera: Throwaway Kodak panoramic. Really not bad for a toy camera....

Sunset over Lake Superior. McLain State Park, MIchigan's Copper Country, 1998. Another shot with that cheap panoramic camera. Neat, no?

McLain State Park, Michigan. Near Calumet and Hancock, in the Copper Country. 1998. Camera: Cheap Kodak panoramic.

This door's in a bunker-like building near Calumet & Hecla's Red Jacket shaft, once the world's deepest mine at 8000 feet. I presume the building originally held explosives. Now part of the Keweenaw National Historical Park in Calumet, Michigan; shot from the Coppertown USA museum.

Another Calumet and Hecla building; downtown Calumet, Michigan. This building was used to maintain the drills used by the miners as part of their daily work. Part of the complex of buildings which forms the heart of the Keweenaw National Historical Park.

Joan took this photo of me at McLain State Park in Michigan's Copper Country; July of 1998. That's Lake Superior....

Another photo from the same vacation. That's Redridge Dam in the background. Someday I'll put up a Redridge set, but they need to be better scans than this one. Photo by Joan Bennett Camera: Minolta point'n'shoot

More details from the Calumet & Hecla Drill Building , downtown Calumet, Michigan. Part of the Keweenaw National Historical Park. That wall was obviously built of rubble. But such lovely rubble, and such a fine building they made with it.

The Keweenaw Peninsula--Michigan's Copper Country--is split by Portage Lake. One of the engineering accomplishments of Lake Superior's mining companies was opening the western entrance to the passage and making it possible for ships to cross the peninsula, rather than go around; this was a considerable saving in time and an increase in safety for the shippers. Three decades or so ago the ships outgrew this channel, and modern navigational practices improved the safety of the route around the peninsula. You occasionally see a pleasure boat at this entrance, and the Parks Service ship Ranger III, but it's no longer a shipping route. This light, which marks the boundary of McLain State Park, also marks the entrance to the Portage passage.