Copper Island

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This article is about Copper Island, the area in Michigan, USA. For other uses, see Copper Island (disambiguation).

Copper Island is a local name given to the northern part of the Keweenaw Peninsula (projecting northeastward into Lake Superior at the western end of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, United States of America), separated from the rest of the Keweenaw Peninsula by Portage Lake and the Keweenaw Waterway. The area was "isolated" by dredging in 1859 and construction (1860s) of a ship canal from Portage Lake—on the east side of the Keweenaw Peninsula—to Lake Superior on the west. The ship canal is 100 feet (30 m) wide and 21 feet (6 m) deep. The resulting "island" was called Kuparisaari (meaning "Copper Island") by Finnish settlers to the area. Neither the United States Geological Survey nor the state of Michigan identify this area as an island or use this name. If considered an island, Copper Island is the largest island in Lake Superior. Isle Royale is the largest naturally isolated island in Lake Superior.

The principal towns on the Copper Island end of Keweenaw Peninsula are Hancock and Calumet. The area is connected to the rest of the Upper Peninsula by the Portage Lake Lift Bridge, the latest in a series of bridges between Hancock and Houghton; U.S. Highway 41 crosses this bridge and has its northern terminus just east of Copper Harbor at the far eastern tip of the peninsula.

A newspaper named Copper Island News was formerly published in Hancock and an unrelated now-defunct newspaper called the Copper Island Sentinel was published in Calumet.

The 'Copper Island Classic' is an ice hockey tournament contested annually between Hancock Central High School and Calumet High School.