Talk:Keweenaw Peninsula

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This article is unconventional in limiting the name "Keweenaw Peninsula" to just the part of the peninsula north of Portage Lake and Portage canal (see the article map). Ironically, the article then violates its own definition by including Houghton and Chassell on its list of Keweenaw Peninsula towns (where they certainly do belong) and disagrees with the article "Keweenaw Waterway" which states correctly that the waterway "cuts ACROSS the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan" (my emphasis). Even granting the impossibility of exactly deliniating many geographic features, the Keweenaw Peninsula's base can be regarded as extending down to near Ontonagon on the northwest and to Baraga on the southeast. This makes much more sense: the Keweenaw Peninsula itself is BISECTED by the Keweenaw Waterway, not terminated by it. The point that this article is attempting to make is already adequately covered in the "Copper Island" article.DJKrause 14:01, 7 May 2007 (UTC)

I think that the only part of this article really restricting the peninsula to north of the portage is the map. I've had issue with the map before (see the talk for the image). Otherwise, everything seems to include the peninsula straight down to Baraga. -- dcclark (talk) 19:24, 7 May 2007 (UTC)

Good point, but there the map is, and if the list of Keweenaw Peninsula towns is going to include hamlets as small as Ahmeek and Dreamland, surely Painesdale and Baltic should also be on it, and probably Ontonagon and Baraga as well, given their importance in Keweenaw history. I confess that, in spite of years of looking into the history of copper mining in the Keweenaw, this is the first time I have ever run into the expression "copper island." I note the irony that much of the history of copper mining (and social history as well) in the Keweenaw was associated with the Ontonagon area, (from the Ontonagon Boulder, which started it all, to the White Pine Mine and the last operating copper mine in Michigan, the Caledonia). The "copper island" idea may deserve comment as a minor bit of Finnish cultural trivia, but I do not see that it is helpful in a introductory article about a Michigan geographical feature. DJKrause 16:14, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

See the Copper Island page, the term actually has a real existence (locally). The majority of actual copper mining took place in the Keweenaw, especially at the Quincy Mine (the most profitable copper mine in the Copper Country), Delaware Mine, Isle Royale, Cliff (the first profitable mine), and many others. Feel free to add Painesdale, etc. to the list of towns, they definitely should be included. -- dcclark (talk) 16:25, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

A brief correction here. The most profitable mine in the Keweenaw, by FAR, was Calumet and Hecla, which produced about 50% of the profits of the entire district. Quincy was a steady earner, but not in the C&H class. Most small mines (like Delaware) never even approached profitability over their lifetimes. It is a sobering thought that without C&H, the entire copper production of all the mines of the entire district barely made the break-even point of producing enough copper to pay back the money that had been invested. DJKrause 17:43, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

There I go, nearly getting it right! Thanks for the correction. I encourage you to add other towns in the Keweenaw and, if you can, edit up the map. I would like to expand the article, but I am already spending more time than I should here, unfortunately. Good luck! -- dcclark (talk) 18:41, 8 May 2007 (UTC)