Isle Royale National Park is an American national park consisting of Isle Royale and more than 400 small adjacent islands, as well as the surrounding waters of Lake Superior, in the state of Michigan. Isle Royale is 45 miles (72 km) long and 9 miles (14 km) wide, with an area of 206.73 square miles (535.4 km2), making it the fourth-largest lake island in the world. In addition, it is the largest natural island in Lake Superior, the second-largest island in the Great Lakes, the third-largest in the contiguous United States, and the 33rd-largest island in the United States.
Keweenaw County is a county in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan, the state's northernmost county. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 2,046, making it Michigan's least populous county. It is also the state's largest county by total area, when the waters of Lake Superior are included in the total. The county seat is Eagle River.
M-26 is a 96.355-mile-long (155.068 km) state trunkline highway in the U.S. state of Michigan, running from two miles (3.2 km) east of Rockland to its junction with US Highway 41 (US 41) in Copper Harbor. It generally runs southwest-to-northeast in the western half or Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The northernmost segment, which closely parallels the shore of Lake Superior on the west side of the Keweenaw Peninsula, is highly scenic.
Copper Harbor is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located in Keweenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located within Grant Township. The population of the CDP was 108 as of the 2010 census.
The Keweenaw Waterway is a partly natural, partly artificial waterway which cuts across the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan; it separates Copper Island from the mainland. Parts of the waterway are variously known as the Keweenaw Waterway, Portage Canal, Portage Lake Canal, Portage River, Lily Pond, Torch Lake, and Portage Lake. The waterway connects to Lake Superior at its north and south entries, with sections known as Portage Lake and Torch Lake in between. The primary tributary to Portage Lake is the Sturgeon River.
Ranger III is a 648-ton vessel built to carry visitors to Isle Royale National Park, on Lake Superior. She was built in 1958, and has undergone several refits. The vessel is designed to carry 125 passengers, as well as 100 tons of cargo. She is designed to be operated by a crew of six when only carrying cargo, and by a crew of nine, when carrying passengers.
Rock Harbor is the main access point for visitors landing on Isle Royale in northern Lake Superior. It sits four miles (6.4 km) from the northeastern end of the 45-mile-long (72 km) island, the whole of which is protected as Isle Royale National Park. Two structures in Rock Harbor—the Rock Harbor Light and the Edisen Fishery—are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The following is a list of Registered Historic Places in Keweenaw County, Michigan.
USS Puritan, a civilian transport built by Craig Shipbuilding Company in Toledo, Ohio, was launched in 1901, and lengthened by 26 ft (7.9 m) in 1908. The ship sailed on the Great Lakes in passenger service, was purchased by the U.S. Navy at the end of the war, and returned to passenger service after the war. The ship sank in 1933 near Isle Royale in Lake Superior, and its wreck is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
SS Kamloops was a Canadian lake freighter that was part of the fleet of Canada Steamship Lines from its launching in 1924 until it sank with all hands in Lake Superior off Isle Royale, Michigan, United States, on or about 7 December 1927.
The Rock of Ages Light is a U.S. Coast Guard lighthouse on a small rock outcropping approximately 2.25 miles (3.62 km) west of Washington Island and 3.5 miles (5.6 km) west of Isle Royale, in Eagle Harbor Township, Keweenaw County, Michigan. It is an active aid to navigation.
Windigo Ranger Station, or simply Windigo, is a docking and refueling port on Isle Royale, the largest island in Lake Superior, and is a ranger station for Isle Royale National Park.
The Rock Harbor Lighthouse is a light station located in Rock Harbor on Isle Royale National Park, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.
Washington Island is an uninhabited island in Lake Superior. It is within the boundary of Keweenaw County and Isle Royale National Park, a national park located within the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the westernmost point marked on most maps of the elongated archipelago that makes up this park. However, a small islet called Bottle Island and an even smaller shoal that breaks the lake surface, Rock of Ages, are located further westward.
The Isle Royale Ferry Service was the name of the transportation service between Copper Harbor, Michigan and Isle Royale National Park from 1971 to about 2004. The service became the Isle Royale Line, Inc. in about 2005, when the company began operating the Isle Royale Queen IV. Passenger ferry operations out of Copper Harbor, Michigan's northernmost town, which has often been known as the "Gateway to Isle Royale" have been operating since 1930 under different ownerships. Six ferry boats have been in operation since the first charters out of Copper Harbor in the 1930s. The ferry services to the national park are what have brought many of the tourists to the small town of Copper Harbor.
America was a packet boat transporting passengers, mail, and packages between settlements along the North Shore of Lake Superior, an inland sea in central North America. Built in 1898, America sank in Washington Harbor off the shore of Isle Royale in 1928, where the hull still remains. The wreck was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
Grand Portage is an unincorporated community in Cook County, Minnesota, United States; located on Grand Portage Bay of the North Shore of Lake Superior.
Due to its unique geography, being made of two peninsulas surrounded by the Great Lakes, Michigan has depended on many ferries for connections to transport people, vehicles and trade. The most famous modern ferries are those which carry people and goods across the Straits of Mackinac to the car-free Mackinac Island but before the Mackinac Bridge was built, large numbers of ferries carried people and cars between the two peninsulas. Other ferries continue to provide transportation to small islands and across the Detroit River to Canada. Ferries once provided transport to island parks for city dwellers. The state's only national park, Isle Royale cannot be reached by road and is normally accessed by ferry. The largest ferries in Michigan are the car ferries which cross Lake Michigan to Wisconsin. One of these, the SS Badger is one of the last remaining coal steamers on the Great Lakes and serves as a section of US Highway 10 (US 10). The Badger is also the largest ferry in Michigan, capable of carrying 600 passengers and 180 autos.
United States
