Keweenaw Waterway

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Keweenaw Waterway with Portage Lake in center, 2010. Photo by Doc Searles Portage Lake on the Keweenaw Waterway, Michigan.jpg
Keweenaw Waterway with Portage Lake in center, 2010. Photo by Doc Searles

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 (upper and lower portage entry lighthouses), with sections known as Portage Lake and Torch Lake in between. The primary tributary to Portage Lake is the Sturgeon River.

Contents

The Keweenaw Waterway in winter, looking west toward the Portage Lake Lift Bridge. Keweenaw Waterway in Winter.jpg
The Keweenaw Waterway in winter, looking west toward the Portage Lake Lift Bridge.
Frozen Keweenaw Waterway at night. Keweenaw Waterway Night.jpg
Frozen Keweenaw Waterway at night.
North end of the Keweenaw Waterway on Lake Superior Keweenaw Waterway north end.jpg
North end of the Keweenaw Waterway on Lake Superior
The rock jetty at the north entrance separating Lake Superior on the left from the calmer waters of the Waterway on the right Rock jetty at the north entrance to the Keweenaw Waterway.JPG
The rock jetty at the north entrance separating Lake Superior on the left from the calmer waters of the Waterway on the right

History

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Keweenaw Waterway
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Keweenaw Waterway in Michigan

The waterway was dredged in the 1860s, extending a small river previously used by natives for transportation and fishing. The effort was a joint venture between the United States government and several mining corporations. Legislation for construction of the canal was passed in 1861. [1] This legislation created the Portage Lake & Lake Superior Canal Co. The company began construction of the canal in September 1868. [2] The canal starts at the mouth of Boston Creek and continues on to Lake Superior.

The expanded canal allowed freighters to haul copper from the rich copper mines of the Keweenaw Peninsula out through Lake Superior to larger cities. It also enabled supply boats and freighters to reach the cities of Houghton and Hancock, which supplied goods to most of Michigan's copper region. The expanded canal and shipping lane has a depth of 25 feet (7.6 m), deeper in some locations. As the waterway connects Lake Superior to itself, there are no locks needed. [3] [4] The local mines' stamp mills dumped large quantities of stamp sand (containing traces of copper and chemical leaching agents) into the waterway, causing significant environmental damage near the sand dumps. Stamp mills on the waterway included the Old Atlantic, old Quincy, Pewabic, old Franklin, and the Isle Royale mills.

The area north of the waterway is known locally as Copper Island, because the waterway separates the northern part of the Keweenaw Peninsula from the mainland.

The only land route across the waterway is US 41/M-26 across the Portage Lake Lift Bridge.

Tourism

The Keweenaw Waterway is part of the Keweenaw Water Trail, [5] a designated loop route (eliminating the need to spot two vehicles or obtain a shuttle) around and through the Keweenaw Peninsula for canoes and sea kayaks. It was established in 1995 and has been designated “A Superior Sports Port” by National Geographic Adventure Magazine. [6] It is said the trail "exemplifies the Keweenaw Peninsula in the most literal sense." [7] The Lake Superior coast line is craggy and varied, claimed to be comparable to Isle Royale, but without the ferry. Uninhabited wilderness, occasional nature preserves and parks, are interspersed with sheltered harbors that offer weary paddlers the option for a warm bed, hot meal and shower at a local inn. An average paddler can cover the route in six to eight days, but extra days should be planned "to compensate for being wind-bound." The circumnavigation of the Copper Island is on its way to becoming "Michigan’s top paddling destination." Shorter trips are possible. [8]

See also

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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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Copper Harbor, Michigan</span> Census-designated place & unincorporated community in Michigan, United States

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 136 as of the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portage Lake Lift Bridge</span> Bridge in Michigan

The Portage Lake Lift Bridge connects the cities of Hancock and Houghton, in the US state of Michigan. It crosses Portage Lake, a portion of the waterway which cuts across the Keweenaw Peninsula with a canal linking the final several miles to Lake Superior to the northwest. US Highway 41 (US 41) and M-26 are both routed across the bridge. It is the only land-based link between the north and south sections of the Keweenaw peninsula. In June 2022, it was dedicated as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Register of Historic Places listings in Keweenaw County, Michigan</span>

The following is a list of Registered Historic Places in Keweenaw County, Michigan.
     This National Park Service list is complete through NPS recent listings posted November 29, 2024.

Brockway Mountain Drive is an 8.8-mile-long (14.2 km) scenic roadway just west of Copper Harbor in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the United States. Drivers can access the road from State Highway M-26 on either end near Eagle Harbor to the west or Copper Harbor to the east in the Keweenaw Peninsula. The drive runs along the ridge of Brockway Mountain on the Keweenaw Fault and climbs to 1,320 feet (402 m) above sea level, 720 feet (219 m) above the surface of Lake Superior. Several viewpoints along the route allow for panoramas of Copper Harbor, Lake Superior, and undeveloped woodland. On a clear day, Isle Royale is visible approximately 50 miles (80 km) in distance from the top of the mountain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Copper mining in Michigan</span> Important industry in the 19th and 20th centuries

In Michigan, copper mining became an important industry in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Its rise marked the start of copper mining as a major industry in the United States.

The Michigan Smelter was a copper smelter located at Cole's Creek on the Keweenaw Waterway north-west of Houghton, Michigan near the old Atlantic mill. The smelter was created in 1903-4 as a joint effort between the Copper Range Company and Stanton group of mines. An Atlantic dam on the site was reused by the smelter as a water source. In 1905, the smelter broke a world record by casting 292,000 pounds of fine copper in seven hours with a single furnace and only ten men. The smelter operated through World War II and stopped all operations in 1948.

The Atlantic Mill was located on the east side of Redridge, Michigan near the Redridge Steel Dam. It was constructed in 1892 and closed in 1912. It was connected to the Atlantic mine via a 9 mile long Atlantic and Lake Superior Railroard. The previous path of the railroad is now a scenic tree-covered road. It is thought that currents have moved the stamp sand produced by this mill to the current site of the North Canal Township Park.

References

  1. ↑ Monette, C (1980). “The Keweenaw Waterway”, “Seventeenth of a Local History Series”, (12)
  2. ↑ Monette, C (1980). “The Keweenaw Waterway”, “Seventeenth of a Local History Series”, (10)
  3. ↑ Army Corps of Engineers - Keweenaw Waterway Summary Page
  4. ↑ Army Corps of Engineers data sheet
  5. ↑ Keweenaw Water Trail Society.
  6. ↑ Larson, Tina. (August, 2002) Trips: American Wilds Vol. 4, No. 6. Archived 2010-02-08 at the Wayback Machine National Geographic Adventure Magazine.
  7. ↑ "Keweenaw Water Trail, Keweenaw Chamber of Commerce". Archived from the original on 2010-07-19. Retrieved 2010-03-13.
  8. ↑ "Keweenaw Water Trail". Keweenaw Convention & Visitors Bureau. 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-10-11. Retrieved 2008-09-24.

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