Isle Royale and the counties that line the northwest coast of Michigan's Upper Peninsula are called Copper Country because of the rich deposits of native copper there. In the nineteenth century, explorers and miners discovered evidence of prehistoric copper mining in this region. They used those "ancient diggings" as a guide to establishing their own, much larger mines, and in the process, destroyed the archaeological record left by the prehistoric miners. Using mining reports, newspaper accounts, personal letters, and other sources, this book reconstructs what these nineteenth-century discoverers found, how they interpreted the material remains of prehistoric activity, and what they did with the stone, wood, and copper tools they found at the prehistoric sites. "This volume represents an exhaustive compilation of the early written and published accounts of mines and mining in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. It will prove a valuable resource to current and future scholars. Through these early historic accounts of prospectors and miners, Halsey provides a vivid picture of what once could be seen." —John M. O'Shea, curator of Great Lakes Archaeology, University of Michigan Museum of Anthropological Archaeology

Michigan’s location among the Great Lakes has positioned it at the crossroads of many worlds. Its first hunters arrived ten thousand years ago, its first farmers arrived about six thousand years after that, and three hundred years ago the French expanded into the territory. This book is a small sample of the words of Michigan’s people—a collection of stories, letters, diary entries, news reports, and other documents—that give personal insights into important aspects of Michigan’s history. Designed to provoke thought and discussion about Michigan’s past, the documents in this reader are expressions of past ideas, markers of change, and windows into the lives of the people who lived during well-known events in Michigan history.

Concerns the case of Alexis St. Martin, whose relations with Beaumont are summarized in the introduction.

The glitter of gold created an era when a few determined prospectors searched the rugged hills and forests of Michigan's Upper Peninsula for the valuable mineral. Their stories range from the discovery of Lake Superior's mineral wealth in the 1840's to the modern mining and prospecting practices today.

Readers interested in Michigan history, sociology, and Asian American studies will enjoy this volume.