While the history of the Copper Country is no less dramatic or less exciting than that of other regions, the history of the Copper Country has largely been ignored by U.S. History, often eclipsed by the romance of the “Wild West.” Three very important factors could be considered in questioning why. The first is gold, the second is the Army and the third is women.

If a prospector in the California gold rush of 1849 staked a claim and secured a preemption on the property, he could gather a small group of men, usually family members, and with a small crew and some homemade equipment, produce an impressive amount of gold or ore in a very short time. For the most part, these were isolated groups of men in the wilderness and they were easy targets for marauding gangs who were not above murder to obtain the gold produced by others. It was but a matter of a horse ride to the nearest town to convert the gold into cash, leaving any number of dead miners and prospectors behind.

It was a very different scenario in the Copper Country. While gold sold by the ounce, copper sold by the pound. Nearly all those exploring for copper in Michigan were prospecting on leases held by wealthy investors far away from the mineral range. When John Hays was exploring Copper Harbor, he was doing so under the charge of Curtis G. Hussey and Charles Avery. Colonel Charles Gratiot was in the employ of James Wilson. When Samuel Knapp discovered copper not far from the Ontonagon River, he was not an independent miner as were so many in California. Rather, he was in the employ of a well-organized, thoroughly funded group of investors who held the lease Knapp was exploring. These men included John Hulbert, J. Nicholson Elbert and five other men.

When Knapp uncovered the copper lode that would soon after become the Minesota mine, it did not occur to him to rob his employers. While a pound of gold sold for $256, copper was worth 55 cents. Twenty-nine pounds of copper would be required to equal the value of an ounce of gold. Copper was not worth stealing. There were no roads, nor nearby towns. In order to get stolen copper to a market, it would have to be taken by ship. Hiding twenty-nine pounds of stolen copper would be no easy task.

Military presence was another factor. While popular history points out that Fort Wilkins was established to protect miners from potentially hostile Native Americans, the historical record reveals something much different. Historical records clearly reveal that the Ojibwa people were not considered hostile, or a threat. But from the beginning, the military presence was established to protect Federal mineral lands from squatters, and leased lands from claim jumpers.

With the military present, and a lack of marauding gangs such as those of the California gold camps, miners felt safe bringing wives and children into the Copper Country. Visiting geologist John R. St. John wrote of Eagle River’s mining hamlet just a year after it had been established. He wrote, “They have about thirty buildings in all upon their location, and one hundred and forty men and women, and children in number.”

With the presence of women on the frontier so soon after the opening of the mineral region, refinements necessary to the evolution of a frontier into a settled civilization came quickly and steadily. Schools and churches arrived almost simultaneously; often schools and church services were held in private homes before actual church and school structures were built.

The “Wild West” captured the imaginations of such writers as Zane Grey and Louis L’Amour. The tales of Lewis and Clark captured the minds of historians. Gold camp towns, with their gambling halls and dancing women; cattle drives and rustlers, are an endless canvas upon which historical novelists can paint vivid pictures. The Copper Country never stretched such a canvas.

The pioneer women of the Copper Country demanded something better, more refined, more civilized, than was acceptable in such places as Tombstone, Arizona. They wanted peaceful, harmonious towns. They wanted their children educated. They wanted their husbands home at the supper table, where they were assured a wholesome meal after a ten-hour shift in the mines. They wanted to build a community. Together with the prospectors, miners, clergymen, and mining companies, they built the Copper Country.

Editor’s note:?Graham Jaehnig has a master’s degree in English/ creative writing with a focus on nonfiction from Southern New Hampshire University and a B.A. in history from Michigan Technological University.