It was hard for many Copper Country residents to accept that the mining era in the region had actually ended. As mining ended, the companies owning the mines were generally quick to demolish the buildings around the shaft locations to access the machinery, iron and steel they housed. Mining companies were determined to wring the last dollar possible out of the locations. Hope would return, if only briefly.

In July, 1972, Homestake Copper Company, in partnership with the American Copper and Nickel Company, entered into an agreement with Universal Oil Products to lease mineral holdings to explore for copper. According to the Minerals Yearbook for 1972, Homestake announced it would investigate new methods of mining and milling. The first phase of the project of the work was to consist of dewatering the Centennial No. 6 shaft, which had not operated since August, 1968. Homestake conducted geophysical and geochemical explorations, along with flying several airborne surveys.

The Michigan DNR’s, Geological Survey Division reported that Homestake started dewatering the mine as part of an initial $5 million program that also included renovation of the No. 3 and No. 6 shafts and surface equipment. Once the initial project was completed, $4.3 million more was spent on the building of a pilot plant, including a concentrator to mill ore along with other new equipment the company wanted to try out. Information gathered at the pilot plant would be used to establish ore processing costs in addition to serving as a design model for a larger plant.

In June, 1975, the concentrator was capable of processing 750 tons of copper rock per day, and it processed the first copper rock mined at the Centennial mine in seven years. The shipment, 65 tons of concentrate, was shipped to the International Nickel Company’s smelter in Ontario.

By the end of 1975, the Centennial No. 6 shaft was being deepened at a rate of 100 to 130 feet per month. In December, the depth had reached approximately 6,700 feet. Homestake’s goal was to reach the 55th level (7,700 feet) by Sept. of 1976.

In November, 1976, development and production were stopped due to low copper prices, and disappointing exploration results. Homestake also partnered with the Quincy Mining Company, in 1974, to conduct explorations in Quincy’s No. 8 (Mesnard) shaft. A new, electric hoist was erected, along with an engine house, and an iron headframe was erected, and a new shaft collar was constructed.

The mine was dewatered to the 22nd level and extensive mineral exploration was carried out. In 1975, the Quincy Mining Co. made a $5,000 grant to Michigan Technological University for studies on the development of an underground leaching process for treating native copper rock. Homestake’s activities at the Centennial and Quincy had raised hopes in many Copper Country residents that the days of copper mining were not over after all. Optimism was short-lived, however. Unable to achieve satisfactory results in its mineral explorations, Homestake stopped most of its activities in 1976, but continued diamond drill explorations until 1977, when all explorations were stopped. Homestake’s explorations at Quincy also ended in failure to locate enough mineral content to warrant further investment.

While hopes faded in Houghton and Keweenaw counties, however, as expansion and renovation projects were going on at White Pine, the same decreasing price of copper that closed the Centennial mine in 1976 also closed the White Pine mine, in Ontonagon County, laying off 2,100 employees. “This is a repeat once again of the ‘boom and bust’ cycle in Michigan’s copper industry,” the Michigan Mineral Producers report for 1976 commented, “which has existed since the start of modern copper mining in the 1840s.”

By 1980, there was very little hope that mining would resume in the Copper Country. Tourism became a focus and a campaign was launched to rebrand the Copper Country as The Keweenaw.

The Copper Country Vacationist League, headed by Ahmeek Mining Company Superintendent Ocha Potter in 1934, became the Keweenaw Tourism Council in 1986. It was subsequently changed to the Keweenaw Convention & Visitors Bureau before being renamed again Visit Keweenaw. In many ways, it was the nail in the coffin of the Copper Country.

Visit Keweenaw’s website states: “Visit Keweenaw promotes Michigan’s Houghton and Keweenaw Counties as a destination for tourism. Tourism, and the broader visitor economy, generates social, cultural, and financial benefits for our community members and is a pillar of the region’s economy.”

While tourism may be a “pillar of the region’s economy,” the rebranding has not solved the historical problem that the Copper Country is still dependent on a single economic engine; the tourism industry replaced mining. And while tourism has greatly benefitted local businesses, it has had a negative impact on the local culture. As via.com points out: “Tourism can lead to cultural erosion, diminishing local traditions and customs,” and “foreign visitors influence and sometimes overshadow local cultural practices.”

Via goes on to say: “In many tourist destinations, performances of traditional dances or rituals are sometimes altered to cater to the expectations of tourists, deviating from their original context and purpose.”

One example of this is the disappearance of Polka as a cultural dance and a cultural music, popular among all ethnic groups in the Copper Country. The village of South Range is the Copper Country’s last holdout for preserving this cultural tradition. Local radio stations greatly reduced the number of local deejays, finding it cheaper to utilize satellite delivered and syndicated programming. Many local restaurants fell by the wayside.

While the campaign to rebrand the Copper Country as The Keweenaw has increased tourism in the region, many local residents still reject the rebranding and continue to refer to the region as the Copper Country.

Many local residents claim tourism has inflated the cost of housing, making owning a home an impossible dream. Many municipal governments have begun to fault organizations like Pure Michigan and Visit Keweenaw for creating what is referred to as overtourism. As Sustain Travel defines it: “Overtourism occurs when too many visitors flock to a destination, exceeding its ability to manage them sustainably and leading to negative impacts such as overcrowding, environmental degradation, strained infrastructure, reduced quality of life for residents, and a diminished visitor experience. In other words, it’s when we love a destination to death.”

Many municipalities have begun to complain openly that overtourism has created a burden on local infrastructure, as well straining essential services. Overtourism has also brought with it an flood of visitors choosing to relocate to the Copper Country permanently, creating a quick way for locals to profit by selling property. In many former farming communities, once lush pastures have become housing developments.

While tourism promotional programs boast of focusing on cultural heritage and historic preservation, many of the Copper Country’s cultural aspects have been erased with the mining buildings that once made the Copper Country what older locals only now recall.