Title 16 — ConservationRelease 119-73

§410yy Findings and purposes

Title 16 › Chapter CHAPTER 1— - NATIONAL PARKS, MILITARY PARKS, MONUMENTS, AND SEASHORES › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER LIX–W— - KEWEENAW NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK › § 410yy

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Protects and preserves the Keweenaw Peninsula’s historic copper area in Michigan. The area sits on the world’s oldest and largest lava flow and is the only place with large, economically recoverable deposits of 97 percent pure native copper. People mined copper there before recorded history, and those ancient copper items were traded as far south as present-day Alabama. The region led advances in deep-shaft, hard-rock mining, milling, and smelting that spread worldwide. Michigan Technological University was started in 1885 to train engineers for the mines and keeps many historical records. Mid-1800s European immigration shaped the local culture. Calumet shows unusual company-run town planning and corporate paternalism. The full story is told by three parts: the Village of Calumet, the former Calumet and Hecla properties (including the Osceola #13 mine complex), and the former Quincy Mining Company properties. The Secretary of the Interior has named the Calumet National Historic Landmark District and the Quincy Mining Company National Historic Landmark District. The goals are to save these important historic and cultural places for the education, benefit, and inspiration of people now and in the future, and to explain how geology, Native peoples, communities, technology, and companies all combined to shape the copper story on the Keweenaw Peninsula.

Full Legal Text

Title 16, §410yy

Conservation — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Congress finds that—

(1)The oldest and largest lava flow known on Earth is located on the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan. This volcanic activity produced the only place on Earth where large scale economically recoverable 97 percent pure native copper is found.

(2)The Keweenaw Peninsula is the only site in the country where prehistoric, aboriginal mining of copper occurred. Artifacts made from this copper by these ancient Indians were traded as far south as present day Alabama.

(3)Copper mining on the Keweenaw Peninsula pioneered deep shaft, hard rock mining, milling, and smelting techniques and advancements in related mining technologies later used throughout the world.

(4)Michigan Technological University, located in the copper district, was established in 1885 to supply the great demand for new technologies and trained engineers requested by the area’s mining operations. Michigan Technological University possesses a wealth of both written and photographic historic documentation of the mining era in its archives.

(5)Michigan’s copper country became a principal magnet to European immigrants during the mid-1800’s and the cultural heritage of these varied nationalities is still preserved in this remarkable ethnic conglomerate.

(6)The corporate-sponsored community planning in Calumet, Michigan, as evidenced in the architecture, municipal design, surnames, foods, and traditions, and the large scale corporate paternalism was unprecedented in American industry and continues to express the heritage of the district.

(7)The entire picture of copper mining on Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula is best represented by three components: the Village of Calumet, the former Calumet and Hecla Mining Company properties (including the Osceola #13 mine complex), and the former Quincy Mining Company properties. The Village of Calumet best represents the social, ethnic, and commercial themes. Extant Calumet and Hecla buildings best depict corporate paternalism and power, and the themes of extraction and processing are best represented by extant structures of the Quincy Mining Company.

(8)The Secretary of the Interior has designated two National Historic Landmark Districts in the proposed park area, the Calumet National Historic Landmark District and the Quincy Mining Company National Historic Landmark District.

(b)The purposes of this subchapter are—

(1)to preserve the nationally significant historical and cultural sites, structures, and districts of a portion of the Keweenaw Peninsula in the State of Michigan for the education, benefit, and inspiration of present and future generations; and

(2)to interpret the historic synergism between the geological, aboriginal, sociological, cultural technological, and corporate forces that relate the story of copper on the Keweenaw Peninsula.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

16 U.S.C. § 410yy

Title 16 — Conservation

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73