Title 16, ConservationRelease 119-110

§410yy Findings and Purposes

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

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

Protect and preserve important historic and cultural places on part of the Keweenaw Peninsula in Michigan. The area sits on the oldest and largest lava flow on Earth and is the only place where large-scale, economically recoverable 97 percent pure native copper was found. It is the only U.S. site with prehistoric aboriginal copper mining, and artifacts made there 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, founded in 1885, holds many historical records. The area drew European immigrants in the mid-1800s and keeps a strong mix of ethnic traditions. The story is best shown 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. Save these places so people today and in the future can learn from and be inspired by them. Also explain how the geology, native use, social life, culture, technology, and companies all connect in the Keweenaw copper story.

Full Legal Text

Title 16, §410yy

Conservation, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Findings

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)Purposes

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

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110