Native Copper - Watersmeet, MI - Rock and Mineral Displays on Waymarking.com

Located near the entrance to the Ottawa National Forest Visitor Center in Watersmeet Michigan is a large rock weighing 1.5 tons and containing 75% native copper. The presence of the copper is evidenced by the blue-green hue of the copper oxides found on the rock. A plaque below describes the significance of this particular rock, and the history and importance of copper use and the copper mining industry in Michigan's Upper Penninsula

NATIVE COPPER

FOR OVER 3000 YEARS, RICH NATIVE COPPER DEPOSITS HAVE ATTRACTED PEOPLE TO THE UPPER PENINSULA. AS EARLY AS 1000 BC., ANCIENT INDIANS OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN MINED COPPER SUCH AS THIS, THEN HAMMERED THE METAL INTO SPEARHEADS, TOOLS, AND JEWELRY.

SUCCESSFUL LARGE-SCALE MINING BEGAN IN THE MID-1800'S. THE YOUNG COPPER INDUSTRY DEPENDED UPON THE FORESTS TO PROVIDE THE TIMBER FOR THE PLANKS, RAILS AND FUEL NECESSARY TO THE MINING OPERATIONS.

BY PROVIDING THE FIRST BASIS FOR PERMANENT MODERN SETTLEMENT, THE COPPER MINING INDUSTRY HAS BROUGHT SIGNIFICANT CHANGES TO THE FORESTS OF THE UPPER PENINSULA.

THE 1 1/2 TON COPPER ROCK IS 75% PURE NATIVE COPPER. THE DRILL MARKS RESULTED WHEN THE COPPER WAS TAKEN FROM THE VICTORIA MINE. THE ROCK WAS MOVED TO WATERSMEET IN THE 1930'S AND LATER DONATED TO THE SYLVANIA VISITOR CENTER BY JOHN ROCK OF WATERSMEET, MICHIGAN.

Type of Display: Historical

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