Today’s our last day on the Keweenaw Peninsula, and we are sad to leave, but the campground, Hancock City Park, is closing soon so we have to go. We have really enjoyed our time in this beautiful part of the United States.
This morning we traveled to the
village of Calumet, the largest town north of the Houghton/Hancock area.
Population in Calumet is shy of 800.
The mine in this area was very productive for many years. While the salaries were lower than the gold mines out west, the benefits were better.
We started out at the Calumet Visitors Center sponsored by the National Park Service. They did a wonderful job of restoring this 3-story building that had housed a bank and provided space for the three local fraternal groups to have their meetings.
visitors center
history of the Union Building that houses the visitors center
Here’s what I found interesting.
monthly salaries
Cash register: far left column is type of account, second column is dollar amounts using 10s (10, 20, etc.), third column is single digits that correspond to 10s (1, 2, etc.), last two columns are cents. I found this really interesting, obviously!
general use of copper–it’s everywhere
copper and the military
copper used for Statue of Liberty
value of copper is its purity
Unions had been trying to gain a foothold with the miners, and what finally helped them is when the owners went to a single-person drill, cutting out jobs. Miners saw this change as unsafe since no one would be around to help if a man got hurt.
Strike went on for 8-9 months. Only concession owners gave into was changing work day from 10 hours to 8 hours.
salary and benefits
day’s wage
underage workers
What these boys did because their fathers weren’t available to work.
