History & Culture
The people, places, traditions, and history that shape the Upper Peninsula.
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People Were Mining the U.P.’s Copper 7,000 Years Ago, and the 1840s Prospectors Found Their Pits
Native peoples mined the U.P.’s copper as far back as 7,000 years…
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A Whiskey Smuggler Got Caught in the U.P. After the Crew Drank Too Much of Their Own Cargo
During Prohibition, whiskey poured across the U.P.’s Canadian border, sometimes with the…
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In the U.P., Finnish Families Built the Sauna Before They Built the House
Finnish immigrants in the U.P. often built the sauna before the house…
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The Most Photographed View in the U.P. Sits on Top of a Forest That Was Almost Lost
Lake of the Clouds is the most photographed view in the U.P.,…
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Miners in the U.P. Left Part of Their Lunch Underground for the Tommyknockers
A knock in the rock a mile underground meant something to Copper…
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A Freighter Vanished Off the U.P. in 1902 and All That Ever Came Back Was One Life Preserver
The SS Bannockburn sailed into a Lake Superior snowstorm in 1902 and…
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The Great Lakes’ Most Hunted Shipwreck Has Been Missing Since 1679
In 1679 a French ship loaded with furs sailed east into Lake…
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The “Ancient Legend” of Michigan’s Biggest Spring Was Invented in the 1920s
Kitch-iti-kipi is Michigan’s largest spring and the most beautiful spot in the…
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He Started the U.P.’s Copper Rush. Then He Warned Everyone to Stay Away.
The U.P.’s entire copper boom traces back to one man and one…
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Iron Mountain Almost Buried This Mine in 1993. One Caver Saved a Quarter-Million Bats.
A rumored-bottomless mine shaft in Iron Mountain turned out to hold a…
