Lake Superior - Keweenaw Waterway

 

July 24^th was a good day for cruising the 40 miles from Big Bay to Houghton via the Keweenaw Waterway.  Keweenaw is an Indian word meaning ‘the crossing place.’  The Portage River and Portage Lake cut into the Keweenaw Peninsula from the east and in 1873 a canal was dug the remainder of the way through the peninsula to the western end.  This resulted in the northern end of the peninsula becoming an island while connecting Lake Superior with itself.  Traversing the waterway eliminates the 100-mile cruise around the peninsula.

Lower entrance to Keweenaw Waterway

This is copper country.  In 1843 news of a massive copper discovery on the Keweenaw Peninsula spurred one of the first mineral rushes in the United States. Copper was valued for its use in guns, cookware and telegraph wire.  In the 1870’s over three-fourths of the nation’s copper was produced here, making the region one of the wealthiest areas in North America.  Most copper mining has since ceased and tourism is the main economic driver today.

Houghton County Marina in Hancock

After docking at the Houghton County Marina, we climbed the steep hill to explore the town of Hancock.  Other than a flurry of road construction, there was not much happening in town.  Finlandia University, the only Finnish university in America, is located here.  And in a nod to the town’s Finnish ancestry, many of the street signs are posted in both English and Finnish.

Portage Lake Lift Bridge

The Portage Lake Lift Bridge links the cities of Hancock and Houghton and is the only bridge linking the two sides of the Keweenaw Peninsula.  It is a double decker bridge that sees about 25,000 vehicles cross daily.  During the summer months when boat traffic is heavy the center span is lifted and cars travel across its lower level.  Come winter, the center span is lowered and cars travel across its upper level, freeing the lower level for snowmobile traffic.  And do they ever get a lot of snow!  This past winter 284.9 inches of snow fell!!!

Houghton as seen from Hancock

Houghton is home to the 7,000-student Michigan Technological University.  We crossed the Portage Lake Lift Bridge to see if Houghton was livelier than Hancock.  After wandering the main drag through town we stopped in at the Douglas House Saloon for some happy hour beverages.  Not much happening here either.  We were two of four customers at the bar and the bartender seemed to enjoy the company.