• Sunday-What'sUP May 22 - 07:07 pm

See the article in the current Marquette Monthly

Here's a link for AAPS who is the group involved w/the copper:

http://www.aaapf.org/scripts/openExtra.asp?extra=13

And you can purchase pounds of this copper!!! $4.00 a pound, http://gallery.pasty.com/displayimage.php?album=3430&pid=79655#top_display_media

And you get a certificate:
http://gallery.pasty.com/displayimage.php?album=3430&pid=79656#top_display_media

I have 5lbs of that copper! What a wonderful gift idea as well! Everyone should own a chunk of this!!! Come on Pasty Peeps! Let's save this chunk of the COPPER COUNTRY!!!

Send your check to:
AAPS
POB 216
Skandia MI 49885

Happy Sunday everyone!

"WOW"-Looking at the bridge-cam and Copper Harbor - cam, there is some fog. Then you go and look at Eagle Harbor it's clear. Must be the west wind. I look foward to checking out the Pasty-cams each day.

Somehow, it seems incongruent that copper was exported into the heart of the iron ore country.

There's also a large boulder of copper from the U.P. in the Smithsonian Institute.

the Ontonagan boulder is in the Smithsonian

I understand now, you buy "virtual" pounds of the piece of copper shown in the picture, not an actual piece of copper.

The Ontonagon Boulder is indeed located at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C. - but it is not presently on display. Anyone interested in seeing it, however, can do so by asking the museum staff. I would attach a photo showing what it looks like in its current "digs" if only I knew how.

I'm with you, Mr. Bill. My issue with this is why it located in Marquette and not residing in the Copper Country?? I know someone will say that the funds were in Marquette and not in Houghton, but what was the reason to move it out of the Keweenaw; it could have easily been placed in the Keweenaw at a prominent location and had the same monetary pull as in its current location; you can't tell me more people visit Presque Isle than Houghton/Hancock!!

And as far as the AAPS: well, I won't even get into that; they can't even get their geology correct.....

So let's see if I have this correct:

The largest piece of float copper known to man, which was formed in the Keweenaw peninsula, a "part of the same copper that was mined out of the Keewenaw [sic] Peninsula" and subsequently discovered either "near Calumet", or perhaps more accurately, within the "old Quincy mine holdings just a mile or so from the main mine at the top of Quincy Hill NE of Hancock". (They can't seem to get their story straight, not to mention that they can't apparently even spell "Keweenaw"!)

So of course, AAPS Board member, Carl Lindquist, executive director of Superior Watershed Partnership and Land Trust has the idea to ": move the copper to Marquette where it can be seen by thousands".

Marquette indeed! Absurd!

What better, more logical location could there possibly be to display that chunk o' copper but on top of Quincy hill, in connection with prominent landmark that is the Quincy Mine Hoist complex? What, it wouldn't be seen there? Hogwash!

Rather than go to the significant expense of moving it to Presque Isle Park, they might instead have simply moved it to the Quincy Mine site, at a significantly lesser expense, and put the difference into the preservation fund!

Apparently Mr. Rydholm would agree, as noted in this excerpt from the AAPS website:

"The general AAPS Board has been hesitant to think in terms of such a museum being located in the Keweenaw because of outside people not wanting to travel that far to get to it. Some thought such a museum should be in the UP but not so far out but closer to a larger city, for example, Marquette. Both Fred Rydholm and I [Lee Pennington] feel the museum should be located in the Keweenaw (near where many ancient copper mines are located)."

I'm offended, infuriated, irate at the disrespect for Hancock and the Keweenaw, I tell ya!

I'm with Mr. Bill (Mrbill) and Capt. Paul (Eclogite) on this!

I'm certainly with Mr. Bill, Capt Paul & FRNash on
this one - that piece belongs in the Keweenaw!! It
makes NO sense in Marquette, and yes, it is
offensive.

Agree...this monumental piece of copper belongs near the #2 shaft on Quincy Hill! Just think of the traffic that goes by there daily and also how the tourist traffic has increased yearly in this area! Wonderful pictures!

I bought his books and they are fantastic.
If you love U.P history you will be thrilled to death with them. I couldn't put them down.
I will reread them again sometime soon.
What a life!

I wish we could hear from someone from AAPS directly or indirectly to find out exactly what their intentions really are.
If the intent is to have it stay in MQT, then I will certainly not contribute and would encourage others not to either.
If the intent is to bring it back, then the word better be gotten out better or the indignation of CC people will spread, eh?

my dad had a couple of pretty big pieces..one of which was shaped like the UP. Not sure who ended up with that after he passed.
The other was about a foot across and about 8 inches high...solid , beautiful copper. Don't know where that went either,

I'll have to poll my relatives,

Got this from the AAPS Secretary:

This IS from an officer in AAPS about the giant copper:
Thank you all for caring enough to write and to become emotionally involved. We'd love to see that emotion move toward actual support to save this precious copper from sale to industry and destruction.
We tried for nearly 3 years to attain funding to keep the copper in the copper country. No funds available from: Houghton Tech, State of Michigan, National Parks, City of Calumet, no private donors that we could find in the area. Only our 3 board members in that area and what small contributions they could make, and now a few buyers of our book "Coming for Copper" and some small donations and one nice one of $100...all very recently....from the Keweenaw area.
We tried the major foundations of Michigan; Mott, Dow, Kellogg, Ford, and others for grant monies. They all had their certain interests and none even came close to saving a chunk of native Michigan copper.
We were nearing the end of contract time, and literally in jeopardy of not only losing the $10,000 First Option we had paid on the copper giant, but the real possibility of losing it to industry.
Sooo, when successful fund-raiser, Carl Lindquist, of the Superior Watershed Project proposed this new idea to have the copper SAFELY on display in Marquette next to his office, for greater visibility and to coordinate campaigns to raise funds, AAPS board agreed. We all believed the location to be temporary, (min. 2 years in MQT) and that the copper DOES ultimately belong in the Copper Country. I was misquoted in the article, and there were several other errors. We did not gripe as Marquette Monthly has been generous and supportive for many years of Fred Rydholm and now of helping to save this copper.
It's press, people! It's keeping the project in the public eye, and it's bringing in money to save it. We have received less than $150 from the Copper Country and many thousands from everywhere else, here and across the country. However we are heartened by the attendance at our AAPS programs at the Houghton Library. Here, people ask good questions, buy our books, and learn about our ancient past and connections to ancient mining and removal of the purest copper in the world. Likely to provide the copper need to make bronze for the bronze age. Bronze in 90% copper and 10% tin.
This giant hunk will stand as testimony to the kind of purity and abundance that was...and still is here in our beautiful Upper Peninsula. Consider that world-wide they talk about "Michigan Copper" and in the U.S. it's "U.P. copper." It's only here in the UP, that people get fussy over Copper Country vs. Iron Country. We aren't teen-agers cheering a sports team. It's ALL Michigan, it's ALL U.P. It's all worthy of working together, and not crabbing about a few editorial mistakes in a paper that is really trying to help. It's worthy of being supportive of the people who have worked (volunteers!) and tried every angle we could think of to get funding to save it- for over 3 years. We are holding onto Fred Rydholm's dream to save the copper and then have a museum for ancient artifacts with the copper as a centerpiece. If that can't happen because of zoning or historical rule designation, then the copper will be a pointer to the Copper Country and to the eventual museum. It doesn't help one bit to holler and criticize. That doesn't help save it. It takes participation and contributions. It takes LOTS of money, and LOTS of people donating a little or more, to make this dream come true.
Last fall one irate woman called me to complain about the copper, and she wound up becoming part of the solution instead of part of the problem. She joined AAPS, and sent a donation, and told a lot of people what we are really about. Bless her heart. And bless all of you who care enough to help.
Thank You! Judy M Johnson, AAPS Secretary and Events Planner

I'm glad the AAPS intended to have the copper come back to the CC. However, I believe that taking it to Marquette was a major strategic error. Many more supporters of the Copper Country and items like this go through the Keweenaw than to the park in Marquette. Sounds like there are some bad feelings in the AAPS about the CC and that is too bad. I never saw a major media blitz here in the CC and only info about the removal. Could be part of the problem.

Don't get me wrong - I met and heard Fred on a number of times and he was a great personality who got a lot of people thinking. Not everybody agrees with what the AAPS believes, but again - their ideas and programs have gotten a lot of people thinking about North American pre-history. I am all for a wide spectrum of thought being presented and then let people decide for themselves.