Did the copper mining in northern Michigan also occur in the lower pennisula?
Answer Michigan copper mining was concentrated in the western UP and i don’t believe there were any copper mines in the eastern UP or the lower peninsula. There were pieces of float copper found scattered around the great lakes region and early exploreres sought the source(s) of this native copper throughout the region and many searched in areas that were miles from any actual copper viens. Float copper is copper that was carved from the ground and often carried some distance by glaciers. So, although i am not aware of any copper mining in the lower UP but that doesn’t mean it was not attempted. If mining was attempted in the lower peninsula it probably happened before the 1840s, when copper exploration took off in the western UP and viens started to be defined and it was probably promted by a discovery of float copper. Hope this helps. If copper mining was attempted in the lower peninsula I would be interested to learn more about it.
