Passengers, Packages, And Copper : The Steamer Pewabic, Its Archaeology, Management, Material Culture, And The Development Of The Keweenaw Peninsula

Abstract

Pewabic was a passenger/package freight propeller with multiple identities that will serve in this study to better understand the tourism explosion and the copper boom of the Great Lakes during the Civil War. The hybrid steamer brought urbanites to the vast forests of Lake Superior upbound while filling its hold with 267 tons of native copper to sell on the Detroit mineral market downbound. Pewabic represents the essence of the middle nineteenth century Great Lakes economic and cultural zeitgeist having tapped into two profitable enterprises. The primary goal is to place the short-lived Pewabic into the larger context of Great Lakes commerce and tourism by researching its economic role during the Keweenaw copper boom and its therapeutic role for war-torn Americans. Documentary historical sources and archaeological data will be used to unearth the identities of Pewabic afloat as well as the new identities it has adopted as an archaeological site, a gravesite, and salvage training ground.