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1946 Map of Hancock

Name: 1946 Topographic Map of Hancock
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1972
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1972

About this map

The industrial and maritime heart of Michigan’s Copper Country is revealed in this post-war survey of Hancock and its surrounding mining townships. The topography is dominated by the steep ascent from the Portage Lake Ship Canal to the high plateaus of Arcadian Hill, where the Franklin Mine and settlements like Lower Pewabic and Paavola sit atop the mineral-rich Keweenaw fault. This area serves as a critical junction for three major rail lines—the Duluth South Shore and Atlantic, the Mineral Range, and the Copper Range—which once moved massive quantities of copper ore toward the lakeside stamp mills.

Institutional life in the area is anchored by Suomi College and several small rural churches such as St Johns. Further north, the landscape transitions from the dense grid of Hancock into the recreation and coastal safety infrastructure at F J McLain State Park and the Coast Guard Sta on the shores of Lake Superior. For genealogists, the map provides precise locations for several burial grounds including Lakeside Cem and Waasa Cem.