Beyond the Boundaries

This is a social history of the families of the Keweenaw Peninsula area of Upper Michigan, from 1840 to 1875 when the district's main industry was copper mining. It is the story of these "reluctant pioneers", who survived in what was, in many ways, a hostile environment.

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Beyond the Boundaries is a companion volume in many ways to Lankton's Cradle to Grave (OUP 1991). Both books deal with copper mining in the Keweenaw Peninsula of Upper Michigan. While Cradle to Grave was concerned with the rise and fall of the copper mining industry - its technology, business practices, and human work experience - Beyond the Boundaries covers a more limited time period, 1840-1875, in the same region, and focuses instead on everyday life. It is essentially a book about men, women, and children, and families - not just their workplace but their homes, stores, churches, schools, hospitals and other aspects of community life as well. It is essentially the story of "reluctant pioneers," who attempted to establish a decent measure of comfort, control, and security in what was in many ways a hostile environment.