Slide 157

Loading 1400 Tons of Copper on Boat, Houghton, Mich.

Drawer 4



Negative Number: 22049

Latitude: 47.0

Longitude: 88.0

Geographical Classification:
North America: United States and Possessions (Except Asiatic Possessions): North Central States: Michigan

Card Front:

The copper of commerce is handled in bars, called ingots. Here on the freight cars you see tons and tons of these ingots ready to be transhipped by boat. Great piles of them are already loaded on the ship; but the cargo of 1400 tons is not yet completed. From this shipped point, at Houghton, Michigan, shipload after shipload is sent forth. One of the reasons why the Michigan copper field was opened early is its easy approach. The upper peninsula is within reach of the waters of the Great Lakes. Transportation is thus made easy. Railroads connect the mines with lake ports; and lines of steamers call at these ports for their heavy cargoes. The demand for copper is very heavy in all civilized countries. And the needs of civilized peoples have been carried to all lands. Street cars and automobiles run in far-away Java, just

Card Back:

as they do about your home. Telephones are in operation in numberless places in Africa. Cables and telegraph lines connect the out-of-the-way corners of the Earth. The electricity needed to operate the telephones, automobiles, etc., is carried on copper wires. The United States furnishes by far the most of the copper used. Europe depends on our copper mines largely. But in recent years all countries have been carefully inspected to see if there are any deposits of this metal. It has been found in Abyssinia; in northern Afghanistan; in Argentina; in Belgain Congo; in Tasmania; Cuba; Haiti; and many other places. One of the reasons why the Central Powers overran Serbia in the Great European War was to get control of a valuable copper mine.