Rustic Reflections Of Copper Falls State Park Second Edition - Softcover

Mary J. Schueller

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0977113701 ISBN 13: 9780977113705

Publisher: Rustic Books LLC, 2015

Synopsis

Rustic Reflections Of Copper Falls State Park contains the documentation that originally placed the park site on the National Register of Historic Places on December 16, 2005. The Second Edition of this work contains the park upgrades from the past 10 years, historic pictures in addition to the original blue prints, CCC and WPA Work Progress reports found in the National Archives in College Park, Maryland. For Smart Phone users, the Second Edition includes a Wisconsin State Parks and Forests Pocket Ranger App for not only exploring Copper Falls State Park but all trail and recreation areas in Wisconsin. Copper Falls holds the distinct honor of being the first state park site nominated in its entirety for National Register status in the areas of rustic architecture, conservation and entertainment/ recreation. Although the artwork has been enhanced since the first edition came out ten years ago, this book is not a coffee table book but a handy pocket guide that fits easily in a backpack to use as a reference as you explore the many treasures within the park. The book comes with a self-guided walking tour brochure for you to find all the nominated site elements.

About this title

About the Author

Mary J. Schueller is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and a native of Wisconsin. She became interested in this topic as she researched her father's service in Company 692 of the Civilian Conservation Corps and discovered he was the Carpentry Field Supervisor in charge of the main lodge at Copper Falls. While digging through the CCC Work Progress Reports, I was ecstatic when I and found pictures of my dad I then realized that by the time my dad was 25 years old, he had helped build the lodges in two state parks now on the National Register. Schueller's second book entitled The Soldiers Of Poverty is a creative nonfiction account of her father's service in the Civilian Conservation Corps in Illinois, Wisconsin and Isle Royale, Michigan from 1933-1937. Schueller has spent the past ten years as a public speaker to share this fascinating story. I feel it is important to pass the story on to the next generation of caretakers of this magnificent landscape. It is equally important for us to attach a human face to these historic rustic treasures in order to appreciate their unmeasurable value.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Copper Falls State Park lies within the Penokee-Gogebic Mineral Range in the northestern portion of Ashland County in northern Wisconsin. The park's land lies approximately 24 miles southeast of the county seat of Ashland, located on the shore of Lake Superior. Copper Falls State Park is also 24 miles west of Ironwood, Michigan. The park is in the town of Morse and is located 1.8 miles northeast of Mellen. The entrance can be found by driving north on State Highway 13/77 and turning northeast on State Highway 169.

The Penokee-Goebic Mineral Range is an 80-mile stretch of rock formations that surround numerous rivers, creeks and lakes within thickly forested hardwood and conifer timberland. The mineral range begins at Lake Gogebic in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and extends into northern Wisconsin in Ashland County. This mountainous ridge separates the southern third of Ashland County from the northern two-thirds and forms the Northern Continental Divide that separates the flow of Wisconsin waterways. All rivers west of the ridge flow south into the Chippewa River and eventually empty into the Mississippi River. All rivers east of the ridge flow north emptying into Lake Superior.

A highway marker for the Northern Continental Divide can be found between Mellen and Glidden on State Highways 13/77. Mellen is situated at the base of the mineral range where northerly winds from Lake Superior sometimes deposit up to two feet of snow in one storm with recorded low temperatures exceeding 40 degrees below zero.

The Penokee-Gogebic Mineral Range is known for its abundant deposits of iron ore that are sent to the Ashland Ore Docks on Lake Superior for shipment to ports on Lake Michigan. Black granite of exceptional quality is also found in abundance and used in the manufacture of monuments. In the mid-1880s, there were two copper mines within the park near the site of the present Log Footbridge north of the Combination Building.

Mt. Whittlesey, 10 miles south of Copper Falls State Park in eastern Ashland County, has an elevation of 1,872 feet and is the sixth highest elevation in Wisconsin. Eagles Peak, southeast of Copper Falls State Park and southwest of Mt. Whittlesey, has an elevation of 1,682 feet and is the 17th highest elevation in the state. The elevation of Copper Falls State Park ranges from 1,250 feet above sea level at the park entrance to 900 feet above sea level at the northern end of the park.

Due to its elevation, the Bad River experiences three waterfalls within Copper Falls State Park. It cascades over rocks at Red Granite Falls in the southwestern edge of Copper Falls State Park. It continues north through canyon walls that range from 60 to 100 feet and spills 29 feet over Copper Falls. The Tyler Forks River plunges 34 feet at Brownstone Falls, merges with the swift currents of the Bad River and continues north until it flows into Lake Superior.

Two quarries south of Loon Lake contain large deposits of black granite as well as numerous areas that contain natural deposits of flagstone. In addition, sand and gravel pits east of the Bad River near Highway 77 provide material for resurfacing miles of roads within and surrounding the park. Thick clay, sandstone, granite, brownstone river rock and sand form the shoreline of the iron-rich water of the Bad River.

Much of Ashland County is federally or tribally-owned property. The Bad River Indian Reservation for the Lake Superior Chippewa (Ojibwe) Indians is adjacent land north of Copper Falls State Park. The reservation land contains conifer and hardwood forest, crop and dairy farms. In addition, there are 180,630 acres in Ashland County currently reserved for the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest.

Edition details

• Publisher: Rustic Books LLC
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0977113701
• ISBN 13: 9780977113705
• Binding: Perfect Paperback
• Illustrator: Tashina Peplinski, Graphic Edge Printing
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 108
• Editor: Mary Carol Granberg, Dir. Mellen Area Hist. Soc.