Beyond the Boundaries

Winner of the 1992 Great Lakes History Prize Cradle to Grave: Life Work and Death at the Lake Superior Copper Mines (OUP 1991) related the history of the copper mining industry along Upper Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula. A companion volume to Cradle to Grave Beyond the Boundaries focuses on the settlement of this region between 1840 and 1875. While Cradle to Grave was concerned with the rise and fall of the industry itself Beyond the Boundaries examines everyday life on the mining frontier and explores how pioneers transformed a wilderness into a industrial landscape and society. Beyond the Boundaries tells 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. It is essentially a book about men women children and families - not just their workplaces but their homes stores churches schools hospitals and other aspects of community life.