Copper Peak: Chippewa Hill

At an altitude of more than 1500 feet, 300 feet above the surrounding terrain, this location was the southern-most area in Michigan to offer a prospect of producing copper in commercial amounts. The Chippewa Copper Mining Company began work here in 1845, sinking a still-visible tunnel into the granite rock. No copper was ever produced, although around 1900 the Old Peak Company made further explorations. In 1970 a 280-foot ski slide, the highest in the world, was completed on the peak in time for the western hemisphere’s first international ski flying tournament here. Skiers record flights of nearly 500 feet from this slide.