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Situated in the western Upper Peninsula of Michigan, White Pine is an unincorporated community in Carp Lake Township, in western Ontonagon County.

While unincorporated communities in Michigan are without defined boundaries, White Pine was listed as a census-designated place (CDP) for the purpose of the 2010 census, although its boundaries have no legal status. M-64 serves as the eastern boundary of the CDP, while Big Iron River and Anderson Creek form its western boundaries, and M-64 crosses Anderson Creek at the CDP's southernmost point. Other waterways include the Mineral River and Paystreak Creek.

Cities and villages within fifty miles of White Pine include Ontonagon, Wakefield, Bessemer, and Ironwood.

Like many western Upper Peninsula communities, White Pine was a mining town, although it developed later than most. The first recorded European settler in the area that would become White Pine was John Less, a French trapper. In 1865, his son, Edward, discovered copper in the area, although some time would go by before there were any significant mining operations there.

The first mining operations in White Pine were conducted by Captain Thomas Hooper, who mined the area from 1879 to 1881. It was he who named the settlement for a large white pine tree on a hill. When Captain Hooper ceased his mining operations, residents labored as lumberjacks, trappers, and hunters for several years.

In 1908, Thomas H. Wilcox, a mining engineer, discovered what he believed to be a large amount of copper along the Mineral River. He formed the White Pine Copper Company to restart and extend previous mining operations. Under his management, the company extended the depths of Hooper's shafts and started a few new ones.

The White Pine Copper Company's mining operations were successful enough that the White Pine settlement grew. A post office was established on June 7, 1915, as White Pine Mine, with Axel G. Johnson as postmaster. Within a few years, the settlement had a movie theater, a casino, a dance hall, a school, and a couple of churches. The Chicago, Minneapolis & St. Paul Railway opened a station in White Pine.

The operations were short-lived, however. The mine closed in 1920, after only a few years, and its post office soon closed, as well. The chief problem was the difficulty of smelting the copper, due to the nature of the specific type of copper ore found in this location, and mining it economically was beyond the reach of the mining operations. In 1929, the mine was sold to a Copper Range bidder for a price that was equal to the back taxes owed. It sat unused for a couple of decades.

However, in the late 1940s, W.E. (Tex) Romig developed a process to recover the copper from the ore by flotation and, by that time, the price of copper had increased. The Copper Range Mining Company was granted a loan from the Defense Production Act to reopen mining operations in White Pine.

With significant investment, the Copper Range company build new homes, apartments, a trailer park, a dining hall, and a hospital in White Pine. The post office was re-established as White Pine on February 1, 1954, with Clarence Broemer as postmaster.

Copper mining companies in the UP had historically provided housing for workers under the belief that this encouraged a more stable workforce. However, this was the 1950s, and there were automobiles and improved roads, so a lot of its workers chose to remain in their homes and commute to White Pine rather than move. Nevertheless, the settlement's population grew from a few dozen to nearly two thousand by the 1970s.

These mining operations were very successful, and White Pine became a major copper producer in Michigan, accounting for about five percent of the copper produced worldwide. It remained in operation until the mid-1990s, employing about twenty thousand people during its run.

Copper mining may not be over in White Pine yet, as a new company is currently conducting exploratory drilling at a new location near White Pine.

With no mining currently being conducted in White Pine, the community's economy has turned to tourism and outdoor recreation. The southwestern portion of the village is in the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, and Lake Superior is only a few miles to the north, to the area can support resorts, a motel, a bar, a restaurant, a bowling alley, and other commercial businesses. There is also a post office, a fire department, an American Legion post, and a couple of churches. In 2020, White Pine's population was 339, which was down from 474 in 2010.

Topics related to the White Pine community are the focus of this category, including local governmental entities, businesses, industries, schools, churches, organizations, attractions, events, and recreational opportunities, although many of these do not currently exist within the community.

 

 

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