Frontier Life in the Keweenaw - Module

 

Lesson Plan

Lesson Goals

Essential Questions

• What was daily life like for residents (soldiers, officers, civilians) of Fort Wilkins?
• What challenges did people face living on the frontier?  
• How has Fort Wilkins changed over the years?

Enduring Understandings

• Fort Wilkins was established to protect the mining region of the Upper Peninsula.
• Great Lakes shipping and navigation was important to Michigan's development.
• Military life on the frontier was strict, but frontier life allowed time for leisure activities. 

Objectives

• Describe the development of Fort Wilkins and Copper Harbor as a frontier location.
• Explain how military life was structured at Fort Wilkins.

Lesson Planning

Instructional Time

• 30 minutes to 1 hour

*Individual activities can be completed in one sitting or across multiple days, at instructor’s pace

Recommended Materials

Activity #2 - Build a Fort

• Printed Worksheets: 
  • Fort Cabins Design Cutout Worksheet
  • Fort Building Design Cutout Worksheet
• Scissors 
• Tape or glue
• Colored pencils/markers/crayons

Activity #3 - Crossword Puzzle

• Printed worksheets: Frontier Fort Puzzle Worksheet
• Writing utensils

Learning Standards/Assessment

Learning Standards

*Note: Standards depend on activities chosen to complete

Common Core Standards for English & Language Arts

4 – SL.4.1 - Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 4 topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
4 – SL 4.4 - Describe people, places, things, and events with relevant details, expressing ideas and feelings clearly.

Michigan K-12 Social Studies Standards

4 – H3.0.1 - Use historical inquiry questions to investigate the development of Michigan's major economic activities from statehood to present.
4 – H3.0.4 - Describe how the relationship between the location of natural resources and the location of industries (after 1837) affected and continues to affect the location and growth of Michigan cities.
4 – H3.0.5 - Use visual data and informational text or primary accounts to compare a major Michigan economic activity today with that same activity or a related activity in the past.

Michigan K-12 Geography Standards

4 – G4.0.3 - Describe some of the movements of resources, goods, people, and information to, from, or within the United States, and explain the reasons for the movements.

Visual Art Standards Assessment

4 – V.1.LE.2 - Acquire information from observation of local environment.
4 – VA.I.4.3 - Analyze and reflect on the elements of art and design to communicate ideas.
4 – VA.I.4.4 - Prepare, present, and collaboratively evaluate personal artwork.

Assessment

Students will be able to describe military life and its challenges on the frontier.

 

A group of students talk to a young person dressed in historical re-enactment dress.

NPS Photo

Background

Establishing Fort Wilkins:

In 1843, the United States established a Mineral Land Agency at Copper Harbor to regulate copper mining activity. Copper Harbor's safe, deepwater port quickly became an important point of departure and a supply post for those seeking copper riches. In response to the rush of prospectors the government dispatched two companies of federal troops from Detroit to Copper Harbor in May 1844. Their assignment was to keep the peace among the miners at Copper Harbor and to deter problems with the Native Americans if any occurred.

One hundred and fifty soldiers made the 600-mile journey from Detroit to Copper Harbor on the wooden sailing ship, the John Jacob Astor. While the soldiers worked hard to finish building the new fort, their access to the Great Lakes for transportation, communication, and supply was necessary for survival. The Army garrisoned Fort Wilkins for a total of just five years, from 1844-1846 and 1867- 1870.

Building Fort Wilkins:

Army officers selected a narrow strip of land between Copper Harbor and Lake Fanny Hooe as the fort's location. Soldiers felled trees at the east end of Lake Fanny Hooe and cut local stone for building foundations. Logs were rafted to the construction site where troops squared them into timbers for raising buildings.

Knowing that many materials would be unavailable in the local area, the Army brought various items, including milled lumber, doors, windows, and brick, from Detroit. Other
imported materials included lath (planks or boards), lime and hair for plaster, and cast iron
stoves and stovepipe for heating and cooking. Because of the shortage of skilled labor, the Army also requested that several "citizen mechanics" be sent from Detroit to aid in the Fort's construction. Carpenters and plasterers, making $ 1.25 per day, helped erect the new barracks.

Fort Wilkins resembled a typical mid-nineteenth century military post. Buildings included quarters for officers, enlisted men and married enlisted personnel; company kitchens with mess rooms; a hospital; a sutler's store; a powder magazine; a guardhouse and storehouses. A bakery, carpenter shop, and blacksmith shop were also built within the stockade walls. The Army also included plans for a cattle yard, stables, and a slaughterhouse. It took $15,000 and about five months to build Fort Wilkins. The troops
completed 19 of the fort's 22 buildings the first season.

Fort Wilkins closed in 1846 with the onset of the Mexican War. The fort was not regarrisoned until 1867. Despite intermittent use, Fort Wilkins fell into a dilapidated state. The Army assigned Ordnance Sergeant William B. Wright as caretaker of the abandoned post for nine years until his discharge in 1855. Dr. John S. Livermore, a physician and surgeon in the Keweenaw Peninsula since 1848, leased the Fort as a health resort in the
1850s. The U.S. Army regarrisoned the fort in 1861, after the Civil War because of a shortage of barracks space. Fort Wilkins was permanently abandoned by federal troops in August 1870.

 

Key Facts

• Michigan became the 26th state on January 26, 1837.

• Dr. Douglass Houghton is appointed the first State Geologist. He explores the Upper Peninsula in 1840-1841, and confirms the presence of copper in the Keweenaw Peninsula. This results in America's first mining boom.

• In 1842, the Treaty of La Pointe ceded territory from the Ojibwe to the United States government to open up land to mining.

• In 1843, Copper Harbor becomes an important point of arrival and departure for copper seekers. In response to this rush of prospectors, Fort Wilkins is established in May 1844.

• Troops at Fort Wilkins completed 19 of22 buildings in the first season.

• Fort Wilkins depended on Lake Superior shipping for communication, transport and supply. With the long, cold winters, shipping stopped and Fort Wilkins remained isolated from the outside world much of the year. Preparing and contending with the reality of this isolation remained a constant battle.

 

Terms to Learn

• Peninsula: An area of land bordered by water on three sides.
• Frontier: An unexplored, sparsely settled section of land.
• Geologist: A person who scientifically studies the earth's crust, land formations, rocks, etc.
• Ojibwe: The Native Americans whose ancestral and current homelands includes the Keweenaw Peninsula and the Western UP.
• Treaty of La Pointe: In 1842, the Ojibwe entered into an agreement with the United States government. In exchange for annual payments of money and goods over a twenty-five year period, land from the Chocolay River, in present day Marquette, to what is now Ashland, Wisconsin, would be ceded to the U.S.
• Ceded: To give up rights to or to separate.
• Mineral Land Agency: Established in 1843 at Copper Harbor to regulate mining activity.
• Prospector: A person seeking mineral riches in new and uncharted lands.
• Garrison: A body of troops stationed at a fortified military post.

 

Activities

Introduction Video (Activity #1 - Introduction Video)

Activity Objective: Introduce the learning concepts for this lesson in an engaging video to segway into the virtual and in person activities.

1. Play introductory video to the entire class.
   • Video will introduce the ideas of
   • Highlight showing resources from Fort Wilkins.
2. Ask questions to the students that reflect the information display in the video.
   • What were the ways?
   • What were some of the challenges
   • What do you notice is similar (or different) with today’s ?
   • Would you have wanted to be?

 

Build and Design Your Own Fort

Build and Design Your Own Fort (Activity #2 - Build Fort)

Activity Objective: The point of this activity is for the student to learn about the different buildings at Fort Wilkins and how they were used. After they finish this project, have the students identify their buildings and tell the class something about them.

*Note: One page will provide 2 small cabins. The second page will provide a larger building. Enlarge each page 125% for 1 lx14 stock. Remember to cut on the dotted line and fold the solid line.

Downloads:

• Fort Cabins Design Cutout Worksheet
• Fort Building Design Cutout Worksheet

Tools:

• Scissors
• Tape or glue
• Pencil
• Crayons

Directions:

• Cut on the dotted lines
• Tape or glue the sides together
• Fold on solid lines so the paper stays
• Draw on and color your buildings to match its name
• Name your buildings to match ones at Fort Wilkins
• Semi-fold on the solid lines to get an idea of how much room you have for drawing and coloring.

 

Frontier Fort Crossword Puzzle

Frontier Fort Crossword Puzzle (Activity #3 - Crossword Puzzle)

Activity Objective: Use a familiar puzzle to teach students about vocabulary words related to an 1800s frontier fort in Michigan. This puzzle can be done individually or in groups.

Download: Frontier Fort Puzzle Worksheet

 

Additional Student Learning Opportunities

Field Trip – Visit Fort Wilkins Historic State Park
Learn more at: www.michigan.gov/historicfortwilkins