The Commercial Fishing Museum has several photographic displays that tell the story of the families that fished the waters of the Keweenaw.
One of the first ships to arrive in Copper Harbor in the 1840's arrived with two purposes. It was to drop off some of the early explorers looking for copper. But it also was to sail to neighboring Isle Royale to see if explorers who had been dropped there earlier had found a good site for commercial fishing. Thus began the related histories of copper mining and commercial fishing in the Keweenaw.
The Keweenaw County Historical Society Commercial Fishing Museum is located on the grounds of the Eagle Harbor Lighthouse complex in Eagle Harbor, Michigan. In it one can see many displays of commercial fishing activities in the Keweenaw and also displays of the many families that fished from one generation to the next. The many photographs in the museum put a human face on the rough and risky business of commercial fishing in Lake Superior.
Using saws and tools such as those in this exhibit, ice was cut from the lake and stored for use in shipping fish to market.