Copper Mining and Paternalism

I'm reading an excellent book called "Cradle to Grave" by Larry Lankton.

It has been shocking to read that the Upper Peninsula of Michigan was once a highly-populated area. A copper-mining boom started on the Keweenaw peninsula in the mid-1850s. Around the turn of the century there were 100,000 people living there. People came from Europe to tour some of the advanced engineering; the largest water pump in the world was located at one of the mines.

The book studies the concept of Corporate Paternalism. In the remote area, mining corporations funded many social services that would typically be the domain of local government or private industry. For many years, it worked fairly well; it was beneficial to both the employer and the employee (with exceptions). Employers received a more loyal (or entrapped, based on how you want to phrase it) workforce, and were able to steer the social direction of the community into one that was more favorable for good work (less alcohol and carousing). Employees received housing, possibly retirement, and services without high taxes.

Eventually, as the copper ran out, paternalism fail and there were strikes. There was really nothing anybody could do to save a dying regional industry. The last mine closed in 1995; Calumet and Hecla, the largest, ran for over a century, from 1865 to 1968.