Copper Country Journal: The Diary of Schoolmaster Henry Hobart, 1863-1864 (Great Lakes Books)

Being a student of American History, I was very impressed with the diary of Henry Hobart. I have always been interested in the American Civil War. The book gives a first person account of the times and climate surrounding the conflict. I especially liked the setting, the Upper Penisula of my home state, Michigan. I, and my family, often vacation there. In his descriptions I can see the land, the people and the climate of that part of the state. A very enjoyable read, though at times, the trials endured by the people involved was difficult to imagine. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in history.

Thank goodness some people keep diaries, and this one encompasses the years 1863-1864. Henry Hobart, a schoolteacher, comes from Vermont to teach school in the Upper Peninsula at Clifton, the settlement at the Cliff Mine. At that time, the Cliff Mine was known world-wide for its vast production of copper. Mr. Hobart teaches about 100 children at a time, and he writes of the ups and downs of a job he loves but finds exhausting.The Civil War is going on, and Hobart writes what little news he hears of it in his diary. He goes down into the Cliff Mine (before elevators were used) and it's nothing short of fascinating to read of him climbing down to steep levels by ladder. In the winter, the ladder is icy and he tells of accidents caused by it ending in death as well as death in the mine by other means.A Temperance man, he has no patience for those that drink and tells of many an instance of men (and women) who partake. He writes of his fellow townsfolk, and those he does not like minces no words. The diary is peppered with Cornish dialect (can you clunk a pasty?), and for the most part he writes of them with disdain. Sometimes he is too preachy, going on about his personal philosophy on this and that, and I found those parts boring. But then I don't think he intended this journal to be read by the public.Boarding with a family, he brings us into their cabin and lets us see the nasty mother, the horrible cook she is, her unclean methods of preparing food and tells us of one towel that is used for "everything".He seems to have a love/hate relationship with Clifton. The heat in summer is oppressive, bedbugs are abundant, and by the end of two years of seeing basically nothing more than the bluffs, he is happy to return to his Vermont home.