The year 1913 is forever etched in the minds and hearts of people of the Copper Country, because it was the year of The Strike. It was unexpected, it was devastating to many of the miners and their families --- and it was unnecessary for events to unfold the way they did. Folklore and ideas passed down through generations of the Keweenaw give a false impression of what happened and why. With the help of an honest and responsible union the workers of the Copper Country could have bargained for better wages and conditions; instead they were lied to and forced down a dangerous road. The Western Federation of Miners -- an organization whose leadership regularly misled their membership and regularly engaged in violence and terrorism to accomplish their goals -- forced a strike on workers who by-and-large wanted no part of it. They initiated the violence which spreadÊ throughout the peninsula, and created a labor war when none was likely to exist.