UP Colony

In the 1980s, Phil Bellfy pondered the questions: Why does Sault, Ontario, appear to be so prosperous, while the Sault on the American side has fallen into such a deplorable state?  Could the answer be that the American Side"was little more than a resource colony?  Bellfy revisits his graduate research to update us on the state of the Sault.

The ultimate questions:  why has the U.P.'s vast wealth, nearly unrivaled in the whole of the United States, left the area with poverty nearly unrivaled in the whole of the United States?  None of the conventional explanations from distance to markets, too many people or disadvantageous production costs have any credibility.  Simply put, where did the $1.5 billion earned from copper mining, $1 billion from loggings, and nearly $4 billion in iron ore go?

To get to the bottom of these thorny questions, Bellfy looks at the possible economic pressures imposed by external colonial powers.  The pressure points examined in this book include presence of a complimentary economy, lopsided investment in one sector, monopoly-style management, disparity of living standards, a repressive conflict-resolution system, and the progressive growth of inequality over time.