Devilfish
Devilfish is a city in the US state of Minnesota and the county seat of Cook County. Its metropolitan area comprises the third-largest in the state, after Minneapolis and (narrowly) Duluth. It is also the third-largest city on Lake Superior with a population of 252,447 in 2020.
The city has a rich history of mining dating back to the 1800s, however changing economic times have left the city in a financial slump. While reclamation (and associated industries) continue in some limited fashion, tourism and agriculture are beginning to take a larger share of the city's wealth.
"Devilfish" is a nickname for the Northern Pike, a fish common in the region, after which the city was named.
History
Early History
First inhabited by the Ojibwe people, European civilization was not familiar with the area until the late 1600s, when French fur traders began settling in the area. Several small settlements were made, largely centered on logging and fishing.
In 1854, the Grand Portage Indian Reservation was established as part of a treaty with the Ojibwe people. However, no less than twenty years later, significant copper reserves were found on and near the reservation land. The Grand Portage Mining Company, founded in 1876 by William J. Stannard, quickly established itself in the region.
The Grand Portage Mining Company
Stannard, through a combination of tactics such as bribery and ballot stuffing, quickly established his company as a local monopoly. By the late 1800s, almost 70% of Devilfish's workforce was paid by the GPMC or one of its subsidiaries. As his power grew, Stannard even had large swathes of the Grand Portage Reservation annexed, leaving only a small chunk of land remaining.
In the late 1800s, Devilfish was wracked by the so-called Union Wars, a series of conflicts lasting almost two decades between GMPC management and the Devilfish Brotherhood of Miners. Over 600 were killed in skirmishes between the workers and GMPC men, culminating in the Crescent Lake Massacre of 1899, when the National Guard was called in to evict striking DBM workers from a mine. Twenty were killed and another hundred injured, and after desperate negotiations mediated by the state, a tense stalemate has existed ever since.
As demand for copper rapidly rose in the 20th century, mining in Devilfish rapidly transitioned from underground mining to open pits. The largest of which, Farquhar Mine, remained operating until 2003. A combination of tightening environmental regulations and an abundance of cheaper foreign copper lead to mine closures beginning in the 70s. GMPC eventually went bankrupt in 1988, resulting in thousands losing pensions and retirement funds. The EPA to date has designated twenty-seven different Superfund sites in Cook County alone, as the successors to the GPMC have so far declined to address the century of pollution the city faces.
Changing Times
As the rest of the world reeled from the advent of parahumanity, Devilfish found itself relatively isolated, as few members of the emerging "cape culture" found themselves attracted to the former economic powerhouse. PRT records suggest that there weren't even any capes in the region until the 1992 trigger of the villain Tyrannochorus, although the common consensus is that those who triggered in Devilfish found better opportunities elsewhere.
However, as of 2019 a surge in parahuman activity has been seen in the Devilfish area, with the local PRT field office reporting a startling rise in parahuman-involved crime. The cause of the spike seems unclear, but ongoing plans are being made to address it.