Guided Tours Daily from 11:00 am to
5:00 pm Several buildings have been completed and others are in the midst of reconstruction in a location formerly called Finn Town. These hand hewn log cabins, built over 100 years ago to serve as housing for the miners at the Victoria Copper Mine, can be viewed from the road and seen with a guide for a small fee, which together with donations keeps the site running.In addition to the Finns, other European immigrant miners were Croatian, Austrian, Italian, Canadian, Swedish, and Cornish.Special Events The Arts & Crafts Fair is held on the third Sunday in August, featuring hand-crafted arts & crafts, music, and food. Enjoy cinnamon rolls and coffee cooked on the old cook stove. Stop by and visit Old Victoria, and enjoy the beautiful fall color.
Shallow pits indicate ancient miners were here for centuries before Alexander Henry arrived in 1766. The site was not explored again until the mid 1800's. Miners seeking copper and silver came to the hills around Victoria and a village sprung up around the mine. The Victoria Mine was a low-grade copper operation and continued producing for several years. Helping to make the mining operation successful, Canadian Inventor Charles H. Taylor invented the famous Taylor Hydraulic Air Compressor using the power of the Ontonagon River to produce compressed air to provide ample pneumatic power to the Victoria mine. The compressor is still there but underwater near the Victoria Dam. Restoration of two boarding houses, a single family dwelling, and a bachelors quarters have been completed and others are in the midst of reconstruction in a location formerly called Finn Town. These hand-hewn log cabins, built nearly 100 years ago to serve as housing for the miners at the Victoria Copper Mine, can be viewed from the road and they are open so you can take a guided tour through the rooms furnished with period antiques reminiscent of the men and women who once lived here.
Guides take you through the Arvola House, the Usimaki House and the other restored buildings explaining lifestyle of the brave and hardy people who mined copper over a century ago. Learn about the Victoria Copper Mine and the company town that grew up around the mine. Take a walk along the scenic trail that overlooks Victoria Dam. The Society for the Restoration of Old Victoria has made this old company town come to life. Restoration of these original buildings has taken a great effort by local people and has been almost entirely funded by private subscription. Society for the Restoration of
Old Victoria, Inc The restoration of Old Victoria is totally funded by your donations and tour charges which we greatly appreciate. There are still several cabins that we wish to restore including one used by a Swedish mining family. Old Victoria is located 4 miles southwest of Rockland, MI on the Victoria Dam Road in Ontonagon County, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Watch for the sign on Highway 45 in Rockland. For more information on the Victoria Copper Mine, the Ontonagon Boulder, Victoria Hydroelectric Dam, the famed unique Taylor Hydraulic Air Compressor, the prehistoric mining pits, and two of the richest copper mimes in the country, the National and the Minesota Mine, visit the Rockland Historical Museum at the library in Rockland, Michigan. Open Memorial Day through Color Season from 11:30 to 4:30. Phone: 906-886-2821 Visit us on Facebook
Upper
Peninsula Copper Mining and History Copyright 2004 by Char Simons, webmaster. All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under the Copyright Act of 1976, as amended, this web site may not be reproduced in whole or in part in any manner. Unless authorized by the webmaster, reproduction of any picture, web page or pages on this website,www.exploringthenorth.com, for placement on the internet is a copyright infringement. All right, titleand interest in and to the material on these web pages, the web site, in whole or in part, and in and to this url and the urls contained within, is the property of the webmaster. All website design, text, graphics, selection and arrangement thereof are thecopyrighted works of Char Simons. Web site created on an Apple G-4,8/04 |
One
of the first sites ever mined for copper in the new world is
the very picturesque ghost town of Old Victoria. This is
where the famous "Ontonagon Boulder" was discovered in the
Ontonagon River. The Boulder is now resting in the National
Museum of Natural Science at the Smithsonian Institute in
Washington, D.C.
