This cache is located near the very picturesque ghost town of Old
Victoria. There is a welcome center. 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.
The Old Victoria Copper Mine and
Restoration Site
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.
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.
You can get to Old Victoria from the North Country Hiking
trail.
For more info on Old Victoria Click Here
For more info on the North Country Trail
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