Old Victoria Restoration social media page A hallmark of Old Victoria’s Log Cabin Heritage Day is an abundance of scratch-made cinnamon rolls baked in a period cook stove in one of the cabins.

ONTONAGON COUNTY – The annual Old Victoria’s Log Cabin Day Heritage Celebration, is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

According to the Old Victorian Historic Townsite, the free event includes an open house of the restored miner’s cabins that were originally built in 1899 to house workers of the Victoria Copper Mining Company. Visitors can hear stories of the lives of the miners and their families while touring the restored hand hewn log cabins and grounds.

The day features fresh,scratch-made cinnamon rolls baked by volunteers in a vintage coal and wood range in the kitchen of one of the cabins.

Visitors can learn how to sew on an old crank sewing machine with Sew Cranky of Hancock. At 1:30, old-fashioned kids games invite all ages to join in the fun of various races and sports. At 2:30, visitors can enjoy traditional Finnish folk dancing by the Kivajat Dancers, a Finnish-American folk dance youth group from Hancock.

Old Victoria is about three miles from Rockland, and 16 miles south of Ontonagon Village. The location is a significant part of the Copper Country’s mining history. It was the site of the first mining conducted by Europeans, when British fur trader, Alexander Henry, attempted to open a mine on the bank of the Ontonagon River in 1771. It was near this site, in 1843, that through engineering genius, Julius Eldred removed the famed Ontonagon Boulder, which is on display at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C.

The Victoria Consolidated was organized by Thomas B. Dunstan, a native of Camborne, Cornwall. He also organized the Adventure Mining Company, as well as an attorney for the Quincy Mining Company, and was on the Board of Control of the Michigan College of Mines. He was also a politician. In 1883-84, he served in the Michigan House, was a Michigan senator 1889-1890, and was elected Lt. Governor in 1896.

Among the earliest ventures organized in Ontonagon County, the Victoria was originally formed as the Cushin Mine in 1849, but operated less than a year before it became the Forest Mining Company, operating from 1850 to 1858. Between then and 1899, the mine was operated, off and on, as the Victoria Mining Company.

In January 1899, the company was reorganized as the Victorian Copper Mining Company, which included the defunct Glenn, Shirley, Oneida, Arctic and Sylvan mines. It was at this time that several buildings were constructed for the workers, and their families, along with several structures at the mine. A two-room school was built, and also a communal sauna. The company store included a post office, a butcher shop and supply storage. The supply house was used for dances, movies and other entertainment.

The mine was never able to profit, however and, according to local historian and author James Jamison. The Victoria suspended operations after World War I.

The Victoria Copper Mining Records collection at the Michigan Technological University Archives and Copper Country Collections states that in August 1929, the Victoria Copper Mining Company sold its water rights to the Northern

Acquisition Company and in December sold the remainder of its property to the Copper Range Company. The records do not indicate the date of the final dissolution of the Victoria Copper Mining Company, but the liquidation of its physical assets in 1929 brought its activities to an end.

After the abandonment of the town site, the Victoria houses were rented out, sold, torn down or fell victim to vandals and nature. The Society for the Restoration of Old Victoria was formed in 1974 to restore Victoria buildings.

For more information about Log Cabin Day or Old Victoria, please visit www.Facebook.com/Old Victoria Historic Townsite, email oldvictoria1899@gmail.com, or call 906-281-7412.