Ocha Potter was a mining engineer who tended to look forward rather than down. Something of an outdoor adventurer, Potter had hunted big game in Alaska, where he was also employed in locating copper in the Copper River Region. He had worked in the Gold Coast Colony in West Africa on diamond drilling projects.

A brilliant mining man, Potter became superintendent at the Superior mine, south of Houghton, where he engineered safer, more efficient ways of stoping (extracting ore), which increased profitability, and also saved lives. Potter is credited with introducing the copper region to one-man air drills.

In 1921, he became superintendent of the Ahmeek mine, in Keweenaw County. A year later, he joined the Board of the Keweenaw County Road Commission. During the Great Depression, Potter was instrumental in road building and transportation improvements in the county with funding from the Work Projects Administration. Thousands of unemployed miners worked on WPA projects throughout the county, including construction of the “Lakeshore Road,” (now M-26) between Eagle River and Copper Harbor, Brockway Mountain Drive, and construction of the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge.

Placed in charge of state, local and federal relief funds in the county, Potter planned many of the projects himself. In 1934, he became the first president of the Copper Country Vacationist League.

Potter retired from the Ahmeek mine in 1948, and passed away in 1955. A year later, a report stated that Michigan had risen to among the top four states for tourism in the U.S.

A report released in July, 1956, stated that of nine million tourists surveyed, four million were residents of Michigan who vacationed in their home state, in spite of an ever-growing and improving federal highway system.

“The remaining five million are non-residents who travel from every part of the nation for an ‘annual Water Wonderland’ vacation,” the report stated.

The report did not include statistics on the number of residents of Michigan’s manufacturing centers who annually traveled to the Upper Peninsula or the Copper Country on “home visits.”

A 1956 Michigan Tourist Council ad listed fishing as a major attraction to the Great Lakes State.

“This year, share the fun,” the ad enticed readers, “bring your family along for a fishing vacation –Michigan style.”

A brief article appearing in Volume 32, 1957 edition of Rocks & Minerals states:

“After a hundred years of mining activity and mineral collection, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is still a profitable and beautiful objective for the (rock) collector, photographer or open-air vacationer. Hundreds of mine dumps, miles of agate beaches, increasing numbers of modern motels and half a dozen friendly mineral dealers insure delightful days and pleasant memories of Michigan’s copper and iron country.”

By the mid-1950s, vacationing and leisure travel had become a major industry, prompting an annual publication, The Travel Market, which ran its first edition in 1955. The publication was the work of the Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan.

The organization’s survey, published in May, 1957, found that: “In one sense, people are highly specific about the places they would like to visit. About nine of ten mention a destination. People do not just hope to travel. They hope to travel to some particular area.”

On Dec. 16, 1956, the Michigan Daily newspaper published a blurb saying that the West Michigan Tourist and Resort Association had published a 48-page book describing in detail facilities at ski resorts and ice fishing centers in Western Michigan. The book listed 21 such resorts, four of which were new that year.

Meanwhile, the 1956 edition of The Lure of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, a travel magazine, waxed romantically:

“Michigan’s Upper Peninsula – Beautiful and unspoiled – with vast open spaces, hundreds of miles of trout streams, myriads of inland lakes, beautiful waterfalls, freedom from hay fever and its invigorating climate is, indeed, an ideal vacationland.”

Including a detailed road map of the entire Upper Peninsula, the publication devoted two pages to each of the U.P. counties, highlighting major attractions.

The same year, 1956, the Minerals Yearbook, reported that Michigan led the nation in the production of gypsum, marl, and salt, and ranked second in production of iron ore. Production of copper amounted to 135 million pounds, valued at $52.3 million, from 12 mines and three reclamation plants.

In 1956, these locations were still served by rail, but rail service, and its nature, was changing, too.

The state tourist organizations published brochures targeted at particular vacationers titled, The Travel Market. It studied trends, including gathering data on means of transportation. It reported, in 1956, that of travelers who responded to the survey, 7% used air travel, while only one adult in 16 traveled by bus. One in 10 relied on rail service, and a staggering one out of two drove privately owned vehicles.

The Copper Country, by the mid-1950s, was served by two primary carriers, the Copper Range Railroad and the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic (D.S.S.&A.), formerly the Mineral Range Line. From its beginning in 1874, the MRRR was immensely popular with Copper Country residents for its passenger service, particularly in 1886, when the line crossed Portage Lake into Houghton, where it connected with the Marquette, Houghton, and Ontonagon Railroad (M.H.& O.), providing rail service to points beyond the Copper Country. In 1932, the MRRR was purchased by D.S.S.&A.

The Copper Range line, on the other hand, had discontinued passenger service already in 1928. Prior to that, the line had secured trackage rights on the Milwaukee Road between McKeever and Ontonagon to offer daily passenger service.

Between 1925 and 1926, the Copper Range line experienced a drop in passenger revenue from $41,500 to $33,3900. To offset the loss, the Copper Range Company had organized in November, 1925 the Copper Range Motor Bus Company, between Painesdale and Lake Linden. In March of 1926, the company extended service from Painesdale to Ontonagon.

“It has enabled the railroad to reduce its passenger train mileage, with resulting savings and at the same time furnishing the patrons a more satisfactory passenger service than was previously rendered.” The bus line was suspended in 1955.

Gas rationing during World War II compelled Copper Range to re-institute passenger rail service, but only briefly, ending in Sept. 1946. Automobiles had taken over.

The Copper Country, faced with declining copper reserves at a time when American culture was trending toward leisure travel, was willing and quick to adapt to meeting the traveling public.