In 1771, Alexander Henry the elder, an early British explorer, was sent to open a mine along the banks of the Ontonagon River where the boulder had been found.
The venture ultimately proved unsuccessful after the adit caved in due to the fact that they were mining into a river bank.
The Michigan Department of Mineral Statistics annual report in 1882 stated: "Among the important advantages which the property possesses is the water-power in the west branch of the Ontonagon river, about a mile south of the mine; forty feet of head can be used here…If it shall be decided to systematically work the mine, the water-power in the west branch will undoubtedly be utilized to operate the machinery…".
[6] In 1904, Charles Havelock Taylor, a Canadian inventor, visited the site in order to build a hydraulic air compressor that would harness the water in the Ontonagon River.
The mine ran almost continuously for nearly twenty years, but as the 1920s approached, the price of copper started to decline.
The cheap power provided by the Taylor Air Compressor allowed the Victoria Mine to remain open longer than most of its competitors.
After World War I ended, though, copper prices fell by fifty percent to 13 cents per pound.
[1] After the mine closed in 1921, the Copper District Power Company purchased the lands with the intent of building a hydro-electric plant on the Ontonagon River.
The new dam (a multiple-arch type, built between 1929-1931) created a five mile long artificial lake called the Victoria Flowage.
Currently, four cabins have been restored and furnished to suit the time period, including two boarding houses and a family home.