“While the great Calumet Conglomerate lode might have been getting the lion’s share of attention near the turn of the century in the Copper Country, a strong rival to the north was slowly coming into its own. The Kearsarge Amygdaloid was first pillaged by its namesake – the Kearsarge Mine – in 1881, followed closely by a slew of other mines including the Wolverine, Centennial, South Kearsarge, and the great C&H itself. These mines found success in the newly discovered lode, and soon several more mines moved in to stake their own claims. As the 20th century dawned on the Copper Country, the lode’s northern extension had become a hotbed of activity, with no less then six shafts operating in an are just three miles in size.

With this increase in activity came an increase in workers, and in turn a growing need for worker housing and other commercial services. Stepping in to fill this increasingly urgent need was a man by the name of J.T. Finnegan who in the summer of 1907 acquired a tract of 80 acres just outside of mining company land east of the Kearsarge Lode. The land was in a prime location, sitting along the newly laid Keweenaw Central mainline and centrally located between the Ahmeek Mine to the north, the Allouez to the west, and the North Kearsage to the south-west (shafts from these mines are denoted with red dots in the map above). Soon network of roads were built and the town of Copper City was platted.”