• Sunday-What'sUP September 6 - 10:16 am

In the Summer of 1907, the new home of Thomas H. Hoatson, Jr. was complete. His family had moved to the Copper Country in 1872 when young Tom was only 11. There his dad worked first at Quincy Mine, then as a superintendent for Calumet and Hecla. But Tom Jr's claim to fame was his investment in the Calumet and Arizona Mining Company, which brought him substantial wealth, along with his brother James, in the early 1900's. Some of that wealth went into new cars and that mansion known today as Laurium Manor Inn.

By the way, Laurium Manor is mentioned in an article today in the Detroit Free Press, along with several other Keweenaw landmarks (including Quincy Mine). It was only two weeks ago that an article about Eagle River's own Thimbleberry Jam Lady appeared in the Freep, and we understand they have had non-stop orders since then. (These daily feature happens to come to you from Eagle River, the home of the Pasty Cam.)

It is a glorious weekend here in the Copper Country, with lots of sunshine, few moquitos, and crowds of sightseers. If you haven't made it up to our neck of the woods this summer, be sure to plan a fall color tour sometime in the next month. And if a trip is out of the question, at least you can have a delicious taste of the U.P. by home-delivery, as Pasty Central is shipping pasties once again.

Have a good week :o)

Morning...This home was the old Laurium Elders Home where my grandmother worked & met her second husband, Eli Karinen. As a child I remember visiting Hannah Tati, Riika Tati there & always being treated to their peppermint candy. My husband's grandmother resided there. Wondering how many other Pasty Cammers have similar stories.

Actually, Judy, the Laurium Elders Home was in Daniell Manor on the next block. It was started after WWII and housed in that building (a block from the Petermann Mansion) until 1982 when Still Waters Community Elders Home was built in Calumet, which is where Pasty Central began in 1996.

Daniell Manor in lower left

The Hoatson's cottage in Eagle Harbor is the house I own now. They also built a log cabin in Bete Gris.

In follow up to yesterday's Cam Notes - and the birthday greetings for our 1 year old granddaughter Kira - here is what the party looked like after just a few minutes:

Now THAT's the way a baby's first birthday is supposed to look!!!!

My son and his family stayed at the Laurium Manor Inn a couple of years ago and just loved it!!!

Hi, Charlie, To set the record straight, Stillwater did not start in the Peterson Mansion but in the John Daniell house on Pewabic. In your picture of the Peterson Mansion, look in the lower lefthand corner and you will see the John Daniell house behind it. I quote from an article on John Daniell found in the book Tamarack Town, by Paul T. Steele. "Daniell Manor was constructed c.1895 by John Daniell, who became Superintendent of the Oceola Mining Company and founded the Tamarack Mining Company, which for a time was the third largest copper producer in the United States."

Thanks for the correction, Billie. The Petermann Home and Daniel Manor are a block apart. You can see them from another perspective in this slide from the Foster Collection at the National Park Service. The label for the Petermann Home was put directly above the Daniel Manor arrow, which may give the wrong impression. To see a giant resolution picture of the photo below, click here

Yet another family connection!
My maternal grandmother, Anna Nara (then Anna Karvola), was a member of Hoatson's kitchen staff at the Hoatson house (now the Laurium Manor Inn) for a year or two circa 1908.

I and my two brothers grew up across the Street at 329 Tamarack, I in the late 30's and they in the 40's.The garage had a turn table in so the car could be driven in and then driven out never to be backed out. A lot of fun getting the turn table to move fast like a merry-go-round. In the late 40's became the Thomas Funeral Home, formerly in Calumet operated by Maynard Hurlburt. A ball room on the top floor with a magnificent stairway going up from the first floor.

When Dollar Bay had their 100 year reunion a few years back to show off the new addition to the school ,I made reservations for my two sisters and me.
Now they were very surprised that their brother could actually have good taste and treat them to such a beautiful bed and breakfast as The Laurium Manor Inn. We really enjoyed ourselves and and we were treated to deliocios breakfasts every morning.
My sisters talk about it all the time.

William, Edsel Ford put a turn table in the garage at the Edsel and Eleanor Ford Mansion in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, like the one you are describing. I wish my daughter would have had one of those when she first started driving. It would have saved money replacing the outside mirrors on the car at least twice, once even tearing up the front side panel which put it in the shop for a couple of days.

I love the Hoatson house-in fact I love driving around Laurium and just admiring the large older homes at times. The Laurium Manor Inn has tours and it is such a treat to walk through that wonderful house and imagine it in years gone by. Great photos today!

Some Hoatson information..
HOATSON FAMILY This Cornish mining family made its mark in the copper world in two distinct localities; on the shores of Lake Superior, and in Bisbee, Arizona, on the Mexican border.
John Hoatson, who had lived in Calumet for some years, was mining captain at the Phoenix Mine near Eagle River. He was killed in an accident in February of 1874; six men died at the time. Captain Thomas Hoatson was born in Scotland in 1825, where his father was working in the mines. In the late 1860s, Thomas was in the Ontonagon District, living in Greenland. He served as agent and captain at the Ridge Mine. At that time, he had a crew of 51 men. Thomas and wife Grace were in Houghton County by the early 1870s, where Hoatson, among other things, was mining superintendent for the Calumet & Hecla. During the 1880s and 1890s, the Calumet & Hecla was the world’s leading copper producer. Three Hoatson sons born in Cornwall would follow their father in choice of occupation: James, John, and Thomas. Captain Hoatson died in Calumet on December 20, 1897, and his wife died there in 1903.
Thomas, Jr., joined the Calumet & Hecla staff in 1878 and rose rapidly in the firm hierarchy. In 1899, Thomas was intrigued with the reported new finds in the Warren District near Bisbee and went on an inspection tour. He was impressed, as were brothers James and John. James was placed in charge of various negotiations, and he worked out the purchase of the Irish Mag claims from Martin Costello. This was the foundation of one of the West’s great copper producers, the Calumet & Arizona Mining Company.
In the following decades, the Hoatsons were able to do what few other mining executives did: they maintained active, prosperous careers in both districts, which were about 2,000 miles apart. In general, Thomas spent more time in the Michigan Copper Country, where in addition to his mining interests he was also a director of the First National Bank of Calumet and vice-president of the Keweenaw Central Railroad; he was on the board of directors of at lest 10 mining companies in Michigan and Arizona. In 1906-08, Hoatson erected what is now called the Laurium Manor near Calumet. This 45-room mansion is one of the highlights of architectural tours in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The amazing thing about the mansion, with its ballroom and other facilities, was that it was smack-dab in the center of modest homes of the miners. This didn’t seem to affect too many people negatively; perhaps some used the mansion as a “goal”; others suggest that it was in keeping with obvious social status reminders brought over from Cornwall. Thomas Hoatson died in Calumet in 1929. One of his sons, Chester, at that time was vice-president and manager of the Belmont Copper Company.

Although John and James were active in greater Bisbee, James was the more active of the two. He was a very wealthy man who concerned himself with the entire picture, large and small. He cold plan long-term milling, while at the same time thought nothing of taking pick in hand, go down a shaft, work samples, and chat with his mining captains. In southern Arizona he was considered an expert in determining paying copper ground.
James also lived the good life, and he traveled frequently for his many responsibilities. He was also president of the North Butte Copper Company in Montana. He had large homes in Bisbee as well as in Calumet, and nearing retirement he built a palatial home in Hollywood, California, where he died on February 27, 1923.
The Hoatsons continued their Michigan-Arizona travels over the decades. The copper kept paying in both locations, and the Hoatsons also took advantage of weather differences to make their stays in both locations more meaningful. Winters on the shores of Lake Superior are long and dismal, but much prospecting, planing, and construction can take place in southern Arizona during these months. (Lake Superior Miner, December 26, 1868; March 20, 1869; Lynn Bailey and Don Chaput, Cochise County Stalwarts. Tucson: Westernlore Press, 2001; Hoatson Files, Houghton County Historical Museum, Lake Linden, Michigan; Engineering & Mining Journal, March 10, 1923; February 9, 1929; Transactions, American Institute of Mining Engineers, XXIX, 1899; Iron Ore, January 20, 1912; Calumet News, February 28, 1923).

Chester [Hoatson] … vice-president and manager of the Belmont Copper Company.
Apparently that would be Belmont Copper Company, of Superior, Arizona.

See also the Nevada Nugget Hunters forum. Click on the Search option at the top of the page; just below the search dialog box, be sure to click on the nevadanuggethunters.myfreeforum.org radio button, and enter Hoatson as your search term. You should find 8 references for further reading.

Such interesting history you folks can share. Hope to see a lot of it whenever I get there next time. I'd love to stay at those B&Bs. I'm currently an innkeeper in a very much smaller B&B here along the Mississippi. We have 3 guest rooms. It's a very homey place and getting a lot of repeat guests, most of whom these days are motorcyclers. We're right "downtown" and have the most wonderful sunsets in these parts. For me the guests are the greatest folks. And the "bikers" are not the typical image some people have believe me!

That is a beautiful house, and just one of many in Laurium. Taylor and I would walk and look when we lived there, now we do the same in Lake Linden.

If I'm not mistaking the Laurim Manor at one time was a funeral home, and the owner murdered his family before taking his own life.