The area was first occupied by the Eagle Harbor Mining Company, who landed a party of men here during the summer of 1845, a man by the name of Sprague being its agent. On October 17, 1845, Franklin Hopkins arrived with thirteen men and resided within a tent. He arrived at Copper Harbor the night that Dr. Douglass Houghton drowned, and had to remain there for four days because of the memorable storm of October 13, 1845, which deprived the copper region of its most able and accomplished explorer and surveyor.