Eagle River, Michigan
Eagle River is an
unincorporated community in the
U.S. state of
Michigan. It is the
county seat of
Keweenaw County6.
The community is on
Michigan State Highway 26 on the north side of the
Keweenaw Peninsula, which projects into
Lake Superior. It is about 27 miles northeast of
Houghton and is situated in the northwest corner of
Houghton Township on the mouth of the
Eagle River at . The
ZIP code is 49950.
Eagle River was a boom town of the copper mining era in the Keweenaw. Copper was discovered in 1845 at in the Cliff Range nearby, the so-called "Cliff Lode". The land of the Eagle River community had been leased by the Keweenaw Copper Company in 1843. It was later platted by the Phoenix Company and sold as individual lots. The first postmaster was named on
October 24,
1845. It was part of
Houghton County until Keweenaw county was organized in 1861. The profitability of the area's copper mines had begun to decline sharply by around 1870. Without copper traffic, the Eagle River harbor went unused and quickly became full of silt.
The decommissioned
Eagle River Lighthouse is on the west bank of the river on a sand bluff overlooking Lake Superior, although the view is partially obscured by condominiums.
