Silver City

Silver City, a fishing village, stands upon the ruins of an old mining location that once gave promise of becoming a silver bonanza.  When silver was discovered in 1872, much of the territory for 60 miles south and east was staked out in claims, but only sporadic mining followed, and it subsided completely by 1876.  Assays of $1,716 coin silver to the ton of rock, a fairly valuable ratio, led to the conclusion that the failures here were owing to lack of funds for proper development and transportation.  Indians in this district sold nuggets of pure silver to the whites, but efforts to locate the source of these nuggets went unrewarded.  One white man is said to have learned the secret, but he immediately disappeared and was never heard of again.

Population, 25 in 1941.  Current population (2006) is unknown.

The town has had three names in its history: Iron River, Silver City, then Beaser, and today back again to Silver City. In a sense, Silver City is a ghost town.

Source:  History of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  Chicago:  The Western Historical Company, 1883.