NORTHEASTERN WISCONSIN - Wisconsin - page 448

places in the world are Cumberland, Hayward, Hurley, and Hell, and Hurley is the toughest
of 'em all.” It is against a background of such legend that Wisconsin native and Pulitzer
Prize-winnerEdnaFerbersettheharrowing,onlyslightlyfictionalizedaccountofthebrutal
Lottie Morgan murder, Come and Get It, in Hurley.
Things tamed somewhat with the waning fortunes of ore and receding lines of tim-
ber—not to mention Prohibition. Many saloons and dance halls boarded up tight. The rest,
however, went backroom or simply hibernated while the mobsters used Hurley as a haven
during Prohibition. When Prohibition was repealed, the town again saw a throwback to
drinking and debauchery. Even more drinking halls lined the raucous Silver Street.
Things have finally cooled off in tough Hurley, though it hasn't lost all of what made it
infamous.
Sights
The grande dame hereabouts is the somewhat wearied but eminently proud Iron County
Courthouse Museum (303 Iron St., 715/561-2244, 10am-2pm Mon., Wed., and Fri.-Sat.,
free). Turreted and steepled, it is a leviathan. It was built in 1893 for a princely $40,000
and later sold to the county. A personal favorite is the mock-up of a Silver Street saloon on
the top floor, using carved bars from one of those that made the town legendary. Or visit
on a Saturday and you might see volunteers using original late-19th-century Scandinavian-
style rag-rug weaving looms. Local artisans have also built replicas of, well, darn near
everything. The basement has a morgue (seriously) with a tin casket, cooling board, altar,
and requisite old Bible.
A mile west of town is the art deco Cary Mine Building (west on WIS 77 to Ringle
Dr.), the epicenter of mining operations for 80 years.
Finns came in waves to these regions, and their Suomi heritage is feted daily at Little
Finland (U.S. 2, west of U.S. 51 junction, www.littlefinland.com , 10am-2pm Wed. and
Sat., Apr.-Dec., free), home to a museum to Finnish immigration and homesteading, and
a great opportunity to scope out traditional Finnish “fish-tail” building construction—and
note that some of the timber used to build the center came from the massive Ashland ore
docks. Head five miles south of Hurley to the corner of Dupont and Rein Roads, where
you'll see a huge stone barn designed by a Finnish stonemason.