Bates Township, established in 1885, covers about 132 square miles in Iron County and has an hour-glass shape, with boundaries that changed twice in its early years. Its northern half is a forested recreational area, while its southern half has about 1,000 residents, numerous lakes, and forests. Farming, logging, and mining were its major industries; mining in the township included the Bates, Chicagon, and Rogers mines, which together shipped 8,196,380 tons of ore from 1909 to 1947, while logging remains an important source of family income. Larson Park lies within 320 acres of old growth forest, and Bates Township contains two main forest systems, the 250,000-acre Copper Country State Forest and the approximately 1,000,000-acre Ottawa National Forest, which extends through the four western counties of the Upper Peninsula; these forests are open for hunting, fishing, and camping and support abundant wildlife and fish. Bates also had a strong homesteading history after land became available under the Homestead Act of 1862, drawing mainly Scandinavian settlers through Norway, Michigan. These large families endured hardship as the heads of households often worked in the mines and spent weekends clearing land and building homes, first grubbing soil by hand for small gardens and later using horses as they expanded into livestock, grain, and vegetables. Bates has seven Centennial Farms, with a few still active today, and its communities included Scandinavian, Polish, and Finnish residents living in their own areas. The township has also long offered outdoor recreation, including fishing, hiking, camping, swimming, ATV riding, snowshoeing, ice fishing, snowmobiling, hunting, bird watching, canoeing on the Paint River, and access to sandy beaches.