• Friday-What'sUP June 24 - 05:37 pm

If you've never had the pleasure of visiting the Rice Lake area, outside of Lake Linden, then you're missing one of the Keweenaw's great inland lakes, perfect for fishing, boating or just enjoying a swim. I'm not quite sure how the lake got its name, but Kathy Jennings snapped a peaceful shot of it, showing the reeds that populate the edges of the lake. Maybe those watery growths resemble rice stalks as they're grown in paddies and therefore the lake became known as Rice Lake. Anyone know the actual origin of its name?

Ahhhhhhh 34 days 22 hours 29 minutes till I'll be there in person, but who's watching the clock???

Good Morning all, I just checked out your photos, Kathy and they are BEAUTIFUL. I have started the hobby and love trying to get that perfect photo. Keep up the great work.
Everyone have a Great weekend.

My son and I were just talking last night about property for sale on Rice Lake. The one thing I don't like about that lake are those reeds. I'd clear them out of my area if I had it, that's for sure.

I wonder if it's because there used to be wild rice along the shores of the lake?? And just like over around Ashland where the Indians collect the wild rice today, I wonder if they did the same many years ago in Rice Lake??

Seems like a plausable explanation to me....

My father used to have a lot on Rice Lake, and as a child I was told that those plants were wild rice and that was how the lake got its name. I have a lot of fond memories of family gatherings at Rice Lake. Nice picture this morning.

How peaceful!

Nice.

I just love the picture today. It is so very peaceful-just the spot for reflection.

Kathy, you could have included an ordinary, everyday, unspectacular, common, photo in your album, just to show us you are capable of shots like the rest of us mortals make!!

Hi...before we took over the family camp at Bootjack in 1964....we rented a lot at Rice Lake from "the Company"....C&H...I remember the yearly rental was $25....we had lived in Vetville at NMU in Marquette.....Vetville consisted of Quonset (sp) huts originally used for GIs during WWII in the South Pacific.....MTU had them, too, and were auctioning them off in around '62.....We bid on one and we moved it to Rice Lake......I think we paid $450 for it...plus the move to the lot and set up.......worked out for us for a couple years....had lots of friends at Rice Lake...good times there.

Very pretty picture Kathy! I grew up thinking that there was real wild rice in the lake. It woould seem plausible to me.

The picture is lovely. Wouldn't it be wonderful if it were a reflection of conditions all over the world! I wonder what it would be like to exist in a world without war.

My parents owned a camp at Rice Lake for years and after they passed away I owned it. Yes when we were kids we did swim in the lake. The water there, because it is an inland lake is just like bathtub water. Warm! However, there are leeches in the shallow parts on the beach. But that never bothered us. We enjoyed it anyway. My folks told us too that their was wild rice and thats why the rice paddies and reeds. Great fishing also. Had the camp for 27 years and sold it 4 years ago. Like Mary Lou I remember many great parties and family reunions up there.

Gary P.'s Auntie

The lake is warm because it is a pretty shallow lake....except there is a deep "drop off" which was right in front of our lot....My father told me a story about a night right after my father and his friends came home from WWI.....it was November and there two groups of returning vets were partying at Rice Lake..My father and his friends were awakened by the screams of the neighboring camp.....three young guys went out in their boat and fell over....they had on heavy hunting jackets and drowned....at that drop off. I think it was my father who ran into Lake Linden to inform the parents, Dion & Toupin and Mons. Raymond who came out to the Lake...there are three large adjoining tombstoms in Mount Calvery Cemetery to honor the three young men. Mrs Dion lost a son and a brother that night. Ironically...we later bought the Dion home and there were two huge blue spruce tree planted in the yard in memory of these two young men.

mary lou. wow what a story. thank you for sharing. I too lost a cousin that drowned in lake linden I believe. his name was roger balowaara.

I am probably too late to add anything that will get seen, but can't leave without adding my two cents worth!

Yes the old timers tell me there is rice here, although I have never seen anything that looks harvestable...

The only leach we ever encountered was picked up trying to catch a frog in one of the swampiest spots...

eleven years this summer we have owned our 1927 log cabin and the "newer" addition that was a WPA cabin in it's first life... life is at it's best right here.

Perhaps if I had good memories of Rice Lake I would concur with some of the comments that are made on this site. However, my only memory of rice lake haunts me every day. In August of 2003 three family members of mine drowned in Rice Lake, all very strong swimmers, all in healthy conditions. The drownings continue on Rice Lake as City T.V. just released an hour ago another man drowned out of three who were boating on Rice Like.
I am not too sure that I understand what happens when some people are out on parts of Rice Lake, but more disturbingly, I do not understand why nothing happens when so many lives are taken by it.
T.B

Toni..I wonder if we are discussing a diffferent Rice Lake??...Our little Rice Lake is here in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in Houghton County.........If there were recent drownings in our Rice Lake then I have not heard of it.......my sympathy to you in the loss of your family members. The drownings I mentioned occured in November, 1919....