• Tuesday-What'sUP May 5 - 06:27 pm

When Brenda Leigh goes off on adventures, we're almost guaranteed to get a history lesson of an interesting place here in the U.P. And more often than not, it's somewhere I've never heard of before, like today's subject, the Bark Dock Day Use Area on Whitefish Bay. Brenda said she loves the stretch of highway called Lakeshore Dr. and Curley Lewis Highway which leads to highway 123 and Paradise, as there are many locations where they have these nice pull outs with information boards.

The information board in today's photos tells of the Hemlock Bark that was left from the logging in the area and was shipped from this location to Sault Ste. Marie, where the Northwestern Leather Company's Algonquin Tannery used it to tan leather. Workers soaked hides in a "brew" of powdered bark and water. The company was in operation from 1900 to 1958 and interestingly enough, Brenda's mother, as a young woman, worked there for some time.

In later years, bark that had been left at this site, was used by the Native American fishermen for heating their fishing shacks. There are still Native Americans from the nearby Bay Mills Indian Community that fish this area with boats like the one in Brenda's photos. They use these boats for dropping, checking and pulling their fishing nets. Whitefish is mostly what they catch, but Brenda said they end up with smelt in their nets too, which they also sell. Since the smelt aren't running in the creeks there yet, folks that enjoy eating them are happy to buy them from the Native Americans in the area.

Brenda bought some of those smelt and was lucky enough to get a recipe for canned smelt from one of the senior members of the tribe, so she went ahead and made her own sardines. She said they are SO GOOD and better than any canned sardines she's ever eaten.

If there's a way to can or preserve anything, you can bet Brenda's going to do it.;)
Interesting photos and info ~ thanks, Brenda, and Mary.

Great pix and info...thanks.

Ah Brenda......WHAT would Pasty be without her pics
and stories? THANK YOU!

Enjoyed the pictures and the story behind them!

And a quick hijack: I got an email from a friend
involved in K-SNAG: "I was wondering if you have
a couple of minutes to do something to help K-
SNAG? We received a call from Copper Country
Ford. They want to do a fund-raiser for us. All
it involves is going to their Facebook page, ONE
TIME, and clicking on "Like" and we get $1.00! If
a thousand people did it we could get $1000! Two
thousand people, $2,000! So if you could do this
for us and tell everyone you know to do it too,
WOW, that would really help us! Thank you so
much!"....So...if you are on Facebook, PLEASE like
Copper Country Ford...so K-SNAG gets a dollar
donation! You'll be helping the animals!! Thank
you!

great pictures and stories to go with them.

I wonder if anyone can tell me, once the smelt start running up streams, can you still capture them with a big dip net? If so, is there a limit to how many you can get? Back in the early 1970s we used to go out at night and catch gallons of them.

Never thought about canning the smelt. When I went to Tech in the 60s we froze ours for summer enjoyment.
Hay Brenda how about sharing the canning recipe with the rest of us trans planted Yoopers. I would love to add it to my game recipe book.
By the way I love the ice pictures on the wall behind the canning jars.

The question is.......... does Brenda bite off the head of the first smelt she cans?

Thanks for the neat story and pics today!

George;
It is still legal to net smelt. There is a two gallon daily limit.

Wvyooper, Here is the recipe. Place cleaned smelt
into pint jars. Add 1/2 tsp of salt, 1/2 tsp
vinegar,
and 2 T Olive Oil. Place clean lids on and
pressure
cook at 10 lbs for 100 minutes. I did also add a
tsp
of plain mustard. However next time I will just
omit
that and use mustard for dipping. THEY ARE SO
DELICIOUS. Thanks to Mary for such a great story
and also thanks for all the nice comments. OH by
the way no I did not bite the first head off.
Although I had done that when I was young and
trying to be impressionable. No need for that any
longer..ha ha

Supposedly they are spawning more and more in the
lakes, thus the spawn runs up streams are
dramatically reduced lately.

I remember garbage cans full after a night of
"dipping". We would have all 10 of the sinks in a
community bathroom at Douglas Houghton Hall each
full of smelt and guts in various stages of
cleaning. Then we'd spend the rest of the weekend
frying and eating. And no waste as I recall.

Will do Donna.