It's a neat old 16 minute news reel, "This is America: Great Lakes", mentioning several U.P. icons. Thanks to Keith Baker and Cindy Freeman for the impromptu black & white illustrations :o)

Hard to believe we are down the homestretch to conclude another shipping season. When we first started bringing images from the U.P. back in May of 1995, there was very little content on the 'net about Upper Michigan. We started bringing *daily* pictures during the winter of '97-'98, and since then there has been a mind-boggling deluge of sights and sounds, photos and videos of the U.P. and Great Lakes region added to the web.

Next March 1 - as we approach the start of another Great Lakes shipping season - the Pasty Cam plans to begin it's 20th year with an addition to our format. Our hope is to bring you video or other multimedia every day, revisiting one of prior stops along the journey on that day, during the previous 2 decades. We envision a year-long stroll down memory lane, dusting off those scenes printed on recycled Internet, with an expanded view of the ever-fascinating U.P.

Have a good week :o)

Charlie you are always coming up with ways to make Pasty Cam better! Sounds ambitious to me but if anyone can do it, you can!!

Thanks for the shots of the original Mackinaw.

Great film! Back in my single digit age days we would occasionally stay at the Eagle River lighthouse while on vacation. (Grandmother was Kate Vertin's sister) Back then the light tower was safe and at any time of day or night a kid go up in the light and see multiple boats out on the lake, sometimes 10 or 12. Of course they were smaller boats back then. On foggy days or nights, the continuous blowing of the boats' horns added a spooky element. Progress has erased most of what is on that film.

I love these old films. When I followed it back to YouTube I discovered this other beautiful Great Lakes shipping video, filmed by Dan Vaught using a drone in 2015.

And then his 2016 sequel.

Nice history lesson.

Sounds amazing, Charlie. I look forward to learning more.

Interesting video! Some jobs look like they could be dangerous for workers. I wonder if OSHA, or something similar was around back then.

What a great video and did you know Escanaba had its first "salty" in over 80 years? We are welcoming traffic back to our new marine terminal.

Alex: OSHA has no jurisdiction in the maritime industry; they are regulated by USCG and ABS (American Bureau of Shipping)and they are much more lenient when it comes to worker safety than OSHA.I read an article several years back in the Wall Street Journal that said that the Maritime Industry had the highest per capita worker fatality rate of any industry. Mining and Agriculture were also near the top of the list but the Maritime Industry had them beat.