Fall has to be one of the prettiest seasons here UP North and today’s photos will back me up, I think. From one of our earlier years, we have a shot of the Dredge in Mason, taken back in 2000, by John Dee. From this angle the Dredge looks to be floating still in the water, rather than grounded on the shore where it is bordered in color.

Richard Barclay snapped the next shot in 2008, of the moon setting over Lake Superior. You can just make out the waves in the photo, rolling into shore under the supervision of that bright orange orb.

The third archive shot was taken in 2016, by Lori Raffaelli Jokela. What a beauty it is of the pond on their property, doubling our Autumn pleasure with the reflection in the water, both of the color in the trees and the beautiful blue in the sky.

I absolutely love the bottom photo taken recently by Brita Haapala. It’s a mystery to me how the sun made it all the way through the tree trunk and branches to appear whole and brilliant like it did. This is another of those beauties that would make a great puzzle!

In case you still haven’t gotten enough Autumn colors, we have a video from Steven Baumann with the colors he found about a week ago in the Keweenaw.

Thanks Mary! You never get enough Autumn colors!

Mary - I was thinking the exact same thing! It
would make one splendid jigsaw puzzle!!

Didn't that dredge help pollute Torch Lake? That's an eye sore and needs to go!! Just my opinion!!

Beauties, eh?

The polluting was done before that dredge was on the scene. It was used to refine the stamp sand. Everybody has an opinion but we've lost enough physical history of the mining era already.

UC,

FJL is correct. Torch Lake was the dumping ground for the Lake's ore processing operations long before the dredges came along. It was only after technology advanced did the operartors realize they could reprocess the material previously discarded (queue the dredges). If anything, the dredges helped to begin cleaning up the area. The bottom of Torch lake is still pretty dead and dreadful but a lot has been done and is ongoing towards restoration of the area. I am on the side of cleaning up the past but not getting rid of those few remaining reminders of how we got here.

D. A. (Midwested),

Did they reclaim everything that could be
reprocessed, or was the process stopped because it
wasn't profitable?

And that brings to mind the proposal a while back to
reclaim the stamp sands on the shore near Gay. Did
that ever get off the ground?

jbuck,

You are correct. They only continued based on profitability. But, sometimes the search for profit can have "some" beneficial effects. My very narrow point is the dredging by itself helped more than hurt. Overall, environmental regulations took quite a while to begin to catch up.

I'm not sure what beneficial material can be found in other stamp sands such as those by Gay. It's my understanding that 90% of the stamp sands at Gay have already been washed away by the Lake and now sits at the bottom.

Thanks D. A. (Midwested)!

Here is the article i was remembering:

Alumnus Teams with Tech to Reclaim Stamp Sand and
Grow an Industry
August 16, 2010/Michigan Tech News
By John Gagnon

Despite the economic downturn, the roofing
industry in America is enjoying long-term,
fruitful prospects, and Michigan Technological
University will play a role in this nearly $9-
billion annual market.

One imminent initiative: a local plant that may
employ up to 40 people to process and supply sand
to the roofing industry.

A long-term plan: a local plant that would employ
300 people to manufacture roofing shingles.

Both initiatives would use the Keweenaw’s stamp
sand, a barren and unsightly leftover of copper
mining in the region. If aesthetically
unattractive, it is a financial beauty—expansive,
ready-made for the purpose and cost-effective.
These deposits are seen as the potential bedrock
of an economic boon.

Roof shingles are 30 percent asphalt and 70
percent rock granules, which are used as both
filler in the shingle and granules on its surface.
Currently, shingle manufacturers have to mine the
rock, crush it and add copper to retard the growth
of moss, lichen, fungus and algae—persistent
problems for homeowners. Upper Michigan’s stamp
sand has already been mined and crushed, and it
contains copper naturally.

FJL & D.A., Thanks for the education and the clarification. I was always told as a kid, that we were not to swim in Torch Lake or eat the fish.

I certainly agree with preserving history, that being said... I believe that the dredge deserves a more fitting resting place with description in front of it explaining the purpose it served, more like a mining monument.