If you live here in the Keweenaw area, you may not always take the time to stop and really look around, as you’re most likely headed from point A to point B and focused on getting there. Cathy McKenzie recently stopped on the Houghton side of the Portage Canal to snap a few shots looking over at Ripley. It’s neat to stop and just take it all in, seeing things you might not see when just passing by. I especially like Cathy’s first shot, with the leaves gone, those homes on the Ripley hills really stand out. I can only imagine the beautiful view the occupants have of the Houghton side of the canal.

There’s something about all the posts for the docks at the marina lining the canal like sentries and just waiting for next summer when the boats will be tied up there once again. And last, but not least, who doesn’t love a Portage Lake Lift Bridge photo? It’s my gateway to home, as we live on the “island” side of the Keweenaw.

Today is the 47th Anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald in Lake Superior, near Whitefish Bay with the loss of all 29 crew members aboard. Alexis Dahl shares a video about what happened to the Fitzgerald with this lead-in about it: “In 1975, the Edmund Fitzgerald sank without a distress call, after a strangely encouraging message from its captain. None of the crew survived to tell anyone what happened — but I found an expert to help me understand what we know, and what might have doomed this Great Lakes ship. Many special thanks to Mike TenEyck for his endless insight, research, and hospitality as I learned about this story.”

May they all RIP...

Sure doesn't seem like 47 years ago since the demise of the Fitz. I saw that freighter, the largest on the lakes at the time, several times, as my last duty station in the Coast Guard was at the Soo, where the search efforts for the Fitz was coordinated. I believe the Coast Guard determined that the cause of the sinking was due to the Fitz's hatch covers being open or not secured. I think otherwise since the ship lies on the bottom in two pieces. More than likely it got caught between the troughs of huge swells and broke apart in the middle. RIP to all those 29 souls.

Thank you Alexis for this fascinating video!

Thank you Mary, for letting us see this on this day
to remember the Fitz! God hug them all.

An old friend, Cheryl Rozman (RIP) was the daughter
of Ransom Cundy...who was on the Fitz when it went
down....she was super active in making sure the
Fitz was left untouched in her watery grave. Google
Cheryl Rozman, there are a ton of articles
regarding all of it! She rocked.

Wonderful pictures.

I woke up thinking about the Fitz, the men
on board, and their families. Like Donna,
Cheryl was a friend of mine. She worked
tirelessly for the Fitz. She knew Gordon
Lightfoot, who wrote the song "The Wreck of
the Edmund Fitzgerald". It's a very haunting
song. I played it as soon as I got up this
morning. Cheryl is gone now, and I'm sure
she's so happy to see her dad, mom and
sister.

If any of you have never been, Whitefish
Point is a great place to visit, if
freighters interest you, as well as the
maritime museum in Duluth.

Thanks, Alexis. That was extremely
interesting.

Nice, calm Fall pics of the Canal.

Really interesting video and of course done
extremely well by again by Alexis! Interesting
insight from Mike, one of the best videos in my
opinion about the Fitz! Thanks to both of them! May
the whole crew R.I.P.

Ed Chaput always comes to mind on this day. He was a cool dude.

I love the late Autumn period with some bare trees and some leaves remaining. And maybe a small dusting of snow.

Here is a snapshot of The Lake just now. the boats still out there are taking cover. It's such a good thing the weather forecasting is much better today.

I remember that day long ago. In Houghton, people were walking into the wind at a 45 degree angle. Any other direction and you couldn't walk at all.

I lived in an apartment above what was then the Crown Bakery. We could step out of our living room window onto the roof of the Library Bar. We'd setup chairs and a cooler to have our own private Library lounge.

The bakery chimney was much taller then. The storm blew it down and onto the roof of the building. It crashed through the roof and onto the floor of the apartment just above us. If they had been home they would have been seriously injured or worse. Here's a present day photo. The white portion of the chimney is from the repair. It used to be about 15 to 20 feet taller.
\image(Chimney}

Oops

Deb, decades ago, lil' bro took me to a Gordon
Lightfoot concert in Ishpeming. Cheryl and Rick
were there with a big bag of Yooper stuff. Pasties,
thimbleberry jam, etc, it was so wonderful to see
Cheryl glowing.

I was a student at NMU when the Fitz sank. People just couldn't believe it was true and held out hope she was hold up some place safe.

The canal cam at Duluth is showing the huge waves coming in right now and the gales aren't even close to the way it was the night the Fitz sank.

Donna, we spent a long weekend in the St
Ignace area with Cheryl and some other pasty
people. The Fitz was never far from her
mind. She was a very nice woman, and her
husband was very nice also. Cheryl went
through a lot in her life. Some people don't
get dealt a good hand.

Amen to that. She and Rick were awesome~