• Sunday-What'sUP April 19 - 10:56 am

This week we climb aboard the Shoebox Memory time machine and set the dial to Easter Sunday 1941. The place: Senter/Point Mills peninsula, a community built around the Atlas Powder Company, with its explosives plant near Dollar Bay.

The ladies in the first photo are on their way to church on the mainland, only to find the bridge has been washed out, effectively turning the peninsula into an island. As best they can be identified, left-to-right in the top photo: Emily Ewen with Patty Neher, Mrs. Croze, Edna Yalck, Mrs. Joyal, and Sylvia Ostrand. Looks like they're considering the possibility of following Joe Neher (in the 3rd picture) who risks life and limb to cross the make-shift overpass. Don't everyone go at once, ladies.

These folks were no strangers to risk, dealing with the explosives which fueled Copper Country mining operations for many decades. Bill and Eloise Haller have been researching the Atlas Powder enterprise, and the family of workers who made history there. Last month the Hallers presented some of their findings to a packed house at the MTU Archives, and next month they'll be back for a return engagement. This time Bill's talk will have a different venue, as the former room couldn't hold all the interested people who showed up (including yours truly and spouse). The encore presentation is scheduled for Tuesday, May 2, 2006 at 7:00 p.m. in room U115 of the M&M Building on the Michigan Tech campus. The presentation is free and open to the public.

Special thanks to the Neher family and to all former Senter residents who are sharing their past with those of us who are drawn to the history of this unique village.

Hope your Easter Sunday travels are a little less eventful. Have a good week :o)

Thanks to all for today's Shoebox Memory.

I remember an Easter morning when parts of the road (M26)by the railroad track (closest to Lake Linden) washed out. The same year east of M26 in Hubbell was flooded and deep in mud. Might that have been in 1941 also?

Would anyone happen to know the first name of Mrs Croze? I am doing our family tree and we have a "Helen Cecelia (nee Murto) Croze in our family tree and I would like to know if this is the Mrs Croze in the photo? Thanks!!!

Happy Easter to everyone!

Kathie

I just wonder if anyone fell in trying to "walk the plank"! It would have been very cold this time of the year.

Senter has always fascinated me although I have never been there. I lived in Dollar Bay for awhile but just never discovered this area. Found Bootjack and Little Traverse and Mink Farm Road in a hurry, but never found Senter. It looks like it is right across from Dreamland and I am going to do a little research and visit this 4th of July for sure. Thanks for the info.

Happy Easter to all...The Easter floods are covered in archives under April, 17 2005.

Hi Dave,welcome back!!Happy Easter everyone! A pretty day here in N Ga. Will be off to Church soon and will be sure to pray for little Joseph( Mike Dulong's grandson)

Great photo---I wonder if any of the ladies walked the plank? Looks kind of shaky to me. We had a lot of fun catching smelt at that bridge. Hated to see that someone built something on that little piece of land there by the bridge. Looked like a business to me.

Great shots! They take me back to my grandparent's era. I remember seeing pictures of my grandmothers dressed like that. The hat was always a nice touch. They had the little veil that came over the front of them. Cute! Makes me remember when we had to wear something on our heads to go to church. Thank goodness those days are over. But I always loved getting my new dress and Easter bonnet!

Charlie
It would be great if you and MTU could arrange to stream video of the Haller's presentation for all of us trolls that love the UP but cant make it to Houghton.

Happy Easter everyone. Emily was married to Norbert Ewen (one of my Mom's brothers) & they had one daughter Margaret. I've never seen a picture of Aunt Emily before. I remember her visiting at my Grandma's house when I was small. She & Uncle Nubs used to bring us candy whenever they came over. Like children do, I was fascinated by the unususal.Aunt Emily had two or three fingers missing on her one hand & I couldn't help but keep looking at her hand. Remember things like that when you were a kid? Her hand got too close to a meatslicer at my Grandpa Ewen's store & she lost those fingers. Aunt Emily died of cancer in the late 50's. Margaret & her husband Kenny have lived in Woodside Location(just outside of Dollar Bay) most of their married life. Is Center up by Point Mills? I think I remember them living there in their early married life.
Mike-do hope your little grandson is feeling much better,I know you'd rather be sick than to see a little child sick.
And fellow pasty friends, yes I'm related to Mike & Emily. My parents came from big families or their family had big families You know, just about everybody down in the valley are related to one another someway. Right?!! Coderes, Rheaults, DuLongs, Schmidts, etc....

69 TOOT...Continue past Dreamland 2 miles to where Portage opens up and... look across the lake to the black sands of Senter....... a small cottage recently went up right on the sands.

OOPS!...I ment black sands of Point Mills......isn't that Senter??

Happy Easter to all. As I was playing the Easter hymns in church this morning, I realized that between my grandmother, my mother and myself, we have been playing for Easter services since about 1915 or so, through the present day. What a family tradition and legacy my grandmother Hildur left and I thank God for that.

Gretania,

That surely is an impressive legacy!

These are great pictures--but most interesting
to me is the Neher name. We grew up in the
Detroit area, but my brother, Bill Neher, moved
to the Calumet area in the 70's. Our dad's
family was from Minnesota, and we didn't
know of any connection to the UP. Can't help
but wonder if we're related somehow to Joe
Neher's family.

69Toot..My son corrected me. Senter is across from Dreamland. Black sands at Point Mills are from the old Arcadian and Franklin stamp mills....

Here's a map of Senter, furnished by FRNash during an April 25, 2005 exchange of Atlas, Senter information.

\image{Senter}

Murtomania and Marilynnb, and any others with questions - most of our dear Senter friends are not online, and so will not be able to answer your questions today. We will print today's Pasty Cam and send it along to them. Hopefully we'll be able to email you some answers shortly.

Sorry about that, trying again:

Eloise,

Can you let me know what the website is that you got your
map from (boy, talk about lousy English!). I would like to go to
the website myself.

Thanks!

Hi, Barb -

I used the Senter map that FRNash supplied on Pasty Cam almost a year ago: https://www.pasty.com/discus/messages/713/1031.html

It is DeLorme mapping software - subsequently we purchased both the Topo USA and the Street Map software, and have found both useful. I don't think that interactive maps can be produced on the Delorme website.

Additional pictures/maps on the Atlas Powder Plant and life in Senter can be found at https://pasty.com/pcam/albuu37 and https://pasty.com/pcam/Senter,-Life-in-the-Village

Does this help?

I want to thank all of you who prayed and offered your prayers for Joseph. At about seven this evening he all of a sudden started to laugh and wanted down. My daughter has held him for the last several weeks. He didn't have any problems since early this morning but wasn't feeling good all of a sudden he wanted down and has been happy since. He is down to eighteen pounds,and that isn't much for a one year old.Thanks again for the prayers and the candles.

Eloise, Thanks for the map. I actually think that we went skinny dipping there once as teenagers. Geez teenagers are stupid. I hate to admit that I did something like that, but have to say that I only did it once. That is a very good map. When I got older, we'd take the boat out to Point Mills to swim. I loved it out there. The whole area is great in the summer months.

Mike,I am so happy to hear little Joseph is feeling better. A lot of prayers were said for him today! I am sure all of us wil keep him in our prayers till he recovers.

Eloise,it is nice hearing from you. Thanks for the nice map of that area. I was wondering if the name of the lady in the picture was Edna Yauch instead of Yalck Does anyone know? Just curious.

Is this bridge near Senter or closer to $ Bay? What are the buildings across the water? Does anyone remember that old dry dock near Point Mills? We used to swim there pretty often. I remember that black stamp sand not far from the dry dock. I suppose all those buildings are long gone now, 'eh?

Ken.....Across the water from Point Mills are cottages at Bootjack...My family cottage was directly across the sands..dad bought it in 1947, when he retired from the Kenosha Police Dept and moved back to Lake Linden......it was a great place to spend the summers. I kept it till 2002. I sold it to a wonderful couple from Cederburg Wi. who love it like we did.....they have lots of family in the area to enjoy it & have two sons....it is just like my family was.....a cottage really needs kids, dogs, and grandparents to be a "happy place" and our spot was sure that....but time changed all that so it was time to sell..but I still love it.

Ken,this bridge is located just past Horner's Flooring Mill on the outskirts of $Bay.The buildings you see are the old Wire Mill,Ice house etc. I don't know about the dock as I never have been there. I'll bet RCW knows.