While we were enjoying the peak color season this past week in the U.P. (and seeing snow arrive yesterday), the price of crude oil was hitting all-time record highs. Russ Emmons takes us back to the fifties, in a Shoebox Memory from Dollar Bay. Remember $4 bucks for a fill-up??

Before we leave the leaves and exchange the colors for a blanket of white, let me share an experience from last Sunday afternoon, when I had the rare priviledge of climbing the tower above the Eagle River Courthouse. Today's second photo was the view looking down from about 70 feet, and it's also included in a short video I shot from the top (watch it either in Windows Media or Real Player format)

Stay warm this week.

Good morning!

Good Morning everyobody, have a good week.

Good morning from Wawa, eh!

Yea! I love both pictures. I lived 2 houses away from a gas station in South Bend IN. I can remember the gas pumps with the little crowns on top. I guess that dates me a little or a lot.

Mornin', it's 49 here this morning. Should get to 80 today.

Bridge is down

Good mornin' from Kalamazoo. Still windy and cold but no more rain yet.

Good morning! Thanks for all the fabulous pictures of the trees in recent days. We had to miss the Copper country on our trip this year because of car trouble. We plan on being back up there next year, though. It's cold here in Missouri, but we don't have quite the chill you do today. That will come soon enough. Happy birthday to my sister in Texas. Hope she has a wonderful time. I'll just spend my day in a Yooper state of mind!

The Court House in Eagle River is one of my favorite buildings of all time!!....It's a beauty in all seasons of the year!!

Mich. Tech Cam. Snow on Ripleys!

I remember gas wars, as they called them, when gas was 23 cents per gal. I heard my father talk about buying gas at 5 gallons per dollar. No such luck anymore. God Bless.

Good Morning! Yes to the crowns on top of the pumps. Do you remember the pumps with the measured glass container at the top. I think it held ten gallons. You pumped it full with a lever on the side of the pump. It was a gravity feed down the hose into your vehicle. The glass had measurements on it so you knew how much you were getting. No readout with tenths of a gallon or such! I don't remember it but my wife does!!!

Yep, remember paying $.17 a gallon for gas, and my first pay raise of $.05 an hour, brought me up to $.65 an hour. Gas here is at $1.99 9/10 a gallon and was making $35.00 an hour when I retired...

Good morning! 37 here in trollville. Just got gas yesterday for 1.97....cheapest I have seen in weeks.....was 2.10 last week...

I can remember a gas pump like the above at Erlandsons Store in Copper City in the 1930s. Kinda hard to figure out the exact gallonage if one stopped in between the Gallon markings. I dont remember the price but it must have been below 20 cents a gallon.

I remember my sister and her friends putting 25 cents in my Dads Studebaker and driving up to Michigan Lake or around town.

First rain here today in months! Kinda coincides with your first snow! The first photo looked like it was snapped around 1953-54? I'm old enough to remember when Sunoco sold gas for 19+cents per gallon! I paid $2.37/gallon for regular gas yesterday.(And there's a refinery in the area). Happy 25th birthday to my son today. Love you.

By TC, $Bay on Sunday, October 17, 2004 - 11:23 am:

I remember the Standard Oil stations in Calumet and Laurium. Doc's and Freeman's. Freeman's was the place where all the kids would hang out. It was across the street from the Sacred Heart school and they had a back room where we would play cards and smoke cigaretts. It is now the Louma Insurance Agency. Every time I drive buy, it brings back good memories.

All of these gas price discussions need to be compared with inflation. So often people forget that everything else, including their paycheck, has gone up in the last 40 years. I like to use the good old Chevy Corvette as my inflation indicator because it has been manufactured non-stop (except 1983)since the early 1950's.

A Corvette cost roughly $5000 in 1967, the year I was born. Now they are about $45,000, so that's a nine-fold increase. Gas then, was a about 20 to 25 cents per gallon. Multiply times nine and PRESTO! you have about $2.25 per gallon for premium.

This discussion is about as interesting as a San Diego weather forecast: "On Monday, it will be sunny and 75, on Tuesday, it will be sunny and 75, on Wednesday, it will be sunny and 75 etc..."

How were those waves on Superior last night? That's what the pasty eaters want to know! I deeply regret not driving up and sitting down in wearing a parka on the very tip of Whitefish Point and watching this memorable storm. Did anyone do that?

TC -

Please don't play with my mind like that!

Nicely done... but I don't quite believe you.

Is that really Dollar Bay. What happened to Mikes Bar? We played pool and had a couple of cold ones there very quietly as locals (Toots living in DB) until the youngest turned 21..

re: Paul, WvTroll

What you said about gallon measures finally accounts for why "old timers" used to come into the gas station in the '50s and ask for 5 gallons of gas. Which did not come out to even cents and made no sense at the time, to me. Why not ask for $1.50 or whatever?

(back when service stations meant washing wind shield, checking tires, even brushing out the car, I guess we weren't too busy)

Gas was about 23.9 except in the oil fields where it was 14.9 or 15.9 cents / gallon.

Haven't been to DB in some time. Is that overpass the Point Mills Expressway? ;)

TC,$Bay, you won't believe this: I was just viewing the SkyPix photos from yesterday's discussion, and I was thinking to myself, now that we have stop lights in the Copper Country, we need a couple of overpasses (and the bridge ones don't count). So imagine my surprise when I see your altered photo of the entrance to Dollar Bay! Cool!!!

I can remember 19.9 cents a gallon in Illinois in the 1960's during the 'gas wars'. And the attendant would actually pump it for you, clean your windshield, check your oil, give you a free drinking glass, green stamps and a SMILE. I don't think we'll ever see anything resembling those days again. Progress I guess.

I remember Jim's. How nice were the days when one could go into a gas station and get the "royal" treatment...oil checked, gas pumped, tires checked, windshield cleaned, etc. Progress? Bah, humbug. Wonderful photo!

Ahh, I remember it well from my youth. A full service station. They not only pumped your gas... they checked the oil, water and tires. When I left I felt safe and secure on the road and my hands did not smell like gas afterwards. I remember the ding-ding bell rang and the attendant ran out to meet you. Yes...I liked the smile too.
Now I can't even get my husband to tend my car!

Well when you look at the price of gas in relation to inflation it has remained at a lower constant over the years and yes it does hurt the pocket book when the price jumps like it has, just be glad your vehicle does not run on cigarettes or it would be $5.10 a gallon. The days of cheap gas are over and to complicate matters more even if gas were $10.00 a barrel the price would still be up there due to the fact that we simply do not have enough refineries to process the crude.

Ment to say $5.10 a pack in comparison to the gallon.

To Ahmeek Cliffdweller-- Got the email- I actually saw that entry yesterday as well and was going to write to him and let him know how much we all love his brother! Plus he has been a few interesting places...LOL
Guess I will just settle for some laughs and memories. Thanks Nora for that fun memory!!
PS.. I enjoy reading your entries!
Dtr #3from Calif.

I just read an article in either Time or Newsweek, detailing oil production by gallon-age, by country. Much to my surprise the US was second only to the USSR, and the various OPEC country's were really not anywhere near our scale, except barely when combined.

Question: Just because OPEC goes to $50+ a barrel, wouldn't our domestic production "cost average" the overall "blended" costs down?

Who's kidding who here?

Tim,

The highest recorded wave in mid-Superior was 16.1 feet this morning in eastern Superior. Western Superior never did make 10 feet (8.9 feet on several readings). This info from the NOAA site accessed via links on the Eagle Harbor website.

www.ndbc.noaa.gov/Maps/WestGL.shtml

I remember the inflatable Sinclair dinosours being given away and I just had to have one, reminded me of Puff the Magic Dragon at that time, my favorite song, made me cry.

I really like the phrase used today by someone, "Yooper state of mind". That must be where people are when they stop in the middle of a street to look at the wildlife or talk on the cellphone. Must be a song about being "in a yooper state of mind".

I'm moving just a bit further away from the UP this week, to Florida, but I'll definitely maintain my Yooper state of mind which I developed a couple weeks ago on my trip up north.
So I guess that means I'll be lower than a troll, what would that be?

In 1972 when I graduated from High School and headed west for a road trip, the gas when I filled up at Oakland and McNichols in Detroit was 27 cents a gallon.

Too oily,

Its called a "free market". US suppliers and buyers play in the same sandbox as the rest of the world. The US has levied special taxes on the huge profits that will be genreated by these prices ("windfall profits tax"), but doesn't really have a say in what the selling price should be.

AERIAL OF EAGLE RIVER MICHIGAN.

WIDE ANGLE VIEW OF EAGLE RIVER.

http://www.woodtv.com/global/Story.asp?s=1366392

Lake Michigan is making waves today, also. Scroll down on this site and see all the featured web cams. Many sponsored by Pasty Central.

When a 3# box of macaroni cost 39 cents back then, it fed a big crew like mine pretty well! Now what does a little 6 oz. box cost?

Looks like a '55 Ford and a 1953 or '54 Plymouth at the black n' white gas station.....the Standard Oil red crown and white crown pump tops were also available as miniature tire (tube) valve caps, and are a sought automobiliana item now. I first came to the Copper Country in 1964 and recall paying .37 gal for regular in Chassell, .35 gal if you did not take the "stamps" (remember S&H, Gold Bond, etc), AND they pumped the petrol, cleaned the windshield, checked the oil, etc. In the Detroit area, gas prices had been c. .29 gal AND you could get a dish, soap, or jar of jelly with a $5.00 purchase at Oak Gas on Woodward.

I well remember the yearsas a pump jockey.Regular was 33 cents a gallon or so.I remember customers coming in and complaining about the price and how it was so much cheaper in Lansing (about 15 mintes away)...Life was good in the 60's.

Looks like Jim's got the hood popped on a '56 Ford Fairlane Fordor, nicely equipped with the optional Y-Block V-8. I wonder if it's a 272, 292, or possibly the 312? The other one looks like a '53 or '54 DeSoto. Can't tell if it's the Powermaster 6 or the Firedome V8 without seeing the emblem further forward.

Do you suppose Jim's going to pump some of that good Red Crown gasoline, too?

There are still two states where the attendent comes out and pumps your gas (full serve) New Jersey and Oregon.

Upon further review, rather than a DeSoto, she could be a '53 Plymouth, probably the Cambridge. Yep, she's a beaut.

from: http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=45001
It looks like there was a 12 footer at 1150 PM last night! :-)

MM DD TIME(EDT)WDIR WSPD kts GST kts WVHT ft
10 16 11:50 pm....NW.....31.1......40.8......12.1

Those were the good old days! Still have one of the red crown valve stem cap. Can remember when the gas was 18 cents a gallon and cigarettes were 18 cents a pack. You went to a gas station then and were treated like a human being. Price of food was really cheap back then. But then again so were wages. Its called the progress of man.

Shopko in Marquette has attendants that pump your gas & wash your windshield. They stay in line with other gas stations with their gas prices. They are always busy.I think it's great, espeically for older people (& me, who doesn't really like standing out there in the elements & freezing while the pump keeps ticking & ticking & ticking). Gas in Gwinn is $2.09 a gallon & of course they're always about 9-10cents more than Marquette. Needless to say I fill up once a week in Marquette. "Hi" Laura, love you.

Gas in Kuwait hasn't changed in price one bit since I've been here (over a year now). It's still .062 dinar for a liter of gas (roughly 80 cents a gallon)

Thank you Kosk in Toronto for the book recommendation:
Popular Music from Vittula is beautiful and does have a
Laestadian connection. FYI, folks with nice manners are
continuing the debate that began here about the Old Apostolic
Lutheran Church at
http://
extoots.blogspot.com

i was just up in Eagle River not long ago..great pics :)
I love this site...although it makes me long for the UP

My dad worked at an oil refinery in Kansas in the early 1960s. He told me that for a while, management would permit employees to fill up their vehicles on Saturdays at the refinery for $1.00. Of course, after a short time, the workers would be driving "on fumes" to the refinery on Saturday to "fill 'er up." What a deal, although a short-lived one!

Hi Oldtimer - I also remember paying $.17 a gallon when I first moved to Detroit. Filled up a '55 Buick and got change back from $3.00.

If the gas price kept pace with your hourly rate of $.65 per hour then with your $35. per hour when you retired, gas would have to sell for $9.15 per gallon. We're still ahead of the game economically, but I think we are far behind in all other aspects. I would not trade growing up in the '50s for anything. It was a magical time to grow up.

Thank all of you taking care of the UP until I can get back. There is still some magic left up there, thanks to the great people that live there.

Who remembers Ted Rodgers as sherrif of K county?

There has not been one new refinery built in the United States in 27 years....In the meantime the population has increased 2 fold, economy is lot better and many many more people want the same gas.

Looks like a 55 or 56 Ford to me and a Dodge(?)Maybe even a Packardd? I paid 13.9 once in East Lansing in '72 during a gas war- had full service too- Imagine that

AirportCam's up and running again. What's that white stuff???

My daughter called a little while ago. Power is out all over Marquette,Mich. They're having problems at a substation. Don't expect it back on til 5-7:00 PM , has been out since 12:00 PM. House is getting chilly, pretty cold around here the last couple of days. It's fine here, we're about 20 miles from her. She could come here but guess she'd rather stay there. Oh Well!!!

To K. M.

They're 3 for $1 at Kroger. So about the same :)

How about the PACKERS!

the pack is back its about time we play football

You betcha!

I was born and raised on a farm. Attended a Class D school and graduated in 1951. Played all of the sports. On game night dates, my girl friend was a cheerleader, I would fill the farm pickup (my senior year I had a 1937 Chevrolet), we both got into the games free. We would drive 7-8 miles after the game to the hamburger shop in Mason and have a burger and a malted. My costs were less than two dollars. After we married in 1952 and I was working on the farm, I was making $50 a month and half of the heifer calves. There were lots of times that we would buy .50 worth of gas because that was all we could afford. Of course that bought 3+ gallons!

Ted Rogers--Very nice guy-A keweenaw legend.

I remember Sheriff Rodgers, John -- when I got my driver's license in 1969, it was in Eagle River. I took my "road" test with the good Sheriff -- around the block once. He said I did just fine and I said thank you and got out of my dad's car on my wobbly legs grinning from ear to ear!

And Roy in Tenn, remember when Freemans became the Laurium Spur and Paul Goulette was in charge? I remember a lot of fun times there, too, but not smoking in the back room!

The Pack beat Detroit, that doesn't necessarily mean the Pack is back. Detroit hasn't been playing even close to good, they've been lucky. The Pack just got an extra day of scrimmage in today.

I remember Ted Rogers well. He stopped me
for speeding,so I thought,actually he needed
to know when Muttie was moving his loging
truck!!

It is fun to see the photo of my Uncle Jim's station. I can remember as a kid going there with my Grandma and Grandpa Laplander and thinking it was really cool. Years later, my teenage son worked weekends as an "island attendant" at one of the Exxon stations here in Phoenix (about 6 years ago). Probably one of the last ones in town with full service--of course the gas was a lot higher priced at that pump. He learned a lot about helping the customers with a smile, fixing a lot of flat tires, and filling a lot of propane tanks for weekend barbecue's. Guess he inherited the mechanical side of the family (saved up and bought himself a '69 Javelin, sold it, bought a '73 Nova, and a '67 Corvair Monza for $100 that doesn't run...yet). Also motivated him to get good grades and go on to college. All that hard work in the 100+ Phoenix summer heat sure taught him a lot!

P.S. Thanks for the photo, Cousin Russ!

If you missed the links above, which were added later, here is where you can see the view from the tower at the Sherrif's residence in Eagle River in either Windows Media or Real Player format.

To Mac 'n Cheese...One of my fav. too. But 3-6oz. boxes for a dollar is much more than 3lbs.for 39 cents. Sorry if I stated it wrong. I just know I'm SO glad I'm not feeding and clothing 6 kids these days! :)

What a difference a week can make here in the U.P. Last weekend the fall colors were at peak; Today, 7.5 inches of snow on the ground in Painesdale. Tomorrow, slush and mud. . . .

Candy & John- We must have all went around the same block for that drivers licenses, small pieces of memories that you very seldom think of. Thanks!

Where on earth did old timer work? I don't know of anyone who makes $35 per hour.

Those globes on top of the gas pumps
are worth about $450 each today!
They are collectors items.

My Grandpa had a station in the 40's and 50's!

$35 an hour?? MY GOSH!
What was he doing?

Perhaps he was a plumber

I remember my uncle telling about when he was in high school he and his friends had borrowed my grandfather's car and were "joy riding"...put all of their change together and came up with .25 for gas....station attendant wanted to know if they needed a map with their gas! LOL

That's probably because you live in Mohawk, Dave. If you lived in New York, L.A., or some other high-priced area you'd probably know lots of them. Of course, they also pay $1200.00/mo. for a house payment, etc.

Paid $2.59/gallon in this weekend's travels on the west coast.

I tell you what, in Colorado I would feel pretty lucky to have a house payment of 1,200/month... That would be pretty low for around here...

I wish they still had full service stations. It really stinks to have to fill up you rcar and then take the baby in to pay for it. Especially in the winter. If you leave your baby in the car to pay for gas, you risk getting into trouble.

Ted Rogers, what a special man. He was my uncles brother, and us kids, always loved going "up home" and go see Uncle Ted. Many times we were 'put behind bars'.... That was MANY years ago! Oh, what memories we get from this great site. Charlie, keep up the good work.

WOW! Surprised to see another of my old shoebox photos featured! Thanks Charlie! Never in my wildest dreams did I think back then that my photography would bring so much nostalgia and reminiscing to others some day!
Since I remember well taking the picture at my Uncle Jims "Standard" back in Nov. 1958, I feel obliged to comment on the particulars! The 1953 Plymouth coupe was my brother Bobs and we both made the trip up in it that fall. It was "customized' in the current style of the time. It was painted the Dark Midnight blue popular in the 1958 Chrysler line. The customers 1955 Ford "Fairlane" sedan was the bright medium green and white. If it was a V8 it would have been a 272 cu. in. the only offered in 55 (except for the Mercs. and the new Thunderbirds had 292. 312s didn't appear until 56.) RCW is that you servicing that Ford?--- it doesn't look like my Uncle Jim. Previous to the pictured "Standard", there was an old circa 1920s wooden Mobil at about the same spot that my Grandfather (Emil L.) and my Uncle Jim operated for awhile. I remember as a young boy back then "helping" them. I believe Fran in GA lived right near there? Later in the 60s same Uncle Jim operated the "Spur" station on M26 somewhere between Mason and Hubbell.
That was the trip that fall while deer hunting with Jim, I became almost hopelessly lost in the woods behind Point Mills!
It was also the trip whereas I left my car at the family cabin south of Grayling and rode up with Bob. He decided to stay there for a time and I needed to get back, so here I was taking the Greyhound bus from Houghton to Grayling, with my spare tire in hand that my brother had borrowed!!
I have not been to my boyhood home of Dollar Bay in 19 years and I don't think so, there is a McDonalds, Pizza Hut, or any overpass. I guess I could call my Uncle Jim this morning and ask! He still lives in Woodside! We ALMOST went UP this past week! Wanted to real bad after all the torture we endured out here this past 2 weeks regards everyones beautiful experiences with color touring etc. Made it only to NE Antrim county, Jordan River Valley! WHAAAA! Now you tell me 7 inches of snow UP there?
I had a gas station in St. Clair Shores in the late 60s/early 70s and when the price wars got going we were down at one time to 19.9 cents!
There are many in SE MI that make $35 an hour or more! How else can they afford these huge McMansions they are building!

Hi Sue & Helen!

I retired in 2000 making $31.00p/hr..can only imagine what they make now in 2004.

Roy in Tn,,,,1960- Calumet?
Went to an auction at an automobile museum this weekend, they had an old Standard Oil gas pump, where you pumped the gas into the glass container. Brought back many memories and it sold for 6,200. Some of the cars auctioned for over 800,000. The most 100 point cars in one collection in the world. Was neat to see them but hated to see the museum close.

I guess that my point is that someone who makes $10 per hour or less [and I know lots of them] still have to pay the same $2.09 per gallon for gas as does the select few who make $35 per hour. It's not like I'm isolated in Mohawk and don't know what's going on in the rest of the country. I worked in industry outside of the U.P. and had what was considered and good paying job and didn't make anything even close to $35 per hour.

Dear Freethinkin Finn,

Glad you liked the novel. My copy is still
floating around the UP being read by
relatives.

I had a '56 Ford fordor with the 292 T'bird engine, in the early '60s. It had a big Holley 4 barrel carb. It would go over 125 mph and only get about 8 mpg whether you drove fast or slow. It was more fun to go fast! :o)

I remember Ted Rogers was the sherrif of Keweenaw. When I turned 16, he personally came to Gay to write a temporary permit for me until I could get to the courthouse. Mom didn't drive and I could then take her places.
Love the old fairlain. My father had a 55 Fairlain, white with a salmon colored bottom. Wow!

Awesome pictures and video !

Dave In Mohawk: My sentiments exactly. I've said that for a long time. Lower income folks also pay the same price for a loaf of bread, gallon of milk, license plates, fishing/hunting license, postage, tolls, utilitys, clothes, car parts, 2X4s, nails, etc. etc. etc. you get the idea!

Dave of Mohawk,
Those $35 /hr folks are not a select few, they were not selected by anyone, they worked hard, got a good education( in the right dicipline) and went where the jobs were.I once lived in Mohawk too,making $1.83/hr working for C&H and could see that there was(and still is) no future there, so we moved to where the good paying jobs were. As I see it, you got to ",pull yourself up by your boot straps and climb as though you are gonna live forever" cause nobody is gonna do it for you. Complaining about the cost of gas, bread, milk etc and having a low wage job is not gonna do it.
As for gas, its still the best bargain around.

Dave of Mohawk,
I agree with Uncle Bud's "bootstrap philosophy", but I would never encourage anyone to leave the area in search of better paying jobs. Today's corporate climate is incredibly unstable (ie. Enron, etc.)and I fear the days of relying on any company's board of directors for your own retirement is foolhardy.
Hard workers will always rise to the top, whatever (and wherever) they do. I would suggest you invest your energies in yourself and in your own community. Find out what your town needs, and fill that need.
Due to "budget cuts", I was laid off from what I thought was my dream job downstate. I moved my family up here and started my own business. I currently make more than twice what I made downstate, and I get to live in the most beautiful place on earth.

Calumet Dude - Thank you for the inspiration. After graduating from Tech, our family moved downstate for employment. We just couldn't stop thinking about this area and wanting to be back up here. Before we knew it, we loaded up a U-Haul. So now we make do with what we make, keep a positive attitude and work very hard to one day, be financially stable. Success stories are nice to hear and thank you for sharing.

Thanks again 4 more great pics. I like those old style Standard gasoline pumps, 2. When I was a little kid, the tops of the pumps reminded me of scoops of ice cream.