• Saturday-What'sUP November 14 - 05:50 am

If you tuned in yesterday, you know that Toivo and I switched duty days so he could get some last minute jobs done before becoming the Great Hunter. To those who hunt in the Munising - Grand Marais area, this may be a familiar scene, it's called the Kingston Plains. I have to admit, when first looking at this shot, Rick Mayer had me stumped as to its whereabouts. But thanks to Al Gore's invention of the Internet, I was able to find out that sometime before 1935 this area was devastated by a large forest fire, which burnt not only the pine trees, but also the seeds in the ground that would normally regenerate into a new growth of forest. As a result, the burn area consists of open space and pine stumps, with a bit of new growth in between. To get there for your own viewing pleasure, you take county road H-58 east out of Munising toward Grand Marais - it's about half-way in-between and you'll encounter a few rough spots, once you get to the point where it turns into a dirt road. Another interesting perspective of the U.P.!

Good Morning

Oops, I added my photo comment to the wrong side of the aisle, in Whats Up. I remember camping near the Kingston Plains in the 70s and took a photo of a large stump, split and furrowed, with moss and ferns and grass around it. A foggy misty morning as I recall, with glowing sage greens and greys that seemed alive. Some of the best photos are taken on cloudy days. ~~ This morning the frost is thick, and golden light is just touching the hills to the west. Time to rouse out the dogs and go for a walk in the quiet.

No problem, Therese, your oops bagged the Early Bird

Ranger Rick's album of his cars brought back some memories.

By NKR Mishawaka IN on Saturday, November 13, 2004 - 07:51 am:

Interesting picture this morning Mary. You always hear about the forest fires out west but I haven't heard of many Michigan forest fires.

We've had our share...

Tho it is quite different from the lush beauty of the rest of the Yoop, Kingston Plains is appealing in its own way. The campground at the lakes is nice, and usually pretty deserted. This shot captures the feel of the area well.

It would be neat to see an old picture of Kingston Plains before the fire.

Bye the way. I have gone thru Rick Mayer's album and he has some fantastic pictures.

There was a forest fire not very long ago, right? The controversy was over, "let it burn" by the conservation folks and the "put it out" folks.

We are still without snow in the Keweenaw, and clear skies are forecast all weekend. In Rick's album mentioned above, one of the shots gives a good idea of what hunters will see this morning if they're out and about, getting ready for opening day:

Good Morning Mary!
You cracked me up with the credit you gave Al Gore :)))

A little toungy-in-cheeky, of course :^v)

Very well done Mary!!

I've taken H-58 from Grand Marais as far as Hurricane River, but I've never seen this area...must be out farther toward Munising than I've gone. Very cool. I'll be up there next summer...guess I'll have to check it out.

I can't help Ranger Rick with his '64 Fairlane. However, I can set him up with a cherry '64 Galaxie 500 that we purchased in Pineville, LA last spring.

Sorry I have been away so long, just too busy, I guess. Yesterday and today have been a kind of stay in the hotel days what with Arafat's funeral in town yesterday, and the last day of Ramadan, today.

On the other hand 88F and sunny isn't too bad. No snow in Philly, yet, but heard that it is in the low 30's this morning. I guess I'll find out next Saturday.

Dave from Cairo: Keep driving beyond Hurricane River and the Twelve Mile Beach campground (my favorite). The sandy road turns south away from the lake and eventually you come out of the trees and onto the plains. It looks dull from the car but stop, get out and spend some time seeing it up close. Those stumps are all that remain of trees that were tall when my great-great grandparents came from Germany in the 1840s, and some of them may predate the other side of the family's settlement of western Mass in the 1740s. I am walking through history.

When I see present-day loggers leaving slashings piled high in the state forest behind me, I think of the Kingston Plains and the terrible fires that swept through Michigan in the 1930s, and wonder if it could happen again.

What an austere picture, somewhat reminescent of the stumps on the flats below the Central works, which I suspect were due to toxic run off.

Thanks so much to all our dedicated volunteer firemen.

Great comments this morning. Hey--does anyone else remember learning the Smokey the Bear song when they were in grade school in the Copper Country (or anywhere else)? Seeing the photo reminded me of it, and being taught all about Smokey and preventing forest fires. I can still remember that old song 40+ years later....tune and most of the words.

Here's the Smokey the Bear song link:
http://www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/lyrics/smokey.htm

Sue AZ:

Here is a link to the song.

http://www.dof.virginia.gov/resources/fire-song-Smokey-Bear.wma

Enjoy

Sue AZ:

The link I posted is for the 'original' by Gene Autry. It is about 1.4MB, but worth it. Once downloaded save a copy to your computer and listen anytime.

Enjoy!

Just think theses stumps will still be around long after we are gone. I am reading boom copper and find it very fascinating, I grew up in calumet and never new about the history of the area, if anyone has any additional reading recommendations I would appreciate it.

The stunted tree stumps from the fire put me in mind of a call out to the Seney area for a fire from the 70's. A group from Idaho went and couldn't get their bearing because they had no hills to climb. Two of them brought back acorns and asked me what they were....we don't have oaks in SE ID.
Darell: Re: Boom Copper. I am currently reading "The Long Winter Ends" by Newton G Thomas. Its a reprint by Wayne State University Press. It "tells the story of a year in the life of a young emigrant" Cornish miner. It's about Allouez area. It's part of the Great Lakes Book Series issued by Wayne State Press. Have fun on your journey into the past!

"Cradle to Grave" by Larry Lankton and "Strangers and Sojourners" by Arthur Thurner are both very good looks at the history of the copper mining era in the UP. Theodore Karamanski's "Deep Woods Frontier" is a great book about the logging industry in Northern Michigan.
Lankton's book contains descriptions of mining and milling technology that I found especially informative.

There've been quite a few fires in the UP in the last five years or so. None of them as big as they get out west, but they still burn up quite a bit of land. You may still be able to see signs of the fire that went through around Republic the first bit of May in 1999 (my husband and I almost didn't make it back to Houghton after our wedding in Marquette on May 1 - they were closing highways as we went through). There were two fires by Rice Lake within the next couple years... wasn't there a ground fire that smoldered for several months/years in the Seney Wildlife area?

Especially in the areas where jack pine grows, fire is a part of the natural cycle of the ecosystem - the vegetation depends on it. Just have to watch out for the fuel loads - make sure they don't get too high, or the fire burns too hot (like what happened where today's photo is from) and you don't get the flush of vegetation back.

Reminds me of my photo of October 26 of Prickett Lake minus the water! Have a good weekend!

Beyond the many stumps (White Pine?)is the grass--prairie-like, if not actual prairie. Grass has its own beauty--from pale yellow-green in the Spring to yellow, rust, & red in the Fall. Once,I pointed out a wind-tossed field of grain to my granddaughter and sang "...for amber waves of grain.." Grass gives the same effect. Take note of the grasses as you drive through the UP--especially in the low-ground areas. There's great beauty there.

Thanks to the Daves in Laurium and Cairo for the great links to the Smokey the Bear song. Enjoyed them both and it was fun to hear it sung by Gene Autry. Very cool. Thanks again!!!

What a relaxing picture. Wish I was there.

Therese from below the bridge mentioned her immigrant
ancestors. It'd be interesting to know where folks'
families came from and where they settled in the UP. I'm
sure they were all salt-of -the -earth people!
My mom's family were Swedes, loggers and farmers, who
settled in the Skanee area. Half of my dad's family were
Irish who settled in Mass., then Wisconsin to farm,
and finally made it to the UP to Houghton. His other
ancestors were German silver miners who settled in
Neguanee where they continued to mine for iron ore.

Most people have heard of the great Chicago fire. (started by Mrs. O'Leary's cow...oooh, kaay) Anyway, did ya know that it was reported to have spread to Michigan? There was a book about it which I did not get and can't remember the name of. It was something like 'Michigan Burns.' The fire spread all through northern lower MI. Have no idea if this is myth or reality.

Trish: My grandparents were all from Finland except my Mom's Mom who was born here.

Dad's father was a mine foreman, kept a farm, and ran a store out of his cellar in #4 location, Kearsarge.

Mom's parents ran a Finnish-language newspaper. Her Dad died when I was tiny, but I've heard he was quite a wit. We have some of his writings, but they are in Finnish. I am hoping to someday get them translated. They lived in Laurium.

Mr. Bill,
The works at Central consisted of the mine and the stamp mill. Both were mechanical processes where no chemicals were used. Mining Companies clear cut around their properties and used the lumber for construction, mine timbers, and, in the old days, fuel. The stamp mill broke and ground the mine rock to physicaly separate the small pieces of native copper from the rock. Stamp sand is the same material that the whole peninsula is made of. One might find elevated levels of copper and other naturally occuring compounds in water that has flowed though Central's stamp sands, but if the sands killed the trees it was because the sand changed the ground level and starved the roots. Fire or cutting may also be a cause. Any old timers out there know?
Other than Torch Lake, where far more complex operations took place, the poor rock piles and stamp sands of the Keweenaw copper mines are pretty benign. It is not accurate to assume that because arsenic, cyanide, and mercury were/are used in gold and silver extraction, all mines and mills are automaticly "toxic". Up until a few years ago, the Champion Mine was used as a source drinking water for the Houghton area. Poor rock and stamp sand have been used for all manner of construction for over a century. The poor rock at the Franklin Mine was being crushed just this past September. There is hardly a road or a walkway in the Copper Country that isn't paved or surfaced with poor rock or stamp sand. Meanwhile, trees are growing on many of the older piles.

marjaMi
On the same day as the chicago fire a forest fire ravaged Peshtigo Wi. The loss of life was far greater than the Chicago fire.The peshtigo fire was in no way started by events in Chicago.

What interesting history you all are coming up with today! Love reading about it. Also good reading material mentioned. Thanks.

About Smokey...

Back in the early 70's I worked at a country radio station in Saline, Michigan while attending U of M. (Go Blue!) I remember the stacks of PSA's (public service announcements) they had accumulated over the years, some going back as much as 2 decades. Smokey the Bear actually had a radio show featuring TV stars with fire prevention messages. Here is part of one of those messages produced by the U.S. Forest Service sometime in the 60's. This is one with "Marshall Dillon" which we featured a few years ago on the Pasty Cam:

painterontheprairie: You know, I always did think that it was drought conditions that year that caused all the fires!

Caught and ate many a fish from the following mine dams #1,#4&#6 and still kicking at age 67

whoops #1,#2,& #6 mine dams

So, why do they "salt" the roads of Keweenaw instead of stamp sand? In the spring, just sweep the stamp sand aside and grade the shoulders. Which is cheaper? More environmentally freindly?

Thanks Liz, Idaho: Those were the fires I remember. My brother and mother lived in Newberry at the time. Thanks.

You could see the smoke from the Seney fire in 1976 across the entire UP. We drove through that stretch in mid-August and couldn't believe the amount of smoke, even though you couldn't see much fire from the road. The Fish and Wildlife service says it's the peat bogs that burned.

Don't stamp sands contain copper, mercury, arsenic, lead, chromium, and other heavy metals?

LB- Stamps sands do contain a little copper, but copper isnt a big deal, you and everyliving thing intake copper everyday, any copper in the run off would be parts per billion. There is no mercury, lead, and chromium in the stamp sands, and there is not allot of other heavy metals in it, remember like Paul said stamp sand is made up of the minerals that the whole peninsula is made out of.

Charlie, Thank you for the PSA on Smokey The Bear. That was great. It sure brought back memories of sitting on the floor with my sisters in front of the radio. Thanks again

Politicians don't invent internets, physicists do.

The great fire of 1871 also burnt much of Manistee area and also most of the thumb area of Michigan..Some think it was a meteorite that may have hit the whole area...something for young scientist to look into.

I don't think you need meteors to explain a group of fires. Three of the biggest fires in San Diego county history all started on the same day last October. It just takes a couple of years of drought and the right atmospheric conditions.

I am surprised at how many people have never heard of the Pestigo fire which killed almost 1200 people, mainly bacuase the Chicago fire had everyone's attention.

Potential counterpoint RE: Copper toxicity

While elemental copper,underground,has not been acted upon by oxygen and carbon dioxide, surface pieces have are exposed to the trinity of water, oxygen, and carbon dioxide, thus producing complex carbonates of copper. While the solubility is minimal at best, all soluble copper salts ARE toxic; Same reason we use "bluestone" for control of swimming pool algae.

My chemistry may be fifty years old, but pennies on the sidewalk still turn green, as does roof sheaving become covered with green patina.

What gets used on the roads (at least typically, by my observations) in the UP depends largely on the weather. I may be a little out of date on this (at least Houghton Co. was starting to use a little more salt when I left), but typically, if the weather is in the high 20's-low 30's, the county trucks would use a combination of stamp sand and salt. As the weather got colder, it was more sand and less salt, as the salt wouldn't melt things when it got too cold - but the dark stamp sand would allow the sun to melt things instead. There are indeed clean-up crews in the spring to pick up all the sand, and probably haul at least a portion of it back to the county garages. It takes quite a bit of time and effort to get it out of the storm drains!

MaijaMI
The southern part of the U.P. - primarily Menominee and its northern county (and possibly some of southern Delta county) were burnt in 1871 by the Pestigo Fire. Peshtigo is only 10 or so miles from Menominee. It was reported to have started the same day as the Chicago fire, but actually that day was the day it really kicked in and did its worst damage. Several small fires had been burning during this time, but a hot dry wind supposedly pshed this fire in to high gear that day spreading destruction. The fire was supposedly started by the railroad kicking off sparks into some very dry country. The small farming settlement of Birch Creek in Menominee county was destroyed. It was reported that balls of fire were being blown great distances. It is even reported that a boat off of Menominee or Marinette out in the Green Bay was hit by a fire ball and destroyed. Menominee's streets were filled with sawdust at the time and were burning in scattered pockets.

My Great Grandmother and my Grandfather who was just a baby at the time were in that Peshtigo Fire. It was told that G-Grandma saved their lives by sitting in the middle of the rive as the fire raged around them. The story of that fire is quite interesting. I believe it was in the early 40's south of Munising in the sand plains that they had quite a fire that they said was started by the sparks from a railroad locomotive.

The Seppala Vista
Covington Michigan

Trish in WA -- At 19 my grandfather, who left his family in Finland, settled in the Copper Country to work in the mines. He married my grandmother who was Swedish and was born in the Copper Country, but was raised by a Finnish stepmother as her mother died when she was nine years old so she was fluent in Finn. They lived in Mohawk for many years as Grandpa worked in the mines in that area, and then they moved to Painesdale as he worked at the Painesdale mine until retirement. They raised five children and were very proud of the fact that they never had to take a dime from welfare.
Life had to be so difficult, but they didn't complain. Grandpa passed away at 98. I have such sweet memories of him singing Finnish songs to me and telling stories of his young life when he first came to America. They were great people. God rest their souls.

Mary,

Thanks for selecting another of my images for the picture of the day. I was away for most of the weekend taking pictures in the Thumb area of Michigan and was surprised to find my picture was chosen for Saturday while I was away.

As you mentioned the Kingston Plains area is located in Alger County east of Munising. It is in the Lake Superior State Forest. The area where I took this picture (and several others like it in my galleries) is along the Adams Truck Trail (CR-60) just a few miles east of H-58 near Ewatt Lake and the Birch Lakes.

I ran across this area completely by accident in October 2003. I had been visiting the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore area and had intended to take H-58 from Grand Marais to Munising as I had done many times in the past. When I entered the Pictures Rocks, I was surprised to see a bulletin posted at the park entrance, which stated that H-58 was closed just west of the Grand Sable Dunes as they were paving the dirt road. Their suggested detour route was to go back east into Grand Marais, south on M-77, and then west on the Adams Truck Trail. Initially, I was not too excited about having to take this detour, as it was a bit out of the way and I just wanted to get to Munising.

I can understand why they wanted to pave this portion of H-58, as it was just a bumpy dirt road. A few years earlier I had run into a couple from Ohio at the parking lot near the trail to the Grand Sable Lighthouse. The bumpy road had knocked the muffler system off their minivan and it was dragging on the ground. Luckily, I had some wire in my ‘road trip survival kit’ that they were able to use to temporarily hold the muffler in place.

Anyway, as I proceeded along the suggested detour route last year, I was not overly excited about having to drive several miles along the muddy and bumpy Adams Truck Trail. That is until I entered the Kingston Plains area. The discovery of this location made the trip completely worthwhile! I liked this area so much that I returned there again last month when I was in the U.P.

I wasn’t aware of the fire that you mentioned in the 1930s. I guess that explains why the area hasn’t been regenerated as you mentioned, which was a bit of a mystery to me. Despite the fire, I do believe that at least some (if not all) of the stumps in this area (as seen in my picture) are the result of earlier lumbering in the area, and not necessarily from the fire. There is a store called Superior View in Marquette, and they have a second store called Views of the Past in Mackinaw City.

http://www.viewsofthepast.com/

In these stores they sell reprints of old photographs containing scenes of Michigan’s historical past. Among the many pictures that they sell is an image of the Kingston Plains area, which shows some lumberjacks posing around the pine stumps in the area that they had cleared. In the late 1800s this area was bustling with lumbering activities. There were several logging railroads and camps nearby. Today, one of the attractions in the Picture Rocks is the location of the old log slide where logs were sent from the atop the dunes down to Lake Superior, where I assume they were loaded on ships for transport to saw mills someplace.

Even though the trees haven’t grown back in great quantities, this area is an interesting place to visit. Along with the stumps, there is some colorful ground cover in the form of mosses, ferns & lichens. The area is very expansive, and it is well worth spending at least some time exploring it!

Rick, my wife and I were also driving through the Pictured Rocks in October 2003, and were detoured here. Indeed, a beautiful place, and a lesson learned (AGAIN) that what we initially see to be inconveniences often turn out to be blessings.

Mr. Bill-
True copper salts are toxic, however I highly doubt that there are very many copper salts leaching from stamp sands, maybe if the copper was only exposed to CO2 we would have more. Plus you have to remember they were copper mines, the goal was to get all the copper you could and leave the worthless minerals. Even if the technology wasn’t very advanced, recovery wise, you could do a little figuring: if you have one ton of ore running at about a 2% mill head grade, that would give you 1960 lbs of tailings, figuring about 95% copper recovery (Which is probably low if they were ammonia leaching their tailings) you would send 4lbs of copper out of the discharge pipe. Bear in mind that as its buried in the sands that 4 lbs will not be exposed to the atmosphere, especially if its placed under water, which means not oxidizing. While copper salts are toxic, I highly doubt there are any large amounts of copper salts being produced, I would place my money on copper oxides, and I would be willing to bet that it is all within EPA limits.

Joe:
While it is true as you point out in your example that only 4 pounds of copper would be released to the environment, the secondary drinking water standard for copper is only 1 milligram per liter (approximately one part copper per million parts water - by weight). Therefore, four pounds = 1,816 grams x 1000 milligrams per gram = 1,816,000 milligrams of copper. And if 1 milligram is sufficient to contaminate 1 liter of water, then that 4 pounds of copper resulting from only 1 ton of ore is enough to contaminate nearly 1/2 million gallons of drinking water... now how many tons of ore did you say was produced?? Perhaps even more important to the environmetn, is the fact that copper is toxic to some benthic orgasims at very low concentrations. Once these organisms are killed off the stream ecosystem collapses.

Dave- I don't want to come off as a jerk but that figure would be ok assuming that all of the copper is leached into the water. If your assumption was correct, most everyone would be dead due to the copper in our water pipes, also the steamer Pewabic would be responsible for contaminating millions of gallons of water in Lake Huron (Correct me if it didn't sink in Huron). Now, I can write for a long time on tailings placements and the benefits/disadvantages of placement but Ill spare you boring reading. Most of the heavy metal contamination elsewherein the country/world is due to the production of acids, etc that dissolve the metals into solution, that doesn't exist here. The point is people tend to 'cry wolf' when they don't always know the facts, and the mining industry usually gets blamed, and maybe rightly so, however copper tailings here are not a significant environmental issue, I would be more worried about the lamprey than population collapse of benthic orgasims .

Hunderds of kids have played in the pools at the mouth of Eagle River over the past century or so. Eagle River and its tributaries flow through stamp sands from the Cliff, Central, and Phoenix mills. The latter being just a mile upstream. The reservoir behind the Eagle River dam is almost filled with stamp sand. Trees are growing all along the river, and no one has suffered any ill effects that are recorded to my knowledge.