• Sunday-What'sUP September 24 - 07:19 am

The Pasty Cam calendar on our refrigerator reminds us that Autumn arrives today. Before we say goodbye to the warm months, one loose end was this photo and clipping that Bill Haller emailed me, about an exciting occurrence in these parts back in the summer of 1900.

As you can see from the Mining Gazette article, this was quite a monumental event. Just imagine those "short spurts upward of 15 miles and hour"... What a thrill!

Bill included this note:

Paul and Shirley Pichette of Lake Linden were kind enough to contribute this to the Houghton County Historical Society, so that we can share this with you and our fellow pasty viewers, thanks to the scanning skills of our chief Archivist Doug Jones.

The detailed newspaper story regarding the owner is equally interesting.

Could this be the "driving" force as why the first cement highway in Michigan, was poured in Calumet ???

Wow! Can you imagine using the horseless wonder in todays traffic?

Good morning from Mishawaka IN. Now this is my kind of car. Doesn't go too fast and doesn't cost to much.

How would you like to hit a deer with this machine traveling 15MPH? The vehicle that is!

I thought Oldsmobile built the first automobiles, but I am far from an expert? Or was this a prototype, perhaps?

Paulwebbtroll, one thing you have going for you when you are riding in that vehicle when it hits a deer is its slow speed, so the impact of the collision would be a lot lower. Also, the deer have more time to startle and get out of the way!

According to MTU's current course titled THE AUTOMOBILE IN AMERICA, taught by Professor Larry Lankton, the first automobile made in America was produced by the Duryea Brothers in 1893.

Olds sales rose from 500 cars in 1902, to 4,000 in 1904.

What a great picture and caption to go with it!

One look at that picture makes it kind of hard to complain about our roads now.

According to the inflation calculator here, that $1000 car would cost $27,711.44 today!

Not the most expensive car, but certainly not on the cheap end. That fellow was doing well for himself.

Wonder if that $1000 included an umbrella?:)

Charlie,

According to Michigan History Online, the first concrete road in the nation was made in Detroit, 1906: http://www.michiganhistorymagazine.com/features/michweek/splash.html

I sent a message 3 weeks ago to the editor explaining the conflict between their statement and the first concrete road in Calumet, 1903. Haven't received an acknowledgement nor has the claim on their site been amended.

An obvious conflict somewhere ...

RE: site http://www.michiganhistorymagazine.com/features/michweek/splash.html

Doesn't it state 1909 ?

"The first concrete road in the nation was laid on Woodward Avenue in Detroit, between Six and Seven Mile Roads, in 1909."

I've always heard that Woodward had the first mile of concrete paving in the nation. I'm not familiar with Calumet's claim but is it because Calumet's was much shorter distance?

Good afternoon.....

A little history about the automobile. The very first recorded automobile in America was not by Olds or Duryea. It was the Evans Steam Amphibian built by Oliver Evans in 1805. It was called the Orukter Amphibolos, or Amphibious Digger and was nothing more than a steam powered dredge used in Philadelphia for cleaning the city docks. Still, in the strictest sense, this was the first “auto” in America.

The first gasoline powered auto in America was indeed by the Duryea Brothers in 1893. The first auto to be mass produced in America was the Curved Dash Oldsmobile in 1901, built by Ransom Eli Olds. Olds built 425 “Curved Dash Olds” in 1901, and was America's leading auto manufacturer from 1901 to 1904. Olds is also credited with inventing the basic concept of the assembly line, not Henry Ford (Ford didn’t “improve” the assembly line until 1913).

However, we were not the first to build the auto. It was Karl Benz in Germany in 1884. An interesting story; Karl was afraid to drive the car any distance, so one evening his wife, Berta, took Karl's car and made the first long car trip to see her mother, traveling 62 miles from Mannheim to Pforzheim in 1888. The first car manufacturer in the world is credited to Rene Panhard and Emile Levassor in 1889. By car manufacturer I mean builders of entire motor vehicles for sale and not just engine inventors who experimented with car design to test their engines. Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz began as the latter before becoming full car manufacturers and made their early money by licensing their patents and selling their engines to car manufacturers.

As far as the first concrete road in Michigan, I believe Woodward was the first state highway that was concrete paved, but Calumet had the first concrete paved street in Michigan; if that makes any sense?!?!? The first concrete pavement in America was laid in Bellefontaine, Ohio, in 1894.

Today as hubby and I were boating, we saw an Amphi-car (sp?) that was made during the 60's era out cruising in the lake among the boaters! Those things are so cool! It was so awesome to see them driving this car down the boat ramp right into the lake, and it wasn't because the brakes failed!

Alot of interest to me on today's Big Pic picture,on a Shoebox Sunday.Woodward Ave.is U.S. 10.Who don't remember the Loop before I-75 was finished.Was it in Clare?

MrBill:

Yes, 1906 and 1909 are the dates in question. Thx for pointing that out. I hate 'senior moments'.

Capt. Paul:

I wonder if the word 'pavement' could be construed to be 'sidewalk' as in British vernacular? Calumet, with its heavy Cornish influence may have adopted that term during those days.

When I was little Mumu told me about the first time she saw a car. We were amazed that she grew up without one in the family, times were different.

Thanks to Capt. Paul for mentioning that the first concrete pavement was laid in Bellefontaine, Ohio. I have seen that site.

Looks like Detroit has a bone to pick with Bellefontaine, OH. Meanwhile, Detroit's claim also includes being first in Michigan, having concrete pavement 3 yrs AFTER Calumet. LOL!