• Tuesday-What'sUP November 16 - 08:45 am

We can sit here and debate the pros and cons of using salt on the road until springtime arrives and we no longer need it to make the roads driveable. But no matter how you feel about the substance, it sure makes an impressive sight all piled up and ready to spread. Thanks to Susan Hooker, for reminding us that we'll soon be needing to re-adjust our driving habits as the roads make their winter transformation, covered with snow and ice.

Good morning all!
No need for that down here! It's a balmy 63 right now as I type this! But I do well remember a similar scene from my years living in Chicago area!
Have a great day all!
Best wishes,
Renee

Where the heck is this pile of salt at??? I swear my husband has been telling me for all the years we've been married that you people in the UP don't use salt on the roads ... that's why the roads are in much better shape then the roads down here (in metro Detroit)!

This is probably at Gundlach's dock in Houghton. This is probably for Keweenaw, Houghton, and Baraga counties. This was off loaded from a freighter...

TX has no idea how to take care of roads with snow. 36 here this morning with winds at a gusty 35 mph. Gonna have to buckle up and force the driving to work this morning.

Well I'll keep my fingers crossed for you folks, that the huge pile of salt gets piled beneath a pile of snow, and they can't find it until spring thaw ;)
I could never understand why people wash their cars in the winter...till we moved out to Indiana...and they just layer I-94 and the tollways with salt. Dang, is that stuff ever nasty.

the salt pile is at the yalmer mattila dock in west hancock
(grab your hammer, grab your saw,
let's go work for mattila)

The crew that brought up that cargo must truly be old salts! The salt of the earth, indeed.

Pea soup this morning driving to LA from The OC!
Although, 70 at the beaches and high temps inland. The winds will be roaring on the inlanders in a few hours ! I don't know what's worse, driving in dense fog or slippery, salted roads.. It's quite a scene this morning on the LA/OC Freeways...

We work harder for less pay, but we get coffee twice a day! Verse two for the Mattila song.

Everyone drive safe, watch yourselves, as the potential 16 inches hits the U.P. in the storm we're expecting tonight and tomorrow!

If I recall correctly some counties in the UP (Keweenaw for sure) use a combination of salt and sand...

IMO that is better than the straight salt that the southeast MI counties use...

Paul, I knew it wasn't Gundlach and knew it was Hancock. Guess I had a brain cramp at the early hour. Thanks for setting it straight...

Here in Houston it's been a muggy 80-85 for the past few days. That is supposed to change starting tomorrow with dry temps around 60; I can't wait :-)

I never really understood why counties needed to use salt everyday. I mean sure, use it when the roads ice over after a major storm, but is it really necessary to pour tons of salt when one snowflake fell??

At least the Keweenaw never had to experience what the people of Crawford County (Grayling) had to for years until it was banned; liquid sodium chloride! They used to get the stuff right out of brine wells and pour it onto the roads. Not only was it an environmental disaster, but that stuff would creep into every crack and open area on a car, rusting it out in 3-5 years. Nasty, nasty stuff.

One would think that having the salt by the waters edge would cause a lot of damage from run off. I know in Vilas county, the county has had to pay for a lot of personal wells do to salt seeping into the ground water from run off of the salt piles.

I can't believe it's November 15th and NOBODY's mentioned hunting season. :) I'm down here in Arizona pinning away for my blind near LaBranch (NW of Esky).

Christy ~

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All of that salt! Here in Georgia, I think they fill a half dozen salt shakers, from a local restaurant, in case of a little icy patch! (LOL).

Two salt ships unloaded this year. Shortly after they unloaded the salt it was hauled by trucks to the county road commission storage area in Ripley. I venture to say that Sue got her shot within a day or two after that load was dumped. It was neat to see both salt ships plus a lake freighter ply the Keweenaw Waterway this month.

Alex ... THIS EXPLAINS A WHOLE LOT!!! Having spent many years (about 15 straight) going to FL (and back home to MI) via I-75 in December and January we ALWAYS tried to get below Atlanta going south in case the weather should turn "bad". (And drove straight through going north more then once if it looked like snow in Tennessee and Kentucky too!) Spent 8 hours driving between Toledo and Cincinatti one trip, due to a Corvette on the highway in the snow - about an inch or two - too stupid to know that those cars aren't made for winter driving!
But then a thunderstorm can (and does) bugger up all 16 lanes of I-75 through Atlanta and can completely stop the bypass! I betcha all you yoopers didn't realize what "good" drivers you would be if you lived in the south. My husband's theory is that "all you people who were born below the bridge (the mighty Mac in this case) should just STAY OFF THE ROAD WHEN IT SNOWS!" And yes ... that would include me!

Well, at least those who learned to drive in Georgia should stay off the roads! (Maybe even when the weather is clear!!!!)

Those are all welcome sights! I will take the cold and snow anyday as I sit here in Djibouti, Africa with 90 degree plus weather. AS I remember, Houghton County does not use much salt compared to Ontonagon Co. where I grew up!

T.R. Martin, Mass City Native