• Sunday-What'sUP August 19 - 09:18 pm

Our promised feature about J.T. Reeder will have to wait until next week, as I left the CD at home, when we left for a quick weekend trip downstate. But I did find this Reeder panorama of the Portage valley, showing the Swing Bridge doing its job back in 1911. Here are reference points to get our bearings:

Thank you 4 sharing these historic photos.

What a difference a century makes!! Thanks for the look back!

I love old photos from the past. Looking forward to the story of the photographer, Mr. Reeder....what an interesting life he must've led.

In the photo of the open bridge, that has name tags, what was the huge building just above the "F" in future home of---? It wasn't there in 1931.

Was there a train round-about back in those day?

That bridge looks like quite a feat for 1911.

What I love about Pasty Cam, you can look at the pictures every day but you can also go into the archives and see all the pictures from day one...born a YOOPER...always a YOOPER...

With the tower and boom on the water side, it looks like Richard's mystery building could be a coal dock and shed. The railroad "wye" on the Hancock side of the bridge was in that same area. That area used to be a wood yard and then was part of the Mineral Range facilities. The Quincy pump house is also in the view. Houghton & Hancock were busy ports of call in those days, there is another laker in the wide view. Now if one of the big boats passes through it makes the news.

Is the building marked "Glad Tidings" a church that once was a Lutheran church where Rev. Isaac was a pastor many years ago? If so, it brings to mind pleasant memories.

Paul--Thanks for the answer about that large building. Sounds right because when I was a kid crossing the briidge on foot there seemed to be a lot of dark stuff in the area. Think they dumped a lot od stamp sand after the bldg. was removed. I wonder if there had been a fire. Gone2Long---If I remember correctly the round house was in west Houghton near the bottom of Van Orden's hill,as the road up to WalMart was called then.

You don't see many pictures of the bridge open. We use to wait to the last minute as the draw swung open and then we would jump on it. The bridge tenders didn't like it but by that time it was too much trouble to stop and kick us off. It was fun because we could look over the railing and talk to the sailors passing by, and see the ship up close.

Thank goodness you're here to tell about it, Richard! ;) Boys will be boys...

The former Copper Range RR depot and yard were just out of the
picture to the right on the Houghton side. The railroad was about
12 years old at the time of the photo & lasted until 1972. The
roundhouse, near the park pavilion today, was torn down in 1979.
Great shot.

Notice the bridge is a two deck/level. The bottom was for the railroad and the top was for the street traffic. The current Lift bridge is the same way only now instead of trains, snowmobiles use the lower level in the winter.Cars can use the lower level when it is partially raised so pleasurecraft can go under yet not interfere with street traffic.