Rick Koskela, one of our newest contributors to the Guest Gallery, shares a bit of U.P. history with us today. This Michigan Historic sight, dates back to 1908, when John T. Jones, of Iron Mountain, developed a method for processing low-grade iron ore. He built and experimental furnace to test his theory, which you can see part of, pictured in the background. Another example of U.P. ingenuity!

Good Morning to all!

No one is going to believe this, but I've been up since 5:15 A.M., hitting the refresh button, just to be the first post of the day, get the little Early Bird icon, and say good morning from Georgia! So... GOOD MORNING FROM GEORGIA!

THANK YOU, LARRY! I LOVE YOU TOO!!!!! (LOL)

I'm going back to bed!

mornin all

Ready for our field trip to Harwick Pines today but, checked to see if there was something of a historical nature to share with my class's study of Michigan History on Pasty - sure enough!! Thanks so much!!

Good Morning,
Happy Friday!
Alex, I've been hitting the refresh button since 6:30. Went to get my daughters up for school, and someone else got the 1st post!
Have a great day!

HARTWICK PINES....Lots of memories there!A beautiful old forest grove that is one of my favorite places in the park system.Have a great day Steve.

Isn't this tucked behind the motel in Iron Mountain, what's its name,Comfort Inn?

So many massive unmarked stone structures beg of stories to be told. The one bayside on 41 between Barraga and Chassell drives curious ....

I agree about the stories to be told!

Always glad to see where someone has taken the time to enlighten us - and we make a point to stop and read the markers. Of course there are times when it is worth your life because the markers are in spots along a road with no place to park, but the course of knowledge is not always easy! LOL!

Have a blessed Friday everyone!

Hi all,
I've got the hankerin for some spatzle and red cabbage... Does anyone know when the harbor haus opens?

Hartwick Pines is a beautiful place to take a walk. Your class is very lucky! We went there about 20-25 years ago when our kids were little. A scanned picture of that visit is in my gallery.

Check out the Tweety Cam:

http://www.aviewfromthefield.com/livecam.html

Did a motel burn down in Copper Harbor a week or so ago??? If so which one. Does anyone know.

I am hoping to do some good "looking around" in the U.P. the week of June 12th as I am going up there to bring my snowed out, worn out girlfriend down here to Georgia to live. I have seen the comments posted as well as all the pictures and just want to say that the U.P. is one of, if not the most beautiful spot on the planet and the people there are great as well.

I actually got to visit there in February and was there fo 7 days and theres an absolute charm to the place. Course there was alot snow on the ground too that I know some people may get tired of but for this Georgia boy who only saw an inch and a half at this most this last year, it was indeed a inspiring and wonderful experience to see all the snow there.

My girlfriend will be moving down to Georgia after spending nearly all of her 26 years of living in the U.P. I know that she will miss alot of it but she says she is ready to try a different location and who knows, if it doesnt work out, maybe ill be moving up there in about six months. Of course that would be a huge difference for a guy that has been raised right around Atlanta Ga for 32 years.


Anyway, just wanted to give all of you fine folks a warm southern hello and I am sure that my girlfriend and I will keep tabs on this site daily so hopefully she will not miss the U.P. so badly.


Best Regards,

Corey

There was a fire at the Bella Vista office, which is not attached to the motel. I hear they are going to temporarily move the office into another cabin and are ready to open for the season on schedule, so go on up and enjoy the tip of the Keweenaw.

bsb, sr
Thanks for the info. on the motel, great to know the motel didn't burn.

Corey,
Good luck to you and your girlfriend. I hope all goes well for you both. Thanks for sharing with us in pasty land. Keep us posted on your lives.

I'll never be first post. :( You guys are an hour ahead of me.

Hello from Houston.

Does anyone KNOW what the cement structure is on the Lakeside between Baraga and Chassel? Just curious...nice to know someone else noticed it...have been past there hundreds of times.

YES IT IS BEHIND THE COMFORT INN IN IRON MT
HAVE PARKED MY SLED IN FRONT OF THAT SIGN MANY TIMES
THIS YEAR THE SNOW WAS SO DEEP YOU COULDNT SEE THE SIGN

THE CORPORATION THAT OWNS THE COMFORT INN
ARDIS INC.
RON TOMASSOMI-PROP

I have a question. On the Gazette website, there is a picture taken in downtown Hancock. I looks like a building across from Gartner's is missing. What happened to it? Did it burn down? What was it or what was there? Just wondering

I am bringing my kids to CC this July. I have told them the story about the Italian Hall tragedy. Is the building still there? Can you go into it? And isn't there a monument somewhere? I know there is a wonderful museum that has a bunch of Historical info about the Copper Boom and such. I think its in Calumet?? :)

Shelly: The Italian Hall is gone, but there is a monument on the
spot. They have re-constructed the doorway arch as a
permanent memorial to those who died. Be sure to visit the
Calumet Theatre and the Delaware Mine. Don't forget about
Coppertown museum.

Tom, I really plan on making sure we go to Coppertown Museum! It is really a great trip into the past! Thanks for the info on the Italian Hall!!
Another Question: Do bears still roam about in CC?

Yank Yes to the bears. Visit the museum in L.L. too.

Here is a great site about the 'Italian Hall' fire: http://www.angelfire.com/mi2/1913/1913T.html

The concrete structures along US-41 are going to be from one of the area's stamp mills. There were several along the bay, I'll track down who this one belonged to. Mass Consolidated was one company that had a mill, but I think there's was a closer to Baraga and I don't think any remnants remain.

Regular unleaded $2.35 in San Diego.

Thanks for the website Dave.

"SNOW REPORT"...Well, it's almost all gone, but on this cold typical Copper Country May day, I happened upon the last vestiges of some snow and ice being held onto by the "Devil's Washtub" outside of Copper Harbor...soon we'll be able to swim through it again....I hope!!

Roudy,
I am glad the bears still come out to play. I've told my kids stories about them, and I would love for them to see them!

http://www.1913massacre.com Italian Hall project..based on the Woodie Guthrie song..

DH from Sunny Temecula,Ca,

Both Ric WI and I would love to know more about the Mass Consolidated (?) stamps. Please forward. Thanks a lot.

REGULAR UNLEADED IS 2.069 IN KALEVA, MICHIGAN

Am in Maryland visiting my brother and it is 90 degrees, very humid and windy. It feels good to sweat, like a sauna but there is no snow to roll in afterwards, just sit in front of a fan and drink cold water. Wouldja believe the roses are all in bloom, the peonies and iris too, and the lilacs and rhodies are only a memory. No one here believes me when I say my daffodils just bloomed last week. Wonderful to live in a country so large we have a variety of climates!

Dave from Laurium. I know where the devils washtub is. Been going there my whole life. But that is a new one, i have never swam, or have seen anyone swim around there.

Old Milwaukee in Rhinelander is $3.39 plus no deposit.

John, livonia,..They don't simw around the 'Washtub' often, if at all anymore because I believe it is now private property, but when I was a "FEW" years younger, I have gone into the washtub, you wanted to make sure it was on a calm water day though, otherwise it can be very tricky. It is quite safe on calm days and an interesting experience.

Mark from Kaleva and soon Calumet....yes that building burned a few years ago. It was in the process of being vacated by a closed pet store. There was no lose of life, human or animal, as most of the stuff was moved by then. It was a miracle and excellent firefighting from both Hancock and Houghton fire departments that the whole block did not go up in flames with it. The firefighters were there most of the night....
It was quite a challenge.

To those interested in the Italian Hall Disaster, like any event of that magnitude, there is much written and said about it, and some of it is of questionable accuracy. Of all that has been written about the Disaster and the strike, Thurner's REBELS ON THE RANGE is the most objective,even handed, and well documented accounts of the events available. Peggy Germain's TINSEL& TEARS booklet is a valuable source since it contains excerpts from the corner's inquest. Some others like Stanley's BIG ANNIE OF CALUMET are extremely biased and lack the accuracy and documentation to be credible.
History is a disipline and an event like the Italian Hall Disaster is a very difficult subject to fully understand. Much like a battle in a war, the eye witnesses have vastly differing perceptions of what they saw and heard, and when they saw and heard it. So we have several major unresolved issues at the Italian Hall. Foremost is the call of "Fire", was it a Citizen's Alliance member, or was it a call for water in English that was mistaken by the Croatian folks for their word for fire? The one certainty is that enough people believed there was a fire to start the panic.
Then there is the door issue. Did someone hold the doors shut? Did they open inward? Or did a person fall or get pushed down the stairs to cause the pile up? Although now the inward opening doors theory is literally cast in bronze, photos taken the morning after show doors that open out - they did not have panic bars and the design of the landing was poor, but they opened out. The photos can be viewed at MTU. Did someone hold the doors shut? Testimony on the whole tends to discredit that theory. Logic 90 years later supports someone falling on the narrow stairs and the rest piled on.
The Woodie Guthrie song was written in support of the labor movement. That is a righteous cause, but the song used hyperbole rather than historic facts to advance the cause. That is OK, but it shouldn't be taken as fact.
The Italian Hall, while it was still standing, had haunted air about it. On one level I wanted to see the inside, but on another, I would have rather not tread those stairs. The Memorial is well done and there is a hallowed feel to it.
It was a terrible event, and there a still very strong opinions and emotions about it. We may hear more about it on this site shortly for some will agree with me and some won't.

Paul, Illinois...sorry, but if you look at the pictures of the doors, you can clearly see that they open 'inward' and there is a very narrow area between the opening and the first step going up.

Dave, Laurium: thanks for everything! (this post and past)

If you go to this website and look at the pic, you will see that the Hall had an odd set of double doors, one set that opened out, immediately next to a set that opened inward which they feel caused the problem. If you look closely, you can see the double set... http://www.pasty.com/reflections/id253.htm

Well, Maija, you are very welcome, Thank you and have a good night..

To Ric, Wi. there is a great book titled TRESTLES & TRACKS, a history of Keweenaw Bay and Arnheim. The book had pictures and maps showing the whole operation of the MASS CONSOLIDATED MINING COMPANY that was in operation there c-1890.They also had a coal dock that jutted out into Keweenaw Bay.

Dave,
I have revisited the Pic on the Copper Country Reflections site and have blown it up as far as practical. I do wish the photographer would have stepped to his right a bit so we had a different angle. The clues I have been going by are the closer on the outer door - those things were huge in 1913. There had to be alot of space between those doors to clear that. The inner transom and lower step indicate there was no way doors at the foot of the stairs could open inward, also looks like some latch hardware on the transom. Then we don't have a clear view of the top of the inner door and it appears to be shorter than the outer. Now as I have blown it up it appears that the faint outlines of hingeplates ON the edge of the inner door prove you are correct. One would have thought that since the Italian Hall was built after the Iroquois Theater disaster, they would have not done something like that.
That being settled, there is the testimony at the inquest that indicates the doors were not a factor. Charles C. Meyers who worked in the A&P on the 1st floor stated he arrived at the main enterance within a half minute and found "both doors open" and a mass of people stuck in the stairwell. This was backed up by Jacob Kaisor's testimony and by Joseph Trudell. The 3 concured that the doors were open but the people were so tightly packed on the stairs that the three men were unable to help or remove anyone from the bottom. We saw something very similar at the fire in Warick, Rhode Island - people jammed in a open double doorway.
This is a good discussion. Thanks.

Dave and Paul, I've enjoyed reading your postings. The Italian Hall disaster has fascinated me since I was was a boy. My Grandma had a large number of photographs (which she subsequently donated to the museum in Lake Linden) from the funeral subsequent to the disaster that she kept in a basket under the television at the family farm. The blankness in the funeral goers eyes is something that has always stuck with me. I would agree that Thurner's account seems to be the most objective that I have run across. Lankton covers it pretty well in "Cradle to Grave". I remember reading a rather one-sided view of the event in "Labor's Untold Story" (I forget the author's name) when taking Economics of Industrial and Trade Unionism at MSU. My great-grandparent's family was touched by this incident as my great-grandmother's sister-in-law and two of her nieces perished in the incident (see the gallery at http://pasty.com/pcam/keithinks/a24 ) Two nephews survived and were adopted by other families after their father abandoned them. Waino (Wayne) was either adopted by a Kokkola or Kokkonen family. Aarne was adopted by an Emil Kallio family in Laurium. I have never found any trace of their father Oscar Aaltonen after 1917. While it was a horrible tragedy, its legacy for me was in a career choice to get into the field of labor relations.

Dave, Laurium

Thanks for the picture of the Devil's Washtub. I thought there'd still be places harboring the snow for a bit longer.

I'm assuming the Laurium glacier is gone now?

Paul and Kieth, interesting and informitive.
Thank you. Last post?