Aerial shots are among my favorites to contemplate, especially when they take us up over the Keweenaw. The top vista of Houghton-Hancock looking east is provided by Rick Anderson of Skypixs fame. Last Sunday for Pasty Fest we circled north of here, above the clouds, waiting for a clearing for me to parachute into Agassiz Park. But alas, the rain never let up. By the time we landed, all the pasties and most of the people were gone. Maybe next year.

In the second picture, the Bridge Cam caught the deck open for a tug to pull through its cargo yesterday about 12:15pm. This is a rare moment for the live cam, as it wasn't captured in a whole year of time lapse web photos. (Click the time lapse link to see all four seasons in a single day.)

Looks like a beautiful summer weekend in store here in the U.P. Have a good one!

Good Morning. Hope you have a dry, warm weekend.

Good Morning!!!!

Great shots! I can't wait to be there. Only one month to go.

Good Morning!! Wonderful pictures. Hope to be vacationing there soon.

So that is what the bridge looks like when it is up. It is the first time in all of my visits and coming to this site daily that I have seen it up.

Congratulations to Connie Hella, Jim Hodges, and Sandra Rusk for winning the Pasty contest. Just saw Connie's picture with her Copper Pasty trophy at Mainstreet Calumet.

How large of vessel can go up that river, under the bridge? What are these boats hauling?

I used to live in Hancock. I remember the time that the guy flew a small plane under the bridge. I think he was a bit of a daredevil you know. If I remember corectly the bridge was in it's alternate position with the lower surface even with the road so there was a little extra room.

Freighters at least 700' have passed under the bridge in the past. With todays great navigational aids most ships proceed out around the Keweenaw Peninsula or else anchor in Bete Grise Bay rather than use the canal. The main shipments into Houghton, Hancock, Dollar Bay and Hubbell were for coal being delivered for the mining companies and residential heating needs and shipment of finished copper products to lower lake ports about 75 years ago. An occasional load of stone will still arrive at the dock in Hancock and Great Lake Cruise ships may now start to make visits to the dock in Houghton. All mining stopped in the Keweenaw in 1968 and the last mine in White Pine closed in 1994.

Looks like the H.J. Schwartz and her convoy of tugs and barges are back in the area with the Army Corps of Engineers to do maintenance on the breakwalls of the Portage. One of the tugs is the Bill Maier (if I recall correctly, they have two tugs as part of their operation - the larger one to tow everything out, and the smaller to push things into the right position on the walls). It's pretty cool to watch them working on the walls, with those big blocks of stone up in the air. From the pics posted by RCW, looks like she's docked at Lily Pond right now. Keep an eye out, and you might be able to head to McLain or the Breakers to find them at work.

They make berth in Duluth, MN.

I can see my house from here... well ok my mother's house. Great aerial shot!

When we lived in Houghton, the bridge was the only stop light in town. When the bridge was open you really didn't want to run that stop light. :-)

Thanks to all for the great pictures today. So interesting to see the barges and their cargo and to see the bridge UP! (UP in the UP!)

Beautiful pictures!

CORRECTION--NOT JIM HODGES---JIM HUGHES.

By Mark, WA on Saturday, July 10, 2004 - 07:29 pm:

10-4: Thank you DB for the correction. Also, thank you for the information on the canal and its traffic. I hope to take in the sites while up there in August.

First try....somehow I missed the caption, but here is another view of the Schwartz and Tug BILL MAIER tied up at the Portage Lower Entry.

Greetings.
I enjoy your site and especially the Pasty Fest.
My late grandmother, Tine/Tina Schorlemmer (married name "Martine" Campbell), was born in Negaunee about 1898, spoke Danish until she went to school, and she introduced us to pasties on our train trip from Washington state to Negaunee in the late 1950s. We bought some on the train. My late great aunt, Nancy Schorlemmer (married name Lund) had definite opinions on whether to use turnips in pasties, but I don't recall whether she was pro- or anti-turnip.
I'll have to try making pasties some day, and I hope to visit the pasty fest.
Michael Stuart Mowrer
Heidelberg, Germany

Dear Cuz John,

Was that you wishing folks a Happy Canada
Day on July 1st?

Thanks from

07/11
Marquette......
Marquette's harbors have been busy. On Friday the tug Billmaier towed the crane barge Schwartz and two barges loaded with rocks to Marquette to continue work on the breakwalls. This is the barge that was shown in the SKY-PIX on Saturday July 10.