In today's first photo you don't see a tower which wasn't there yet, followed by a tower which isn't here now. Confusing? Back in the 70's Jim Ludos snapped a shot of the old homestead at Phoenix, Michigan, just below the spot where Elmo's Tower appeared in 1998. Also in the 70's, Jim and Sarah climbed the fire tower at Mt. Bohemia... which was dismantled some time ago. Thankfully they captured the breathtaking view 3 decades ago, and eventually shared it in a slide show in the Pasty Cam Guest Gallery.

Our thanks to the Ludos for fulfilling a request to see the old tower. And I personally appreciate seeing the old house - no longer standing, at a lovely spot I pass on the drive in to Pasty Central.

Have a good week.

Good Morning

Great photos

Good Morning Again from Calumet

Good morning from under the bridge.

Good Morning from Florida

Got the 69 Charger about 1/2 way to the tower before giving up and walking the rest of the way. Climbed the tower and moved in the wind. It was the 70's. (and a lot of fun) I can't imagine spending a lonely summer there though.

Back in the early 70's, my soon-to-be-husband took me for a ride in his 69 AMX. We made it all the way to the top of Mt Bohemia and climbed the tower. What a beautiful view. Sure miss that AMX!

Good morning from brighton, great shot ..

Joe

morning all. Will we get to see pics of Calumets hertiage days?

Mornin' Great shots!

Mornin' all...great day in the Harbor.

Good morning from Kalamazoo. Beautiful day here, too.

It's been heard thru the CC Grapevine that the EPA has become involved in the fateful demolition of the old Centennial Heights school. Does anyone know if this has been confirmed by another area media source? Thanks.

I have a wonderful photograph of myself and Tony Vranesich
(my UP mentor) made probably 20 + years ago by this old
homestead. Tony told me many stories about UP life over the
years. One of them was about his grandfather living in that
house at the turn of the century. Tony was born in Ahmeek and
returned to the north shore with Leona in the 50s. He was
famous for his good nature and wonder homemade wine. I don't
have the photo withe me on this trip, but I will post it when I
return to the land under the bridge next month. I'm sure many
of you remember Tony and Leona Vranesich.

Good morning from Orlando. Finally, after 105 mph sustained winds Friday night and numerous trees mashed up against the side and roof of our apartment, we have elctricity! Many around the area are not so lucky. Officials are reporting that many may not have electricity until mid to late week. However, we here in Orlando are still much luckier than those on the West coast where Charley hit.

Sure miss the UP weather! It's now confirmed by our recent bad weather - never should have left the Copper Country. I'll take snow and cold over this hot, steamy mess any day!!!

Thanks for that shot of a great old firetower. I can recall making the hike up there a number of times in the early-to-mid 1970's. One time trudged with fellow Toots (in Sorrel boots) all the way up from the asphalt of the Lac La Belle Road through a still deep spring snow which, by the time we'd circled the peak a couple times on that winding trail and then climbed to the top of the tower, had our thighs so aching that on the way back we recklessly opted for a "shortcut" straight down, running (and at times tumbling between the many trees that once stood there) all the way to the bottom of the mountain, miraculously still in one piece, not far from where Lonie's Yurt colony now stands.
Early "extremers" we must have been I guess (and didn't even know it).

Hi all! And to the Eagle Harbor Troll, I saw your neighbor from up there, downhere, this morning at breakfast. Don Hawley and his brother Roy. He said he had talked with his wife up your way either yesterday or this morning and that it was quite chilly up your way. Some maple trees are starting to change here and those same leaves are beginning to fall! Bah Humbug!

Here's a couple views from atop Elmo's little hilltop.....

Oh No...I just knew that the wonderous old homestead might be gone. I asked about it here on pasty.com about a month ago. Good thing I got several photos of it when I was up there in late 70's? Now I'm in a funk for sure. I guess it represented the "old days and ways" to me. And it's gone. I'm gonna do another painting of it for myself. Have one I'm going to offer for sale Memorial Day at a local fest. Isn't this funny how I feel about an old house I never even knew personaly? Well, everyone else have a good Sunday.

Just left the area last week, what a wonderful place to wake up in every morning. A place where history has left a legacy. I woke up smelling something I had not smelled in many years and then reslized it was fresh air. Fresh pasties, fresh whitefish, thimbleberry jam, what more can one ask for. Back in the city again and miss the tranquility of beautiful lakes and running streams and people who speak to you.

We're going to be there next month for a few days. Now that we live in the Chicago area and not in Calif. it will be alot closer. We haven't been there for almost 23 years now so I'm sure we will see alot of changes. I hope to be able to get more of your old photos in our gallery along with some new ones now that we will be visiting again. Maybe our old house will be for sale. Hope to meet some of you when we are there.

I forgot to say that we lived in that camper on the beach in Eagle River when we first moved there. We stored some of our things in Jim & Sandy Carstens barn which was just near the Eagle River store. We didn't live in it to long though, just long enough to be glad we found a house and jobs so quick. We moved there without either, but we were young and full of adventure.

With all the dry weeds around that house, it looks like a total fire hazard to me. I'm surprized it wasn't red carded and taken down.
and I enjoyed Cousin Jack's rendition on his "Climb to the Top" and then tumbling back down. "Jack fell down and broke his crown, and Jill came tumbling after". Ah, yes. A real
extremist. Sounded like fun. LOL

I remember the ol fire tower well, did alot of fun things up there, can't mention most of them!

YOOPER,

For those of us that will never make it to the top, thanks for sharing the great shots!

I remember the old Phoenix Homestead real well. As a child I passed it many, many times on our way to the camp that is on Sand Bay. At that time the homestead was abandoned and I used to wonder what ever happened to the people that owned it. Thanks for the wonderful memory.

hi to everyone from mohawk.
will keep you posted on news about the rebuilding of the white house inn.

That house and the headframe that was to the east of it on the poor rock pile were the landmarks that meant we were about to make the turn to Eagle River for a couple of weeks at the Lighthouse or Strombecks. Back then the house was occupied. By the '60's C&H knocked over the headframe and the house gained a TV antenna! By the '70's the house was vacant and started to fall down, piece by piece. Nuture reclaims all if it is left alone.

Bthecute1, San Jose ...makes sense that you would see that picture as a fire hazard. Hope the fires near you are now contained or better yet, out.

My thoughts go out to all the Florida survivers and the inspirtation to continue on their path of recovery.

sarahk, mi...
All the San Jose fires are out. Thank God. The latest one was just a few blocks from my place. Pretty scary.
ps...Bthecute1 is my sister.

By Bthecute1, San Jose on Sunday, August 15, 2004 - 10:05 pm:

That picture is a fire waiting to happen. Out here in Californina, if a person doesn't clean up the weeds or mess, so many feet from their property, either they clean it up or the city will do it for them at their expense. Do you think that the fire department is going to that location versus one that follows the rules. Our hills and mountains are a tinder box from lack of rain, and a picture like that makes me shudder.

bc1: -

That was the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan, c. 1975, and the house's demise came by gravity, not fire. If today's shot makes you shudder, don't look back in the archives - lots of 100 year old houses look this way around the mining areas.

Hello M & M, fancy meeting you here. We will have to do lunch sometime.

I don't believe a fire department, or hope one would not decide if they will respond if your lawn is well maintained or not.

Bthecute1: Thank God we don't live in California.

Why would they respond to a well maintained lawn, Mr. Jim of Arlington, Tx. If you have a wild fire burning, and many homes are in perils way, and most of those homes have (wood) shake roofs, who do you think they are going too protect first, the weed guy or will maintained guy, who has taken the precautions of trying to protect his home in such an event?

Inflammatory remarks removed.

Remember ole "Smokey the Bear"? "Only you can prevent forest fires". Not only is it our responsiblility to take great care in handling fire, but is also our responsibility in handling the fuels that feed fire. So it is only right that we have to clear the land around our property. The life you save might be yours.

Come on kiddies, play nice. Everyone has a different idea of beauty. Places and times are different.

The wild fire we had here in July did not burn one single home. All of the properties were well groomed with concrete fire blocks around the entire community.

Things are very different out here in California.
Yes they do require you to maintain a fire line around your house, and large parcel's of land that are along major roadway's. You would not believe how much damage and loss of property results from a careless cigarette butt thrown from a passing car, or the sparks from the wheels or brakes of a train. We do not have rain out here from about April/May until November. If you have the older wood shake shingles on your house your insurance is higher cause they are a fire hazard. If the fire hazard is high you can't have a campfire while camping. And you will be fined if you do not maintain these fire breaks on your property, and they do respond to the home owners that obey these rules first. This is life in Sunny California. As Jimmy Buffett put's it in one of his song's "Shake and bake, now with the quakes!"

Bthecute1, our fire departments respond to every page they receive. it does not matter kept or unkempt lawn. remember to thank them , all our firefighters are volunteers up here in the U.P.

Kevin K., Lodi, CA, hit the nail on the head here folks. "Things are very different out there in California."
That's what makes the world go round. What floats your boat, might not float mine, so we choose to live in different parts of the country. All of which are wonderful in their own way.
To each his own~~~"C'est La Vie"

shutter = on the windows or a camera.
shudder = quivering with fright, or from the cold.

Another yooper...
My hats off to all your volunteer firefighters.
Here in California, you might say all property owners are volunteer fire fighters. Our mountain and hillsides are not the lush green color as you have in the UP. They are a golden color, just waiting to explode into flames. It is a small price we pay to enjoy the climate here.

Of course the firefighters respond to each call, I am talking about a wildfire. Have you ever seen one, or been near one? I was at a football game, San Francisco 49ers vs the Detroit Lions when the Oakland Wildfire Hit. Debris from across the Bay was flying into the park forcing us to leave.

By RD, Iowa on Monday, August 16, 2004 - 05:34 am:

Thank-you Pasty Central for such wide-ranging variety in the pictures presented over the years. From old homes to butterflies, action scenes to sunsets, you can always count on something compelling and memorable. This website is like a living book, with a new chapter written every week.

Thanks for giving us something new from UP in pastyland to look forward to every day.

In the 70's a lot of us used to go up the hillside(lac la belle side) to get to the tower. No reason to go around besides it was more interesting. We did this at least 3 times a week. I wonder what they did with the mine tunnels we used to go into? We did a lot of things on that tower. We will not tell mom and dad what we did, hee hee. I would have liked to get that tower and put it back together on sand point road back when they were trying to get someone to take it away but that would have been an ambitious undertaking being only 15 years old. We would have only 30 days to take it away. Instead they cut the legs and let it fall. I remember when the windows were still in it, the windy days, rainy and once snowy. Later someone started to remove the window frames and they threw them down. Wood does not last forever and with all the sue happy people it had to come down. Lots of fun.

Someting waiting to burst into flames-a small price? I hardly think so. Give me the four seasons of th U.P.

the towers look old and scary like they might fall. i would never want to go up in one.
GO TEAM USA! 17 GOLD MEDALS AND COUNTING! GO PHELPS!

Have we heard from Dave, Cairo (aka Philadelphia) since his sign in on the 14th. Just wondering where he's wanderin'