An important part of the Pasty Cam over the past 3 years have been glimpses of the people who call the U.P. "home". This shot captures the friendliness, curiosity, and enthusiasm of Copper Country kids... under the watchful eye of Mrs. Burns at South Range Elementary - who had given Daryl Laitila permission to share her 3rd grade class with our visitors.

Swapping valentines with my classmates... haven't thought of that for years. I vividly remember a little brown-haired girl in third grade. She gave me a small pink envelope, made out of construction paper and white paste, and inside was a store-bought Huckleberry Hound valentine. It said "Y'all be mine" on the front, with the hand printed message on the back: "I LOVE YOU. BECKY."

Hmmm ...I wonder if that influenced me a couple of decades later when we gave our daughter the same name. This is the first Valentines Day for our Becky to spend with her Valentine, Bryan. You may have seen their wedding on the Pasty Cam late last year.

By the way, we have had some neat letters posted over on the Past-E-Mail page today. Thanks to all the interesting people who watch and appear on pasty.com.

By ps: on Wednesday, February 14, 2001 - 09:35 pm:

A couple more of Daryl's photos:

Here are some Big-Hearted Copper Country stories on their way to being told.
It's Child's Play, it's the Future, and it looks like it's in Good Hands.
Great shot(s), Daryl!

Hats off to the South Range Elementary School! This school is one of eight elementary schools in the Upper Peninsula to receive a Golden Apple Award. To win this award at least 80% of the 4th and 5th graders took the MEAP test and raised their composite scores 60 points or more over the last three years. There were 152 elementary schools state wide to win this award. Congratulations to the students, parents, teachers, administration and staff.

I remember third grade at South Range Elementary School. The old school wasn't as modern, and what I remember most is Miss Wlliams reading the adventures of "Uncle Wiggly" to the class. Still, I know there were a lot of important building blocks that filled the days with the three R's. Anyway, Daryl, thanks for triggering the memories! Mrs. Burns, keep up the good work, some day one of these children in the picture will have fond memories and a whole host of life skills because you care to do a great job.

Regarding the "bridge cam", it states "Bridge over Portage
Canal".

Is the bridge located over the canal portion of Portage Lake?
There is a lake portion and then a canal was dug to complete the
connection. How long is the canal portion and where on Portage
Lake is the "Canal"? When was the canal done?

Ed Kerry, you can find info on the ship canal on the Copper Country Reflections link on Pasty.com. Just look at Photos and then the link for the ship canal. I believe the canal was at the north entry end. The south end was also dredged straighter and deeper to accomodate bigger boats.