If you have never been snowmobiling, cross-country skiing or snowshoeing in the Keweenaw, it's hard to express the feeling of freedom and exhilaration exploring all the natural beauty and unique history.

We have enjoyed sunny days for most of the week, and the snowmobilers are in for a fun weekend along the trails like the one above. Anybody recognize it?

Bill Penprase must know...he's my favorite unofficial Copper Country Historian, even if he does live in La La Land on the left coast.
Sally (Hocking) Nelson

How about the smoke stack in Gay.
Was use by the Jarvi boys during their commercial fishing days as a landmark to locate the Betsy Area .

Definitely the Gay smoke stack...we used it to locate the Gay Bar!

Remember Gay Days when they'd fill the stack with tires and light them?

Has to be in Gay, we just snowmobiled by it a couple weeks ago!

Yes it is Gay. I was there last October on our 4 wheelers. Much better looking without the white stuff.

Sally, when I lived in Keweenaw there was a smoke stack like this in Gay. It was the stack for the Mohawk Mining Company smelter. They also had their mill at the same location,hence,all the stamp sand there. I believe that the Wolverine Mining Company and possibly the Allouez and Kearsarge Mining Companies, before Calumet and Hecla bought them, processed their rock through Gay.

The railroad track from Mohawk starts just behind #6 Mohawk and I believe is now used as a snowmobile trail. Long after Mohawk mines closed the track was used for hauling logs. About once a week the train would go through Copper City and down to Gay. At the place where the creek, flowing out of the #6 dam,went under the tracks there was a watering station for the steam engines. One day a couple of us boys got the spout down and the water gushed out and we couldn't get the spout up again so the tank emptied and washed out some of the track. I only tell you this now because the statue-of-limitation has expired. :)

Sally, you are ruining my reputation with these questions.

I remember that smoke stack well. My father was born and raised in Gay and we would go there quite a bit when I was a kid. I remember running around out on the stamp sand.

This one (The Gay Stack) was too easy. Did you know that on a clear day it is visible with the naked eye (with 20/20 vision of course) from Point Abbaye across Keweenaw Bay?

Bill Penprase, I might just have to check on that statue-of-limitations...I know a Chief of Police up in those parts. You provided way too much for this brain...HOW do you remember that stuff?? We are going to have to start checking on those facts ,maybe not the part about getting in trouble. Now the whole world knows about it, huh?
Seems to be a consensus though, Charlie are all these folks right??

What do I know,I thought it was near White Pine. I hope that the Pasty Cam is able to bring us shots of some of the many water-falls, they should put on a good show, with all of the snow this winter.

It's definatley Gay. Next time your there, go into the bar & order a foot of onion rings. They are well worth the trip!

We spend every summer at our camp in Little Betsy, that is definetly the Gay smoke stack. My kids 7 & 4 even recognized the picture.

Awesome picture, we use the Gay Stack as a landmark everytime we go out on Lake Superior, its almost as accurate as a GPS or radar, and when we come in off the lake, we head towards Gay for a refreshment!!!!!

Is the stack in Gay still standing. A few years ago in the gazette I read where there were still 16 stacks standing in the copper country. Does anyone here have a list of them.

Looks like a perfect place for Live PastyCam#2.
Probably could keep an eye on The Mackinac' from there!!! - and zoom in on "lotsa stuff"!!!

No better boast than to leave the UP and tell your friends, associates, and co-workers:

I BEEN TO DA GAY BAR!

:-)

I was on a picnic here in this picture yesterday!
Yes, a winter snow picnic! It was a beautiful day for the kids to sled and ski! "Suprette" Ron cooked burgers and the hot dogs were scrumptious!
The kids sledded down the hill near the smoke stack and i snapped a few pics.Still quite a few snowmobilers around..the Gay Sands are a perfect place for that.
Alicia

Throughout my working years, it was amazing to me how many of our customers knew about the tiny hamlet of Gay, and they would mention stopping at the Gay bar. Growing up there was fun - have so many wonderful memories. Thanks for the picture of the smokestack - it's just beautiful! This is really making me homesick.