Compare the shot above to Sunday's photo near the end of this road. Looks like it could have been taken in the same year, or even on the same day.

Have any ideas on the identities of these folks? Anyone know anything about "W. Nara"?? you can faintly see his watermark on the lower left, opposite the pasty.com logo on the right.

According to Robert Wetton, this was taken about a mile east where today stands the Dreamland Motel.

Actually that is the Nara home on the Bootjack road, however it does look a lot different at the presant time.

There was a Bill(?)Nara who had a beach and camping area just before Dreamland going toward Jacobsville. Super Photo!

Didn't Bob Nara, the dentist with the office on Montezuma in Houghton in the 60s & 70s, live out there in Bootjack? His son used the same office later, but I think he is elsewhere now, too. Is W. Nara a father, uncle, or grandparent? Bob Nara was probably born 25 years after that picture was taken. Nara is an unusual name... Nice People, and good dentists.

Bob is still living (and owns it) next to that homestead, and W Nara was his grandparent. W Nara was a prominent photogapher in Calumet back then.
Bill Nara was Bobs father, and the beach Fred mentioned would be beyond and to the left of the house.

I went to school in Lake Linden with Bob Nara but didn't know he had a son who was also a dentist.

Bob, do you ever read this?

The Nara home was originally owned by Archille Chandonais.

The W(illiam) Närä, whose watermark appears on this photo owned what was probably the Copper Country's most prominent professional photo studio in the late 1800's and early 1900's in Calumet (and later in Hancock). You'll see that watermark on very many professional photos of that vintage.

"Old Bill" paid for his brother's -- my maternal grandfather Frans (Frank) Emil Närä's -- passage to the U.S. from Alatornio, Finland, on the Majestic out of Liverpool, England, arriving in the U.S. in December 1904 at 19 years of age, to work in "Old Bill's" photo studio.

As it turned out, my grandfather (Frank Närä) was allergic to the photographic chemicals, and left the photo business to establish a farm in Bruce Crossing in the late 1920's (that farm is still in the family today).

"Old Bill" Närä's son William O. "Onni" Närä, a long time resident of Bootjack (after a time with the Detroit Fire Department, if memory serves) was instrumental in establishing the Bootjack Volunteer Fire Department, many long years ago.

It's been decades now, but I could swear that Bill (Onni)'s property was on the lake side (west side) of Bootjack road, considerably north of Dreamland, close to the ol' Bootjack F.D. -- certainly not that shown in the Robert Wetton photo! Dreamland, on the other hand has hardly changed from my late 1950's/early 1960's college days at "Da Tech"!

William O. "Onni" and Mae Närä's son John (Jack) had a veterinary practice for many years on U.S. 41 on the Pilgrim River (the family later donated some of that land for a "Pilgrim River Walk", as I recall), while his other son Robert had a dental practice in Houghton for many years. Bob Nara did much of my dental work during my years at "Da Tech". (Yes, the family mostly abandoned the diereses/umlauts in Närä for just "Nara" in later generations.)

Regretfully, I've since pretty much lost touch with the later generations of the "Onni" Närä branch of the family.

A bit of additional family/ Copper Country history...

My maternal grandmother, Anna Karvola arrived in the U.S. from Viipuri, Finland at age 5, in June, 1892, sailing on the Saale, from Liverpool England, in the company of her father and mother, Mattias and Mathilde Karvola. She later was employed on the kitchen staff at the Thomas H. Hoatson -- owner of the Calumet & Arizona Mining Company -- Mansion for two years, shortly after it was completed in 1908, and before marrying my grandfather. Of course the Hoatson Mansion is now the Laurium Manor Inn!

You just gotta love it -- the way that absolutely every single thing in the Copper Country, and everyone that ever set foot therein is connected or related in such a wonderfully rich small-town-America way!

-FRN

Frank, I have to take exception to your remark that this wasnt the Nara property shown here. It is, and is on the lake (west )side of the road and is quite distance from the Old Fire Dept..My father(Chet Wetton) who just turned 96, had this photo in his collection an rode down that road many times. He s probably one of the last ole timers (and a close friend of Willam O) around from that era, and can confirm the location as well.The rest of the information in your note is very interesting however.

Wow, thanks for the further details, Bob [RCW] -- So much for *my* rusty memory of the Bootjack side of the lake -- I guess I've been away for too many decades, and as you said "it does look a lot different at the present time"!

I'm so glad to know that your dad's memory is still as sharp as a tack at age 96 -- hooray for that, and my thanks and best wishes to him as well!

Too bad we can't yet identify the folks in the picture...

-FRN

You give Chet Wetton a huge hug from a Bootjack "kid", who spent many nights in the summer out at Chet's place on the lake, when relatives would come up and rent the cottages for a couple of weeks every summer. We would feed peanuts to the chipmunks that Chet had tamed. We would go and play in the caboose in the woods too! Not to mention lots of swimming and cookouts! Chet was so grand to all of us kids! What a great guy! :)

Bootjack Kid????? Im sure he will be curious to who you may be????

Being the daughter of a 'yooper' and having most of my relatives living in the UP, I thoroughly enjoy this site. I was especially happy to see a picture of the Dreamland (newer photo). My grandmother (Berniece Falardeau, formerly Laho) and my stepgrandfather (Walter Falardeau) lived on Bootjack Rd. (lake side) for serveral years. Every summer we'd make the trip 'up north' from the Detroit area to visit relatives in Chassell, Calumet, Laurium, and of course, Bootjack. The drive from Chassell to Bootjack seemed endless! We would often go the Dreamland for a burger with Granny and Walt. I also remember walking down Bootjack Rd. to a 'party-store'. Anyone remember the name of it? Granny and Walt have since passed away, but I have an Aunt and Uncle who live just two doors down from where my grandparents' house was. Thanks for posting the photo - brought back so many memories for me!

Amy...there was a country store owned by the Patana family about a 4.5 miles down from the Dreamland....we used to walk to it from our place which was one mile from it. Our place was close to the old schoolhouse that became a road commission building...I too love these old photos...have so enjoyed learning the history of the Copper Country since returning to live here in 1996.

AMY AND OTHERS... THE ACTUAL BLDG OF PATANA'S STORE WAS MADE BY MY FATHER, WM "HANK" HOLMAN, WHO LIVED MUCH OF HIS YOUTH IN PRINCESS POINTE. AGNES PATANA, WIFE OF ART, RESIDES IN LAKE LINDEN AND STILL IS AS PLEASANT AS SHE HAS ALWAYS BEEN. I TOO, REMEMBER AS A KID GOING TO THE STORE FOR A SODA, MAYBE A CANDY BAR, OR RED DOT POTATO CHIPS WHEN YOU HAD A BAG FOR 5 CENTS. MY HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED, BUT THE MEMORIES NEVER FADE.

I ALMOST BOUGHT THE 1965 MUSTANG FROM YOUR AUNT AND UNCLE.BUT HE MADE A DEAL AT THE IOLA CAR SHOW AND WAS UNAWARE OF MY INTEREST. YOUR AUNT IS A LOVELY PERSON AND ENJOYED VISITING WITH HER.

YOU CAN WELL SEE HOW SMALL THW WORLD IS THROUGH PASTY.COM.

Most Definately a small world. Agnes Patana is my aunt. My fathers is John Palokangas. I haven't been on Bootjack for two years. I really need to get back there, very soon.

Just wondering if anyone has pictures of the pictures that decorate the Dreamland. I haven't been there in many years and don't live near enough to anticipate going there soon. However, I have heard that there are pictures of Norbert and Isabel Sarazin on the walls of the Dreamland and I would love to see them. Isabel was my great great grandmother.

I have to admit the Bootjack area is a nice place to come and relax. My grandparents have lived in Rabbit Bay (just outside of bootjack) for over 36 years they have had there land for that long and have went through a couple of mobile homes as they used as small camps. I would like to say a great thank you to the Bootjack First Responders for there outstanding service to the Bootjack area. Thanks

Whom was the McCallum Creek was named for? Thanks.

Very interesting site. I always looked for the Nara house as a child because I then knew I was at my Grandma's house. Last I remember it was white with green trim. My grandma is a Sarazin and they built a house right down from the Nara's in 1983. I think it would probably be pretty easy to get pictures from Dreamland. I wish I had my counsin Gale's email to give you, but unfortunetly I do not. Not to long ago she put out a "Sarazin Family Hitory," it has a lot of great photos. The messages on here are more than a year old, too bad.

cool