Did you know that Michigan's first blast-off into space took place right here in the U.P.? It's a place over by High Rock Point, which you can read about at the Keweenaw Rocket Range pages. I was interested to see that one of our PastyNET members, Guy Snyder, was among the pioneers who did the testing which eventually led to the space launch. Hey, this really was rocket science!

Well, that's fascinating. I never knew about that before.

very interesting, i never knew that either..

I heard there were a few Alien sightings in this area during the late 40's thru 50's also.
Maybe thats why I mow the lawn in circles.

Way to go Uncle Bud, I am going to start shoveling in circles too!

I am really impressed!

Did you also know that in the "pre-satellite" era, surveillance equipment was set up in the Keweenaw to watch over the North Pole to keep an eye on the USSR?

j dubya-
That surveillance you spoke of was called the DEW line. (I believe the acronym stands for Defense Early Warning - Like a 3 minute warning would have made a difference!)

INTERESTING!!! I think we are finally getting our Indian Summer. Started yesterday. The temperatures are going up, some sun through the clouds. Gee, its already November 8. Where does the time go?

Our Air Force maintained several long range radars at Calumet AFS as part of the Air Defense Command and NORAD of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. WWW.RADOMES.ORG provides a history of north american radar locations, including those of the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line in far northern Canada.

I'm impressed! I'm a "space nut" and never knew about. I'll have to check it out, next summer.

It was nice to see a picture of Guy on the web site link. He is related to my family by marriage and I grew up with his kids. He was stationed at the Radar Base back in those years. I did notice however that Guy has not aged much at all. He still has the same smile on his face that I remember when he came over the house for coffee. He had lots of stories to tell to us kids. This is a good way for me to end the week, with memories of my childhood. Growing up in the Copper County was lots of fun and it seemed like we always had lots to do. We even had our own rocket range. I will be home next week on my annual deer hunting trip. I look forward to once again coming home to Bumbletown hill and visiting with my friends and family.

Thanks to today's PastyCam, friend and good neighbor Guy Snyder and I as a World War II
veteran will have more to talk about.

Back in the late 1950s or early 1960s my dad and his friend Babe claimed to have seen a UFO or some such thing on Babe's land in Ontonagon one night. (UFO because they didn't know what it was...not necessarily an alien aircraft.) They were not joking, and were dead serious. They also claimed that that when they went back to the area the next day, there was a large circle left where the UFO had been. Everyone was skeptical and didn't believe them, but they did not seem to be joking about it. I've always wondered?! Hummm...

Charlie Like your references to the web sites. Had read the story of the site before and seen pictures of it. This is an interesting part of the history of the UP.

Thanks for today's PastyCam! I had no idea the UP was part of the space race. Does anyone know about the GT on the monument? I'm a MTU grad, my wife is a Georgia Tech grad. If the GT is the Georgia Tech logo, I won't be able to live it down.

Got a map on just how to get there?

I read about the rocket base a while back on a different web site. It really is interesting, too bad it didn't go any further than it did. For Michigan and the UP I mean. Keweenaw could have been as important as Cape Canaveral.

Alice, I remember walking out on a sandy road out near Five Mile Point Road out in the Keweenaw when I came across a large circle that was in the sand. No other tracks were around it not even footprints or a vehicle near it. This was a few years ago. I am still wondering what it might be. My grandfather was very knowlegible about UFO's and had quite a collection of books and articles on them.

...And what was the strange thing that happened near Paulding years ago? Talked to someone from Ontonogan up there this summer and she mentioned something about unidentified lights, etc. Said the story made "Unsolved Mysteries" a few years back...

I am going to plow snow circles around my yard this year in memory of all the ufo's that have been cited in the copper country, and for all the parties I attended at the launch pad over the last 25 years.

Jan Check out the Paulding Light Web site for that info.

Hey, Maybe thats really where the Pasty originated from.
Those Aliens would take a person for weeks,especially back in the 40'-50's, before solid fuel rocket power.
Nobody would miss ya, cause they would just think u were at deer camp.
Ah,where is that Charlie guy, um,
theirrrr baaack EH,EH

When we were kids, probably about the early 70's, we saw red lights in the shape of a saucer just above the trees across Sandy Lake - they were in the west. Six of us saw them. And then they just went out. I think it was in the paper the next day but there was no explanation for it.

When I was in 1st or 2nd grade, attending the one-room school at Copper Harbor, I was fortunate enough to have been present with the other students of the school at the launching of the rocket from the Keweenaw Point in 1971. I of course didn't fully realize the importance of it then, but it brought back some great early memories for me!! I'm so thankful to have grown up in Copper Harbor and to have attended the Copper Harbor School. I received an excellent education there, and the individual attention received couldn't be beat. It was almost as good as home schooling in that regard!

That was my dad who did that!

I am one of Guy's granddaughters. I never even knew that about him. Thank you for showing this information. I love my grandfather very much and I think that is some really neat information to learn about him. He is a very good man to everybody. This proves it too.

Back in summer 1971, driving one night from Calumet to McLain Park, saw a big bright white light just come "on" in the sky overlooking the lake. Then another one alongside it, then a third. If it was one object it would have to be around 100 yds long. We got out of the car -- there was no sound whatsoever and the lights didn't move at all. Observed them about 5 minutes. Then, one by one, they went out. Will never forget it. Does anyone know if that incident or something similar over the years ever made the papers, or if something similar has occurred?

Check out:

http://www.gt.org/keweenaw-rocket-base/index.html

and

http://www.cevp.com/docs/RadarStation/1995-07-00154.pdf

-John S. Haro / Boeing Co.

For more general and technical information, history, maps, and photos that the average person probably cares or needs to see on the "DEWline" and its companion "Pine Tree Line" from those days, go to : http://www.whitealice.com (White Alice Communications System Alaska) Click on "Links" to view these sites. A few stations were just north of Lake Superior and Minnesota.

We were encountered by many "visitors" in the '40-50'. The Keweenaw County area was the perfect place for that.With the lake on 3 sides and a lot of wooded,isolated areas, it was easy in easy out. Those were the days, and the rides were terrific.

The GT is for General Technics, a group of techie (as in technology, although many of us are also MTU alumni) people, many also science fiction fans. Dale Yeo's page about the memorial is at:
http://www.gt.org/keweenaw-rocket-base/index.html

To supplement Liana's background info, for those who don't know but might like to:
PFRC is the MTU Science Fiction Club. Formed in 1976 as Michitrek, we were told that Trekkies were in low repute at SF Conventions, so we went "mainstream" with Larry Niven's "Permanent Floating Riot Club." At our first Convention we met General Technics (named from John Brunner's Stand on Zanzibar) a group about 5 years older than we were, and we knew we were home.

The NASA on the marker is for the Space Agency in Houston. Glen Swanson, the Historian for NASA at the moment, was up here for the dedication of the site. We as in Glen Swanson, PFRC, the Nature Conservance, GT, and others that were willing to drive to the site launched scale Arcas rockets. These were provided by Peter Alaway, a model rocketeer from down state. I personally built an 1/2 scale model of Arcas, one of the rockets that were launch from this site. It is painted in the colors that flew from it. This is one of many rockets that went up from the site. Two others types that flew from the site were 2.75 inch (F)olding (F)in (A)rtillary (R)ockets, like used from rocket pods on UH-1s in the 60s and 70s, and Nike-Apache. The Nike-Apache is the one that put Michigan in the records books for being one of nine states to be part of the Outer Space Club.
Arcas has been up 6 times now and the highest has been around 2500 feet and one time it drifted over 3/4 mile from the launch site, but it still is OK. The rocket, Arcas, flies when ever I have the time and motors. I will try and get a picture up for people that are interest in it.
The Nature Conservance owns the land now, so please be kind to it.

This is one super duper site