This is from the Grand Prize winner in our February contest, upon the arrival of the Miner's Throw from Copperworld...

Thank you very much, it arrived today and looks really nice and very different from those we can buy here. Our spring is finally beginning, anyhow it looks like, we had unbelievable mounts of snow this winter and we are really keen to see the spring and summer. 

All the best wishes for you and have a peacefull Easter.

Seppo Tossavainen

Recently I ordered 6 pasties delivered to my mother, born in Houghton and raised in Lake Linden, who now lives in Texas.  The pasties arrived Friday and my daughter and I arrived Saturday.  We sat down to pasties for lunch.  THEY WERE GREAT!!!

My mother has been sick and the pasties really brightened up her mood.  We had another meal of them before my daughter and I came home.

So I'll be ordering for our house, my mom and my sister in Ohio in the future!

It was more special because they came from Calumet, where my Aunt Betty lives.  Mother was quite thrilled to read the "Mining Gazette".

All in all, it was a special treat.  Your quality is excellent!  We will order again soon!

Sandra Rodger

(Again we're astounded by the number of wonderful Yoopers there are all over the country :o)   Thanks for the glowing report!)

I live right here in the Copper Country, but wanted you to know that I, too, enjoy your beautiful pictures - as do my sons who live down state (trolls for the time being!). My daughter in Wisconsin also enjoys your sight, although she did mention that she has had difficulty accessing your Archives.

Thanks for the wonderful photography! I've seen sights on your page that I haven't seen in person yet.

June Peterson

Just a note to say that everybody does a GREAT JOB on your site.  I enjoy all the pictures.  I especially like the winter ones since it is so hard for me to get there in the winter time.  I know most of your picture sites and it is just nice to seem them on your site. 

Keep up the good work,
Denise

Hi -hi - about the pictures....I just enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.  (Big smile) (Heart)  (Heart)  (Big Smile).  Is it expensive to do photographs like yours on the Internet?  It must take FILM -TIME - GASOLINE - LUNCH BREAK - not to mention, Coffeebreak, and one can always get a PASTY FOR SUPPER!   And the EQUIPMENT to put these much-appreciated photographs on your Website.   But it's gotta be $$'s!  Pasty-Cam is most certainly altruistic.....and I just keep enjoying, enjoying, enjoying.  KIITOKSIA!

Carolyn (Posio) Wills

(We simply want to make people happy by keeping them in touch with the U.P. - the sights, tastes, and news of this special part of the world.  There are now over 1,000 images in our *archives.  You're right... it does take lots of raha to bring all of this... but it's worth it!  Our sponsors, our pasty sales, PastyNET members and regular supporters have enabled us to keep on keepin' on :o)

*Printed on Recycled Internet

Washington (3/23)

We camped at Keystone Bay in 1971.  That would be nice to see this summer.  How about smelting in the Little Gratiot River at Lac La Belle?  Do they still do that?  We did in 1971 or 1972 when the animal trainer had the sea lions alongside U.S. 41 near the Boston cutoff.  We dipped an incredible number of smelt for ourselves which we froze and pickled.  He happened to be there the night we were dipping and so we caught more for him to feed the sea lions.  The guy was originally from Allouez and he was only there maybe a year with the sea lions.  The last we heard he had returned to the Sequim Game Farm here in Washington.

The other picture we'd like to see is blueberries along the shore off the south side of Bete Griese.  We would walk in north from Buck's camp (have no idea who Buck was/is) along the Lac La Belle-Gay road.  Since no one was ever there we would go skinny dipping, which was incredible in that marvelous clear Lake Superior--as long as the warm water had come in! 
We really enjoy your photos and certainly admire the snow from a distance.  The only place remotely like that in Washington is Mt Baker this year with 970 inches of snow.  At least people don't live on the summit.   One thing I did appreciate was that since snow was so ordinary it was always taken care of by the road crews.  However, I remember the shoveling and have never let my husband forget that he developed appendicits just to get out of his share! 

Keep up the good work.

Andrea Joyce

re: Mobile Home

Not all of us down here WAY below the bridge (Maryland) are so gullible.  We saw in the on-line Mining Gazette that the "double wide" is really the Sprengers new home (after significant restoration).  Congratulations to Dave & Julie! (from the Laurium Manor Inn)

And thanks to you for being one of the ways we stay in touch with Copper Country.

Peter Chiomenti

(We catch the online Mining Gazette occasionally, too.  Too bad they don't have an archive of their articles/pictures)

There was an article in the Chicago Tribune this past week about pasties, and they mentioned -  Pasty Central.  Congrats!   I have really enjoyed the ones I ordered and plan to order again.  The article also had a recipe and nutritional information.  Don't know if you saw it, but it listed calories as 1,030 and fat grams at 81.  Is it true??!!  Just wondering if that sounds right for an average pasty.  Came as quite a shock to me!  (Not that I will stop eating them of course!)

Thanks again,
Yvonne Zeman

(We are in the process of having our pasties analyzed for nutritional labeling.  There are a lot of calories in a pasty... the miners counted on this for the strength they needed to make it through the long days.  You'll find that a pasty has only half the calories when you share it with a friend.

The pasties arrived yesterday and I had my sister Carol and my cousin Bob Maki and Verna (Suomi) for dinner tonight.  The pasties were absolutely wonderful.  I felt like I was back on the farm again and living the good life in Calumet.  Thank you so much and I will be placing another order very soon.

God Bless All of you for doing what you are doing.  I have to make one other statement which is something that I have passed on to people here who have no clue about Calumet and the uniqueness in finding your web page and how excited and special it is to me.  I don't think there is anyplace in the world in this day and age, that would dare to have an honor system.  I know for sure now that you are from Calumet...

Ilona E.

Thank you!  This is to let you know the shipment arrived on Thursday and were still partially frozen.  Not bad from Michigan to Washington State!

I had a pasty for my dinner tonight, and it was wonderful!  Thank you so much for your service.

Thomas Spencer

The pasties arrived today safe and sound. My husband, Keith, won them in George Hite's Snow Guessing Contest for February. They will be on our menu for tonight. Thanks again for your generosity in donating these tasty morsels.  We've ordered before and enjoyed them immensely.

Marilynn Ehrenreich

I was born and raised in Calumet and was so tickled to find your website.  I miss the Vollwerths hotdogs and always have relatives bring them when they visit.  I make pasties myself but they're still not the same.  Also was happy to see the website for the Hilltop.  I have saved  Pasty Central in my "favorites".

Bonnie (Kolmonen) Christopher

Hi everyone this is Cliff Williams and I received my pasties in two days from Calumet .  They were devoured  same day.  Everyone else got one, I got Two.  Ha Ha Just like my dad used to do.  First let me extend my complements to all the people from Still Waters for such a fine job, these pasties are the real thing!  I also purchased a loaf of synoda bread, one Rieska, one Limppu one Pecan Rolls, and two Nissu breads from Thurner Bakery.  I can't begin to tell you how at home I felt.  I remember sitting around the table with my Grandma Mattson and all the family eating finnish bread (especially Nissu) and drinking coffee, as much as my mom would let me have.  I was just a kid but they would drink pots of the stuff.  And I would listen for hours about the Copper Country tales they had.  What a wonderful Heritage.  Just to add a little to my last e mail I had a Great Aunt named Emma Grey Maiden Name Huddy that lived on Caldonia Street across from the Sullivans.  If anybody remembers them let me know.  I used to climb the rock pile behind her house when we were on Vacation up north and take a bag and a hammer and break rocks to fill the bag with leaf copper.  The same rock pile my dad played on when he was young.  He had a friend named Glenn Poole they nicknamed "Docky" when he treated the wounds of one of them after falling while skiing down the rock pile. 

I love this Pasty Central... best site on the Web!

Cliff Williams
cliffboiga@pasty.net

Just had to drop you a note and tell you how very much I enjoy Pasty Central.  Your Pasty Cam gives me a sweet reminder of home.  I enjoy it a couple of times a month, and even more often in the gloomy and damp weather winter in lower Michigan.

Take good care of the UP for me while I'm living the troll life!

Jo Ann
Ann Arbor

You can't imagine how far from Michigan I am and how much I miss good pasties.  This order is a birthday present for my sister (in the U.S.)  I'm so happy you're there to help.  My wife and I live in New Delhi, India, so it's often hard to find gifts at times like these.

Chad G.

(Wish there was a way we could ship you some overseas... Let us know the next time you'll be in the U.P.... we'll treat you and your wife to a pasty.)

Hi Pasty Central,

We just enjoyed some of your pasties this weekend and they are outstanding!  Hat's off to all the preparers and cooks.  On a side note, my Wife and I have been trying very hard to make pasties but are struggling, as you know, with a good crust.  Do you have any suggestions or tips on how to prepare a good crust?  Currently we are trying water, flour and Crisco but can't seem to get the proper mix.  Being from Michigan, going to MTU, and being raised in Lake Linden has sparked my interest in sharing the cultural culinary tastes with my neighbors in Cincinnati.  My Aunts keep telling me what to try but we just can't get it yet.

Thanks again for a great meal- we think they may be the best we ever
had!

Tim Thomas

(Thanks for the compliments.  You'll just have to come to Calumet to watch them being made :o)

The pasties made it to Nashville and the Vollwerth's made it to Kenton.  All were a big hit.  The meat sampler was an 87th birthday gift for Mona's grandfather (the one from Atlantic Mine).  The grandparents are here in Ohio for the winter but are eager to get back to the north country.  Best wishes to the whole family.

Will and Mona Goble

P.S.   The ring bologna is at this moment hanging in the in-law's sauna above the stove..... should be just about ready

We are really looking forward to the pasties, I miss pasties greatly after moving out of the UP.  It just doesn't seem right to me that we can't get pasties at the grocery store like we could in Calumet (Aunt Sophies pasties at Fraki's were absolutely the best in the entire area).  I always hoped that working in the mining industry would allow pasties to always be available (I work at the largest copper mine in the USA now.  You can get them in Globe, but I haven't had time to stop yet on my way through).

My family and I are adopted yoopers, having lived in Calumet during my graduate work at MTU (511 4th Street, I drove by Stillwaters every day going home) and semi-locals as my family has vacation property in Copper Harbor (I can't remember not spending summers in Copper Harbor).  We will be back in the Keweenaw this summer and can't wait to return.

I wanted to thank you for the pictures of Christ Episcopal Church (sometime around Thanksgiving).  I hate to think that these pictures were only given in conjunction with Mabel Unsworth's death, but it meant a lot to me.  I wanted everyone to know how much I thought of her.  Mabel was such a wonderful women, my wife and I had wonderful talks with her in the basement of the church during potlucks, etc.  Being a student of history (mining history in particular, unfortunately I'm an engineer), I was always fascinated with her stories of coming to Calumet (1940, she was already in middle age and the great Calumet lode had already been closed down) and how life and times have changed.  Mabel actually gave my son his first dollar to start his savings account, I will never forget her.

On a related note, I really enjoy the pictures of the churches.  The churches and architecture of the Keweenaw are so beautiful, I live in a town that was built in the ~1970 after the open pit mine swallowed up the original town-site.

Again, I look forward the pasties, your crust is almost perfect.

John Uhrie

(Mabel was one of the real spark plugs for this website, always interested in the Internet - and she was in her 90's.  A future-thinking lady... came to Calumet Hospital in the 1920's as an X-ray technician!  She would often sit outside my office at Still Waters in the morning greeting me, "Did we get any pasty orders on the computer last night?"

My wife and I had a nice visit with Mabel about a week before she passed away.  Her life would make a wonderful book.... and I was there at her funeral... as one of the pall bearers
...Charlie Hopper)

Although I reside in Greenville, MI = (Troll), I have travelled my U.P. whenever I can on vacation from Frigidaire™ formerly Gibson Refrig. Co.  I enjoy the friendly, helpful, lovable people I have met during my travels.  **Happy to see senior citzens actively involved... skilled, expert workers.  Yooper party sounds like great idea to have in future family gathering!!

James Jones

P.S.  If i retire to U.P. what do you call me then?~~†~~

(hmmm... a Troll turned Yooper... must be a Troooper)

I'm born and raised in Laurium and my aunt recently showed me your website, there was a picture of my uncle driving the zamboni !   I currently live at Ft. Lewis, WA.  It's nice to be able to look at all the snow, and not have to shovel it!!!!!!  It's seems funny to have to explain to people what a pasty is.  I'm sure you'll be getting some orders from my friends.  Keep up the good work!

Connie Powell

My heartfelt thanks to Charlie Hopper for (his part on) this site. He does great, hey.... even for a non-(native) yooper.  Love the work you do.  Enjoyed the pics last year of Ione Westlake (say Hi for me) and Charles and Joyce Hart (my pastor all those years).  Congrats to Mary V. on becoming a  gramma.  (I have 3 of those and they're terrific).  Loved going into one of your links and seeing our old family cabin on George's Harbor Web site.  Never know whether to laugh or cry when I see such sites as I haven't been back since I left in 1979.  Yikes!  Too long to be gone.  Loved the pasties my son-in-law Kip Sheppard shared and my folks Martha and George Bryan loved the ones we sent to them.  Thanks to all the folks who roll up their sleeves and make them for us homesick yoopers.  Hi to Ginger Hart L. and Dawn Brum M.  who have sent in letters.  Can't believe this awesome site and am very faithful checking the Pasty Cam.  Charlie, your efforts are so appreciated!! 

Sally Hocking Nelson

Charlie responds about not being born a Yooper...

Hey, I got duct tape in my glove box and a hat with flaps... besides, I've lived in the U.P. for 11 years, which makes me a Yooper by osmosis.

Although I have not been to the Keweenaw...just yet...  I have been checking out your web site since last Oct, Daily.... Thanks for the effort and great Pic's. 

Bob Pratt 
St.Johns, Mi.....20 miles north of Lansing,Mi.

(We get quite a few notes like this from our troll friends...)
  troll (trohl) n : one who lives below the big bridge

My pasties arrived at 8:30 this morning (Monday); thank you!  Had I known they would arrive so early, I wouldn't have packed tuna sandwiches for lunch!

Bob H.

Greetings from Massachusetts!!

I am so thrilled to have found your page.  I am in awe over the fact that I am at home even though I am so far away.  My Sister, Carol and I lived in the UP as children with my Uncle Abe and Aunt Aili Anderson (my Aunt is deceased however, I know have an Aunt Helen who is married to my uncle) -- and Cousins - The Anderson's - on their farm in Woodland - I'm sure you must know one of the Anderson's - Cliffy, Priscilla, Kathy, Ginny, Phyllis, Sharon, Lawrence.  Then I lived with my Uncle John and Aunt Hilja Parkinen and my cousins, Joyce (who married Allen Bessonen from Ahmeek) Adrian and Dick.  They are my family and miss them so much. I just went back to Calumet this past summer for the first time in over 35 years and plan on going back every summer - God Willing.  I found your page by accident as I was in class taking a course on the Web and of course, since then you are on my FAVORITE list.  I check your page every day now and my printer is going all of the time so I can pass on the good news and pictures to my sister Carol who lives in Worcester about half an hour from Chelmsford where I live.  Also, I was thrilled to see your pictures from Chassell where my cousin Bob Maki's wife Verna is from.  I see Bob and Verna at Bible Study on Friday nights and I pass on the good news to them as well.  I am going to place my first order for "pasty" after I finish this. You certainly have made me one happy camper.  Keep up the good work and God Bless All of You!!  You have no idea what happiness you have brought!!

Ilona Ekengren

(We are constantly amazed at the pervasive influence of the U.P. throughout North America... and the world... Thanks for the neat note and the memories)

I am interested in ordering some pasties for a UP party next Friday...  Our neighbors ordered us some and they arrived in 1 day!  Please let me know and we can then place our order.  By the way, I LOVE your web site.  First thing I have seen on the Internet of any value.

S. Churchill

(On the order form there is an automatic schedule proposed, but you can request other delivery dates in the "Special Instructions".  What a great idea for a party!)

I grew up in Ontonagon and still call it home so I just want to thank you for yesterday's picture.  There are some beautiful picture sites that I hope you will take next time, the lake, the lighthouse, etc.  Thank you for all the wonderful pictures.  Each day I feel like I am "home" for a few minutes. 
My best to all of you at Pasty Central!

Sylvia (Lehto) Thacker
Las Cruces, NM

Thanks for the wonderful pictures of the Copper Country! Especially Keweenaw!   Left Allouez in 1958 and joined the U. S. Army, served honorably for 30+ years and retired as a Sergeant Major (E-9).  Served overseas in France, 2 tours of Vietnam, Okinawa, Germany, Saudi Arabia (Senior Enlisted Advisor, Eastern Providence), and Hawaii.  Not too bad for a Finn!  These pictures bring back many fine memories.  Please continue the pictures.......... I copy these pictures as wallpaper on my computer screen at work.  Then change pictures weekly..........

John E. Kivela Jr. (SGM ret.)

I have just joined pasty.net and am so glad I found you guys.  I live in Somerset, Kentucky now, but miss Michigan everyday.  We moved down here after I retired from Ford Motor Co. (Tractor Division) and are closer to my wife's  parents.  She misses Michigan also.  My parents were from the U.P.  My Mother was Margaret Mattson and moved to Detroit around 1927 from Elevation Street in  Hancock.  My father was Clifford Williams and moved to Detroit around 1929  from Caldonia Street in Calumet.  My Mom's dad was John Mattson and worked in the Quincy Mine and my  Father's dad was  Richard or Harry Williams,  I'm not sure which name he used as his first.  He worked in the C& H mines.  UP people are my life and I miss them with all my heart . Thank You for existing.  I am going to  order pasties and everyting else I can get my hands on.  I'm half Finn and half Cousin Jack the best of both worlds! 

Cliff Williams

Wanted to let you know I'm "hooked" on the Pasty-Cam.  I check it out every night and really enjoy!  Your coverage of the Snow Carnival was great.  My mother is from the Dollar Bay area, any chance to see a picture of the flooring mill or some of the chruches or part of main street? 

Thanks for making my "on-line-time" so enjoyable

Kathy Francis

Hi Folks,

Just wanted to say our order of four pasties arrived in Honolulu on Wednesday afternoon still cool to the touch.  We had a very enjoyable dinner in paradise both Wednesday and Thursday.

Thanks very much for a great service.

Aloha,
Art

Hi, I from Southern Michigan.  I love your pictures you put on the page everyday.  I love snow.  Lots of it!!!!  My Grandpa and Grandma live in Iron Mountain and I love going up to U.P. to visit them.  I also love pasties.   Their is a place down here that makes good pasties but probably not as good as yours.  Thanks 

Tony Colavecchi