June 2015 - Lost In Michigan

Sleeping Bear Dunes Alligator Hill Charcoal Kilns

Posted on June 18, 2015 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Forgotten Places .

The concrete structures located at Alagator Hill in the Sleeping Bear Dunes were built in the 1950’s by lumberman Pierce Stocking as kilns to make charcoal. The sawmill he set up near this spot produced considerable waste that was converted to charcoal in the kilns and was packed in bags for shipment to stores in much of Michigan and sold to campers and picnickers.

The kilns are concrete ovens in which limbs, slabs and other sawmill wast were stacked as tightly as possible. The open front was closed with concrete blocks and the wood set on fire just before the last blocks went in. controlling the air intake was tricky, to much air and the wood was consumed, too little air, and the fire went out. If successful, the fire burned slowly for several days. Once it was out, the charcoal was removed an spread to cool, then moved to the bagging shack.

Alligator Hill was the first managed forests in this part of the state. Its owner, D. H.Day protected the smaller trees to promote a future lumber harvest. When Pierce Stocking purchased the land in 1984, there was enough new growth to warrant a selective Harvest. The mill was closed and the kilns abandoned.

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Flag Day and the Man From Michigan Who Designed our Current Flag

Posted on June 14, 2015 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Uncategorized .

In honor of Flag Day, I want to remember the man who was born in my hometown of Saginaw who designed our nation’s current 50 star flag. Robert Heft moved to Ohio when he was young. At the age of 17 in 1958 for a school project, he took his mother’s flag and sewing machine, removed the 48 stars, and placed 50 stars on the field of blue. His teacher gave him a B- for his efforts, he thought he deserved a better grade but the teacher told him that if his flag’s design was selected he would give him an A.

Robert Heft source: Wikipedia

Approximately 1500 flag designs were submitted, when Alaska and Hawaii were considered for statehood, but it was Bob Heft’s flag that was approved by Congress. And yes his teacher did change his grade to the A that he deserved.

Heft became a high school teacher and later a college professor and he also served as mayor of Napoleon, Ohio, for 28 years. After retiring he moved back to the Saginaw area and continued giving speeches, and was a member of the Toastmasters.

Sadly Bob passed away in 2009 and is laid to rest in Saginaw at Holy Cross Lutheran Cemetery on Brockway, His marker is visible from the road, and with its Patriotic theme it’s truly fitting for the man who designed our nation’s flag.

I was never fortunate enough to meet him, but I was told by his friends that he was a great guy who loved sharing his story. I wonder, since there were so many designs, and some similar to Bob’s, I think the Eisenhower administration chose him, because he was an outstanding student and all around good guy. And if you think about it, what a great American story about a Midwestern kid and his mom’s sewing machine that created the design of our flag.

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Hancock Town Hall and Fire Hall – Michigan Historical Marker

Posted on June 11, 2015 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Michigan Historical Markers, Uncategorized, upper peninsula .

The Quincy Mining Company platted Hancock in 1859, a decade after the company began mining Keewanaw copper. While many copper towns boomed and busted within a short period of time, Hancock remained stable, incorporating as a city in 1875. By 1897, Hancock’s four thousand citizens wanted a government building that would reflect the city’s prosperity and stature. The Quincy Company sold this lot to the city in 1898 and in January 1899 the Town Hall and Fire Hall opened.

The Marquette firm of Charlton, Gilbert and Demar designed Hancock’s Town Hall and Fire Hall. Completed in 1899, the building housed city offices, the fire department, and the marshall’s office and the jail. Built of Jacobsville sandstone with stepped and curved gables, it exhibits Richardsonian Romanesque, Dutch and Flemish influences. The building is listed in the National register of Historic Places.

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40 Mile Point Ligthouse – Michigan Historical Marker

Posted on June 8, 2015 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Lighthouses, Michigan Historical Markers .

While I was staying at Burt Lake State Park I took Cooper Dog out for a ride one morning. We headed east until we hit Lake Huron and since we could not go east anymore we then turned north along US23 to the 40 Mile Point Lighthouse. That was the first time I have ever been there and did not know what to expect but I was surprised to find a lot more then the lighthouse. They have the pilot house from the S.S. Calcite and a shipwreck on the shore ( that’s a post for another day) Since I had Cooper the wonder dog, I did not want to leave him in a hot Jeep while I went inside to check out the lighthouse, so I guess that will have to be a trip for another day.

There is actually two historical markers located there. one for the lighthouse which reads

During the late 1800s, the U.S. Lighthouse Board created a system of coastal lights along Lake Huron’s Michigan shore so that mariners would always be within sight of at least one. With a light south of Forty Mile Point on the Presque Isle Peninsula and one one to the north at Cheboygan, and eighteen mile stretch of shoreline remained unlighted and dangerous. In1890 the board recommended that a light be built at Forty Mile Point. The light was completed in 1896, and Xavier Rains served as the first keeper, The lighthouse was transferred to Presque Isle County in 1998, but the Coast Guard retained ownership of its Fresnal lens. The site was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

And the other marker is for the Lake Huron Graveyard of ships which reads

Named by seventeenth century French explores La Mer Doucethe sweet or freshwater sea, Lake Huron is the second largest of the five Great Lakes. It has over 3,800 miles of shoreline and contains 30,000 islands, among them Manitoulin, the world’s largest freshwater island. Violent storms on the “sweet sea” have made it dangerous for ships. As of 2006, 1,200 wrecks had been recorded. During the Big Blow of 1905, twenty-seven wooden vessels were lost. One of these, the steamer Joseph S. Fay, ran aground. A portion of its hull rests on the beach approximately 200 feet north of the Forty Mile Lighthouse. The Great Storm of 1913 was responsible for sinking many modern ships.

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Huron Lightship – Historical Marker

Posted on June 3, 2015 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Lighthouses, Michigan Historical Markers .

Commissioned in 1921, the Huron began service as a relief vessel for other Great Lakes lightships. She is ninety-seven feet long, twenty-four feet in beam, and carried a crew of eleven. On clear nights her beacon could be seen for fourteen miles. After serving in northern Lake Michigan, the Huron was assigned to the Corsica Shoals in 1935. These shallow waters, six miles north of Port Huron, were the scene of frequent groundings by lake freighters in the late nineteenth century. A lightship station had been established there in 1893, since the manned ships were more reliable than lighted buoys. After 1940 the Huron was the only lightship on the Great Lakes. Retired from Coast Guard Service in 1970, she was presented to the City of Port Huron in 1971.

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