In the early 1900s Henry Ford purchased the mill in Pequaming, and for the most part, the whole town. The town is in the northwest part of the Upper Peninsula near the town of L’Anse. The sawmill and the workers living in the town produced lumber for the model T.  The Ford Motor Company purchased the mill and surrounding town for 2.8 million dollars. The purchase included the double band sawmill, lath and shingle mills, 40,000 acres of timberland,  the town land and buildings, the railroad, along with towing and water equipment. Ford used the town as a model for his theories on self-reliance and education. He established a vocational school in his summer home during the school year, and also opened four one-room elementary and intermediate schools in September 1935. In 1937, the company built a high school, which contained state-of-the-art home economics food and clothing labs and a library, as well as the first fluorescent lights in a Michigan school.  Increased shipping costs and the fact that wood was used less in the manufacturing of Automobiles Ford shut down the mill in 1942. The shell of the powerhouse shown in the photo still remains along with the water tower with the Ford logo painted on it.

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Enormous concrete buildings stand desolate and quietly in a remote part of the Upper Peninsula. They were part of the Fiborn Quarry built in the early 1900s. The Fiborn Limestone Co. at its peak had two locomotives and a small town of 75 people that worked for the quarry. It operated until the 1930s when the depression crippled the company’s ability to operate. The ruins of some of the buildings are now part of the Karst Preserve which lies between St. Ignace and Newberry about 10 miles west of Trout Lake. It’s about a half mile hike to the buildings, but if you are in the area it’s worth the trip.

If you want to know more about this place or you are looking for places in Michigan to explore I give detailed locations in my Lost In Michigan books which are available on my website HERE

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Hidden in the National Forest in the Upper Peninsula among the trees is an old stone chimney not far from M-28 in Brimley Township. It’s the remains of Camp Raco, Michigan’s first Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) facility. The camp was created in 1933 by President Roosevelt’s New Deal plan. Two hundred young men from Detroit built the camp and lived there while working on conservation projects in the U.P. They built roads, planted trees and buildings for public use.

The camp closed in 1942 but was opened back up during World War II and used as a prisoner of war camp. It housed 267 German Nazis captured by the allied forces.  After the war, the buildings were removed and only the foundations and the chimney remains. Next time you are driving along M-28 near Brimley look for the small wooden National Forest sign for Camp Raco.

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