Down town Michigamme. It’s a nifty little town on the shores of Lake Michigamme. M-28 runs next to it and if you don’t turn off the main road you would never know its there. Its a nice stopping point between L’Anse and Marquette.
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located way up in the Keweenaw Peninsula between Calumet and Copper Harbor off US-41 is the former mining town of Central Mine. It was also the name of the company that built the town. The mine was open in the 1850s and closed in the 1890s after the copper ore was depleted. The town at one time had a population of 900 residents. The miners who were mostly immigrants from Cornwall England moved away after The Central Mine turned off the pumps and sealed the shafts. In the 1950s, the last permanent resident in the town of Central Mine abandoned the once booming little town.
The Keweenaw County Historical Society owns 38 acres of the old Central Mine site and town. It operates the visitors center located in a former house. The society has also restored several houses and buildings in the old town. In the summer months, some buildings are open to visitors and decorated with antiques from the period they were built. Its closed up in the winter but it was fun to drive through it and imagine what it must have been like before four wheel drive trucks and snowmobiles.
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Along County Road 426 in Marquette County, in the center of the Upper Peninsula, stands an old, dilapidated building that is slowly falling down. It looks as if it was once a general store. According to the map, the location is the town of Mashek. The town was named for George Mashek, the owner of the Mashek Chemical and Iron Company in Escanaba. The company operated in the area and had a general store. I wonder if this old, abandoned building was the company store.
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Covington, a small Upper Peninsula town near the M-28 and 141 junction, is a quiet place. It consists of a few homes, a post office, a striking church, and an abandoned general store. Founded in 1895 and named by its first postmaster, John Lyons, after his Kentucky hometown.
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The shipping season has ended for the winter on the Great lakes, and the ships are in winter layup, but the Sand Point Lighthouse still shines over Escanaba. The lighthouse has a red light, and from what I’ve learned, red is used because it shows up better in fog. I have also noticed that lighthouses at harbor entrances usually have a red light. Whatever the reason, the old lighthouse looks majestic and faithful, shining in the night sky.
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I have driven past the The Keweenaw Snow Gauge on US-41 between Mohawk and Phoenix in Summer a few times. You get a whole new appreciation for it in the winter when the snow is waist deep in the woods and piled high on the sides of the roads. The life-sized snow gauge shows the Keweenaw’s record snowfall that was set during the winter of 1978-79. During that winter, the Keweenaw received 390.4 inches of snow. Each spring the Keweenaw County Road Commission moves the arrow to indicate how much snow fell during the most recent winter. I wonder when the record will be broken and the gage made taller.
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Near the town of Hubbell, along M-26 in the Keweenaw Peninsula, are massive concrete blocks. They look like something from an ancient civilization, but the mechanical device on one of them shows they are more modern. They are the remnants of the Ahmeek Stamping Mill. It was built in 1910 and pulverized rock into a sand-like material for copper extraction. The mill closed down in the 1940s, and the concrete structures remain as a reminder of the Copper Country’s past.
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This big old house stands along county road 426 in the center of the Upper Peninsula. The road runs along the old Escanaba & Lake Superior Railroad tracks. Weeds and small trees are growing up between the rusty rails, so I assume they have not been used in years. This old abandined house stands between Cornell and Watson on the other side of the tracks. Most of the old abandoned houses I see in the Upper Peninsula are smaller shacks and cabins. I couldn’t help but wonder what the story was with this old building. I found on an old county map and it shows the name of the town of Woodlawn. A reference stated that the town was originally called White, but the name was changed to Woodlawn when it got a post office in 1905. I am wondering if this is the remains of the old town, and maybe it was a boarding house or something. I took a pic from the road and you can see the old railroad tracks at the bottom of the photo. I often wonder about these old places, and I also wonder if I am the only person who drives past them and is curious about their history.
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Herman is located in a remote section of the Huron Mountains between L’Anse and Nestoria. On December 19, 1996, the town received one of the largest snowfalls in Michigan history, with 30 inches of the white stuff falling in the single day.
The town was named for Finnish lumberjack Herman Keranen, who purchased forty acres and began farming in the area. Over the decades, the population has dwindled, and it is mostly a ghost town. A few people continue to live in the historic community. The train still passes through but no longer stops in Herman. This large old house sits in the town of Herman. It is the old Dantes house and it is named for its original resident, Charles T Dantes, who was a Finn from Northern Sweden who settled in Herman in 1907. He worked for the railroad and owned the general store. He was the town’s postmaster, and sheriff of Baraga County. Today the old house is barely standing under the wieght of all the snow.
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The Pine Mountain Ski Jump in Iron Mountain. A road up the backside of the mountain leads up to the base of the jump. After looking out over the landing zone I know I will not be attempting to jump off of it. It would be fun to watch ski jumpers fly off of it. I will have to go sometime when they have a competition.
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