If you visit the Lake of the Clouds in Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park you need to drive down M-107 to the lake. It is about a ten mile stretch of road the travels along the shoreline of Lake Superior. You will probably notice a sign and a couple of boulders dedicating the road as the 107th Engineer Memorial Highway.
When the the roadway was built in 1935 it named to honor the 107th Engineer Combat Battalion. The 107th Engineer Battalion is a large unit of the Michigan Army National Guard stationed in Ishpeming Michigan. The Battalion traces its history to the Michigan State Troops, which was the predecessor organization to the Michigan National Guard. The 107th Engineer Battalion traces its roots to the Calumet Light Guard that was formed in 1881. During WW II the The unit built the longest tactical floating bridge in the world across the Rhine. The 1370 foot long bridge was built in 14 hours and nicknamed ‘Victor Bridge’ by the troops. The unit has also been activated for State Emergencies such as the 1967 Detroit Riots, the 1976 Great Seney Fire and several snowstorms in the Upper Peninsula. In the summer of 2016 they called into active duty and assisted in repairing roads in the Keweenaw that were washed away in a heavy rainstorm.
In 2001, the Michigan Legislature named officially named it the “107th Engineer Memorial Road ” The unit’s motto is “Good as Done!” Next time you visit the Porkies and are traveling down M-107 I hope you will remember that it is more then just a number for a road, but that it honors the men and women from the Upper Peninsula engineer combat battalion who continue to serve the state and the country for more than a century.
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