Tuesday, April 06, 2010
This Is What I Call A Recycled Cottage
I heard this story back in the fall but forgot to post it.
From Interlochen Public Radio, the story of a couple who took the 1920's era John W. Boardman and turned it into a cottage. See: Detour's Freighter Cottage
From Interlochen Public Radio, the story of a couple who took the 1920's era John W. Boardman and turned it into a cottage. See: Detour's Freighter Cottage
Labels: cottage, freighter, history
Monday, March 29, 2010
Going Rogue
A new hypothesis claims a 50 ft rogue wave sank the Edmund Fitzgerald and that Gordon Lightfoot will change the lyrics to his famous song.
See The Globe and Mail: The Edmund Fitzgerald's legend lives on … but with a major change
This story is being featured in a new Canadian television show - Dive Detectives. Doesn't look like it is available in the U.S.
See The Globe and Mail: The Edmund Fitzgerald's legend lives on … but with a major change
This story is being featured in a new Canadian television show - Dive Detectives. Doesn't look like it is available in the U.S.
Labels: history, shipwrecks, weather
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Web Site About Aamjiwnaang First Nation History
Here's a blog I recently stumbled upon: The Plains of Aamjiwnaang
It presents the native history of the Upper Great Lakes in a story format.
It presents the native history of the Upper Great Lakes in a story format.
Labels: history, ojibwa, people
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
1973 Home Movie Of The Edmund Fitzgerald
Here is a 40 second clip that has been posted to YouTube: Edmund Fitzgerald on the St. Marys River May 19, 1973
Labels: history, shipping, shipwrecks
Thursday, August 06, 2009
Say Ya To Da U.P.
Wil Rankinen is studying the unique dialect of yoopers. So far it seems the English spoken in the U.P. is a combination of Finnish, Italian, and some Canadian influence. From the IU Linguistics Department: Michigan's Upper Peninsula Vowel Systems: Finnish- and Italian- American Communities (only a PDF of the abstract is available)
The data from the Finnish-American sample show a strong Canadian influence with perhaps some lingering Finnish characteristics. The current study among Italian Americans in the UP will reveal if similar developments show up in other immigrant subgroups.
Labels: canada, history, people
Friday, June 12, 2009
Caribou Hunting
Here's an interesting possible discovery of a paleo-hunting pathway that is now on the bottom of Lake Huron.
See DiscoverMag: At the Bottom of Lake Huron, an Ancient Hunting Ground
See DiscoverMag: At the Bottom of Lake Huron, an Ancient Hunting Ground
At depths ranging between 60 and 140 feet, researchers found lines of large stones, which may have been “drive lanes” that aided early hunters as they tried to take down galloping caribou.
Labels: Archaeology, history
Thursday, May 28, 2009
A Rowboat In Lake Superior
Monday, February 02, 2009
Battle For The Griffon
No one yet knows if the shipwreck really is The Griffon, but that has not stopped Michigan and France from going to court.
See: France claims rights to Lake Michigan shipwreck
The project website: Search for the elusive Griffon
See: France claims rights to Lake Michigan shipwreck
The project website: Search for the elusive Griffon
Labels: history, law, shipwrecks
Friday, January 16, 2009
A Brief Overview Of Lake Levels For The Last 16,000 Years
Great Lakes water level sensitive to climate change
...the last time lake levels fell dramatically - down to 20 meters below the basin overflow outlets - it was due to dry climate conditions."
That event, which occurred between 7900 and 7500 years ago in the early Holocene period, caused the lakes to become disconnected as their overflow rivers, including the Niagara River, ran dry.
Labels: history, water levels
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Island Life Is Not Always Romantic
We consider Neebish Island to be out of the way; but imagine teaching school on Isle Royale in the winter during the Great Depression.
See MyNorth: 1930's Diary of an Isle Royale Winter
See MyNorth: 1930's Diary of an Isle Royale Winter
Labels: history
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
The Story Of A Longfellow Finally Visiting Gitche Gumeee
Via MyNorth: The Trip to Hiawatha
Betty Lou says the story of the Longfellows’ visit has been forgotten in Garden River, but not the present Alice Longfellow sent afterwards. It’s a 16-foot-tall triplicate stained-glass window that depicts an angel in moccasins standing on a globe. To this day, the window shines down on the congregation of St. John’s Anglican Church in Garden River
Paddle-To-The-Sea Redux
'Paddle-To-The-Sea is the book I get for all my friends when they have a baby. Here's a story about a family who released their own version just south of Neebish Island on the St. Marys River:
On July 12, 2007, six-year-old Reading Beardslee and her seven-year-old sibling Jasper launched a toy canoe into the St. Mary's River.
The launch of the tiny vessel, dubbed Paddle-to-the-Sea, took place about halfway between De Tour, Michigan and Drummond Island.
The full story is at the White Lake Beacon: Paddle-to-the-Sea: A small sliver of imagination lives on
Available at Amazon.com: Paddle-to-the-Sea
On July 12, 2007, six-year-old Reading Beardslee and her seven-year-old sibling Jasper launched a toy canoe into the St. Mary's River.
The launch of the tiny vessel, dubbed Paddle-to-the-Sea, took place about halfway between De Tour, Michigan and Drummond Island.
The full story is at the White Lake Beacon: Paddle-to-the-Sea: A small sliver of imagination lives on
Available at Amazon.com: Paddle-to-the-Sea
Labels: books, history, St. Marys River
Friday, August 15, 2008
Mackinaw Tours
Tours of the icebreaker Mackinaw are now possible. See The Mackinaw Cutter at MyNorth.com.
Labels: history
Friday, July 11, 2008
HMS Ontario Found
While this is nowhere near Neebish Island, I know many people have an interest in the shipwrecks of the Great Lakes.
MSNBC - 1780 British warship found in Lake Ontario: Intact 80-foot sloop is oldest ever found in the Great Lakes
MSNBC - 1780 British warship found in Lake Ontario: Intact 80-foot sloop is oldest ever found in the Great Lakes
Labels: history
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Quonset Huts
I didn't know what Quonset Huts were. Wikipedia explains them as:
Apparently there's one on Neebish Island that was spotted by someone who goes around looking for these.
See:
Neebish Island nearly Goneset Hut
A Quonset hut is a lightweight prefabricated structure of corrugated steel having a semicircular cross section
Apparently there's one on Neebish Island that was spotted by someone who goes around looking for these.
See:
Neebish Island nearly Goneset Hut
Labels: history
Thursday, February 07, 2008
The Search For The Griffon
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Salt Of The Earth
And the salt of Neebish Island, Cliffy, has passed away. And with him a some of the Island's flavor has been lost.
In the Soo Evening News -
TYNER, CLIFFORD, age 80, of Neebish Island, Michigan passed away early Tuesday morning, January 8, 2008 at his home.
C.S. Mulder Funeral Home is handling funeral arrangements.
They have a nice obituary up. I love the reference to ferry time [who doesn't remember getting a phone call that Cliff was making the last ferry run of the season that very day?]:
Many of us have memories of "Captain Crunch", the 40 year ferry captain of the Neebish Islander I . I remember when he told me after a beaver had downed an aspen tree onto our power line - "ahh, it's a junk tree anyway..." Many people probably have dreams of writing a book about Neebish Island some day; Cliffy's life deserves a book of its own.
In the Soo Evening News -
TYNER, CLIFFORD, age 80, of Neebish Island, Michigan passed away early Tuesday morning, January 8, 2008 at his home.
C.S. Mulder Funeral Home is handling funeral arrangements.
They have a nice obituary up. I love the reference to ferry time [who doesn't remember getting a phone call that Cliff was making the last ferry run of the season that very day?]:
Traditions he handed down to us were making maple syrup, life according to ferry time, hunting, gardening, storytelling and a love for the outdoors.
Many of us have memories of "Captain Crunch", the 40 year ferry captain of the Neebish Islander I . I remember when he told me after a beaver had downed an aspen tree onto our power line - "ahh, it's a junk tree anyway..." Many people probably have dreams of writing a book about Neebish Island some day; Cliffy's life deserves a book of its own.
Labels: ferry, history, people
Friday, November 30, 2007
Hike To The Middle Neebish Lighthouse
Someone took pictures of their late autumn hike to the Middle Neebish Lighthouse - dwhike's Adventure's > Middle Neebish Lighthouse, MI
You can find a map of Neebish Island with this light's location at lighthousefriends.com - Middle Neebish (Lower Nicolet) Range, MI
And there is book about tending this lighthouse. Guiding the way from Middle Neebish
by Edward T. Cook. (if you buy the book after clicking that link it helps support this site)
You can find a map of Neebish Island with this light's location at lighthousefriends.com - Middle Neebish (Lower Nicolet) Range, MI
And there is book about tending this lighthouse. Guiding the way from Middle Neebish
by Edward T. Cook. (if you buy the book after clicking that link it helps support this site)Labels: freighter, history, water, weather
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
The Great Lakes Wolf Is Extinct
Fascinating story at the NY Times today - Off Endangered List, but What Animal Is It Now?
...the wolf boomed in population to 4,000 in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin today, up from just several hundred in northern Minnesota in 1974.
But the victory celebration was premature, according to two evolutionary biologists, Jennifer A. Leonard of Uppsala University in Sweden and Robert K. Wayne of the University of California, Los Angeles. The historic Great Lakes wolf did not return intact from the edge of oblivion. Instead, the scientists report in the online edition of the journal Biology Letters, it hybridized with gray wolves moving in from Canada, coyotes from the south and west and the hybrids born of that mixing.
...
“What’s new in this paper,” he said, “is that they found no evidence of hybridization with coyotes in the historic samples — and no pure historic wolves in the current samples.”
Labels: history, wildlife, wolves
Friday, September 28, 2007
The Mackinaw Boat
The Mackinaw Boat was the classic fur trading boat.
Functional and beautiful. It'd be a fun boat to build someday.
Functional and beautiful. It'd be a fun boat to build someday.
Labels: history
Monday, September 24, 2007
Interesting E-Bay Item From Neebish's Past
1905 Neebish Michigan Cancel DPO UP Chipewa County
Ebay user adman881 is selling a postcard from 1905 that was apparently sent from the old Neebish Island post office by someone staying at Sailor's Encampment to Cardington, OH. An interesting tidbit is that the Neebish postmark is 1906 but the received postmark is September 5, 1905.
The auction ends September 27th.
Ebay user adman881 is selling a postcard from 1905 that was apparently sent from the old Neebish Island post office by someone staying at Sailor's Encampment to Cardington, OH. An interesting tidbit is that the Neebish postmark is 1906 but the received postmark is September 5, 1905.
The auction ends September 27th.
Labels: history
