June 24, 2019 Monday Day 36
I woke up early in an effort to work on the computer, including this Blog, but at best had intermittent internet service. We had a breakfast of smoked whitefish, and leftovers including finishing off the ice cream.
We left the cottage at about 10:30 with 48 electric miles on the car. It was gray, overcast and intermittently raining. We drove east along route 2 into Ashland. This is a port city on Lake Superior at the head of Chequamegon Bay. At times the area has been part of the Indiana, Illinois and Michigan territories before being included in Wisconsin. The first Europeans, French fur traders arrived in 1659, but the first permeant settlers were Whittlesay and Kilborn families in 1854.
We drove and walked around the downtown for a short time. This is the county seat, even though it is in the extreme northwest corner of the county. Some of the city extends into Bayfield county, but that land is unpopulated. A very large courthouse and a large City Hall, both constructed with large brownstone blocks quarried from the Apostle Islands, dominate an otherwise nondescript commercial block. The Historic District looks more old than historic. There were some prosperous looking hotels along the lake front, but otherwise the city appears to have seen better times. The city was a prosperous port in the early 20th century shipping out primarily copper ore and timber and had a population of over 11,000. The Soo Line had a large depot and there was a very large ore dock, mainly for copper, but also some iron ore. The latter ceased operations in 1965 and was demolished in 2009 and the former is now office space. There is no longer train service into the town and the population is down to about 8,200. An interesting piece of history is that during WWI there were 6 tar and featherings of people in the city for alleged pro-German sympathies .Despite an inquiry directed by the governor, no one was convicted for these actions.
As we proceeded south toward Mellen on route 13, the residential areas in Ashland looked well maintained and there were many medium sized houses. As we drove out of the city we passed Northland College. It had a nice looking campus and with 600 students I imagine is a big economic engine for the city
On our drive south to Copper Falls State Park we passed through several small, and very small villages which was a common theme during the day. They all seemed to be shrunken, dying towns. Probably were creations of the many mines that formerly dotted the western UP and northern Wisconsin, but all but two of the mines are now closed. Indeed in one town we saw signs on the homes that identified them as Miners' cottage # etc. They appeared in stark contrast to the small villages that we recently saw in France, most of which while small, seemed vibrant. However they all seemed to have public libraries, usually large stone buildings which I suspect dated back to the Carnige era.
Copper Falls Park is on the site of two Civil War era copper mines. Following extensive logging in the 19th century and failed farming in the early 20th century, it was made into a park in 1929 and developed by workers from the CCC and WPA. It is an incredibly green, scenic park of 3400 acres with lave flow residues, gorges, waterfalls and 14 miles of trails that also serve as cross country ski trails in the winter. It had a playground and a concessions stand. We had to pay to get in as they would not accept the Senior National Park Pass as did the prior Wisconsin state parks we visited. We hiked the Doughboy Nature Trail which followed the Bad and Tyler Forks rivers past waterfalls and rapids. Very nice hike around the park viewing lots of water falls and rapids.
Before leaving the park we had a picnic lunch and conversed with some visitors from the local area.. After we left the Park we drove east toward Ishpeming MI into the Michgan Upper Peninsula. We were told that residents of the UP are called yuppors, and that residents of the lower peninsula in Michigan, and for that matter the rest of the US are called trolls because they live below the 5 mile [Mackinac] bridge. The drive on routes 28 and 41 was both scenic and depressing. Very green with rolling, forested countryside and signs for a few downhill ski areas, but we passed through lots of towns which clearly have seen better days, although virtually all of them have small, but impressive looking public libraries. Most built with the same rubiginous sandstone we saw elsewhere from the Apostle Islands. They were mining towns with company provided housing. Virtually all the mines have closed and except for tourism, recreation and local retail there seems to be very little economic activity. Conversations with a few of the locals revealed this to be Trump country.
We experienced several torrential downpours during the drive. It was raining pretty hard when we arrived in Ishpeming and we drove past our hotel several times. We stayed the night at the Magnuson Country Hotel and Inn in Ishpeming. We unloaded the car in the rain and luckily, we were able to get access to an outdoor electrical plug when a truck pulled out. The hotel was pretty nice and populated by people who seemingly were there for hunting or fishing. Lots of male groups. I was too tired to take advantage of the pool or the hot tub. Dinner was leftovers out of the food cooler.
I woke up early in an effort to work on the computer, including this Blog, but at best had intermittent internet service. We had a breakfast of smoked whitefish, and leftovers including finishing off the ice cream.
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| Living room and kitchen in AirBnB |
We left the cottage at about 10:30 with 48 electric miles on the car. It was gray, overcast and intermittently raining. We drove east along route 2 into Ashland. This is a port city on Lake Superior at the head of Chequamegon Bay. At times the area has been part of the Indiana, Illinois and Michigan territories before being included in Wisconsin. The first Europeans, French fur traders arrived in 1659, but the first permeant settlers were Whittlesay and Kilborn families in 1854.
We drove and walked around the downtown for a short time. This is the county seat, even though it is in the extreme northwest corner of the county. Some of the city extends into Bayfield county, but that land is unpopulated. A very large courthouse and a large City Hall, both constructed with large brownstone blocks quarried from the Apostle Islands, dominate an otherwise nondescript commercial block. The Historic District looks more old than historic. There were some prosperous looking hotels along the lake front, but otherwise the city appears to have seen better times. The city was a prosperous port in the early 20th century shipping out primarily copper ore and timber and had a population of over 11,000. The Soo Line had a large depot and there was a very large ore dock, mainly for copper, but also some iron ore. The latter ceased operations in 1965 and was demolished in 2009 and the former is now office space. There is no longer train service into the town and the population is down to about 8,200. An interesting piece of history is that during WWI there were 6 tar and featherings of people in the city for alleged pro-German sympathies .Despite an inquiry directed by the governor, no one was convicted for these actions.
As we proceeded south toward Mellen on route 13, the residential areas in Ashland looked well maintained and there were many medium sized houses. As we drove out of the city we passed Northland College. It had a nice looking campus and with 600 students I imagine is a big economic engine for the city
On our drive south to Copper Falls State Park we passed through several small, and very small villages which was a common theme during the day. They all seemed to be shrunken, dying towns. Probably were creations of the many mines that formerly dotted the western UP and northern Wisconsin, but all but two of the mines are now closed. Indeed in one town we saw signs on the homes that identified them as Miners' cottage # etc. They appeared in stark contrast to the small villages that we recently saw in France, most of which while small, seemed vibrant. However they all seemed to have public libraries, usually large stone buildings which I suspect dated back to the Carnige era.
Copper Falls Park is on the site of two Civil War era copper mines. Following extensive logging in the 19th century and failed farming in the early 20th century, it was made into a park in 1929 and developed by workers from the CCC and WPA. It is an incredibly green, scenic park of 3400 acres with lave flow residues, gorges, waterfalls and 14 miles of trails that also serve as cross country ski trails in the winter. It had a playground and a concessions stand. We had to pay to get in as they would not accept the Senior National Park Pass as did the prior Wisconsin state parks we visited. We hiked the Doughboy Nature Trail which followed the Bad and Tyler Forks rivers past waterfalls and rapids. Very nice hike around the park viewing lots of water falls and rapids.
Before leaving the park we had a picnic lunch and conversed with some visitors from the local area.. After we left the Park we drove east toward Ishpeming MI into the Michgan Upper Peninsula. We were told that residents of the UP are called yuppors, and that residents of the lower peninsula in Michigan, and for that matter the rest of the US are called trolls because they live below the 5 mile [Mackinac] bridge. The drive on routes 28 and 41 was both scenic and depressing. Very green with rolling, forested countryside and signs for a few downhill ski areas, but we passed through lots of towns which clearly have seen better days, although virtually all of them have small, but impressive looking public libraries. Most built with the same rubiginous sandstone we saw elsewhere from the Apostle Islands. They were mining towns with company provided housing. Virtually all the mines have closed and except for tourism, recreation and local retail there seems to be very little economic activity. Conversations with a few of the locals revealed this to be Trump country.
We experienced several torrential downpours during the drive. It was raining pretty hard when we arrived in Ishpeming and we drove past our hotel several times. We stayed the night at the Magnuson Country Hotel and Inn in Ishpeming. We unloaded the car in the rain and luckily, we were able to get access to an outdoor electrical plug when a truck pulled out. The hotel was pretty nice and populated by people who seemingly were there for hunting or fishing. Lots of male groups. I was too tired to take advantage of the pool or the hot tub. Dinner was leftovers out of the food cooler.
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