The Keweenaw Peninsula is just a small part of the larger peninsula known as the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (or the “UP”.) Leaving Lake Linden the next part of our journey crosses northern UP to Sault Ste. Marie and then turns south to visit famed Mackinac Island.
The highway skirts the western edge of L’Anse Bay before turning east and winding through dense forest.
Nestled in the forest east of Marquette I stumble upon one of those exhilarating experiences that celebrates the uniqueness of man, Lakenland.
Lakenland
In 2003 Tom Lakenen started creating yard art out of scrap metal and it quickly grew to be a festival of color and fun. Over 80 sculptures are scattered amongst the pines in a truly unique illustration of one man’s imagination.
Back on the highway the rolling hills of the south shore extend into the distance until we once again touch the shore of Lake Superior at Munising.
Munising spreads along South Bay somewhat protected from the ravages of Lake Superior by Grand Island to the north. The local economy is dependent upon the duo of timber and tourism.
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore is just outside of Munising at the end of a narrow six mile road. Here multicolored cliffs rise above the Lake Superior.
Most of the national park is only accessible by boat. I do find an access point, a hike down through the forest leads to a lookout above the lake. It was much easier going down than climbing up!
Once at the lookout glorious views open up over Lake Superior.
Coming towards me is one of the tour boats that operate out of Munising and cruise below the cliffs.
I’m staying at the Munising Tourist Park just west of town. There is a surprising lack of RV parks and campgrounds along Lake Superior but I have found that small towns often have a city campground to accommodate campers. This one is particularly good because it is right on the lake with a sandy shoreline and views out to Grand Island to the north.
I continue east out of Munising and as I get closer to Sault Ste. Marie at the northern tip the land levels a bit, though continuing to be densely forested.
Highway 28 joins I-75 about five miles south of the Canadian border and we take a brief ride on the interstate before exiting just before the bridge over the border and descend into the small town of Sault Ste. Marie.
Sault Ste. Marie
Lake Superior lies about 21 feet higher than Lake Huron and the two are connected by the 61 mile long St. Mary’s River, the only connection between Lake Superior and the rest of the Great Lakes. The drop in elevation occurs at the St. Mary’s Rapids, a barrier on the river to transportation that lead to a need to build locks to enable ship movement between the lakes. Sault (pronounced “Soo”) Ste. Marie is actually the name of two towns, one on each side of the river. The first lock was built on the Canadian side of the river in the late 1700’s but was destroyed during the War of 1812. A private American company built locks on the US side of the river in 1853 and then turned them over to the state of Michigan in 1881, in 1885 the US Corps of Engineers assumed operation of the locks. Today there are four locks sitting side by side (only three actually operate, the Sabin Lock is not operational). This picture from the Visitor’s Guide shows the layout of the locks area.
The Sabin Lock was built in 1919, the Davis Lock in 1914, the Poe Lock in 1968 and the MacArthur Lock in 1943. The Poe Lock is 100’ wide, the other three are 80” wide. It’s a tight fit (only about 2.5 of space on each side of the large ships in the Poe Lock). Construction is taking place that will update the locks. The 1899 Weather Station sits at the entrance to the Soo Locks Visitor Center. Here weather reports were forwarded to captains who were attempting to maneuver through the locks and St Mary’s River down to Lake Huron.
A 3-story viewing stand sits immediately next to the locks and gives the opportunity for great pictures. The lock immediately in front of me is the MacArthur Lock. The locks work without the use of water pumps, using the natural force of gravity and the 21 feet difference in height between Lake Superior and Lake Huron to function. Openings in the floor of the locks allow water to enter from Lake Superior and once the level of water is the same the gates open on the left and the ship enters. Once in the locks, the openings from Lake Superior are closed and the drains on the floor of the lock into Lake Huron open. The water in the lock slowly drains out and the ship lowers to the level of Lake Huron. As I arrive at the viewing stand tour boats in the MacArthur lock in front of me as I look left towards the International Bridge and Lake Superior, then right downstream to Lake Huron.
I’m in luck today, there are ships in transit while I am watching. A large luxury cruise ship out of Milwaukie, the Viking Cruise Lines’ Octantis, is entering the middle lock.
As the Octantis enters the lock, the next ship, an oil tanker, pauses in the distance down river.
The town of Sault Ste. Marie, US, is a small working town on the south bank of the river. The banks of St. Mary’s River had long been a gathering place for first Native Americans and then fur traders. Goods came up river from Lake Huron and had to be carried nearly a mile on land around the rapids before being reloaded into canoes for the continuing trip to Lake Superior. The first steamboat on Lake Superior arrived below the falls in 1845. It took nearly seven weeks for the boat to be moved around the rapids, relying only on log rollers and hand labor. Downstream from the locks four buildings from the early years of the “Soo” have been restored and preserved. The area came to be known as the Kemp Dock after George Kemp, a businessman from the peak years of activity around 1900 who founded the George Kemp Coal Company. His office has been preserved and is used to display the history of important businesses from those years.
Next to the Kemp House is the Baraga House, remodeled from an earlier house in 1862 as the home for Bishop Baraga. Bishop Baraga first arrived on the south shore of Lake Superior in 1831 and spent the next 37 years ministering to the Upper Peninsula until his death in 1868. He was an important man in the area and well-known to church officials in Rome, traveling twice to Europe to raise money for missions in the UP. The home is furnished simply with antiques from the era.
Next to the Baraga House is Elmwood, home of Henry Schoolcraft, the first Indian agent in Sault Ste. Marie. This building, nearly 100 feet long, was built in 1827. Schoolcraft explored the Lake Superior area, collecting materials for his writings on Indian culture. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow uses Schoolcraft’s writings as the inspiration for “Song of Hiawatha.” The building has been used continuously for nearly 200 years. Unfortunately it was not open during my visit.
The fourth building along Water Street is the John Johnston House. He arrived on the Lake Superior frontier in the early 1790’s, married a daughter of a Chippewa chief, and settled on the south bank of the St. Mary’s rapids. Johnson was a loyal British citizen, helped the British take the American fort on Mackinac Island in 1812, and saw his house burned to the ground in retaliation in 1815. He rebuilt the home and the part still standing today was constructed in 1822.
The house is larger than it presents and the interior is true to the 1822 construction with minimal restoration. Furnished with artifacts from the period, it was a fascinating picture of life in the early 1800’s for a family of means.
A block south of Water Street is the tallest structure in the UP, the Tower of History.
The grandiose title is a bit of a misnomer. There are a few historical displays in the lobby at the base, but the real reason to go here is to ride the elevator up to the observation deck where stunning views unfold in all directions. The view north is across the St. Mary’s River to the sister city of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada.
West the international bridge crosses the river just beyond the locks complex. Canadian factories rise in the distance. Sault Ste. Marie city hall is the large building in the forefront.
East down river the long building in the distance is the 1902 Cloverland Electric Cooperative Power Plant, housing the longest horizontal turbine in the world. In 1885 a canal (seen to the right of the power plant) was excavated around the city of Sault Ste. Marie and the locks in order to take advantage of the drop in elevation for the generation of electricity. The power plant, completed in 1902 and nearly a quarter mile long and 80 feet wide, is still in operation today.
South the forests of the UP unfold beyond the city center.
Throughout the city are impressive stone structures built during the late 1800’s/early 1900’s, including the 1877 Chippewa County Courthouse and numerous churches.
My last stop in Sault Ste. Marie was the Museum Ship Valley Camp, a museum dedicated to preserving the history of shipping on the Great Lakes.
Museum Valley Camp
The long ship on the left in the picture above is the Valley Camp (the cruise ship behind the souvenir store on the right is the American Princess.) The Valley Camp was built in 1917 and first named the Louis Hill. 550 feet long, 58 feet wide, and 31 feet deep, the ship carried a variety of products for the next 40 years until it was purchased by the Wilson Transit Company in 1955 and renamed the Valley Camp in honor of one of Wilson’s customers, the Valley Camp Coal Company. The ship logged over three million miles on the Great Lakes during its 50 years of service but by 1967 it could no longer complete with the larger modern ships plying the Great Lakes trade routes. The Valley Camp carried its last shipment of coal from Milwaukie to Superior, Wisconsin, in the fall of 1967. The ship was purchased by the Le Sault Ste. Marie Historical Sites Company in 1968 and placed along the south bank of the St. Mary’s River as a shipping museum. Visitors can explore virtually the entire ship and the massive cargo holds now display thousands of shipping artifacts and historical displays. Let’s explore!
The two cargo holds contain two levels of displays in an enormous spaces. This is the first cargo hold on the north end of the ship.
Relics span the age of shipping from the very first steamboat on Lake Superior to modern times. The Independence was the first steam ship on Lake Superior, portaged past the St. Mary’s rapids in 1845 and cruising Lake Superior until November of 1853 when she departed Sault Ste. Marie west on her last voyage of the season. Barely one mile above the rapids her boiler exploded, destroying the ship, not to be seen again for a hundred years. In 1950 the channel of the St. Mary’s was being dredged west of the locks when remnants of the Independence were brought to the surface and are now on display in the Valley Camp. Just one of the many interesting displays.
Beyond the cargo hold one can explore the workings of the boat. The rear of the ship housed the 1,800 horse power steam engine as well as the steering gear.
Bathrooms on a ship are called the “head” because prior to the advent of indoor plumbing sailors would go to what was a hole in a board sticking out from the head of the ship (the bow) to do their business. Obviously, the Valley Camp, a more “modern” ship had indoor plumbing with complete bathrooms in the crew quarters in the front of the ship but here, 500 feet to the rear in the stern in the engine room, a toilet was tucked into a corner. Interesting a sign stating “Important, do not use” is taped to the top of the toilet seat!
Turning around I walk to the south cargo hold, the second large display area.
An eclectic collection of artifacts and displays line the walls. I found a collection of very early photographs particularly interesting. This is an 1870 photograph showing a canoe shooting the rapids with Indian guides.
An even earlier photograph documents an Indian village from 1850.
Emerging from the cargo holds onto the deck I turn towards the pilot house and crew quarters in the bow of the ship.
The first level of the pilot house was home to the crew, containing three types of quarters. On the right the 2nd and 3rd mates shared a room with private bath.
In the middle were quarters for the general crew. This large area consisted of four bunk rooms (each with their own sink) and one bathroom with toilet and shower off a central open space. (not me in the picture, just a fellow explorer!)
On the left was the first mate’s cabin.
The captain’s and a guest quarters were on the level above. The captain had an office, bedroom and bath (shared with the quest cabin) with direct access to the pilothouse above via private stairway.
The view from the bow of the ship shows the captain’s office round windows and the pilothouse above.
As I step out of the pilothouse I have a great view down the Valley Camp with the cruise ship parked at its’ stern.
A fascinating exploration of the history of shipping.
I was fortunate again to stay at an outstanding city campground in Sault Ste. Marie. Located on the south bank of the St. Mary’s River, I had a direct view of shipping heading to and from the locks upstream.
I-75 cuts across the end of the UP from Sault Ste. Marie to the “Down Below” and about 50 miles to the south the interstate approaches once of the great crossroads of historic America, the Straits of Mackinac (pronounced “Mack-i-naw). Lake Michigan to the west and Lake Huron to the east join at the upper tip of lower Michigan at the straits, a narrow channel linking the two inland seas. Unlike Lake Superior, which is 21 feet higher than Lake Huron and thus required the building of the locks in order for ships to transit between the two, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron are at the same level so shipping can flow easily between the two. The distance between the upper peninsula and lower Michigan is five miles, spanned since 1957 by the Mackinac Bridge.
At the far end of the bridge lies northwest Michigan where further adventures await!
Next Up: Northwest Michigan
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