About the UP » Marquette

Fall Color Touring in the Marquette Area

lci — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 14:53:22 +0000

The photo blog Michigan in Pictures is featuring a fall color tour of from Marquette to Big Bay to Negaunee to Au Train. Whether you do all or part of it, you won't be disappointed – the Marquette area and the entire UP are simply gorgeous at this time of year. Some other tours they have are Pictured Rocks/Munising/Grand Marais, the Western U.P. and Houghton/Eagle River/Copper Harbor on the Keweenaw Peninsula.

The photo is from October 4, 2007 and was taken by Marjorie O'Brien, the very talented young woman who has taken many of the photos used in our About the UP section. Michigan in Pictures has an interview with Marjorie that you might enjoy.

Marquette History

lci — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 19:47:24 +0000

The Marquette area was first settled by Ojibwa Indians who came into contact with french explorer and Jesuit missionary in 1669. Although the area had been officially "discovered" by the French, and the harbor was used for rest, fishing, and transport for both the French voyagers and the Ojibwa, it was not until the discovery of iron ore in the mid 1800s that the are was settled. Â In 1849 iron ore was discovered in the area, and the Marquette Iron Company promptly founded the village of Iron Bay on September 14, 1849, to provide settlement opportunities for workers. The village was later renamed New Worcester. A second mining company came to the area in the form of the Cleveland-Cliffs Company. The Cleveland-Cliffs Company outlasted the Marquette Iron Company and renamed the town Marquette. Â The village was platted in 1854, incorporated as a village in 1859 and as a city in 1871. The city of Marquette began as a shipping port for hematite ores and to this day continues to serve as a port for enriched iron pellets from nearby mines. In 1899 Northern Normal School, a teacher's college, was founded in Marquette. The college is now know as Northern Michigan University. During the Cold War the Marquette area was home to the K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base which was host to B-52H bombers and KC-135 tankers of the strategic air command. The base was closed in September of 1995 and now serves as the area's airport.

Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Marquette

lci — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 19:27:28 +0000

Marquette, the largest city in Michigan's Upper Peninsula is known for its charm, natural beauty, easy access to the beautiful outdoors, strong sense of community and much more. The city has been designated as one of "America's Most Livable Communities," one of Michigan's "Cool Cities," and is a receipt of the "All-American City" award. It is also home to Northern Michigan University and one of two Olympic Training Center in the United States.

Nearby recreation includes: hiking, biking, kayaking, skiing, snowmobiling, ice-climbing, cross country skiing, show-shoeing, skiing, beach walking, kayaking, hunting and fishing, moose watching, golfing, touring nearby waterfalls and lighthouses, and much more.

Marquette links:
Marquette Country
City of Marquette
Wikipedia – Marquette
Marquette County

View Marquette

Bikes roll in Marquette

dickhuey — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 13:07:10 +0000

Bikes were rolling this weekend at the 2007 Superior Bike Fest in Marquette. $8,000 in cash was awarded to the winners, but the real prize was participation and competition. Hereâ€™s a shot of an early leader taken from the corner of Washington and Third St. in downtown Marquette.

Trillium in Alger County at Silver Lake

dickhuey — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 21:52:52 +0000

May is a favorite time of the year for me in the U.P. and if you missed it this year you should put it on your calendar for next year! I've been a little slow in editing my 2007 file of flower photos so these postings are not as timely as I'd like, but still I think definitely worth passing on. As you can see, trillium covered the forest floor this year as far as I could see.

Flowing spring

dickhuey — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 15:30:13 +0000

Wandering the U.P. is always a voyage of discovery. This weekend I canoed, fished, and assisted in water sampling on and around a private lake that we have listed for sale southeast of Marquette. An extremely cold flowing spring was running hard out of the bedrock 40 feet up a rock bluff. There are reports of wells in this area that are running dry because of the unusually warm, dry weather, but this spring and the lake it flows to was unaffected. Apparently it is a strong upwelling from some deep aquifer. The water tumbles down the bank and joins many smaller seeps, which form a stream. A quarter mile further on that feeds the lake.

Look at the interesting lichen on this rock, and the crystal clear water behind it.

Canoe a foggy lake

dickhuey — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 15:42:25 +0000

Last night I was out in the canoe, and the lake was beautiful. Even the trout cooperated (for a while). Weâ€™re â€œcatch and releaseâ€ anyway, and a beautiful brown jumped several times and threw the hook on the third jump. Thatâ€™s called a â€œlong distance release.â€

There's magic and mystery when fog blankets the lake. It can be a very introspective experience or at the extreme you can get lost. On a really big lake, or Superior, you need a compass. That's true whenever you leave the roads and wander about in the U.P. And wandering is important: Just like anywhere else you have to leave the big roads to find what makes an area unique and wonderful.

When I first visit the city I hear lots of noise, feel lost, and the city is a strange and of threatening place where I'm "on alert". But then instead of noise I start to identify the sounds of a bus, and garbage collection, street vendors and neighbors. As I learn where to go, what to do and how to get there it becomes a place I know and appreciate. The wilds of the U.P. are just like that: Familiar and friendly to us; mysterious and strange until you learn where to go and what to see. You have to learn the territory. And we can help with that.

Hiking the U.P.

dickhuey — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 14:30:12 +0000

This photo is uniquely Huron Mountains. It shows a narrow divide between rock ridges with a beaver dam that has captured the spring runoff and rainfall to form a long, narrow pond. There are nine beaver lodges on this one, but only one shows in this photo. This country looked just like this like a hundred and fifty years ago when the trappers and explorers were discovering and learning the secrets of this country, and you can still find scenes like this and enjoy the beauty today.

The moose is loose

dickhuey — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 16:57:40 +0000

This young bull moose, a yearling, visited my camp recently… and I had my camera handy! I followed him in my car, snapping photos through the passenger side window.

After a few hundred yards he stopped, peeked at me around a tree, and then came straight for the car! There was nothing aggressive about it, through. This is the time of the year when last year's calf gets kicked out of the family because the new one has arrived. I suppose this little bull was used to having a big moose around, and it was surely a little lonesome in the woods. He looked for all the world like someone looking for a friend to pal up with, and was checking me out. I guess I'm flattered.

Finally he stood in this "King of the Woods" pose. That's what he'll be before long. I hope to see him then.

Babies are here

dickhuey — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 15:00:06 +0000

Fawns have arrived. This little guy was hiding out in the open not ten feet from a cabin where we were meeting a number of contractors. (Interesting — did the doe put him near a cabin as protection from predators? I've found fawns near my own cabin several times.) This one stayed put, as Mama had directed, although after a while he decided we were OK and raised his head and watched us. When someone new arrived the head quickly went back down. We got there at 9 AM and had a number of people, trucks, and activity within a few feet of him all day. He was still there right where she left him at 10 PM. One of the contractors, a road builder, said that once he found a fawn directly in the path of a new road. They couldn't get him to move, and (correctly) did not want to touch him, so they build a temporary road around him using large bulldozers! He stayed right where he was until Mama returned.