Category: Uncategorized
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Douglass Houghton, Medicine Man
Douglass Houghton, Medicine Man Adam Berger Douglass Houghton (1809-1845) is usually remembered for his work in the field of geology. He graduated with a degree in the subject from the respected Rensselaer Scientific School in 1829. Houghton was selected as Michigan’s first State Geologist, a position he filled from 1837 until his drowning death in…
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Dead River Trestle
Dead River Trestle [A version of this story ran on the Upper Peninsula Land Conservancy blog] Adam Berger In the coming year, the Upper Peninsula Land Conservancy (UPLC) will add two properties to the existing Vielmetti-Peters Conservation Reserve. This will form the Dead River Community Forest, 309 acres of publicly accessible land at the end…
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Point Iroquois: An Important Ojibwe Military Victory
Point Iroquois: An Important Ojibwe Military Victory Adam Berger The Soo Locks opened June 18, 1855, connecting Lake Superior to the other Great Lakes. The St. Marys River soon became a major center for shipping traffic. A navigational beacon was established at Point Iroquois the same year the Soo Locks opened. Equipped with a sixth-order…
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Honor in War: Smallpox as a Biological Weapon
Honor in War: Smallpox as a Biological Weapon Adam Berger On January 21, 1757, Charles-Michel Mouet de Langlade (1729-1801), an Odawa and French soldier from Michilimackinac, led Odawa warriors in a now famous attack on British-aligned Ranger forces led by Robert Rogers (1731-1795). Moving fast on snowshoes, the Rangers were hunting French supply sleighs traveling…
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The Possible Role of European Diseases in Early Great Lakes History
The Possible Role of European Diseases in Early Great Lakes History Adam Berger European diseases may have influenced Great Lakes history before 1492. The claim cannot be proven, and the case is circumstantial at best. Many scholars directly reject the proposition. However, the possibility bears consideration. Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee traditional histories describe major social upheavals…
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Remember Civil War History at Marquette Lions Lakeside Park
Remember Civil War History at Marquette Lions Lakeside Park Adam Berger Ore from the Upper Peninsula helped win the Civil War. Keweenaw copper went into bronze to cast cannons and Marquette County iron was made into steel for muskets and swords. A cannon was placed in the vicinity of Marquette Lions Lakeside Park to defend…
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The Battle of Pickawillany
The Battle of Pickawillany Adam Berger Historians often represent the French and Indian War as lasting from 1754-1763. However, events that took place before 1754 reflect important underlying tensions that fueled the conflict and illustrate the degree to which indigenous political interests shaped this period of North American history. The Battle of Pickawillany in 1752…
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Longyear’s 1888 Trip to Lac Vieux Desert
Longyear’s 1888 Trip to Lac Vieux Desert Adam Berger The son of a Lansing lawyer, John Munro Longyear (1850-1922) showed business acumen from an early age. His mostly unpublished Reminiscences, housed at the Marquette Regional History Center, recounts some of his precocious attempts to earn money. These boyhood businesses included selling stolen garden vegetables to…
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Sidney Adams Found Native American Grave on Ripley’s Rock in 1851
Sidney Adams Found Native American Grave on Ripley’s Rock in 1851 Adam Berger Located on the south shore of Lake Superior, Marquette has been an influential community in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula since it was established in 1849. Great fortunes were made and spent in Marquette as local entrepreneurs found ways to monetize the Upper Peninsula’s…
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Dan H. Ball Owned Vielmetti-Peters
Dan H. Ball Owned Vielmetti-Peters Adam Berger [A version of this story appeared in the November 21, 2021 Mining Journal] In 2015, Kathy Peters donated 123 acres at the end of Brickyard Road in Negaunee Township to the Upper Peninsula Land Conservancy (UPLC). The Vielmetti-Peters Conservation Reserve has become a favorite destination for outdoor recreation…
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Saux Head and Yellow Dog
Saux Head and Yellow Dog: A History of Two Marquette County Place Names [A version of this story ran in the October, 2021 Marquette Monthly] Homer Kidder (1874-1950) took a health break from studying at Harvard from 1893-1895. He came home to Marquette, summering at the Huron Mountain Club. His father, Alfred Kidder (1840-1923), a…
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Who Were the Noquet?
Who Were the Noquet? [A version of this story ran in the November 2021 Marquette Monthly] Relatively little is known about the history of the Noquet, a Native people that once lived between Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. Information about this group is sparse and contradictory. The Noquet are alternatively presented as a vanished tribe…
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The 1836 Treaty of Washington
The 1836 Treaty of Washington [A version of this story ran in the September, 2021 Marquette Monthly] As the fall colors emerge, celebrate the fifth anniversary of the establishment of the Chocolay Bayou Nature Preserve. With help from more than 150 local individuals, organizations, and businesses, the Upper Peninsula Land Conservancy (UPLC) acquired this thirteen-acre…