“…With the Greatest Determination…”

February is Black History Month! In observance, the Archives of Michigan presents this photo of Samuel Lett. Lett served in the 102nd United States Colored Troops (102nd U.S.C.T.) during the Civil War. This regiment officially mustered into federal service in Michigan on February 17, 1864 -144 years ago this month!

The 102nd United States Colored Troops

It began as the 1st Michigan Colored Infantry. On March 28, 1864, this regiment boarded a train for Annapolis, Maryland. From there, the men were sent to Hilton Head, South Carolina, arriving on April 19th. On May 23, 1864, the 1st Michigan Colored Infantry officially changed its designation to 102nd U.S.C.T. It was no longer under control of the State of Michigan but instead administered by U.S. Army’s Bureau for Colored Troops.

After arriving in Hilton Head, the 102nd was divided, with troops assigned to picket duty (or “guard duty”) on St. Helena, Jenkins and Hilton Head Islands. A few weeks later, the regiment was assigned to occupy Port Royal and construct fortifications there. On August 1, 1864, it was sent to Jacksonville, Florida. From there, the men marched twenty-one miles to Baldwin, Florida. There, a Confederate cavalry force attacked them. The 102nd U.S.C.T. fought bravely and drove the invaders from the field. The men continued marching through Florida. At Magnolia, they built more fortifications. Finally, the regiment was transferred to Beaufort, South Carolina, arriving on August 31, 1864.

Samuel Lett

At this point, Samuel Lett enters the story. He enlisted in Grand Rapids on August 31, 1864. Muster rolls note that he was twenty years old, although no birth date is cited.

Lett was mustered into the 102nd U.S.C.T.’s Company G. He arrived in Beaufort on October 4, 1864. He remained with the 102nd U.S.C.T. until it was mustered out of service at Charleston, South Carolina on September 30, 1865. The descriptive rolls provide no further details on his service, and no other biographical information is available.

“Covered Itself With Glory”

We do know that Lett’s regiment saw a great deal of action during his tour of duty. In November, 1864, a detachment of 300 joined a Union action to destroy the Charleston and Savannah Railroad around Pocataligo, South Carolina. One of the 102nd men declared that his regiment “covered itself with glory.” He asserted that the 102nd “maintained the steadiest line of battle and fought with the greatest determination of any troops.” The Confederates possessed greater firepower, however, and Union troops were forced to retreat. Men of the 102nd U.S.C.T. then participated in a successful counterattack to retrieve three hastily-abandoned Union cannons. Fighting continued in December, with the 102nd U.S.C.T. encountering combat at the Tillifinny River.

The year 1865 brought more hardship for the 102nd U.S.C.T. In late January, the entire regiment moved to Pocataligo. The Record of Service of Michigan Volunteers in the Civil War states that the 102nd U.S.C.T. then “made several expeditions in the enemy’s country, driving off his cavalry and destroying railroads and building breastworks.” The regiment separated into detachments at times, but then reunited in Savannah Georgia in March, 1865. The whole regiment then moved to Charleston, South Carolina.

In April, it again split into two detachments. One was commanded by Colonel Henry L. Chipman; the other by Major Newcom Clark. Chipman’s detachment was assigned to march from Charleston to the Santee River at Nelson’s Ferry (a total distance of seventy miles). These soldiers encountered – and drove off – Confederate cavalry along the way. Clark’s detachment joined with the 54th Massachusetts (another famed African American regiment). This group fought in several skirmishes and encountering a large Confederate force at Boykin’s, South Carolina. The Confederates were driven away and the two detachments of the 102nd U.S.C.T. were then reunited. Finally, on the morning of April 21, Companies A, B and C of the 102nd U.S.C.T. faced an attack by two hundred Confederates. The 102nd inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy and drove them back.

This would prove to be the 102nd U.S.C.T.’s last battle. The regiment spent the next five months on occupation duty and was then officially mustered out of service on September 30, 1865.

Sources

The Samuel Lett photo above was donated to the Archives of Michigan by Civil War researcher Hondon Hargrove. Mr. Hargrove’s short history of the 102nd U.S.C.T. proved essential in composing this essay. This history, entitled “Their Greatest Battle Was Getting Into the Fight,” can be found in Michigan History Magazine, vol. 75 (January/February 1991), pp. 24-30.

Photos of Samuel Lett and other Michigan Civil War soldiers can be viewed at Seeking Michigan’s “Discover” section (seekingmichigan.org/discover ). Click to view the descriptive entry on Samuel Lett.

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We continue our Michigan's 175th Birthday Bash giveaway today. What's more, we've had so much fun doing a giveaway a day that we're going to see just how long we can keep things going with our new program called The Daily Michigan that will feature a giveaway a day from the Great Lakes State! It all starts on Monday so tune in!

In celebration of Michigans 175th birthday, we'll be featuring some tweets to #mich175 that we like, paired with photos from our Absolute Michigan pool on Flickr! They'll also be on our Absolute Michigan Facebook page! Reload for updates, share YOUR thoughts in the comments below, in our Flickr group or on our Facebook and Happy Birthday to Mamma Michigan!!

bethanylouise (Reware Vintage)  How's it going, Michigan? Having a good birthday? #Mich175

photo: dunescape by tbug2

MMFlint (Michael Moore) RT @imajoebob You are aware that Corn Flakes were created 2 reduce one's sex drive? I shudder thinking what was behind Fruit Loops.#Mich175

photo: Phototherapy, breakfast cereal and the Battle Creek Sanitarium courtesy Willard Library

epeep yet another reason to celebrate the #mitten :D!!! Fossils of #mastodons have been found in 250+ locations in #Michigan. #Mich175 #mittenlove

Photo: Painting the Mastodon by kafka4prez

freep (Detroit Free Press) Why is #Michigan is called the Wolverine State? Story has to do with being as bloodthirsty and gluttonous as wolverines #Mich175. Get the story at  gulo gulo: The Wolverine and Why Michigan is the Wolverine State on Michigan in Pictures.

photo credit: Gulo gulo by anikarenina

HuffPostDetroit We've been loving your MI facts all day! MT @stabenow: Rosie the Riveter was a real woman from MI who built planes for the war #Mich175 (see Lansing’s Rosie the Riveter: Geraldine Hoff Doyle from Absolute Michigan)

photo: The Real Rosie the Riveter from Seeking Michigan

Sheplersferry @anellah Us, too! "I love Michigan because it has more lighthouses than any other state in the US." #mibirthday #Mich175

Photo: "September Gale" Grand Haven Breakwater Lighthouse is located in the harbor of Grand Haven, Michigan by Michigan Nut (the second most popular photo in the Absolute Michigan pool!!)

hayleyscomment @PureMichigan @stabenow One of my favorite mitten state facts: We are the 2nd most agriculturally diverse state in the country! #Mich175

photo: Carrots by amzakem

MackenzieRauch One of my favorite things about Michigan is fall time. Especially the donuts and cider! Happy birthday, Michigan! #Mich175

photo: happle bokeh wednesday eve! by mlephotos

@glamorousmoms Great things about Michigan..our rising arts and fashion industry, our auto companies and our GREAT talented hard working people! (glamorousmoms.com right out of Detroit)

photo: Detroit Auto Show 2012-6147 by RichardDemingPhotography

@DrinkMichigan Did you know? Frankenmuth Brewery (@fb1862) is one of America's oldest breweries & is known as Michigan's Original Craft Beer. #mich175

photo: Frankenmuth Brewery HDR edit by SL Morrison

@Alexis Shull You helped me develop my love of cherries, wine, lakes, whitefish, automation,music, food, culture & more! Happy Birthday Michigan! #mich175

photo: Traverse City, Michigan Cherry Orchard by Pamela Bevelhymer

Continue in the Absolute Michigan pool on Flickr!

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Note: This article originally appeared in the January/February 1999 issue of Michigan History Magazine. It has been updated in two ways: 1) “State Archives of Michigan” was changed to “Archives of Michigan,” to reflect the Archives’ current name. 2) The statistic on the amount of paper in the Archives (see concluding paragraph) now reflects the current, 2012 number, rather than the number from 1999.

President Andrew Jackson

The Archives of Michigan collects and preserves significant records generated by the state and local governments of Michigan. On rare occasions, however, this depository of Michigan’s documentary heritage is called upon to care for selected federal papers. There are four good examples of this unusual situation, and they all occurred years ago and at the same time.

The story of these seemingly strayed records begins in 1933, when U.S. Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg discovered several interesting items squirreled away in the nation’s Capitol. In the files of the secretary of the Senate, he uncovered several original sheets of parchment that qualify as Michigan’s birth certificates.

The first of these handwritten treasures was a letter from President Andrew Jackson dated December 9, 1835. Addressed to the members of “the Senate and House of Representatives,” it notified Congress that Michigan had met the qualifications for statehood. [Editor's note: To read this letter, clickAndrew Jackson, Page 1 and Andrew Jackson, Page 2.]

The next find was Senate Bill 81 from the second session of the Twenty-fourth Congress. This document, bearing the date it was reported from the Senate Judiciary Committee, December 29, 1836, was the bill granting statehood to Michigan. [Editor's note: To read this bill, click Senate Bill 81, Page 1 and Senate Bill 81, Page 2.]

The remaining two documents were the credentials of Michigan’s first two U.S. senators, Lucius Lyon and John Norvell. Both of these men took their seats on January 26, 1837, the same day Michigan joined the Union.

Believing that these manuscripts would be more appreciated in Michigan than in Washington, Vandenberg crafted and submitted Senate Resolution 341. This measure directed the secretary of the Senate “to make photostatic copies” of the noted documents and deposit them in the Senate files. This having been done, the originals were to be sent to Lansing for permanent retention and preservation.

Vandenberg’s colleagues agreed to his proposal on February 9, 1933, marking the first time any state had been given the original documents admitting it to the Union. Two weeks later, the four congressional records arrived in Lansing.

Within the nearly full vaults of the Archives of Michigan are housed over sixty thousand cubic feet of the most important papers produced by public officials at the state, county, township and municipal level. But it is doubtful that anything in this vast amount of material has more sentimental value than the four isolated sheets of paper that declared Michigan the twenty-sixth state in the Union.

President Andrew Jackson's signature on the 1835 letter to Congress. The complete letter can be read at seekingmichigan.org/discover, in the Early Documents section.

Here's the link to the letter, and Happy Birthday, Michigan!

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Photo by Aunt Owwee

On January 26, 1837 President Andrew Jackson signed a bill declaring Michigan the 26th state of the union.  That means the Great Lakes State turns 175 next Thursday. That seemed like a pretty big milestone to us, and to celebrate, we're throwing Michigan's 175th Birthday Bash and giving out a week's worth of prizes!!

The rules are simple: if your email address is on our email list (sign up below), you are entered to win. We'll draw a name at random every day and let the winner pick want they want from our "grab bag." Here's what we have:

• Two tickets to the Michigan International Auto Show in Grand Rapids (January 26-29) (click to read more)
• Two tickets to see legendary Detroit alternative rockers Sponge and their "Rotting Pinata" Rewind Show at the Emerald Theatre in Mt. Clemens on January 28 (click for the details!)
• The History of Michigan Wines: 150 Years of Winemaking along the Great Lakes and From the Vine: Exploring Michigan Wineries, two books exploring the history and present day of the Michigan wine industry by Lorri Hathaway and Sharon Kegerreis of Delicious Michigan.  (read more) These have been selected by Lissa Richardson
• Two tickets to the Taste the Passion wine tour celebrating wine, chocolate and love on the Leelanau Peninsula (February 4 & 5) - these have been won by Dawn Dodge! (read more)
• Two tickets to the Traverse City Winter Microbrew & Music Festival with 40+ breweries, cideries, meaderies and wineries and great live music (February 11) - these have been chosen by Tracy Miller, Executive Director of the Japan America Society of West Michigan!
• Two tickets to the Romancing the Riesling wine tour on the Old Mission Peninsula featuring some of the top-notch Rieslings of Northern Michigan with wine & food pairings and deals on wine purchases (February 18)  (read more) These have been picked by Jessica Kelley of hippsylake.com
• A skateboard deck from Yooper Steez (click to read more!)
• ...and just in from The Henry Fordin Dearborn, 2 tickets to the museum to see Driving America, the brand-new 80,000 sq ft automotive experience with 130 vehicles, interactive displays and more than 60 cases of artifacts! These have been selected by Sue Trussell

We're not the only ones celebrating this momentous occasion. The Michigan Historical Center in Lansing will celebrate the 175th anniversary of Michigan Statehood on Saturday, January 28th. The celebration starts at 11 AM with birthday cake for the first 100 people through the door, Michigan's first constitution on display along with a digital copy that visitors can page through on an iPad. and a concert by singer/songwriter Joel Mabus which will include some Michigan songs, and Michigan inventions and re-inventions from birch bark canoes to Vernors soda will be highlighted.

The folks over at Buy Michigan Now have called for everyone to make social media shout-outs about great things about Michigan the week of January 22-28 (and especially on Jan 26th). Be sure to include the word MICHIGAN somewhere in your message and on Twitter use the hashtag #Mich175.

Absolute Michigan features regular giveaways of products and services from all kinds of Michigan businesses. It's free, fun and all you have to do to be eligible is to be on our email list - sign up using the form below. We guarantee that we will not share your email address with anyone!

If your business is interested in participating, you can get all the information right here.

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Kenny Svenson of Traprock Valley as Heikki Lunta, Heikinpäivä Festival, Hancock, MI, ca. 2001 (www.csumc.wisc.edu)

Now I’ll sing my song
, to make the snow come down
And I’ll do my snow dance
. Whoops! I almost lost my pants
I’ll holler and yell,
 And really give it ----
It’s Heikki’s snow dance song, 
Heikki’s snow dance song

~from the original Heikki Lunta Snowdance Song

This weekend (January 20-21), the annual Heikki Lunta Winterfest (Hey-Key Loon-ta) takes place on and around Negaunee's Teal Lake. The festival celebrates the legendary (and pretty much made up) Finnish show god who is said to have the ability to perform a dance causing snowfall. I came across the original version of the Heikki Lunta Snowdance Song on a cool blog called Letters for George. In his Heikki Lunta letter, he explains:

There's a little town called Atlantic Mine about five miles away from Houghton where they hold an annual snowmobile race every winter. In 1970 the race was at risk of being cancelled because there wasn’t any snow. The race was sponsored by radio station WMPL in nearby Hancock. With no snow in sight, one of the station’s salesmen, David Riutta, composed a song called the "Heikki Lunta Snowdance Song." It took him about twenty minutes to invent the lyrics. "Heikki Lunta," it turns out, means “Henry Snow” in Finnish, and Riutta chose the name because his favorite musician was country western singer Hank Snow.

Heikki Lunta was said to live in the back woods of a Finnish farming community south of Houghton, and he reportedly had the ability to do a dance which would cause snow to fall from the skies. Riutta’s song asked "Heikki Lunta" to do his dance to make it snow in time for the snowmobile race. They started playing the song on WMLP, it immediately became a local hit, and, lo and behold, it soon began snowing. According to local lore, it snowed and snowed for days. So much so that they had to cancel the snowmobile race.

Click through for lots more including some photos. Now here's Heikki Lunta by  Da Yoopers.

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I have a dream this afternoon that one day right here in Detroit, Negroes will be able to buy a house or rent a house anywhere that their money will carry them and they will be able to get a job.

~Martin Luther King, June 23, 1963 Detroit, Michigan

Martin Luther King Jr, Walk to Freedom Detroit Michigan, 1963

The quotation above comes not from Dr. Martin Luther King’s famous "I Have a Dream" speech, but rather from the massive Great March on Detroit (also known as the Walk to Freedom and the Freedom March) that happened 2 months earlier.

On June 23, 1963, an estimated 125,000 people marched down Detroit’s Woodward Avenue carrying placards and singing “We Shall Overcome.” National and state leaders who marched along with Reverend King included United Auto Workers president Walter Reuther, former Michigan governor John B. Swainson, and Detroit mayor Jerome Cavanagh. The march ended at Cobo Hall where the Reverend King was cheered by thousands of marchers when he emphasized that segregation needed to end.

King called the Great March “one of the most wonderful things that has happened in America.”

You can click to read the full text of King's speech and also hear some of the speech here and listen to some of King's last Detroit sermon. There’s a few pictures of the march at the Detroit News including this shot of the crowd on Woodward Ave from above (sorry – no direct link scroll down and look for it). You can also get a shot of King speaking at Cobo from Wayne State University.

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Eddie Rickenbacker, circa 1919. Photo from the National Archives and Records Administration holdings (ARC identifier 533720). Digital copy found on wikimediacommons.org

Ace of Aces

After shooting down twenty-two enemy aircraft and four barrage balloons in less than a year, Captain Edward “Eddie” Rickenbacker became the most celebrated Allied airman of World War I, earning him the title “Ace of Aces.” He received the Congressional Medal of Honor, the French Legion of Honor, the Croix de Guerre, the Distinguished Service Cross and seven other medals.

At the close of the war, Rickenbacker returned home to a hero’s welcome of ticker-tape parades and other events in his honor. He retreated to the seclusion of the New Mexican desert to contemplate his future. He had been a race car driver before the war, and automobiles again filled his mind. He decided to build a car bearing his name.

Building a Car

Rickenbacker teamed up with some of the best and brightest automobile entrepreneurs of the time. Harry Cunningham was a former race driver turned engineer, and Walter Flanders and Barney Everitt were two-thirds of the EMF Company of Detroit. Rickenbacker contributed engineering ideas learned from his pre-war days building, selling and driving race cars.

Rickenbacker set out to design and build a mid-priced car with many advanced features. The stylish six-cylinder model he dreamed of would have a low center of gravity, a vibration-free tandem flywheel, cabin heater, air cleaner and a locking steering wheel. A 94th Squadron “Hat in the Ring” insignia graced the radiator housing. When it came to decide where such a car would be built, there was only one choice: Detroit, the Automobile Capital of the World.

The Rickenbacker Motor Company

Rickenbacker built factory prototypes in 1920 and logged eighty thousand miles test driving the cars himself. In 1922, the Rickenbacker Motor Company (RMC) went into full production, with Rickenbacker as vice-president in charge of sales. He barnstormed across the country flying in his airplane, selling cars and dealer franchises. Eventually, the company boasted a network of twelve hundred dealers in the U.S and three hundred worldwide. Between 1922 and 1924, RMC sold fifty thousand cars with price tags ranging from $1,485.00 for the touring model to $1,995.00 for a sedan.

Sales were brisk and in 1924, the company introduced the Vertical 8 Super Fine model. A promotional brochure bragged that “almost without exception, Rickenbacker factory officials and their wives drive this coupe model…it is a type much coveted and appreciated by young ladies and dowagers. It is quite as suitable for a man as a woman driver.” Other ads claimed that the motor “improves with use. Take a look at the frame. Comparatively, the Brooklyn Bridge does not provide such a factor of rigidity and strength.”

A family with a Rickenbacker car (Click on the image to view it in a larger size)

Four Wheel Brakes

Advertising rhetoric aside, the company seemed to be doing everything right and they announced a new automotive innovation. Four-wheel brakes have been standard equipment since Rickenbacker introduced them more than eighty years ago. The announcement that the braking system would be standard on their 1924 models caused a commotion in the automobile business. Several auto companies—notably Studebaker—mounted a slander campaign, claiming that four-wheel brakes were dangerous and unpredictable.

Believing in himself and his product, Eddie Rickenbacker dismissed the adverse publicity. Rather than play down the accusations, he touted the merits of the braking system by stenciling “4-WHEEL BRAKES” on the spare tire covers. Detractors claimed that this was necessary to avoid rear-end collisions caused by Rickenbacker cars stopping too fast.

End of a Dream

Despite the company’s efforts, sales began to lag. In 1926, Rickenbacker resigned from his position, and the company struggled on until 1927, when it declared bankruptcy and halted production. Ironically, the German company Audi bought the design, tooling and spare parts and installed Rickenbacker engines in some models.

At the age of thirty-five and $250,000 in debt, Rickenbacker had to abandon his dream of building a “Car Worthy of its Name.” He vowed to pay off his creditors and changed his career course. He bought the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and later became Chairman of the Board of Eastern Airlines. A survivor in life as well as business, Eddie Rickenbacker survived two airplane crashes before passing away in 1973 at the age of eighty-two.

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25 Christmas Lane on a winter's eve, circa 2010 (Photo courtesy of Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland)

My favorite holiday movie is National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989). Clark Griswold, (Chevy Chase), our hero, has a plan for the traditional Griswold family Christmas that includes fifty thousand twinkling outdoor lights on the roof. When Clark drags his entire family out to see his masterpiece, the lights don’t work. The frustrating, yet entertaining, effort to fix the problem resonates with me (This includes Clark on the roof checking each individual bulb.). My favorite part comes when Clark prevails, the family is impressed, and he thanks his father for teaching him about exterior illumination.

Beginnings

Wallace Bronner (1927-2008) knew that exterior illumination is essential for the holidays. We are all familiar with his enormous enterprise: Bronner’s CHRISTmas Wonderland, located on 25 Christmas Lane in Frankenmuth. Initially, this behemoth of holiday cheer started as a signage business. During the early forties, Wally worked as a sign painter and a clerk at the Hubinger Grocery Store, which was owned by his maternal relatives. Part of his job included designing window displays. In 1945, as Frankenmuth celebrated its centennial year, Bronner Display and Sign Advertising was in demand for painting signs and decorating store windows and parade floats. That year Wallace Bronner met Irene Ruth Pretzer, the woman he would marry on June 23, 1951 at St. Peter Lutheran Church in Hemlock, Michigan.

Signs designed by Wally Bronner for the city of Clare, 1951 (Photo courtesy of Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland.).

Irene was instrumental in helping Wally land a monthly window display contract with the Jennison Hardware Company of Bay City (c. 1947) (Irene had attended Bay City Junior College and boarded at the home of G.W. Cooke, president of the hardware company.). Bronner’s work for the hardware company resulted in a referral to the town of Clare, Michigan (1951). This first municipal holiday commission was to design decorative lamppost panels. After that job, Wally hired his friend Fred Bernthal to look for new clients in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Ontario.

Bronner also entered into contracts with General Plastics Corporation (Marion, Indiana) and Mold-Craft Corporation (Port Washington, Wisconsin). These companies provided street trims and ornaments, latex Santas, reindeers and nativity scenes. In 1952, Bronner staged two shows exhibiting outdoor Christmas decorations, one in the Frankenmuth Township Hall, the other at the St. Lorenz School gymnasium. Both were successful. However, both venues were temporary. Bronner decided to rent a more permanent building, a vacated one-room schoolhouse (formerly Frankenmuth School District Number 1). Thus, year round exhibit of Christmas decorations became possible! “At first the people of the community thought the idea to be rather unusual, but accepted it fully when Frankenmuth became known as the Christmas Town.” (Bronner’s 2005 Corporate History, page 35.)

“Thinking Big”

Wally Bronner with employees. (Photo taken in the 1960s. Photo is courtesy Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland)

Herman Bronner (Wally’s father) was a building contractor and stone mason. He convinced his son to “think big” by changing the plans for the first Bronner-owned building from two, L-shaped, rectangular buildings to one large, square building. The Bronner’s store at 121 East Tuscola (a lot adjoining Aunt Hattie’s grocery store) opened in 1954. It was divided into two sections, one space for the sign painting business, the other for Christmas decorations.

Wally was grateful for his dad’s vision and business acumen. The municipal clientele grew to include shopping centers and commercial interiors. As buyers selected decorations for their stores and churches, their wives requested home decorations. From 1954 to 1963, Bronner exhibited at the Saginaw County Fair, which, at the time, boasted numbers of three hundred thousand people. By 1960, the company was officially incorporated, and home decorations were added to the product line. In 1964, the first billboard advertising Bronners appeared on I-75, ten miles south of Exit 136 (Frankenmuth). Many travelling up North are familiar with that sign. Subsequent ones (more than sixty located in seven states) continue to extol the importance of holiday cheer and illumination.

Source material

Picturesque Story of Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland, as related by Wally Bronner. Published by Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland, 2005.

The History of Bronner’s Christmas Decorations by Doris A Paul. Published by the Frankenmuth Historical Museum, 1981.

Brad Redford, a native of Frankenmuth visited Bronner's last year and has a pretty funny video in his show Redford's Rundown. However, we're going to have to go with this awesome music video of Wally Bronner (Christmas Always) by Michigan rockers The Hard Lessons. A little tip: click that link and subscribe to their email list to download their entire new album Arms Forest AND stay tuned at the end of the video for the B-side of this song, O Holy Night!

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“King of the Toy Train World”

For more than one hundred years, Lionel trains have been a favorite toy. Originally founded in New York City in 1900 by inventor Joshua Lionel Cowen, the company now resides in Michigan.

This photo dates from about the early 1930s. The train is identified as a Lionel - based on comparisons of the switches, signal, trucks, track gauges, etc. with contemporary Lionel catalogs.

Cowen designed his first train, the Electric Express, not as a toy but as a display for selling toys. Demand soon turned the train into a toy.

It was at this time that Cowen’s superior marketing abilities made their impact. Cowen is responsible for linking toy trains to the Christmas season. It was Cowen’s idea to include toy trains as part of crèche displays. Later, incredible showroom and department store displays would leave every young boy wanting toy trains for Christmas, and toy trains remain popular Christmas gifts today. Colorful annual catalogs also enticed buyers.

By the 1920s, Lionel was the king of the toy train world. It was during this period that Lionel produced some of their most beautiful trains. The locomotives and rolling stock were highly detailed.

Lionel ceased toy production during World War II and manufactured items for national defense.

“A Real Estate Developer Who Loved Toy Trains”

In 1971, Lionel moved to Mt. Clemens, Michigan, but the company experienced hard times. In 1986, Richard P. Kughn, a real estate developer in Detroit who loved toy trains from the time he was seven years old, bought Lionel Trains. The sales and quality of the trains improved dramatically.

Kughn once talked about his passion for toy trains. “I was walking home from school on trash day. There was a trash barrel out in front of a house with a train sticking out on top. I didn’t know much about trains or toy trains at the time, but it intrigued me so I pulled all the pieces out, including the tracks and the transformer. I took it home, and my dad helped me clean it up. We worked on it and put it on the ping-pong table in the basement, and it ran.”

Kughn said “If you’re happy in what you’re doing, in creating, putting things together, watching things happen in front of your eyes because of your efforts, it makes you smile. . .and time goes by rapidly when you play with toy trains—that’s happiness.”

In 1995, Kughn sold the company. Today, it is located in Chesterfield, Michigan.

Seeking Michigan would like to thank the following for consultation on the photo above:

Peter Magoun, Trains and Things Hobbies, Traverse City, Michigan
Mark Cowles, Lansing Area N-Trak Model Railroad Club
Various members of the National Model Railroad Association

You can click to visit Lionel Trains, and here's a blast from the past - The Wonderful World of Trains from Lionel Trains.

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A Man and His Mountain from Justin Vander Velde on Vimeo.

Mt Mancelona Postcard, Cardcow.com

Last winter Jason Dodge of miskireport.com and his crew spent time at Mount Mancelona and, with intern Justin Vander Velde and the  assistance of the documentary class at Grand Valley State, produced this very cool video about long-shuttered Mt. Mancelona.  Jason writes:

This project is the pinnacle of things that I have been involved with up until this point. A Man and His Mountain not only tells the story of Mt. Mancelona, but it uncovers the true passion that owner Joe has been hanging onto for the past 22 years.

After having the privilege of meeting Joe, listening to the stories, and working alongside the crew to capture the history, I ask myself why would I not want to come to Mt. Mancelona? Why would I not want my family to experience this place? After all, isn’t this true ski culture? Perhaps I’m a touch traditional and don’t get that knocked out about the fancy high-speed lifts, gondolas and magic carpets. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy riding in a Cadillac as much as the next guy, but there is a lot to appreciate about rusty t-bars, the smell of raw fuel in a 1960’s Tucker, and an old weathered lodge. This is the natural patina of skiing and snowboarding, captured at Mt. Mancelona.

Looking down Mt Mancelona, miskireport.com

Read on for more about the project and some production stills. A cool site we found is Michigan Lost Ski Areas Project (MILSAP). Their entry for Mt. Mancelonanotes that:

In 1958, Sports Illustrated reported a 1200′ t-bar with a 300′ rise, and 5 ropes. New for 1958 were 3 rope tows, the lodge with locker room and bar, a new trail, lights for Friday night skiing and hi-fi skiing music.

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driver boy by j3net

What lies beneath: A look at Saginaw's coal mining past from yesterday's Saginaw News says that the new "Mining for Prosperity: Coal in the Saginaw Valley" exhibit at the Castle Museum identifies 29 coal mines in Saginaw County and notes that In the early part of the 20th century, more than 1,000 people made their living working in Saginaw’s coal mines.

An excellent article on The Coal Fields of Bay County explains that:

The first discovery of coal in the valley was made simultaneously with the discovery of salt. Through the influence of the late Dr. George A. Lathrop, the East Saginaw Salt Manufacturing Company was organized in 1859, and the first well was completed in May 1860. While the work was in progress Dr. Lathrop, who was a geologist, made a drawing giving an analysis of the mineral deposits through which the drill passed. This map shows that coal was struck in two places at a depth of over two hundred feet. The doctor then made the remark that the time was coming when coal would be drilled for all over the valley...

(Saginaw Mine director) Mr. Chappell said recently: "I have drilled a great deal and can safely say that Saginaw Valley coal is far superior to any coal in Michigan. It is a free coal that burns up to a light ash without leaving clinkers, and is a coal of almost complete combustion, throwing out but very little soot, making it a first-class domestic soft coal. For steam purposes it compares very favorably with the Ohio product, more especially that from the Hocking Valley. There is a large area of the Saginaw Valley under laid with this coal; just how much will not be determined until the territory is drilled up, but enough has been shown already to make it a splendid inducement for manufacturers to locate here on account of this advantage."

Read on for information about many of the mines in the region. The Saginaw News notes that the Federal Government is pretty concerned about many of the old mine shafts.

About the photo: Janet writes: This young miner is carrying the braided whip he uses to drive his mule. I bought this card on ebay where it was described as coming from a collection of cards from St. Louis, Michigan. Real photo card, divided back, unused. AZO stamp box dates it to between 1904 and 1918.

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U.S. government poster, 1942. Click on images to view them in a larger size (Image from the United States National Archives. Wikimedia Commons).

It has been seventy years since the "Day of Infamy" – December 7, 1941. On that day, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, propelling the United States fully into World War II. For an entire generation of Americans, the world changed forever.

Today, later generations may wonder how it felt to experience firsthand such a pivotal moment of history. Twenty years ago, Michigan History Magazine provided some insight. The Magazine's November/December 1991 issue contains reminisces on that fateful day.

Up Close

The reminiscences include eye witness accounts of the attack. Frank Peter Stock of Hamtramck recalls several Japanese planes passing him overhead. "The rear machine gun of each plane sprayed us with bullets," he writes. "They were so close that you could almost count the stitches in the pilots' helmets... My first thoughts were that this was a drill, and we should act accordingly. But I had never seen planes come in from this direction before."

Ted Blahnik of Coloma also experienced the attack firsthand. He had been aboard the ship Helena. "We thought we were hearing bees," he remembered. "Later on, when we cleaned up our gunmount area, we discovered it was actually bullets that we heard." He also recalled post-attack conditions: "One of the most heartrending things that I witnessed was after the water was out of the Helena. The fellows went into the dry dock area, up to the gaping hole that the torpedo made, and took the bodies out from the area in which the torpedo hit."

Back Home

Americans on the home front also held vivid memories of December 7, 1941. Many recalled hearing radio news casts. Forest B. Meek of Clare remembered The Shadow radio program being interrupted. "What kid in the eighth grade knew where Pearl Harbor was?," he asked. "I sure didn't, and this interruption was an invasion into my private world of good versus evil." Mary Anderson of West Branch recalled hearing the news on a car radio. Christine Stevinson of Royal Oak remembered being at a party. "The radio was on," she said, "but there was so much laughing and talking no one heard the news for awhile. But suddenly, someone caught a bit of the broadcast and complete silence reigned." Others stated that they heard the news from someone else and then quickly turned on the radio. As December 7, 1941 was a Sunday, a few people reported hearing the news in church.

U.S. Navy sailors in a motor launch rescue a survivor of the U.S.S. West Virginia, December 7, 1941 (U.S. Navy photo from the National Archives. Wikimedia Commons).

Reactions

Elizabeth Anesi of Portland stated that "My roommate and I had the same reaction: we didn't really believe it. My roommate said, 'The only thing I remember hearing about the last war was the shortage of sugar,' so she went into the kitchen and made a batch of fudge."

Disbelief is, in fact, a common theme in the recollections. Other reactions are noted as well. Margaret Greene of Marshall stated that, "Our first reaction was disbelief, then outrage." Virginia Weaver of Lansing remembered some fear. "Everyone in the house feared the future," she said. "None of us slept well that night."

One thing is certain: The Pearl Harbor attack changed America and the world. As Duane T. Brigstock of Battle Creek wrote, "For many of us, our lives changed forever, creating such a division in our life that we still speak of 'before the war' and 'after the war.'"

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by Dave Votta, CADL Local History Librarian

The Grand River has played a pivotal role in the history and development of the village of Dimondale since Isaac M. Dimond built the first dam and mills in the 1850s. The dam and his mills were mostly washed away by freshets. However, Mr. Dimond persevered and in 1856, the year of his second ill fated mill, he platted a village and named it Dimondale. He then summarily returned to New York where, according to Durant’s History of Ingham and Eaton Counties “his death soon after occurred.”

Despite onerous origins milling became a viable business in the village. By 1880 there were saw, steam, planning and grist mills. Mechanic and millinery shops thrived. There was a post office, hotel and several stores. In October of 1897 the Dimondale News began.

Amid this description of a bustling, picturesque village a shadowy figure emerges steeped in American Gothic. One Delos Marvin, a resident of Dimondale, is described in the State Republican newspaper of 1908 as living alone in a “strange little house close beside the Grand River.” He occupied his time not only is constant verbal communication with an unseen or heard good spirit companion, but fighting and eradicating evil spirits. The interior walls of his one room domicile were covered in punctured scrap metal. The pieces included tin, iron, stove pipes, washboards and more, all perforated with nail holes. Each hole stated Marvin “destroys an evil spirit.” He wore a necklace of small, round, tin pieces with holes to ward off all disease and regularly struck up a resounding cacophony, banging a horseshoe on a tin pan to call the good spirits to him.

His self-esteem does not appear to have suffered from being a bit of an outsider. He is quoted saying “he is the most wonderful person living, having single-handedly and alone destroyed nearly every spirit of darkness.”

From Federal Census records Delos Marvin was born about 1846. In 1860 he is listed living in DeWitt with his family. His father S.P. Marvin was a Probate Judge. The 1908 story recounts him living off a federal pension. Records indicate he may have served in the 3rd Regiment of the New York Light Artillery during the Civil War. His father was from New York.

The neighbors apparently were not too unnerved by Marvin’s antics. He was declared a “unique citizen” and that he “furnishes its [Dimondale] people with a great deal of harmless amusement with his quaint vagaries and wonderful flights of fancy.” The paper describes community support and his receiving “generous baskets of food from public suppers” and “many a glass of jelly and other dainties from the good housewives of the town.”

It is unclear when, but Marvin is reported to have at one time been a “well paid” newspaper reporter. His fate is equally murky. To date, the last known documentation places him in the Kent County Detention Hospital. In the 1920 Federal Census we find him there listed as a patient.

-Dave V., CADL Local History Librarian

Sources Consulted

State Republican (December 15, 1908)
History of Ingham and Eaton Counties by Samuel Durant
Past and Present of Eaton County by the Rev. Wolcott B. Williams
1860 U.S. Federal Census

1820 U.S. Federal Census
Civil War records M551 roll 8
Photograph from the Caterino Collection at the Capital Area District Libraries’ Special Collections

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Born December 7, 1919, Fred worked in the store from the start, helping his father build the tiny grocery into a chain of supermarkets. In 1962, under Fred’s leadership, the chain opened its first “Thrifty Acres” store in Grand Rapids, a huge one-stop shopping discount emporium. As the company grew he was always an advocate of promoting people from within, an outspoken champion of civil rights, and a zealot for low prices. Fred – and he was, to his employees, simply “Fred” – was known for his competitive spirit and a keen sense of his own humble origins. In industry affairs, he was one of the longest serving directors of the Food Marketing Institute (formerly the Super Market Institute), and winner of its Sidney Raab award for outstanding service.

In his adopted hometown of Grand Rapids he played a vital role in the early years of the local Urban League and Goodwill Industries, and helped lead downtown urban renewal efforts. In 1984 he worked with a group of civic leaders and friends of President Ford to build the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum on the west bank of the Grand River. In those years he also served on the Cleveland District Board of the Federal Reserve. More recently, he was an active member of the Improvement Association.

In the video below, a rough cut of interviews and photos, Meijer tells a wonderful story about as customer coming in to the family store to return an off brand of cereal for Kellogg's. Fred was about to tell the customer it had been purchased  at a competitor's store when his father said "Shut up Fred, we can eat the cereal." The message he learned: Don't send a customer to a competitor for a dime.

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...at which time the center courtyard section was enclosed by the addition of a geodesic dome roof section weighing 18,000 pounds. The Rotunda reopened to the public on June 16, 1953, as part of Ford's 50th Anniversary Celebration. A highlight of this celebration included 50 huge Birthday candles, mounted and lit along the rim of the Rotunda.

The ultra-modern Rotunda was a huge attraction, becoming the fifth most popular United States tourist destination during the 1950s. In fact, only Niagara Falls, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, The Smithsonian Institution, and the Lincoln Memorial were more popular. Yellowstone, Mount Vernon, the Washington Monument, and the Statue of Liberty all received less visitors.

The annual Christmas Fantasy held during the Holiday season was partially responsible for the Rotunda's popularity, with nearly a half million people visiting during 1953, the very first year it was held. A giant Christmas tree was always a spectacular thing to see, and the Christmas Fantasy became more spectacular each year. Highlights from various years included animated characters from children's stories, a 1/2" per foot scale 15,000-piece miniature circus with 800 animals, 30 tents, and 435 toy figurines of circus performers and customers. In all, nearly 6 million people visited the Christmas Fantasy during the nine years it was held at the Rotunda.

When flames consumed a Christmas fantasy from the Detroit News Rearview Mirror relates that over 6 million people visited the Christmas Fantasy over the 9 years it was held and tells the sad tale of how it burned to the ground on November 9, 1962. You can see some more photos from Ford and see a Ford Rotunda slideshow from Karen Breen-Bondie.  Many of the photos below also appear on Television History - The First 75 Years. They also have a nice aerial of how the Ford Rotunda was located in relation to the Rouge Plant.

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Here is a portrait of Elsie Schuenemann at the wheel of the Christmas Ship, near the Clark Street Bridge on the Chicago River in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois. The boat carried Christmas trees to Chicago from Michigan. Her father, Captain H. Schuenemann, died when the Rouse Simmons, a ship carrying Christmas trees, sank in 1912.

The trees behind her likely came from the woods of Escanaba. Though the story of Barbara Schuenemann and her three daughters carrying on the tradition of the Christmas Tree Ships has perhaps been a little over-romanticized, there can be little doubt that the Schuenemann family and the many others who participated in the difficult trade of hauling Christmas trees south as the storms of winter closed in were heroes cut from a cloth that isn't found too often today.

If you'd like to read more about all the Christmas tree ships (there were many more than just the famous Rouse Simmons) I recommend Christmas Tree Ships from Fred Neuschel. He has also written a book called Lives and Legends of the Christmas Tree Ships (available from UM Press). The National Archive also has The Christmas Tree Ship: Captain Herman E. Schuenemann and the Schooner Rouse Simmons that details the Schuenemann's story.

You can also see Rich Evenhouse's great video of diving the Rouse Simmons - click for more of his dive videos.

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Turkey by Vaughan

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and over a million Michiganians will soon be hitting the road to attend family get-togethers and enjoying annual traditions. To help get ready for the upcoming holiday we have compiled a bunch of informative and entertaining Thanksgiving related links for you to enjoy.

Thanksgiving Food & Drink

Thanksgiving starts with turkey, and the folks at Michigan Turkey are getting ready. An article from Whole Foods notes that Michigan Turkey  is not a large conglomerate - they work strictly with farms in west Michigan within 25 miles of the plant. Check out the video below The Traverse City Record-Eagle has a great feature with tips & recipes for making it a local Thanksgiving and mLive's Thanksgiving Page has some excellent info (with more coming) including a recipe for cherry wood smoked turkey that looks absolutely delicious! They note that Thanksgiving is expected to cost about 13% more in 2011, but also offer a few tips for a simpler and lower stress holiday.

You can get lots of great Thanksgiving recipes and dinner ideas on the Food Network's website and go to Michigan-based Kitchen Chick for a ton of Thanksgiving recipes including cranberry pie!

Michigan Master Sommelier Claudia Tyagi told us:

I always like Riesling with turkey, although with poultry Chardonnay would be beautiful. You have a lot of versatility and a lot of possibility with turkey. You could use a white wine or an aromatic wine. Those tend to go well with turkey, too.

Speaking of wine & recipes, there's a post on Leelanau.com today that pairs recipes from Traverse magazine with wines. Last year Claudia sent us Sylvia Rector's article Give Michigan wines a second look on Thanksgiving. She calls out some more Michigan wines that you'll want to put on your wine shop radar! MyNorth.com suggest a few Rieslings on the sweeter side and they also list some great dry Rieslings (which are awesome if you haven't tried them).

The Centennial Cranberry Farm in Paradise was established in 1876 and has online ordering of all kinds of cranberry products. Absolute Michigan has more about Michigan Cranberries, and lots more Turkey Day food ideas & articles at absolutemichigan.com/Thanksgiving and in our Michigan Grown section in Food & Dining!

Parades & Football!

2011 marks the 85th birthday of America's Thanksgiving Parade, and the parade is one of the country's oldest and most celebrated parades. It kicks off at 9:20 AM on Woodward Avenue and Mack and end at Woodward Avenue and Congress in downtown Detroit on Thursday, November 24, 2011.

If you Motown is off your radar on Thanksgiving, how about a nice set of parade photos from the our Flickr pool, a clickondetroit.com article - "Thousands Cheered As America's Thanksgiving Parade Rolled Down Woodward " (with video), a historical look at Detroit's Thanksgiving Day Parade and a TV tuned to WDIV-TV Local 4 at 9 AM (also on for an hour nationally). If you're the prudent type, you might consider building up a calorie credit balance at the Annual Detroit Turkey Trot.

Thanksgiving Day by Dave Hogg

The Detroit Lions 72nd Thanksgiving Day Classic pits the Lions against the NFL leading and currently undefeated Green Bay Packers. We'll have details next week on Absolute Michigan.

Amaze your family, friends with what you learn about the origins and history of Thanksgiving on Wikipedia.

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The Carl D. Bradley, circa 1950 (Photo From the Edwin T. Brown Collection, Archives of Michigan)

Editor’s note: This article was first published in the January/February 2009 issue of Michigan History magazine.

“A Deafening Thud”

Abandon ship! Abandon ship! The whistle squawked seven short blasts, then one long blast. It was a signal twenty-six year old deck watchman Frank Mays knew well, but never expected to hear. Just minutes earlier, he had been having a smoke with Gary Price in the dunnage room, deep in the bow, when they heard a deafening thud. “We hightailed it out of there to find out what had happened,” Mays recalls. “When I reached the upper deck, I looked aft and saw the stern flapping up and down like a dog’s tail.” The Carl D. Bradley‘s back had broken, and it would be only a matter of minutes before water filled the tunnels and cargo holds of the 639-foot vessel. It was 5:30 p.m. on November 18, 1958.

Final Voyage

The Bradley had departed Gary, Indiana the day prior, running in ballast in building southwest seas along Lake Michigan’s western shore. On the season’s final voyage, the veteran boat was scheduled to head to Manitowoc, Wisconsin for repairs during its winter lay-up. The rusting cargo had been due for an $800,000 replacement for over a year, but its owner, Bradley Transportation Company, a subsidiary of U.S. Steel, pushed the work back until the end of the season. A radio call from headquarters ordering an additional stone delivery before lay-up proved to be the demise of the Bradley. Despite reports of gale-force winds and thirty-foot seas that compelled other freighter captains to take shelter along Wisconsin’s shore, Captain Roland Bryan, known as a “heavy weather man,” headed northeast across the lake from the Door County peninsula toward the Straits of Mackinac and back to Rogers City. At 5:35 p.m., the Bradley sank twelve miles southwest of Gull Island.

“The Worst Night of His Life”

Even today, survivor Mays recalls that horrific night with clarity. Hunkered down on the life raft just aft of the pilothouse, he trembled realizing the sinking beneath him. His eyes were drawn aft toward the flying sparks as the huge steel deck plates began to tear apart. In the growing darkness and mayhem, he could make out second mate John Fogelsonger running toward the stern and leaping over the break. Before his eyes, his friend disappeared as the Bradley ripped apart. The next thing Mays recalls was being pitched into the air, landing in the icy, angry water and then struggling onto the raft where he fought to hold on through the worst night of his life.

“A Painful Memory”

By morning, only Mays and first mate Elmer Fleming were alive. After fifteen bone-numbing hours in the icy waters, the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Sundew rescued them. All thirty-three of their mates, including Gary Strelecki and Dennis Meredith, who shared the raft for most of the night, as well as two of Frank’s own cousins, perished. These men left behind twenty-five widows and fifty-four fatherless children. Considering twenty-three of the crew hailed from Rogers City, the home port of the Bradley, the loss personally affected nearly everyone in the small community. Fifty years later, the sinking is still a painful memory.

As promised, here is the trailer for November Requiem. You can get the Emmy Award Winning DVD right here from the Presque Isle County Historical Museum.

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This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.
~Elmer Davis

Today's photo and quotation is provided by luna.nik and I think that it pretty much sums up what is asked, what is given and what we are called to remember and honor on Veterans Day and all the year long.

If you don't get a chance to get out to Veteran's Day parades or ceremonies to hear some veterans speak, you can see some interviews with veterans from the Southfield Veterans Commission that were produced as part of the Library of Congress Veterans History Project. This one features Herbert Howard of Southfield and there are many more right here.

Much more Michigan Veterans Day information.

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Joseph Fulton put together this amazing tribute to the 29 men who went down with the Edmund Fitzgerald in Lake Superior on November 10, 1975. This video is one of the best I've ever seen on YouTube and I hope you can watch it. More shipping & shipwrecks on Absolute Michigan and also see much more about the Edmund Fitzgerald on Michigan in Pictures including the launch of the Fitz.

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~A message found in a bottle 11 days after Plymouth disappeared, dictated by Chris Keenan, federal marshal in charge of the barge

Wikipedia says that the Great Lakes Storm of 1913, also known as the "Freshwater Fury"or the "White Hurricane", was a blizzard with hurricane-force winds that ravaged the Great Lakes November 7-10, 1913. With the sinking of 19 ships, the stranding of another 19 and a death toll of at least 250, it remains the deadliest and most destructive natural disaster in Great Lakes history.

Major shipwrecks occurred on all but Lake Ontario, with most happening on southern and western Lake Huron. Lake masters recounted that waves reached at least 35 feet (11 m) in height. Being shorter in length than waves ordinarily formed by gales, they occurred in rapid succession, with three waves frequently striking in succession. Masters also stated that the wind often blew in directions opposite to the waves below. This was the result of the storm's cyclonic motion*, a phenomenon rarely seen on the Great Lakes.

In the late afternoon of November 10, an unknown vessel was spotted floating upside-down in about 60 feet (18 m) of water on the eastern coast of Michigan, within sight of Huronia Beach and the mouth of the St. Clair River. Determining the identity of this "mystery ship" became of regional interest, resulting in daily front-page newspaper articles. The ship eventually sank, and it was not until early Saturday morning, November 15, that it was finally identified as the Charles S. Price. The front page of that day's Port Huron Times-Herald extra edition read, "BOAT IS PRICE" DIVER IS BAKER "SECRET KNOWN". Milton Smith, the assistant engineer who decided at the last moment not to join his crew on premonition of disaster, aided in identifying any bodies that were found.

You can get a map to the wreck of the Charles S Price, and here's a list of shipwrecks of the 1913 storm and an account of the weather. You can see more photos from Wikipedia and also in Lakeland Boating's slideshow of some of the on and offshore damage from the Freshwater Fury (includes a shot of the Price prior to its sinking). GreatLakesShips has this excellent tribute to the ships and crews that didn't weather the storm below and you'll also want to check out this interview with survivor Edward Kanaby.

*The Great Lakes storm of October 2010 had cyclonic wind patterns as well.

More at absolutemichigan.com/Shipwreck and even Michigan shipwrecks on Michigan in Pictures (where this post originally appeared).

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One of the many encounters listed on Steve Cook's great website took place in the summer of 1938. 17-year-old Robert Fortney was fishing on the banks of the Muskegon River near Paris, Michigan when a pack of what appeared to be large feral dogs emerged from the woods:

Fortney remained silent, but the sensitive noses of the dogs quickly picked up his scent. Since he had been small game hunting earlier in the day, Fortney had his loaded rifle nearby. As the dogs approached, they assumed the group posture of a pack on a hunt. Fortney picked up the gun and fired a shot into the air.

The dogs cringed and turned to slink back into the forest, all except one: a huge black dog with unusual eyes.

"They were blue," said Fortney. "What kind of dog has blue eyes?" The big dog and Fortney considered each other for a long moment, less than ten feet separating them. Fortney fired another shot over the head of the strange dog. Then to Fortney's shock and amazement, the black dog stood up on two legs and cast a glare that sent shivers down his spine.

"It reared up on its hind legs and stared at me," said Fortney in a phone interview in 1987. "It may be that I was just scared, but I swear that dog was smiling at me."

Click for many more encounters and also check the website for details on a DVD to be released in 2012. Don't miss another pair of tales from Weird Michigan's Linda Godfrey of the Dogman at Fayette and the Dogman in Washtenaw County & near Bay City.

Profits from Cook's sales of Dogman merchandise support AC Paw, a no-kill animal rescue program that specializes in animals that have been injured, abused, or neglected. Click their logo for details.

The Dogman legend has grown over the years, and soon Michigan filmmaker Rich Brauer has just wrapped up the filming of "Dogman" which will be released soon. In a nice feature in today's Detroit Free Press, Brauer opines:

"Every culture has a mythical woodland creature that they blame stuff on. I don't know what it is about people that they want to blame stuff on something like that. There's an inherent imagination that people have, especially when they go in the woods and start to hear things and their hair stands up on the back of their head. ... It might turn out to be a chickadee on a stick, but up until that moment, it was something huge."

The photo to the right is a scene from the filming - click to read more at the Brauer indie films blog and definitely stay tuned to Absolute Michigan for more on the film. If you have a story of the Dogman, you can share it with Brauer & Steve Cook this Saturday - click here for details & appointments. Here's Cook's song ... Happy Halloween!

Looking for more? “Ghost” on Absolute Michigan brings up a graveyard full of spooky stories including the rowdy ghosts of the Fenton Hotel and the Ghost of Minnie Quay. The Great Lakes State even has its own cryptid, the Dogman. For more on the Dogman and many more scary stories, turn to Linda Godfrey’s Weird Michigan, a compendium of strange tales from all across Michigan.

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Detroit Gargoyles by The Whistling Monkey
part of a set of detroit Gargoyles

Among all the impish offspring of the Stone God, wizards and witches, that made Detroit feared by the early settlers, none were more dreaded than the Nain Rouge (Red Dwarf), or Demon of the Strait, for it appeared only when there was to be trouble. In that it delighted. It was a shambling, red-faced creature, with a cold, glittering eye and teeth protruding from a grinning mouth. Cadillac, founder of Detroit, having struck at it, presently lost his seigniory and his fortunes. It was seen scampering along the shore on the night before the attack on Bloody Run, when the brook that afterward bore this name turned red with the blood of soldiers. People saw it in the smoky streets when the city was burned in 1805, and on the morning of Hull's surrender it was found grinning in the fog. It rubbed its bony knuckles expectantly when David Fisher paddled across the strait to see his love, Soulange Gaudet, in the only boat he could find--a wheel-barrow, namely--but was sobered when David made a safe landing.

It chuckled when the youthful bloods set off on Christmas day to race the frozen strait for the hand of buffer Beauvais's daughter Claire, but when her lover's horse, a wiry Indian nag, came pacing in it fled before their happiness. It was twice seen on the roof of the stable where that sour-faced, evil-eyed old mumbler, Jean Beaugrand, kept his horse, Sans Souci--a beast that, spite of its hundred years or more, could and did leap every wall in Detroit, even the twelve-foot stockade of the fort, to steal corn and watermelons, and that had been seen in the same barn, sitting at a table, playing seven-up with his master, and drinking a liquor that looked like melted brass. The dwarf whispered at the sleeping ear of the old chief who slew Friar Constantine, chaplain of the fort, in anger at the teachings that had parted a white lover from his daughter and led her to drown herself--a killing that the red man afterward confessed, because he could no longer endure the tolling of a mass bell in his ears and the friar's voice in the wind.

The Nain Rouge it was who claimed half of the old mill, on Presque Isle, that the sick and irritable Josette swore that she would leave to the devil when her brother Jean pestered her to make her will in his favor, giving him complete ownership. On the night of her death the mill was wrecked by a thunder-bolt, and a red-faced imp was often seen among the ruins, trying to patch the machinery so as to grind the devil's grist. It directed the dance of black cats in the mill at Pont Rouge, after the widow's curse had fallen on Louis Robert, her brother-in-law. This man, succeeding her husband as director of the property, had developed such miserly traits that she and her children were literally starved to death, but her dying curse threw such ill luck on the place and set afloat such evil report about it that he took himself away. The Nain Rouge may have been the Lutin that took Jacques L'Esperance's ponies from the stable at Grosse Pointe, and, leaving no tracks in sand or snow, rode them through the air all night, restoring them at dawn quivering with fatigue, covered with foam, bloody with the lash of a thorn-bush. It stopped that exercise on the night that Jacques hurled a font of holy water at it, but to keep it away the people of Grosse Pointe still mark their houses with the sign of a cross.

It was lurking in the wood on the day that Captain Dalzell went against Pontiac, only to perish in an ambush, to the secret relief of his superior, Major Gladwyn, for the major hoped to win the betrothed of Dalzell; but when the girl heard that her lover had been killed at Bloody Run, and his head had been carried on a pike, she sank to the ground never to rise again in health, and in a few days she had followed the victims of the massacre. There was a suspicion that the Nain Rouge had power to change his shape for one not less offensive. The brothers Tremblay had no luck in fishing through the straits and lakes until one of them agreed to share his catch with St. Patrick, the saint's half to be sold at the church-door for the benefit of the poor and for buying masses to relieve souls in purgatory. His brother doubted if this benefit would last, and feared that they might be lured into the water and turned into fish, for had not St. Patrick eaten pork chops on a Friday, after dipping them into holy water and turning them into trout? But his good brother kept on and prospered and the bad one kept on grumbling. Now, at Grosse Isle was a strange thing called the rolling muff, that all were afraid of, since to meet it was a warning of trouble; but, like the feu follet, it could be driven off by holding a cross toward it or by asking it on what day of the month came Christmas. The worse of the Tremblays encountered this creature and it filled him with dismay. When he returned his neighbors observed an odor--not of sanctity--on his garments, and their view of the matter was that he had met a skunk. The graceless man felt convinced, however, that he had received a devil's baptism from the Nain Rouge, and St. Patrick had no stancher allies than both the Tremblays, after that.

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Elmore Leonard, The Dickens of Detroit

Detroit author Elmore Leonard is celebrating his eighty-sixth birthday today (October 11, 2011). Leonard was born in New Orleans in 1925. He has made the Detroit area his home since 1934, when his family moved there. The city of Detroit often serves as the main character in his novels. As a result, fans often refer to Elmore Leonard as the ‘Dickens of Detroit.”

Leonard graduated from University of Detroit Jesuit High School in 1943. He then immediately joined the Navy, where he served with the Seabees. After his service, he enrolled at the University of Detroit and graduated in 1950 with a degree in English and Philosophy. Leonard started his writing career as a copywriter at the Campbell-Ewald Advertising Agency. Writing on the side, he was able to publish his first novel, The Bounty Hunters in 1953. In his early career, he focused on writing pulp Westerns, because that was what was selling at the time. Leonard eventually moved on to specialize in crime fiction and suspense thrillers. A large number of his books have been turned into movies or television programs.

Critics praise Leonard for his effective use of dialogue and the gritty realism in his books. His unique ear for dialogue and the ability to capture it on the page is rarely matched. Concise and plot driven, his stories are stuffed with colorful characters and tricky, often humorous plot twists. “If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it,” serves as Leonard’s writing mantra. He explains his success when advising aspiring writers by stating, “Try to leave out the parts that readers tend to skip.” Stephen King has called him “the great American writer.”

Among Leonard’s best known works are Get Shorty, Out of Sight, Mr. Majestyk, LaBrava, Rum Punch, Freaky Deaky and Killshot. In 2010, his short story “Fire In the Hole’ was the basis for the television series Justified. The Library of Michigan owns all of Leonard’s works in their Michigan Collection. Search ANSWER, the Library’s online catalog to locate works by Elmore Leonard.

Sources for this article include the WMRA Public Radio Blog and you can learn more about Elmore Leonard at his web site.

You can check out a video where Elmore Leonard's shares his tips for writers, but we'll start you off with part 1 of a 4 part feature on Elmore Leonard from Emery King's World Class Detroiters. Here's part 2, part 3 and part 4!

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Soo Aerial by Marge Beaver

Pasty.com's Day in History for October 4th says that Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan was founded on this day in 1641. Michigan History Magazine expands on this, relating that French Jesuits Isaac Jogues and Charles Raymbault held the first Christian services in Michigan at Sault Ste. Marie on that date. As you'll see in a moment, it's not really possible to get a date for the founding of the Soo, but everyone has to have a birthday, right?

Of course the Soo Locks are the first thing most people think of when they think of the Soo. You can see a webcam of the locks, and while your browser may have a problem with the secure certificate they use, it's a US government certificate and site so you're probably safe. saultstemarie.com relates that that the first lock was built way back in in 1797 by the Northwest Fur Company. It was just 38 feet long and remained in use until it was destroyed in the War of 1812, forcing boats again to portage around the rapids. Read on for much more.

The history page on on the Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan website:

Sault Ste. Marie is the oldest city in Michigan, and among the oldest cities in the United States. Over the course of history, the flags of several sovereign nations have flown over the Sault.

Over 2,000 years ago, Native Americans began to gather here for the wealth of fish and fur found along the rushing waters of the wide, turbulent river that linked the Great Lakes of Superior and Huron. Spring and fall were important seasons for these original settlers, and they called the area “Bahweting,” or “The Gathering Place.”

...In the 1600s, French missionaries and fur traders began to venture into the beautiful territory. The traders began calling the wild area Sault du Gastogne. In 1668, the legendary Jesuit missionary and explorer Fr. Jacques Marquette renamed this burgeoning European settlement Sault Ste. Marie, in honor of the Virgin Mary—the first "city" in the Great Lakes region.

While there is some debate on the exact meaning of "Sault," scholars of early French note that the word translates into jump, referring to the place where one needs to "jump", or put into the St. Mary’s River. This translation relates to the treacherous rapids and cascades that fall over 20 feet from the level of Lake Superior to the level of the lower lakes. Hundreds of years ago, this prohibited boat traffic and necessitated an overland portage from one lake to the other. This is how Portage Avenue, the main street running along the river, acquired its name.

Ashmun Street in 1888 courtesy Seeking Michigan

Some other good sites for area history include Sault Historic Sites,  the History & Culture of the Sault Tribe, and Sault Ste Marie, Michigan in Wikipedia. You can get links to Sault businesses and website and also articles for the Soo at absolutemichigan.com/Sault including Sault Ste. Marie: The Gathering Place, which offers more in depth history and a larger version of the photo above. Other good sites for modern day information are the Sault Area Chamber of Commerce,  Sault Ste Marie at michigan.org, the Soo Evening News and the EUP News blog.

You can see some pictures from the Soo at saultstemarie on Michigan in Pictures. Seeking Michigan has some great old photos of the Soo from the Archives of Michigan, but the best I found were from the Facebook page of I Love Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, particularly the History of Sault Ste Marie Michigan in Photographs and this gallery from Soo photographer Glenn W. Gregg. There's also 200+ Soo photos in the Absolute Michigan group on Flickr.

If you grew up in the Soo (which I didn't) I bet you'll love this video featuring photos & Bob Seger's Main Street from ILovetheSoo. While I enjoyed that one a lot, the one below features some of those great photos from Glenn Gregg.

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The Fenton Hotel, a former inn-turned-gourmet restaurant in the small, mid-state town of Fenton in Genesee County, is an establishment that prides itself on hanging onto things from its historic past. All the original tin ceilings still adorn the dining room, and the foyer looks much as it did back in stagecoach days. The second story's glory days still exists in its tile-floor ballroom, the communal men's and women's bathrooms and the dingy corner room once reserved for Emery, the place's late, longtime custodian. But the old brick building retains something far beyond old chairs and ancient porcelain fixtures in its aging halls.

Many people say the Fenton Hotel still hosts Emery, himself, along with an entire cast of ghostly hangers-on. People can hear Emery walking around in his former upstairs digs, his footsteps reverberating in the tin ceiling. Sometimes he thumps on the walls after customers leave, as if to tell the staff to get a move on. But Emery was a gentleman, say staff members at the Fenton. That's how they know it's some other ghost that sometimes gropes the arms or buttocks of unsuspecting waitresses.

And there are other spooks, each specter with his or her unique "signature" activity. The restaurant hostess told Weird Michigan in hushed tones that the incidents are not a thing of the past, either. "Things are still going on," she said ominously as she seated us at one of the green linen-covered tables. We ordered baked brie from the extensive menu and waited for the unseen hotel guests to arrive and float around us. Surrounded by intricate stained glass windows and well-preserved architecture, it was easy to envision patrons of yesteryear enjoying the evening alongside the contemporary crowd.

Built in 1856, the Fenton boasts its own official state historical marker, which explains that the interior is still much the same, although the exterior's old front porch fell victim to a team of runaway horses in 1904. The side of the building that faces the parking lot is embellished with paintings of ghostly inhabitants from another time, which only adds to the feeling of having stepped back into another century.

The bar area on the other side of the foyer is probably the building's hottest ghost spot. A bartender named Brittany told Weird Michigan that she was standing at her work station one evening when one of the wine glasses hanging by its stem from a slotted nook suddenly flew off its perch and sailed across the bar, crashing and breaking. She has also heard someone call her name when no one else was in the room, felt something brush her leg, and on several occasions, customers have told her they saw someone hugging her at a time when she could see or feel no one.

Besides the phantom cuddler, there is the recurring case of the mysterious man at table 32. Every now and then, a man seated there will order a shot of Jack Daniels on the rocks and the bartender will duly pour one, but upon attempting to serve it to the "customer," finds nothing but thin air. Speculation is that one of the house ghosts wants a drink badly enough to show himself and order one, but ultimately lacks the cash to pay for it and the throat to gulp it down.

The dining room is active, too. Two waitresses have spotted a disappearing black cat running across the floor. One staff person told us that last December, one of the ghosts decided to make merry by grabbing the posteriors of several waitresses, who invariably whirled around only to find no visible face to slap. December seems to be one of the restaurant's most active months for hauntings, said one waitress. "It's like they get excited with all the decorations and the parties," she noted. She also said that staff have heard ghostly voices admonishing them that "no personal calls" are allowed, and that sometimes a man's voice comes out of the bar speakers, either singing along with entertainers or making comments to customers.

Weird Michigan was able to take a guided tour of the closed upper level, which generally is not allowed since it is used for storage and many of the old rooms are no longer in good repair. We didn't see anything unusual; even Emery's small, cold room was quiet, although we couldn't help but wonder if the old custodian was upset at our intrusion. But while standing in the darkened hallway, one of us heard a female voice whispering close by that we could not explain. Strangest of all was the fact that after we descended the stairs, we found a small glob of melted candle wax near the viewfinder on our digital camera. There was no candle on our dining room table, and we saw none on the second floor. The wax globule was not there earlier while we were shooting other pictures. Perhaps one of the old hotel guests was examining us at closer range than we realized, using the lighting methods available in 1856! Or maybe someone was trying to tell us not to look at the upper story inhabitants through that viewfinder.

The book Haunted Michigan by Gerald S. Hunter devotes an entire chapter to the multi-spirited Fenton Hotel, and includes tales of various apparitions seen by staff and customers, including the face of a bearded man outside a second story window, a tall man in a black top hat, and a strange figure who actually took payment from several customers.

One other strange incident happened as Weird Michigan enjoyed the bizarre ambience of the Fenton Hotel. A dining room guest said she was in the ladies' room, sitting in the third stall, when she felt someone touch her hair and lift up a few strands. She thought that was odd, so we asked the waitress about it and her eyes grew wide.

"Back when the hotel was open," she said, "the cheaper rooms on the third floor were rented by working girls in the town. Rumor is that one of them got pregnant by a hotel patron, and she hung herself in the hotel. Other people have seen her in that third stall."

According to a hotel brochure, several séances have been performed on the premises, but the ghosts seem determined to stay. Perhaps for them, the Fenton Hotel is like the Eagles song hit song Hotel California… "you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave."

You can order Weird Michigan online from Barnes & Noble and at fine bookstores everywhere. Check out a whole lot more Michigan oddities from ghosts and goblins to people and places that are just a little bit - or a lot - strange!

Linda Godfrey grew up in Milton, Wisconsin, spending the majority of her time doing the same things she does now; reading, writing, making art and reading comics. She continues to create commercial art (represented by Tom Stocki at artfactoryltd.com) and fine art, and often illustrates her own books, specializing in cut paper collage and forensic drawings of strange creatures from witness descriptions. She lives in rural Elkhorn with her husband, Steven, with whom she has two grown sons who are remarkably tolerant of their mother's weird career.

Artwork for this article by Andy McFarlane, who enjoys Photoshop probably a bit too much.

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A poster for McCay's Gertie the Dinosaur cartoon, 1914 (Click for a larger view).

Winsor McCay, pioneering animator and comic strip artist, was a native of Spring Lake, Michigan. Spring Lake is also where he began his career in art. His father, Robert McCay, and mother Janet ran a grocery store in the village. While it is probable that Winsor was born in 1867 during a visit to his mother’s family in Ontario, McCay stated that he was born September 26, 1871, in Spring Lake, Michigan. He always considered Spring Lake his hometown.

In 1880, the Goodrich steamship Alpena, en route from nearby Grand Haven to Chicago, was wrecked in a terrible storm and sank to the bottom, carrying with it nearly one hundred passengers. At the age of thirteen, young Winsor drew a picture of the wreck on the blackboard of Union School, which he attended on Exchange Street. The illustration was photographed and copies were sold as postcards.

A panel from the comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland (1905-1914)

McCay’s comic strips included Little Nemo in Slumberland and Dream of the Rarebit Fiend. McCay created the very first animated cartoon in America with the release of Little Nemo in 1911 (See video link below).

Many in the animation world hail McCay today as the “Father of Animation.” As a tribute, the highest award that an animator can receive is an “Annie,” which is the Winsor McCay Award for Lifetime Achievement in Animation. When Disneyland first opened in 1955, so the story goes, Walt Disney took Robert McCay, son of Spring Lake native Winsor McCay, on a guided tour. He stopped near the end and said, “You know, this should really belong to your father.”

Winsor McCay passed away on July 26, 1934.

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Yesterday the Detroit Tigers powered to their 11th straight victory, a 5-0 shutout hurled by Justin Verlander, his 11th in a row as well and 23rd victory overall. The Tigers are now 12 1/2 games atop the AL Central and reduces their magic number to clinch to 4.

11 in a row ties the longest winning streak ever by the Detroit Tigers (September 9-21, 1968), and we thought it would be great to feature a little something from the other Tiger squad they are tied with, the 1968 Detroit Tigers. It's almost a half hour of footage from when the Tigers clinched the pennant and is a rare and wonderful look at one of the best baseball teams of all time.

Check out Mayo Smith at 6:30, and let's hope Jim Leyland is looking like that a whole lot over the next several weeks!

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Mackinaw bridge walk by KatSwinehart

On Labor Day (Monday, September 5th) the 54th annual Mackinac Bridge Walk takes place. The walk is free to all and starts at 7 AM and you can leave any time up to 11 AM. They have a blog with information for and about the 400 runners who won the lottery for an opportunity to take part in the early morning Mackinac Bridge Labor Day Run. It includes information for how to enter next year.

The first walk took place in the early morning hours of Labor Day, 1958. Just 68 people took that first 5 mile walk across the Mighty Mac. In the early years, it seems that the walk was sparsely attended and viewed as an annoyance until the Governor was brought in to lead the walk. The walk averages 50,000 to 65,000 attendees and the record is estimated to be 85,000 when George H. W. Bush led the walk in 1992.

In 2007, the Mackinac Bridge marked its 50th anniversary and Absolute Michigan & Michigan in Pictures posted a TON of information about the Mighty Mac that you can see on our Michigan's Mackinac Bridge page.

Here's a cool video from the Michigan Department of Transportation about last year's walk that features Lawrence Rubin, one of the primary people behind the construction of the Mackinac Bridge. Another nice video is the one we featured last year that you can watch on YouTube!

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at Mackinac :: a composite from -3 and -43 by Emery Co Photo

Sea Monster of the Straits

The authorities tried hard to convince the public what they saw were only giant catfish, but even the oldest, orneriest cats would be hard-pressed to attain a length of forty-five feet! The owner of a resort along the Cheboygan lakefront reported seeing something of just that size, and two of them, frolicking in the Mackinac Straits on Lake Huron in front of his property, about 600 feet from shore, according to an article in the June 25, 1976 Grand Rapids Press. The day after the resort owner called authorities about it, Cheboygan County Sheriff Stanley McKervey stopped by to have a look for himself. To his surprise, he also was able to observe one of the creatures. "I went down to the beach, and sure enough, I'm looking at something 20, maybe 30 feet long, swimming just below the surface," he said in the article. "I was amazed. I didn't know what it was, but it sure wasn't a publicity stunt."

The sheriff continued watching the creature through binoculars. It only rose about an inch above water level, he said, but any disturbance on shore would cause it to dive deeper again. And that's exactly what happened when the sheriff ordered a couple of deputies to surveil the thing in a canoe. It was gone long before the pair got there. Unfortunately, rough water conditions set in the next few days and no one could go out for another look. It wasn't observed again, and other experts theorized that perhaps it was a giant eel or carp. But neither of those sound like what the sheriff and the resort owner saw!

Lake Leelanau Monster

The story of an early 20th Century sea monster sighting was sent to The Shadowlands Web site by a reader whose great-grandfather was the witness. The boy was fishing for perch one day in 1910 in the shallows of Lake Leelanau in Leelanau County. The lake had been dammed in the late 1800's to provide water power for the local mill and to enable logging. The dam also flooded much surrounding area, turning it into swamps and bogs punctuated by dead, standing trees.

On that particular day, the young great-grandfather, William Gauthier, rowed out to a new fishing spot near the town of Lake Leelanau. Looking for good perch habitat, he paddled up close to a tree that he estimated to stand about five feet tall above the water, with a six-inch trunk. He was in about seven feet of water, and after deciding this would be a good place to stop and cast a line, began tying the boat to the tree.

That's when young William discovered the tree had eyes. They were staring him dead in the face at about four feet above water level. The boy and serpent exchanged a long gaze, then the creature went, "Bloop" into the water. Gauthier said later that the creature's head passed one end of the boat while the tail was still at the other end, though it was undulating very quickly through the water. The writer noted that Gauthier always admitted to having been thoroughly frightened by his encounter, and that the event caused him to stay off that lake for many years.

The writer added that his great-grandfather came from a prominent area family and was very well-educated, and that he knew others who would admit privately but not publicly that they, too, had seen the creature. No sightings have been reported in recent times, but who knows how many people have believed they were passing by a rotting old cedar when in fact they had just grazed the Leelanau lake monster?

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