Sunday - Day 11

It was 56 degrees in the camper when I got up this morning. I LOVE this cool weather. I went over to an Iron Museum in Negaunee, only about 4 miles from the campground in Ishpeming. I got there in time to spend 20 minutes walking their trail through the woods and still be at the door when they opened at 9:30. It was an interesting place. I spent a couple of hours there. The museum was more about the lives of the miners than just iron mining.

The Marble Company was a big outfitter. It sold clothing, knives, guns and all sorts of camping equipment. This over/under handgun was interesting. The top barrel fired a 22 while the lower could take either a 44 or a 410 shotgun shell. 

Below is a photo of the trestle that fed the ore dock in Marquette, that I talked about previously.

Even though this area is rich in iron deposits there was never a financially successful forging operation in the area. An interesting factoid…Charcoal was used to melt the ore, it took 1,000 bushels of charcoal to produce 5 tons of bar iron, it took 20-30 cords of hardwood to produce the 1,000 bushels of charcoal.

I had never heard that Coldwater, MI was the site of the first forge in Michigan. I did a few online searches but found nothing about a forge in Coldwater. I did find a genealogical record of an Ariel Barney living in the area at the time, nothing about Aaron Olds.

Iron mining in this area began in 1847. The first of the Soo Locks opened in 1855, prior to that all the ore mined in this region had to be loaded on a boat, transported to the head of the rapids at Sault Ste Marie, unloaded and hauled overland to the other side of the rapids and then loaded on another boat. From 1847 to 1858 the cost of shipping ore from the Marquette Range to Lake Erie dropped from $8/ton to $3/ton.

Then it was back to the campground to hook up and head for Kritter’s Northcountry Campground near Newberry, MI, about a 135 mile drive. On the way over we went a few miles out of the way and drove through Munising. We enjoyed the day we spent there 7 years ago. Brought back memories of our boat trip to Picture Rocks and another trip to see ship wrecks.

We stayed here when we were up here before. It is under new ownership and is growing. We can even get a cell signal now. I mentioned to the lady at the desk that when we were in the UP 7 years ago we had no problems finding spots at campgrounds, now it seems like they are all full if you don't have a reservation. She told me that she and her husband have owned the campground for 4 years and that they get busier every year. 

The only site we could reserve when I called a couple of days ago was a site with only electricity. All the other sites with electricity & water, or electricity, water & sewer, were full up. This is during the week and after the school has started. Last time we were in the UP was in July. Kids were still on summer vacation.

Our site.

Most of the open space if tent camper sites. There is a nice playground here and quite a few young kids, pre school age.

High got up to 80 degrees today. We ran the AC some in the evening but it cooled down enough to turn it off before going to bed.

God is good, may He bless you and yours.