Today was uneventful.
We drove from Milwaukee to Houghton, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Tomorrow
we will move a bit further up the Keweenaw Peninsula to shoot the Houghton
Historical Society, and the Lake Linden & Torch Railroad.
Today found us at the
Houghton
County Historical Museum Society in Lake Linden, Michigan. This areas
was once home to some of the purest copper deposits in the world, and was a
boom area from the late 1800's to the mid 1900's. Literally millions of
dollars in copper were dug from the ground, in mines that often went as deep
as 8-10,000 feet. It sounds incredible. Of course, with the mines,
we had transportation systems, which included the railroad. In addition to
a rather extensive and
eclectic collection of area artifacts, there is a 1/2
mile narrow gauge steam railroad. The Society has a loop of track on
their property, and runs both a small Porter 0-4-0 tank loco and a Plymouth
donkey that came from the Baraboo Ammunition plant. The engines are in
working
order, and one of the things you can do is go through the "Engineer
for a Day" program, in which the staff instructs you in the operation of the
locomotive. And as part of the hands-on training, you run the
train
for all the rides for the afternoon. It requires some coordination to
operate the throttle and the reverser, which actually changes the timing and
stroke of the cylinders. As there are grades on the run, the operator
has to pay attention to the stream pressure, economy of use of the steam, and
the speed. Additionally, the site houses a log cabin, some restored old
wagons, and a one room
schoolhouse, which is still completely functional. The staff was
extremely helpful with everything, although this is just the start of the
tourist season. Things apparently get pretty busy for the next two
months. But still, the train ran a regular schedule. We shot all
day, and
then
did some of the mine remnants, which abound in the area. As a finishing
shot, it was the lift bridge at the canal in Houghton.
The day started in sun, but once we finished with
breakfast, turned to rain, fog and mist. We drove up to Copper Harbor at
the end of the peninsula anyway, hoping that the sun would reappear.
It's pretty, with lots of trees, but there sure isn't
much up there. On the plus side, this is the start of US Highway 41,
which ends in Miami, Florida, 1,990 miles away. We popped off a couple
of shots in the mist, and then headed back down to Lake Linden. Halfway
back the sun reappeared, and so we took the time to go back and reshoot in the
sunlight. So we have lighthouses and high angles of valleys in fog and
sun.
I think we are covered. We stopped at the Museum, spent a couple of
hours hooting to finish up, and we're one with this segment. We are off
to meet our newest underwriter, Dick Taylor of Raildreams, Inc.
Raildreams designs custom layouts all around the country. The Keweenaw
Peninsula is a really pretty place. Color up here would be fantastic,
and is supposed to occur around the end of September/early October. And
if you like snow, this area gets a bunch. as an indication, there are no
gutters on the houses, many of the roofs have a two foot metal edge snow
guard, and most houses have airlocks. Snow and cold seem to be in
abundance here in winter.
An uneventful day ensued, as we just drove back to Milwaukee. The
Upper Peninsula is a great place to visit. It's relaxing, scenic, and
best of all, you can find a small steam railroad.
