My Finnish heritage

 September 24.

According to my DNA results, it seems that, among other ethnic groups, I am 1% Finnish. So it should come as no surprise that I was drawn to the Finnish Heritage Center in Hancock, Michigan, across the Portage river from Houghton. 

After a leisurely morning of coffee, fruit and cereal, we pulled out onto Pequaming Road. Passing through L'Anse, Chassell and Houghton we pulled up in front of the Finnish Heritage Center in Hancock. Unfortunately we missed the Sami Reindeer exhibition that had closed the previous day. But there were still some photos and trinkets to be seen as the staff was dismantling the exhibit. 

In spite of that the Finlandia art gallery in the Center is packed with wonderful works of art by the popular Finnish artist Akseli Gallen-Kallen. Prints of his striking artwork are scattered on the walls around the hall.

the Finnish Center community hall setting up for a dance that evening

We did however get the chance to chat with a couple of the staff members about the various events hosted and sponsored by the Center. We heard more about the 2023 closure of Finlandia University. It was a painful experience for the staff and students, as one might expect and, based on what we were hearing, very poorly handled by those in charge of the transition. Launched in 1896 as Sumi Opisto (Finnish College) and Theological Seminary it was originally connected with the Lutheran Evangelical Church in America to meet the needs of the growing number of Finns emigrating to the US. But with falling enrollment and financial challenges the school shuttered just three years ago.

We also explored the small but very evocative wartime museum on the ground floor of the Center. A stark reminder of how important the Finnish word sisu is to the Finns. Sisu loosely translated means "guts"  but so much more. Resilience in the face of adversity, and "an inner reserve of strength that allows a person to keep pushing forward when they reach the absolute limits of their mental or physical capacity."

From Hancock we continued on Route 41 north to Calumet where we planned to stop for lunch. We parked on main street (which isn't called main at all but 6th Street) and popped into the Michigan House for a bite to eat. We had our minds set on soup and we both opted for the soup of the day, garlic potato, washed down with a brace of local brews. Susie opted for the Black Rock again and I went for the Keweenaw "Widowmaker," a black ale that was scrumptious. I should point out that the logo for the "Widowmaker" is a woman holding a pneumatic drill -- the very same type of drill that we were warned about the day before at the Quincy Mine, an instrument notorious for killing so many of its users due to dust inhalation.

the soup came with a large "boule" which didn't look fully baked - not the best

After lunch we strolled down a block or two to the memorial for those killed in the horrible Italian Hall fire of 1913 during a widespread strike in Copper country. Rumor has it that company thugs blocked the doors so no one could get out. We also passed the Calumet theater next to which was a statue of Anna Klobuchar Clermenc, a labor leader in the early 19th century. It is unclear, although doubtful, whether she's related to Amy Klobuchar, senator from Minnesota.

Italian Hall memorial

From Calumet we made our way to M-203 in the direction of the "big" lake and stopped at McLain State Park so Susie could put her feet in the water. The park is located along a stretch of lovely sandy beach behind a breakwater that is actually the entry into the Portage River.

these folks are serious about emergencies

And speaking of that river we cruised along the Portage all the way back to Hancock. We drove through Houghton one last time watching the students stack themselves up along the crosswalks while we whizzed by. We pushed on until we reached Arnheim road between Chassell and Baraga where we turned off in search of the Hanka Finnish Farmstead and Museum. 

I had received a call back from a volunteer at the homestead earlier in the day and we knew that there would be no tours until the weekend and indeed no staff at the farm, but he said we were welcome to stroll the grounds anyway.

And so we did.

The Hanka family settled into this part of Michigan wilderness in the late 19th century, raised their family and lived a life devoted to sisu. The farmstead is located off a couple of dirt covered backroads and by the time we arrived it was late in the afternoon. The air was cool in the shade and we were the only ones to be seen.We found a map of the grounds in a nearby kiosk and just made ourselves at home, thinking the Hankas would not mind if we just walked around a bit thinking of how they struggled to make a life for themselves and their descendants in this very wild corner of the world.

l-r: blacksmith shop, sauna, milk house, root cellar and main house

milk house and root cellar with the granary in the background

sauna

While most of the buildings were locked two were open. 

inside the cow barn

catalog and everything

the outhouse and the cow barn

Leaving the farm we made our way through a series of lovely backroads to Baraga and Route 41 and then home for dinner. 

Tomorrow we say adieu to Copper country and head to Minneapolis to visit with family. 

Houghton, Hancock and the Quincy Mine

 September 23.

We were in no rush to get anywhere today. Our only obligation was a 1:30 pm time for our tour of the Quincy mine so we spent a leisurely morning over coffee and breakfast before heading out to explore downtown Houghton on our way to the mine.

It was a 40-minute drive to Houghton along roads that have become like old friends. We did take a short detour down to the Portage river and could catch a glimpse from a small boat access of the eastern entry into the river. We were puzzled by the all-metal full enclosed rusting boat moored to the dock but there was no one around to inquire as to its story so we moved on.

you can see the entrance to the river at the far center

Traffic was light coming into Houghton and soon after passing through the Michigan Tech campus and along the main street we found a place to park. As ordered we intended to explore Houghton.

Houghton appears to be a nice little town with an unusually high number of small coffee shops, probably catering to the students. Although we did notice a few abandoned store fronts and some rather tired looking spaces. But parking was free and it was a lovely day to be out seeing someplace new. 

The town has a lovely waterfront boardwalk and the (newish?) library faces the river with wonderful views from just about everywhere inside. 

the Quincy mine above Hancock on the other side of Portage river

The lift bridge

We popped into a couple of shops and then found a cafè to grab a cup of coffee. While sipping our cups of Joe we both commented on the contrast in personalities between the two shops we visited. The first was an upscale women's clothing store manned by a very nice young woman who was friendly, eager to chat and who we learned was not a student at the university but in fact had lived in the area all her life. The other shop was run by a woman who seemed quite tired of it all and, although she knew her yarn, didn't seem terribly enthusiastic about much of anything. Were we seeing the spectrum of life from effervescence to resignation? 

Oh, here's something we learned while speaking with the young woman. We had noticed when driving through campus that at all the marked crosswalks (where we've all been trained to stop for pedestrians) the students would just wave us on through. And when we stopped at Eagle River the day before one of the locals who volunteered at a museum there asked us if we experienced that phenomenon passing through Houghton. Why yes, we did. Did he know why? Nope. No idea.

So we asked the young shop woman in Houghton who explained that the students are told to give way to cars passing through. Most likely not to hold up traffic along Route 41 that passes right through the campus carrying eager tourists heading north.

After leaving downtown Houghton we crossed the river and wended our way through Hancock. Since we had plenty of time before our tour and the mine was only a few minutes away we stopped at the Finnish Heritage Center. We walked in but couldn't find anyone at the front desk so we popped into the Finnish bookstore next door. 

the Finnish giant, 8 feet 3 inch-tall "Big Louis" Moilanen

We learned from a young woman manning the cash register in the book store that there was plenty to see at the Heritage Center so we plan to return tomorrow -- we also hope to try and see the Hanka Farmstead which is located about halfway to Houghton from L'Anse. 

After arriving at the Quincy mine overlooking the city of Hancock we walked into the gift shop and checked in for our tour. 

Note that the remains of shaft no. 2 would have been connected to the hoist house by cables that would raise and lower the men, cars and rock skips coming up from below the shaft house.

shaft no. 2 

gift shop in the back and public restrooms front and center

note part of the cable scaffolding still in place

ruins of the boiler house used to power the steam hoist

our guide Kyle talking about the hoist

really a large winch designed to lifts multiple tons of rock using some two miles of cable

the hoist operator would sit at the top of this structure

The tour lasted about 2 hours 20 minutes. The first 30-40 minutes were spent watching a short dated but informative video about the mine followed by meeting our tour guide Kyle. He then led us into the hoist room where he talked at some length about the worlds largest steam hoist, the Nordberg (no relation to O. J. Simpson's character in Naked Gun). You can learn more about the hoist (which is worth your time) right here.

From the hoist house our group walked outside and over to the cog railway tram. Now, according to our guide there are only three cog railways in the US: Pike's Peak, Mt. Washington, and this one. So it's official, I have been on all three and Susie and I have together been on two (Mt. Washington and this one).

our tram awaiteth

backside of the hoist house and our group scurrying to catch up

top of the railway that will haul us down (and eventually back up) a 17% grade

From the tram we made our way to the mine entrance. Actually the tour is through an "adit" or horizontal tunnel dug at a slight slope to allow drainage from the mine, to provide ventilation and to make it easier to remove ore from the mine. 

Bear in mind that this entrance is at level 7 of 92 levels or a little less than 400 feet below ground. This particular underground space has been used extensively by Michigan Tech students to hone their mining and engineering skills. The miners themselves would have been dropped down via man cars in the shaft house as far as level 92 - more than 9,000 feet below ground! And in the early years they worked using just candles, which, given the generosity of the company, the miners would have to provide themselves along with their own tools.

We walked back into the mine some 2,000 feet. It was light sort of, dark mostly, constant dripping and hey watch out for that drainage ditch! Every so often our guide would stop and talk geology or safety or how the miners actually worked underground. We learned about the Cornish miners who brought their mining skills passed down from father to son. We also got to see what it would have been like to work drilling by just candlelight and also the various tools for drilling into rock. The tour was fascinating, informative and shocking in the extreme, all at once. 

Two things about this image below: first is the blueprint for the mine. The vertical yellow lines are the various mine shafts going down as far as more than 9,000 feet. The second is the hunk of "rock" below the map - a chunk of copper. Often large pieces of copper were simply left in mines since it wasn't worth the time and trouble to break them down for removal. It was cheaper and easier to remove copper from large pieces of ore. Strange but true.

This next image appears to be just a small pool of silt-ridden water, which of course it is. But it represents the highest point of the flood in the mine. That's right, all those levels below level 7 where we were standing all the way down to level 92 are completely flooded today.  

Here is Kyle giving us a detailed explanation of the backbreaking work performed by the trammers, those men responsible for loading the carts and then moving them to where they could be brought up to the surface. Repeating this over and over again and again for 10 hours a day, six days a week. All for a buck or so a day.

The last stop provided insight into how the miners would often use ladders to climb and drill large pieces of rock in the ceiling looking for copper. And it was driven home by our guide that because they only used candles they would never see what we are seeing today.

With the end of the tour we made our way back out of the mine, out of the darkness and into the light. Literally and metaphorically, I suppose. The tram returned us to the top of the hill, we dropped our hard hats and said thanks to Kyle for an incredible job well done.

Well worth one's time and money to be sure. We headed back home to relax with a glass of wine and a dinner of leftovers brought from home. 

Tomorrow, our final day in the UP, we hope to spend more time learning about the Finns who came to this country. The question are they willing to tell us? Stay tuned!

We wish you all safe travels and be well.

Keweenaw Peninsula

September 22.

A very leisurely morning in L'Anse. After breakfast, coffee and then a shower and getting dressed (important for traveling among strangers) we headed into town in search of a market. While we had planned for and were all set for food, our house's water system produces a very noticeable and somewhat unpleasant odor of rusty iron (although it doesn't taste like the old well water I remember as a kid). We soon found Pat's Foods and stocked up on water for the duration.

From Pat's Foods it was back onto Route 41 heading north. We zipped around the bottom of Keweenaw Bay then up through Baraga, Chassell and the twin cities of Houghton and Hancock. Separated by a dramatic looking lift bridge across the Portage River, Houghton is the home of Michigan Technological University and Hancock the home of Finlandia College. That's right, for those of you not in the know, this part of Michigan was settled by a lot of Finns in 19th century and it still shows in the names of villages and even people running for office today.

Leaving the twin cities we made our way up Route 41, the central artery of the Keweenaw. At Allouez we turned east in the direction of Gay and the eastern shore. Naturally we got lost. After asking directions from one of the rare human beings we passed along the way we found our way to Gay and a lovely drive up the eastern shore. We stopped at Brunette Park and Point Isabelle before turning back inland skirting Lac La Belle and back to Route 41.

Brunette Park

rocks rich in iron

Susie on the hunt for interesting stones

Susie continues the diligent search for stones

It was a short drive to Copper Harbor where we stopped for lunch at the Mariner. Copper Harbor is not quite the tip of the Keweenaw but close enough for us. And we were comforted by the fact it is the northernmost city of Michigan.

From Copper Harbor we took Route 26 heading south but quickly turned off onto the Brockway Mountain Drive. Definitely one of the high points of our day, literally and metaphorically. We enjoyed sweeping views from several turnouts.

view of Copper Harbor

colors starting to change, lots of reds abound

from West Bluff

the West Bluff overlook is the highest point on the drive

After making our way back to Route 26 we zipped into Eagle River and checked out the village's main attraction, a lighthouse. It was closed but we chatted with a couple of lovely staff folk working the nearby museum and gift shop, Peter and Amy. Worth the stop just for those conversations alone. Friendly, funny and committed to the UP way of life. The town also had a lovely spacious sandy beach.

From Eagle River we continued on Rt 26 to Eagle Harbor (another nice sandy beach) and then to route 41. Retracing our earlier ride north we headed south and home for supper and relaxing by the lake.

It had been a perfect a day for traveling up and down the Keweenaw: The sky was blue, the air crisp and clear, the water lovely to look upon just about everywhere. Wish you could've been here.

Tomorrow we hope to explore a bit of Houghton and maybe Hancock as well. We have tickets and signed waivers for the Quincy Mine tour and we're excited to see what all the fuss has been about copper!