Tag Archives: Lake Michigan

Southtown & Jamestown – Timber Boom Towns That Once Was

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The earliest reference to South Manistique or “South-town” is from the early 1880’s.  The town was developed around the Hall and Buell Lumber Company Mill.    The following description of Southtown is from Earnest Williams:  “Several houses in the town had four feet high fences around them to prevent the sand beach from blowing into the yards.  All the streets were sand and grass was basically nonexistent.”

Hall and Buell lad lumber rights around Southtown and on Indian Lake.  They cut the timber and floated it across Indian Lake to a “pull up” between Sunset and Harrison Beaches.  From there it was loaded onto their own railroad and brought to the Southtown mill (The railroad crossed old U.S. 2 near the current location of WTIQ and the gas pipeline). Read More...

City Council Passes Resolution To Bond For Water And Sewer

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SCHS Set 4 037

In 1905, Manistique City Council passed a resolution to bond for water and sewer. A 16-inch wooden pipe was run from Brewery Dam on the Indian River to Weston Avenue. The below picture is from November 1905 on Cedar street, showing the blasting involved to install sewer and water lines.

Originally the water supply for Manistique was from artisan wells drilled at different points within the city.

The above picture shows how wells were drilled. Water had to be hauled from the artisan wells to the homes for cooking, drinking, and washing. Several draymen hauled water to residents, hotels, and businesses. Mondays, being wash days, kept the draymen very busy. Read More...

The Flood Of 1920-Palm Sunday (March 28th, 1920) Manistique, MI-

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The Flood Of 1920-Palm Sunday (March 28th, 1920) Manistique, MI-The most catastrophic event to occur in Manistique other than the fire of 1883 was the flood of 1920. Floodwaters began pouring over the flume walls in the early morning of Palm Sunday, March 28, 1920. The immediate cause of the flood was an ice jam on the Driggs River that backed the river up. When the jam broke, the water and logs in the river rushed into the Manistique River. Since the winter had an exceptional snowfall along with warmer than normal temperatures and several days of rain, the rivers draining into the Manistique River were already swollen. With the torrent of water, a west bank wall broke, causing water to rush over the flume walls and into the west side of Manistique all the way down Deer Street and Chippewa Avenue. Read More...

Baraga Park on Indian Lake, where (then Fr.) Baraga celebrated his first Mass

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Baraga Park on Indian Lake, where (then Fr.) Baraga celebrated his first Mass in what is now the Diocese of Marquette, having come across Lake Michigan in a canoe. (1833)

Baraga Park on Indian Lake, where (then Fr.) Baraga celebrated his first Mass in what is now the Diocese of Marquette, having come across Lake Michigan in a canoe. (1833)

Manistique is located in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan on Lake Michigan and is the county seat for Schoolcraft County. Schoolcraft County’s orginal inhabitants were members of the Chippewa Tribes. As a result of the War of 1812, the father of Antoine Ossawinamakee was given a portion of Schoolcraft County. Their primary settlement, consisting of 10 to 12 houses, was on Indian Lake which was three miles from Manistique. In 1833, Fr Frederick Baraga established his first Native American Mission at Indian Lake and converted all but one of the inhabitants to Catholicism. Father Baraga continued his missionary work but visited the Mission Church at Indian Lake frequently. In 1853, he became the bishop of Sault St. Marie.
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