The Alva Kepler Log Cabin

Posted on February 21, 2018February 21, 2018

The Alva Kepler Log Cabin, Photo courtesy Lee Ekblad

The Alva Kepler log cabin in Manistique’s Pioneer Park dates back to the 1880’s and was once part of the Byers’ settlement in Hiawatha Township, 12 miles north of Manistique. The cabin became a source of controversy in the mid-1890’s, when Abe Byers and Walter Thomas Mills formed a cooperative community known as the “Hiawatha Village Association.” People who joined the colony promised to move into association housing as soon as it became ready. When Civil War veterans John and Alva Kepler refused to do so, the firestorm it ignited lead to the demise of the Utopian experiment in Schoolcraft County. Read More...

The Chicago Lumbering Co. Mill Fire – December 14, 1907

Posted on December 8, 2016December 8, 2016

The Chicago Lumbering Company mill built in 1876 and destroyed by fire on Dec. 14, 1907.

During the evening hours of Saturday, December 14, 1907, a fire broke out at the Chicago Lumbering Company mill. The cause of the fire was the overheating of the friction feed and was quickly spread by the belts to all parts of the mill. The timbers which had for years been soaked with black oil provided a ready fuel for the fire. In less than ten minutes, the entire structure was engulfed in flames. The timing of the fire was ironic, as the mill was scheduled to be shut down for the winter season at midnight on the evening that it was destroyed. The plant was one of the oldest landmarks in the city, dating back to 1876 when the population numbered only a few hundred people. Read More...

Edwin Cookson – Pioneer Lumberman

Posted on July 12, 2016July 12, 2016

1880’s image of Edwin Cookson. Photo courtesy of Anthony Perkins

Edwin Cookson was born in Greenfield, Maine, in May of 1854. He was the second oldest child in a family of six boys and 2 girls. His parents, Joseph and Maria Cookson owned a farm in Greenfield, but all of their sons worked as loggers and river drivers in Maine.

During the early 1870’s Edwin Cookson migrated west to Oshkosh, Wisconsin. There in 1878 he responded to a “Help Wanted” ad posted in the Oshkosh papers. Ebenezer James was seeking laborers to work at the James Brothers sawmill east of Manistique. Read More...

Thomas J. MacMurray – Clergyman, Poet, Lawyer, Lecturer & Journalist

Posted on February 3, 2016February 3, 2016

Thomas J. MacMurray

He traveled alone on horseback, riding for miles through an uninhabited wilderness before coming at last to a tiny hamlet. While there, he conducted religious services, visited the sick, buried the dead, comforted the grieving, joined couples in marriage and baptized the faithful uninitiated. The names and exploits of many of these frontier clergymen have faded into obscurity with the passage of time. But the Methodist circuit rider who visited Manistique left a legacy that endures to this day. Read More...