Tag Archives: Upper Peninsula

The Jamestown Ski Tower

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1940’s view of the ski tower located on the sand hills across from Jamestown Slough.  Vern Linderoth Photo

     Preparatory work began in the fall of 1940 for the construction of a ski jump, ski trails and a toboggan slide on the sand hills opposite Jamestown Slough. The effort was spearheaded by the Manistique Winter Sports Club and relied exclusively on volunteer labor. The poles and lumber used for erecting the ski jump were also donated. By January of 1941 the new winter sports park was opened for use. The youngest skier to brave going down the new Jamestown ski tower was nine-year-old John Paul Quick.     Read More...

Manistique’s Indoor Baseball Team

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The 1902 Manistique Indoor Baseball Club. Top row from left: Harley Garland, Victor Deemer, John Forshaw. Middle row from left: Dean Crowe, J.C. Wood, Ben Gero, Sr. and Ed Jewell. Bottom row from left: F. Paulson, William S. Crowe, John “Jack” Williams and F. Guinan. Photo courtesy Wm. S. Crowe Collection.

           During the early 1900’s, the month of November marked the beginning of the indoor baseball season. Fans flocked to the Star Opera House to watch an indoor version of the national pastime.  Season tickets cost a dollar and a quarter. Indoor baseball was invented in the 1880’s and was the forerunner of modern fast-pitch softball. In Manistique, the fraternal societies organized a “city league” which included the Masons, Legionites, Maccabees, Woodmen of the World and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. Read More...

Civilian Conservation Corp – Camp Steuben (1933-1937)

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Interior view of Barracks No. 3 at Camp Steuben. The barracks measured 20’ by 112’. Photo courtesy Vivian Haight.

        President Franklin Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) was inaugurated on April 17, 1933 with the opening of Camp Roosevelt in the George Washington National Forest in Virginia. The program was designed to employ over 250,000 young men out of work during the Great Depression.

          Camp Steuben in Schoolcraft County opened only 17 days later on May 4, 1933. The first recruits went through a two-week orientation at Camp Custer near Battle Creek, before heading north to the Upper Peninsula. One hundred and forty-one men from Custer were assigned to Camp Steuben and 212 others headed to Camp Kentucky in Alger County. Their journey was delayed five hours while waiting for a ferry to cross the Straits of Mackinac. Camp Steuben received additional recruits from Fort Sheridan in Illinois. Read More...

Manistique’s U.P. Championship Baseball Team – October 1923

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The above photo of the Manistique championship baseball team by E.O. Brault appeared in the October 4, 1923 edition of the Pioneer Tribune.

The above photo of the Manistique championship baseball team by E.O. Brault appeared in the October 4, 1923 edition of the Pioneer Tribune.

           Manistique had a marvelous baseball team back in the early 1920s. During the summer of 1923 the team played a total of 31 games and finished with a record of 22 wins and 9 losses. Twenty-five games were played against Upper Peninsula teams and 6 games were played against traveling African American teams including the Illinois Giants from Chicago and the New York Royals.  The Manistique club won 19 of 25 games played against the Upper Peninsula teams and went 3-3 versus the traveling teams from New York and Chicago.   Read More...