Day 7 of Michigan trip

Since it's a rainy foggy day, we visited the Michigan Iron Industry Museum.  It was fascinating to Vernon and me so BE PREPARED -- I'm nerding out on this museum.  This blog post will show lots of pictures and descriptions of the history of mining iron ore in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

We had a campground neighbor over for supper today. I met Kay, a widow - retired microbiologist on a campground path as she was walking her dog. Her husband passed away in 2008, then after she retired in 2014, she sold her house in 2014 and bought a 5th wheel RV to travel around "to follow dead relatives" to research her genealogy -- she goes to towns where her family members lived and searches in the town courthouses for records. She says they keep better records on property deeds than birth certificates. She stays for up to 3 months in one place and tours around interest points.  Interesting lady. She spends winters at her widowed friend's house.

The day ends with a fun excursion to The Ish Creamery just down the street from Jake's house:

Samantha, Joshua and Matthan enjoying the icecream.  There was a steady stream of customers even on a cool, misty evening.

Yum -- complete with goatees and mustaches 

Jake had the "Superman" multicolored flavor along with River.  Wow, Jake reminds me of Mike in this picture.  Emerson was here too but she's camera shy.

Chocolate is Spiderman's flavor

Sweet Samantha

This red hematite (a type of iron ore) dust is everywhere around Ishpeming and Marquette -- the soil is this red color at the campground.

Just outside the Michigan Iron Industry Museum, this plaque attached to a large piece of iron ore has a fascinating and encouraging story about the laws in our country -- specifically in Michigan --  being carried out to protect and give justice to a Native American who was being cheated out of an inheritance.

It concerns a Chippewa chief who was hired in 1845 to locate a valuable iron ore deposit (just 3 miles from the museum site).  "He was paid with a certificate of interest entitling him to stock in the company."  Then he died and when his daughter claimed  her ownership interest, she was denied her inheritance because the company claimed that she should not be recognized due to her father having three wives simultaneously and polygamy was prohibited under Michigan law.  The case went to the Michigan Supreme Court and the daughter prevailed in "a landmark Michigan Supreme Court decision acknowledging that tribal laws an customs govern the legal affairs of native American families". 

                                                                                

Vernon spent a lot of time in this part of the museum about iron ore being processed to make jeeps and cars:

"Iron Ore and the Arsenal of Democracy" -- think about the huge part iron played in weapons and vehicles for the wars we've fought.

Vernon said that the men would find this very interesting

Advertised as sexy and sophisticated, this is the Model A which came after Ford's Model T

This steam engine -- an "industrial geared vertical boiler locomotive" was used (an improvement over horses and mules and wagons) to haul iron ore out of the mine from 1868 to 1895.

The following nine mechanical car parts (made from iron ore of course) were attached to a creative sculpture in the museum:

Can anyone name all nine of the following mechanical car parts?  (Vernon explained to me what each one is.)

The person who correctly lists all nine parts in order in the comment section below will receive a Certificate of Mechanical Expertise" from Vernon and Renie :)

The Native American man in this picture is the chief who led the member of the Jackson Mining Company to the mountain of ore. 

"We commenced building a forge in the year 1847."  --  Abram Berry, President, Jackson Mining Company

These pictures show why they built a forge here and the middle of the 3 pictures shows their process for making the charcoal out of hardwood for heating the 10 x 15 foot kiln. The combination of the charcoal ("Colliers" stacked 30 cords of wood and burned it slowly to make the charcoal) and iron ore produced a "bloom" of semi-molten iron weighing about 300 pounds. See the "bloomer" holding it (supported by a chain) with his long tongs. Then a water-powered trip hammer pounded a bloom into an iron bar.

A supply ship delivers flour and other supplies to Marquette for the Carp River Forge community

Comparing in (1983 dollars) the monetary value of 150 years (1833 - 1983) of wood, copper, iron and gold

A miner and his partner describe a mine accident

How a freighter ship is loaded using gravity from pods dumping ore into the ship's compartments.  Jake showed me (last year) the port in Marquette where ore is transferred to ships.

Locks were built at the St. Mary rapids so that the ore boats traveling south from Lake Superior would not have to unload the ore at the rapids and portage around the falls to be reloaded onto an awaiting ship to continue traveling south.

A miner having a lunch break.  The "pastie" he is eating (a stew filled pastry) is still served in this area.  We may have to have one while we're here.

Nitro-glycerin was used for an explosive before dynamite -- sometimes with fatalities

You hope the guy with the hammer doesn't miss!

This looks safer - a jackhammer

We pass the National Ski Hall of Fame in Ishpeming every time we go to Jake's house.

The early ice skates with the nail going in to your shoe heel

Land reclamation requirements

An engine block

Wrought iron gate such as the Fuller men's father, Mike installed over a couple of summers during college years.  I looked it up -- cast iron has been melted and poured into a mold an allowed to cool.  Wrought iron has been heated and worked with tools.

Tomorrow:   to NorthIron Church with the (John) Jake Fuller family