Description

What Were Pioneer Days Really Like in the U.P.?

The combination of mining, maritime and lumbering history created a culture in the U.P. that is unique to the Midwest. Discover true stories of the rough and dangerous times of the Upper Peninsula frontier that are as enjoyable as they are educational. Youll find no conventional romantic or whitewashed history here. Instead, you will be astonished by the true hardships and facets of trying to settle a frontier sandwiched among the three Great Lakes.

These pages are populated by Native Americans and the European immigrants, looking for their personal promised land-whether to raise families, avoid the law, start a new life or just get rich no matter what it took. Mineral hunters, outlaws, men of honor creating civilization out of wilderness and the women of strength that accompanied them, the Upper Peninsula called to all. Among the eye-opening stories, youll find True Tales includes:

Dan Seavey, the infamous pirate based out of Escanaba

Angelique Mott, who was marooned with her husband on Isle Royale for 9 months with just a handful of provisions and no weapons or tools

Vigilantes who broke up the notorious sex trafficking rings protected by stockades, gunmen, and feral dogs in Seney, Sac Bay, Ewen, Trout Creek, Ontonagon and Bruce Crossing

Klaus L. Hamringa, the lightkeeper hero who received a commendation of valor for saving the crews of the Monarch and Kiowa shipwrecks

The strange story of stagecoach robber Reimund (Black Bart) Holzhey

The whimsical tale of how Christmas, Michigan got its moniker

The backstories of famous pioneers, such as Peter White, George Shiras III, Governor Chase Osborn and many others

This book is a gold mine of vacation possibilities, providing dozens of fascinating little-known facts about many of the innumerable attractions found in Michigans Upper Peninsula. With the aid of a near countless parade of carefully selected historical images, Mikel paints a picture the reader will not ever forget. Michael Carrier, author of Murder on Sugar Island (Jack Handler mysteries)

Deeply informative, but never boring, each chapter covers a different event or person in the often dangerous and sometimes lawless Great Lakes frontier. Maybe Michigan natives especially will be surprised by these stories from the states past. Claussen doesnt focus on the well-known or the glamorous stories, but instead the odd, the little-known, and the people who labored so hard to provide for themselves and their families in an unforgiving and brutal environment. This is a wonderful volume to better understand the little-understood region that is Michigans Upper Peninsula. Axie Barclay, Portland Book Review

Its not that these stories have never been told yet any collection keeping stories alive seems worthy. The author delves into the darker corners of the U.P. history, some he admits he himself had a hard time believing. All told, the book is a nice sampler and keepsake of the wild, weird, and wonderful things that should have given the Upper Peninsula its own genre of Western. Konnie LeMay, Lake Superior Magazine

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Author: Mikel B. Classen
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Modern History Press
Published: 03/19/2022
Pages: 162
Weight: 0.89lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.44d
ISBN: 9781615996360
Language: English