• Sunday-What'sUP December 12 - 11:48 pm

We've seen it before, but not quite like this: A stretch of US-41 near L'Anse known as the 'Red Rocks'... just below the spot where Father Baraga looks down on passing travelers. Clyde Elmblad has assembled a rich collection of historic U.P. photos at hwy41north.com which includes this stretch along the shore of Keweenaw Bay, even before there was a beaten path. As an added bonus, loop a few times through this slide show of the location, to get a better feel for how the landscape has changed over the years.

The week is off to a snowy start, as most of the U.P. was hit with several inches overnight. Road commision trucks are out clearing this morning, helping ready the streets for truckloads of pasties to be shipped from Calumet this week. Thousands of those pasties will travel US-41 past Baraga and L'Anse, on to Marquette or Iron Mountain, where they will wing their way from the U.P. to tables all across the U.S. We hope a few of those tasty treats will find their way to your house.

Have a good week :o)

Notice how guard rails have evolved.I sure miss those old ones.

Good morning from the Florida panhandle. 39 deg this morning. We've been on this highway many a time. Interesting that it went into town originally. :)

My suspension out there in the garage is glad the roads have improved. So are my kidneys.

When Grandma Schneider was pregnant with her first (Mom, born November 1916), she and Grandpa drove from Dearborn to South Dakota to find out what happened to his investment in his cousin's silver mine. Which of course had failed to pan out, and so they had no money. Grandpa was going to turn around and drive home, but his cousin's wife said, Absolutely you are not taking Elizabeth back in that car, she's eight months pregnant! And so they sold their car and made the trip home by train. Grandma went into labor as they reached Detroit and so Mom was born at her paternal grandmother's house in Detroit. Grandma never forgave her husband for putting her through that.

I think of that whenever I want to grumble about a long trip in an air-conditioned car with a good suspension on paved roads. We don't know how good we got it!

My Uncle has traveled the road between his home and happy hunting.

If you look you can see the Bishop Baraga Shrine in the
background of the 90's photo.

Great old photos on your site.
Here is a link to the census in 1920 at the Hebard Lumber Camp in 1920.
http://www.genealogia.fi/emi/emi71me.htm

My parents made the trip "back home" from Kenosha. Wi. a couple times a year untill 1946 when they moved to Lake Linden to retire. I remember this spot in the 30s.......we'd stop to wash our faces in the lake before arriving at grandma's house where the family would be waiting for us......I remember my father commenting on how difficult it had been to make the trip in the 20s......many flat tires to fix and my mother said that on one trip they hit lots of rain and the road turned to mud and her suitcase was on the running-board and all her clothes were runined........I guess it use to take forever to make the trip in the 20s...

Good morning from Mishawaka IN. Great pictures! Since I have been to the UP only once, it's nice to see what it use to look like and what it looks like today. Could anyone tell me when the statue of Father Baraga was erected?

you cant see the shrine from the highway anymore..the trees block the view....

That highway looks like a time machine sequence. You sure can tell how old you are by remembering the number of smokestacks and the style of the guard rails. I loved those white and black posts with the heavy wire on them.

It's too bad you can't see Bishop Baraga from the highway year-round. Can't see him at all in summer. But you can still get a glimpse (as in the picture) once all the leaves have fallen.

Great time-trip, Clyde. I'm looking forward to looking at your gallery again and the slide show Charlie mentioned.

I think things have SLIGHTLY change over the past 100 years! VERY interesting shots!

Those white and black posts were the best! A guard rail won't help you anyway with todays cars so why not have good looking ones?

Great fun to see the same spot through time! Thanks.
Was wondering if anyone has an OLD Chrismas postcard to post like the one at Thanksgiving. It was cool having that come up on 'my picture screensaver' during the Thanksgiving holidays.
Thanks, in advance, to anyone who has one to scan and share!

Editor's note: Check out Barb and Don Nelson's collection of old post cards in Barb's gallery. She has a cute Christmas one there!

It looks like the fellow in the top picture was taking a "pit stop".

Are those smokestacks in the first picture...are they from Pequaming?.......I remember FORD built the town for his sawmill to produce lumber required in model A cars...Is it still a ghost-town?.....very interesting place to visit after everyone left.

What a delightful trip through time.

Saw this view in 64 when Dad drove me to da Tech for the first time, dropped my and suitcase off at da curb of DHH, and said, Son, I gotta make time. True story....best thing that ever happened cause on that day I grew up........

Thank you Clyde for the pictures of the Red Rocks. We lived on the Bay Shore Drive on the L'Anse side and at night we could see the lights of cars going back and forth on that stretch of US 41. Does anybody remember seeing the cars going over Keweenaw Bay on frozen ice in the wintertime?

Another memory I have of L'Anse is that our family lived there from l934 - 1954. When my mother was expecting their first child, they went to the train station off US 41 to say good bye to friends on the train and the conductor gave orders for the train to take off for the next stop which was Bovene. To their surprise they got left on the train and the next stop was Bovene, 7 miles up the track. The conductor was kind enough to stop the train so that my mom and dad could get off and the poor couple had to walk the 7 miles back to L'Anse She was 7 months pregnant. Believe it or not, that child is pushing 69 years old come May 2lst.

I think those stacks in the top pic are a sawmill. Now, it's the Celotex plant. Pequaming is a few miles north, on the shoreline.

*****Note to the Editor- THANK YOU for steering me to the great post cards posted by Barb and Don Nelson, and special thanks to them for 'saving' those great old designs!

Amazing pictures! Thanks for sharing a little bit of history!

Clyde, This is just great. For all the years I have driven over this highway, it never fails to amaze me at the changes through the years. The water falls off the cliff and running over the road and traffic moving slower, the ice spots, now fixed with correct drainage, the middle lane which is dangerous to drive in, Looking at "Moses" at the top of cliff when it is lit up.....the colors of the seasons, the waves crashing in on shore, the Eagles drifting on the air currents, and sunsets from this highway.....well, I always applaud THE ARTIST. Thanks Clyde...your work is awesome.
Barb Hanshaw, L'Anse
PS. Cars ,trucks and snowmobiles still drive on the ice. The smoke stacks are from the Ford Mill in Downtown L'Anse, Ford Mill no longer there. It is Celotex now.

Bishop Baraga was built in the mid '70s. I don't have a date, but I remember going to Lake Linden to see the big head and hands in a workshop there. It was interesting to see the before and after.

I really think the picture that is labeled 1990's looks earlier than that. Note the wooden guard rails. I think they went to steel in the 70's didn't they? I really don't see Bishop Baraga in it either, I see power lines that would have been removed when the statue went up.

Better check again Becky, he's there, standing up on the bluff, looking over the Bay! :-)

Coming around the Head of the Bay, heading North on 41...that has to be one of the most beautiful spots in Michigan! It's something I took for granted growing up in Baraga. After moving away and not being back for awhile, it took my breath away to see it again! The beautiful clean lake against a clear blue sky is just awe inspiring. It doesn't get much prettier! Great pictures Clyde! Glad you're so computer savvy and such a history buff. Thanks for your labor and love for da UP hey?

The Shrine was erected in 1972 according to the Pasty Cam archives.