• Sunday-What'sUP October 30 - 06:58 pm

Below I will give you a link to view the original of this photo, which comes to us courtesy of Shorpy.com, where it appeared earlier this month. It is a huge picture (will take 15-20 minutes to download if you are on dial-up). You can spend hours scrolling through the streets, observing the people and exploring the buildings. First let me point out some things from this massive panorama not revealed on Shorpy's website.

I'm not sure of the photographer to credit for this masterpiece. It was made from 4 glass plates tacked together in the final print. By doing triangulation we can pinpoint the spot from which it was taken. The first landmarks that give us a clue are the Calumet Theatre and the unique trestle near Albion Station, which we featured in a previous Shoebox Memory:

I had to hit 'reload' before the Big Picture would appear. This is the only picture I've ever seen that shows Calumet Theater with its entire clock tower structure in place.

Testing several different browsers, we also noted this. Here is an alternate link to load the large panorama.

That is so funny you'd highlight the outhouses! In looking thru the close-up pictures i was thinking: "man, it's a loooooong way to those outhouses ~ especially in bad weather!"

Have a blessed day everyone!

I enjoy these "the way it was" pictures of early history!

Pretty large town for that era....especially way UP there. At the time this photo was made, my daddy (in Tenn.) would've been 4yrs old. Very, very interesting piece of work...thank you, Charlie!

Historical.

Way back when, Calumet was one of the contenders to become the capital of Michigan. Thankfully, Lansing got that and WE got the U.P.!!! Imagine what this place would be like IF Calumet was the capitol...we'd not have our sacred lands/lakes as they are.....that's for sure. Imagine freeways, concrete jungles, etc, etc...ugh...thank you Lansing for taking that...
Just my Humble Opinion!

Good Morning. I love today's picture! I am fascinated by the huge piles of logs. They make me curious as to whether or not there were very many serious or fatal accidents caused by the logs slipping, or whatever?

(Speaking of industrial-type accidents, there was a grain explosion in a silo this weekend that killed three people. I'm not sure where it was. Most of the recent silo-type accidents that I've heard of have been people falling into them and then getting smothered by the grain. And then there was the combine accident here in mid-Michigan this week, where the farmer got caught in it, and he died several days after that. I'm interested in farming accidents because both my Mom & my Dad's families were farmers.)

I love these old pictures. They're so interesting!! Thank you!!!

PS...Thank you God for flushing toilets!

Truly a great picture of the copper country of 100 years ago.
While at college in Ashland we would frequent a bar in Onion River, Wi and believe it or not in 1957 they had two outhouses way in the back. Leading to them were two paths dug into the snow with hundreds of footprints. Not a nice trip at midnight when it was 10 degrees out or a nice place to "have a seat".
There are some pictures similar to Pasty.com today at; http://www.coppercountryexplorer.com/wp-content/uploads/CCHD/mismelterpan.html

Donna, Although Thomas Crapper did not exactly invent the toilet, he did however have a lot to do with the interest in the invention of the toilet.

These photos are from the Detroit Publishing Company from way back. This link lets you search via the state then town.
http://memory.loc.gov/detroit/detrgeogindex1.html

Here is what the have for Houghton if the link will work. Some fantastic photos here and the largest size are huge.
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/detr:@field(SUBJ+@band(Michigan--Houghton+))

WOW!

Well I see the second link won't work. Towns they have aare Calumet, Dollar Bay, Hancock, Houghton, Lake Linden and Portage Lake, may have missed a couple

Well I see the second link won't work. Towns they have are Calumet, Dollar Bay, Hancock, Houghton, Lake Linden and Portage Lake, may have missed a couple

Also that series of photos Charlie is showing actually has a few more frames, it goes all the way around through all of Calumet and looks towards South Hecla mine shafts.
In that right photo, if you zoom in, you can see the old street car trestle that went up and over the Copper Range and Calumet & Hecla railroads north of Pine St and US41, for the life of me I can't remember what the neighborhood was called.

And all the company houses in photo 6. All built the same and in rows. Make you think, how many are still standing. And there is the gentleman watering his garden in the last photo.

What is more fun for me is trying to identify all the shafthouses in the photo. One that really stands out is Red Jacket, which is a little right of centre. What's even more interesting is the fact I can see our old house in Red Jacket Location, which was built in 1901.

Thanks for the photo Charlie; you've now completely ruined any and all plans I had today of getting something done!!! J

It must be a Sunday morning photo with not many people outdoors. Not many horses either.
Jack Foster's collection has some of these smokestack pictures in it. The park service now owns that collection so I am sure we will be able to see them sometime.
I started shooting Calumet aerials every year since 1989. I shot a set of black and white in early nineties to try to match some of Jack's photos. Most of old Calumet is gone.

If you look for these in that link above under Calumet, this set is called the Heart of the Copper Country, 7 photos total.

look at the size of that LUMBER??? whats the diamater/circumference of some of those logs??? wow.

Yippee for Thomas Crapper!

I'm betting most of those logs are headed underground for support. Most of the mines at this time were experiencing stability issues at depth so large trees were needed.

I'm having an absolute blast looking at all the features in that photo. As Charlie pointed out earlier, a lot of houses at this time didn't have indoor plumbing so outhouses were a common sight; however, with many of the larger homes towards Tamarack there are no outhouses, so I'm betting those are either mine captain homes or some other "higher-up" position within the company.

Jeff I was going to say the same thing after looking at this picture, makes you wonder how old some of the trees where way back then when they were cut

Just love the old pics !!!

Can any one tell me as to, why do a lot of the houses, mainly on the right side of the pic, have ladders either on the roof or leading up to the roof area ??? Just curious.

Dang...I tried the link and got "page not found"...Bummer.

Mostly those ladders had to do with chimney fires and access to the roofs and chimneys without needing to cope with putting one up in an emergency. I'd put one on the roof when we liver out back of Centenial Heights in the early seventies. Never had to use it but it did give peace of mind. Had the other half of the extension ladder as a way of escaping from our bedroom on the second floor. Did I mention the house was insulated with cardboard and cedar shavings!

Gordy..........By any chance was that area called Albion?

R D Reinhardt.....As a kid I remember being told that many people had ladders up to the roof in case of fire. With little or no fire protection a homeowners had to be prepared. Many roof were covered with wooen shingles. The sparks from a nearby fire were a big danger.

The last picture, I'm wondering if those are not necessarily outhouses but grain/feed houses as they look like they are situated in little paddocks for the hogs, or other livestock that could someday be supper. Or paddocks for their horses.

Many of those homes were heated with steam. There was a piping system through certain sections of town. The mining compay operated steam plant.

Richard W. and Richard B. thanks for the info

I couldn't help but browse the large photo again, after all the comments. Have you ever noticed? Just north of town - the blocks formed by Upper and Lower Red Jacket Shaft roads - have two kinds of houses, depending on the side of the street. The houses on lots inside the blocks are all regular Gable roof design, while the houses north of Upper Red Jacket Shaft are all Gambrel style roofs (barn-like, double-slant on each side). I seemed to recall this from driving there in person, but looked it up on Google Streets to verify... it is like that to the present day :o)

If you go to copper country explorer there is an entire write up on the picture.

The new cam for downtown calumet is super but now that i live here its nice to just drive there.

Fab photo clarity! My complements to the chef.

Richard, yes that would be Albion, I noticed after I had typed that message Charlie had already zoomed in on that area.

Richard, yes that would be Albion, I noticed after I had typed that message Charlie had already zoomed in on that area.

Donna: Calumet was never a contender to be the State Capital, it's just an old myth.

Gordon Schmitt (Gordy) on Sunday, October 30, 2011 - 10:11 am:"Well I see the second link won't work."

Well, once again, that is not a link, but just a Universal Resource Locator (URL) — a.k.a. an Internet address.

You want a link?

Here is a clickable link containing the URL in question: (click) → Photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company, 1880-1920 Results 1 - 11 of 11 for Michigan Houghton.

(P.S.: This is not intended to be a criticism, just an effort to provide the "missing link". I'll also admit that posting that URL as a link did require a bit more arcane trickery than is typical.) <grin>

By Charlie at Pasty Central (Chopper) on Sunday, October 30, 2011 - 04:44 pm:
I couldn't help but browse the large photo again, after all the comments. Have you ever noticed? Just north of town - the blocks formed by Upper and Lower Red Jacket Shaft roads - have two kinds of houses, depending on the side of the street.

As a matter of fact Charlie, yes I have as Dr. Nat and I lived in one of those gambrel roofed houses for a number of years (our house was the second from the right on Upper St.). We loved that little house; I wish I could buy it as a second, summer home....

Yep, Dave, it is my understanding that Calumet was never considered to be the capital nor the capitol of Michigan.
We should not be too hard on Donna nor any of the folks who repeat this often heard myth. Even the New York Times recently said Calumet was considered for the state capitol in 1848 (where was the fact checking editor that day??) Lansing became our second capitol (Detroit was first) in 1847. Red Jacket (officially renamed Calumet in 1929) was not settled until 1867. Some folks tell of a "missed by just one vote" scenario in 1890.
In the past I asked several prominent Michigan historians about the Calumet Capitol story and they both said the same things: 1. Look at the dates. 2. Show us the official documentation of the "vote". They have never seen any documentation.
I'm curious as to when this myth was started and by whom. Anybody have any info?

And, yes, I too mix up "capitol" (a building) and "capital" (a city where the capitol building and the seat of government is located). Sorry. I'm pretty sure I got the history stuff correct though.

I have always thought that we were taught that Lansing became the capital because Detroit was to close to Canada. In those days they were cautious of England as an aggressor. I had heard that in the 1880's that Calumet had a larger population then Lansing. Possibly where the myth comes from. I really enjoyed the picture today and have been playing with it all day. That is in between naps.

I had also heard the state capitol story regarding Calumet, and asked the Library of Michigan to research it for me for a book I recently published. They found no reference to Calumet, but perhaps more surprisingly, Copper Harbor was mentioned. Copper Harbor was never brought to a vote before Lansing won, but it was suggested. This can be found in the Journal of the House of Representatives for Feb. 11,1847

This is one of my favorite photos,If you will
notice you can see what is actually happening
in
the panoramic view with the two boys walking
towards the outhouse.
The lead boy is wanting to go hang out with
his
friend but his older sister (who is heading
thru
the gate back to the house) wont let him go
until
he takes his kid sister to the potty(you can
see
her running towards the boys)and is sulking his
way to the outhouse with his hand in his
pockets
with ill thoughts of his bossy older sis.

(Ooopsie, post failed, image too large.)

bobby ray honea (Bobbyhonea):
"This is one of my favorite photos,If you will notice you can see what is actually happening in the panoramic view with the two boys walking towards the outhouse. …

… his older sister (who is heading thru the gate back to the house) …"

Now how's that for an "up close and personal" perspective on that photo! Gotta wonder which one is Bobbyhonea! 😉

I had a bit of difficulty identifying the participants in the original photo, but I finally may have done it by zooming in on a portion of Charlie's "REALLY 'Big Picture'" link:



Circled in red (from left to right):
1. older sister (heading thru the gate back to the house)'
2. kid sister (running towards the boys).
3. the two boys (obviously) walking towards the outhouse.
Did I get that right?

P.S.: I wonder what the other small "outbuilding" between the two girls could be.