Michigan's Upper Peninsula

Last week I traveled to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Commonly referred to as the "U.P." My cousin is a neurologist in Iron Mountain, MI. She had provided me with three subjects to interview for this book. Combining work with vacation, I packed my car, headed up to Canada, and crossed into Michigan through Port Huron.



Marquette, MI -Lake Superior

Michigan is comprised of two peninsulas. The lower peninsula which contains two-thirds of the land mass is on the eastern side of Lake Michigan. This is where you will find Detroit and the other larger, well-known Michigan cities. The upper peninsula is on the western side of Lake Michigan. It is bounded by Lake Superior on the north, and Wisconsin on the south.


Mackinac Bridge

I entered the U.P. by crossing over the Mackinac Bridge. One of the longest suspension bridges in the world, the Mackinac Bridge crosses the Straits of Mackinac to connect the two peninsulas. Residents of the U.P. refer to themselves as "Yoopers" (U.P. -ers). They refer to the lower peninsula residents as "Trolls"--those who live "under da bridge."

The upper peninsula is heavily forested. The eastern portion, where I entered, is bounded on the south by Lake Michigan. The terrain is flat, sandy, and swampy. Characteristic of the whole region are large forests dominated by evergreens and birch trees.

One of the first things you notice after entering the U.P. is that you can purchase "pasties" every 100 yards. Be careful how you pronounce this! Large, doughy, meat turnovers, "pass-tees" not "paste-tees," are a regional staple. They were brought by the Cornish miners and adopted by all in the U.P.

As you move farther into the U.P., the land remains heavily forested, but the terrain starts to show gently rolling hills. To the north, it becomes more rocky. The U.P. is interspersed with numerous lakes and rivers, but be careful when you're hiking. The ticks are ferocious. I was crawling with them after hiking in the Lake Fumee Natural Area.


Big Lake Fumee

Because of the harsh winter climate, the U.P. is not suitable to agriculture. The primary industries are logging, tourism, and mining, although most of the mines are now closed.

In the early part of the twentieth century, Ford Motor Company had an Iron Mountain Plant. In the 1920s and 30s, significant amounts of wood were being used in the construction of conventional and steel-bodied cars. According to Henry Ford in his 1926 biography, "We used about a million feet of lumber a day."

The U.P. comprises one-third of the state's land mass but only 3% of the population. This remote, cold, and beautiful place contains warm friendly people. Mining attracted the Finns, Swedes, Danes, and Norwegians. To this day there is still a large population of Finns along with the only Finnish language station in the United States.

In the following weeks, I will be posting excepts from interviews with my three interview subjects from Iron Mountain, MI.