Forget Aspen. Organized Skiing in America Started in a Tiny U.P. Mining Town
The national Ski Hall of Fame sits in Ishpeming for a reason, this is where the whole sport got organized When you picture the...
How the U.P. became the U.P.
History & Culture
People, places, traditions, industries, and turning points that shaped Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
Everything in this lane
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A Single Living Thing as Heavy as Three Blue Whales Is Hiding Under the U.P.
In the woods near Crystal Falls lives the Humongous Fungus, one of the oldest and largest living things on Earth In the woods near...
Before the Gold Rush, There Was a Copper Rush, and It Happened Right Here in the U.P.
Years before the forty-niners headed west, a rush for copper built the Keweenaw, and the Quincy Mine still towers over it Everybody knows the...
One of the Most Famous Lines in Sports Came From a Kid Born in the U.P.
You've heard "Win one for the Gipper" your whole life. The Gipper was a Yooper You have heard the line a thousand times. "Win...
He Snowshoed 700 Miles a Winter Across the U.P. Now a Giant Statue Honors Him
If you have ever driven Highway 41 between Baraga and L'Anse, you have probably seen him: a 35-foot figure standing on a bluff over...
This Marquette Prison Is Famous for Its Flower Gardens. It’s Also Where Inmates Murdered the Warden.
It happened during a Sunday matinee in 1921 — the only time in Michigan history that inmates have ever killed a prison warden Drive...
There’s a Lighthouse So Far Out in Lake Superior, Keepers Called It the Loneliest Place in North America
Stannard Rock sits 24 miles from the nearest land, took five brutal years to build, and nearly killed the men who kept it The...
There’s a Chemical Element Named After a Yooper From Ishpeming, and Most People Have No Idea
Glenn Seaborg grew up to win the Nobel Prize, help discover plutonium, and earn an honor almost no scientist ever gets There is an...
There’s a Mountain Wilderness in the U.P. So Wild It Feels Like It Belongs Out West
Michigan's largest state park hides an ancient forest and a cliff-top view locals call the most beautiful in the state Tucked into the far...
One of the Greatest Courtroom Movies Ever Made Is a True U.P. Murder Story
The classic courtroom film Anatomy of a Murder is based on a real 1952 murder in Big Bay and was filmed in the actual...
Is the Paulding Light a Ghost or Car Headlights? The U.P. Has Argued for 60 Years
A strange glow has appeared on a dead-end road near Watersmeet almost every night for decades, and people still drive out to settle it...
The U.P. Came This Close to Leaving Michigan and Becoming the 51st State of Superior
The dream of breaking away from Michigan is older than the Mackinac Bridge, and it nearly came true In 1975, the U.P. came closer...
Two Best Friends From Tiny Iron Mountain Grew Up to Conquer College Hoops and the NFL, and They Never Stopped Being Buddies
Tom Izzo and Steve Mariucci were teammates in three sports at Iron Mountain High, roommates at Northern Michigan, and they are still each other's...
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