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U.P. history

Every Yooper Hub story tagged U.P. history, newest first, with its sources and corrections intact.

13 stories on this page. Page 1 of 4.

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The latest U.P. history story

Aug 11, 20264 min read

The U.S. Built Only Three Steel Dams. One Is in the Keweenaw — and the Wooden Dam It Replaced Outlasted It.

The Redridge Steel Dam is one of only three steel dams ever built in the United States. In 1979 crews cut holes in it, the reservoir drained, and the 1890s timber dam underneath turned...

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More U.P. history stories, newest first

Jul 28, 20264 min read

An Iron Mining Company Hired a Famous Architect for a Piece of Machinery. Ishpeming Got Two Egyptian Obelisks.

The Cliffs Shaft Mine headframes in Ishpeming are Egyptian Revival obelisks designed by a Chicago architect in 1919, and crews built them...

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Jul 28, 20264 min read

Two Men From Detroit Bought a Roadside Burger Shack in 1983 and Wintered In It. It’s Now One of the Most Beloved Bakeries in the U.P.

The Jampot monks arrived on the Keweenaw in 1983, moved into an abandoned hamburger stand with no heat or plumbing, and started...

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Jul 28, 20264 min read

Locals Call It Copper Island. One Bridge Is the Only Way On — and It’s the Heaviest of Its Kind on Earth.

A ship canal finished in 1874 cut the northern Keweenaw off from the rest of Michigan, and the Portage Lake Lift Bridge...

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Jul 27, 20263 min read

There’s a 30-Foot Ruler Standing Beside US-41 in the Keweenaw. One Winter, the Snow Nearly Topped It.

The Keweenaw snow thermometer north of Mohawk marks a 390.4-inch winter. The stranger part is how that number is measured, and why...

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Jul 27, 20264 min read

A Scrabble Loss Cost One Man 10 Years of Letter-Writing. He Got “Yooper” Into the Dictionary — and They Botched the Entry.

The Yooper definition entered Merriam-Webster in 2014 after a Delta County prosecutor lost a Scrabble challenge and spent a decade mailing proof...

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Jul 26, 20264 min read

A Retired Firefighter Near Newberry Has Bottle-Fed 48 of His 50 Bears Himself. It Started With One Orphaned Cub.

Dean Oswald dreamed of having a bear since childhood. Forty years, 240 acres, and one 880-pound legend later, Oswald’s Bear Ranch near...

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Jul 25, 20263 min read

Manistique Built a Road Four Feet Below the River It Crosses. Ripley’s Put It in “Believe It or Not.”

A paper mill needed water power, a dam would have flooded the town, so Manistique raised the river instead. The Siphon Bridge...

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Jul 25, 20264 min read

A Schooner Sat Perfectly Preserved Under Green Bay for 105 Years. Bringing It Up Killed It in 25.

The Alvin Clark went down in 1864 and came up whole in 1969, the famous Mystery Ship of Menominee. By 1994 it...

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Jul 25, 20263 min read

Michigan’s Highest Point Keeps Getting Dethroned by Inches. The Latest Culprit May Be Hikers’ Boots.

Mount Arvon took the crown from Mount Curwood by 11 inches in 1982. A modern resurvey just handed it back by about...

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Jul 25, 20263 min read

Michigan’s First Rocket to Reach Space Didn’t Launch From Florida. It Launched From the End of a Dirt Road Past Copper Harbor.

From 1964 to 1971, NASA and the University of Michigan fired research rockets off the very tip of the Keweenaw, mostly in...

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Jul 24, 20264 min read

Iron Mountain’s Mine Would Not Stop Flooding. So They Built the Biggest Steam Engine in America, and It Never Left Town.

The Chapin Mine sat under a cedar swamp and flooded relentlessly, so Iron Mountain got a 725-ton answer: the largest steam-driven pumping...

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Jul 24, 20264 min read

This U.P. Town Mined So Much Iron the Ground Gave Way. Its People Picked Up Their Houses and Moved.

Iron was found under Negaunee in 1844, and for a century the town mined itself hollow, until fences reading Danger: Caving Grounds...

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