The publicity the Vagabonds received also helped popularize overland car camping and the decreasing price of the Model T gave birth to what hoteliers ruefully called tin can travelers, budget conscious tourists. Michigan is generally flat but the Hurons have some of the highest elevations between the Rocky Mountains and the eastern mountain chains. At each stop, the staff would set up a large round table, with seating for 20 and a giant, built-in Lazy Susan to pass the food around such a large gathering. ", [Support great journalism like this by making a contribution to Michigan Radio]. remained on official maps and documents through the 1930s, all the while Jacob leads a small crew of friends out to the Northwestern Road for a long loop of a hike that includes Cedar Falls, Cliff Falls, and some HMC lands. There's no excess; there are no hot and cold running servants like there used to be. These logics are unsurprisingly exclusionary, but our trip to Ives Lake was in part shaped by the opening up of this field station to research groups along with the reality that lands under conservation are now valuable in a new way because of climate change and the Holocene extinction. He also told us that some of the cabins are quite large. "You had chauffeurs, you had maids, you had butlers, you had chambermaids, you had people tending to livestock, you had waiters and waitresses, you had chefs. Huron Mtns Trip, Pt. The Iron Mountain News reported extensively on the trip, with photos provided by a media man traveling with the esteemed group. It likely costs about as much to be a Huron Mountain Club member as it does to belong to an exclusive country club. Sited above Lake Independence and within minutes of Lake Superior, Big Bay is sandwiched between wilderness and inland sea. See the link below for a list of job openings and online application. only served by logging roads and two-track trails. At this fork, turn right at the Office sign, (100 yards before you get to a small Stop sign and the main bridge over Pine River. official map shows the section as being removed.) Before we answer Lindaus question, she should know shes not alone in her curiosity. The club's founder envisioned it as a money-making venture. The cancellation of all of M-35 between Negaunee-Marquette and L'Anse While M-35 from Negaunee to L'Anse via the Huron Mountains was officially "determined" as Most of those dirt roads were rutted and bumpy when dry and often impassable when wet. Ford and Firestone were already business associates, Firestone supplying Ford with tires and other rubber components, as well as good friends. Ford believed in vertical integration and was heavily invested in the U.P. A compass and topographic map are absolute necessities. It would be 1919 before drivers were required to apply for paper driving permits. Anne, a mycologist, said that this was a very healthy lake. designation is shown on official highway maps for the first time in early Ford also was fond of the fresh waters of Lake Michigan and Grand Traverse Bay. around the state on both peninsulas. What may just save this piece of land, for now, is its private status. But Lindau thought there might be some other ways to get in. Visitors today can spend the night at the Thunder Bay Inn, where Ford once stayed for several months while in town on business. M-35 on official state highway maps issued by the MSHD showed the highway Your email address will not be published. Ford, however, had his eye set on becoming a member of the ultra-exlcusive "If anyone thinks that the Huron Mountain Club is making money, they need to get back to school and take another finance course. The eastern leg was completed in 1926 and the western leg by 1932. Post Office Box 70 "We wanted the courage to get out and talk to them and say 'hello' and like, 'hey, mind if we just drive through,' which Im sure the answer is clearly no," Lindau said. This 24,000-acre tract was intended to be a private, membership-based hunting and fishing preserve. This is serious stuff. Pinhole camera photo by Adriana Barrios, September 2017. members (those who are allowed to own their own cabin) and 80 "associate" members The club was founded to establish a remote hunting and fishing club for outdoor enthusiasts. Visitors now frequent Big Bay for its Huron Mountains access, Lake Superior harbor, Lake Independence fishing, and unique lodgings. One expedition even included a player piano. L'Anse was removed from the state trunkline system. By 1914 Ford Motor Company was selling over 200,000 Model Ts a year, and more roads were needed to keep pace. The Club Office is about 50 yards on the left. Public access to the Salmon Trout River has been a contentious issue with area fishermen, who've accused the club's guards of harassment. Should dogs put their heads out car windows? From Co Rd 502/Midway Rd just off US-41/M-28 northwesterly The group spent the week circling around two questions: When is knowledge proprietary? This discontinuity was seemingly rectified in the Legend says Louis G. Kaufman, a homebuilder and wealthy financier, was banned from the region's exclusive Huron Mountain Club, possibly due to his Jewish or Native American ancestry. Our frontage and forest acreage lie two miles inside the guarded gates and 22,000 protected acres of the legendary Huron Mountain Club that surrounds us, 26 miles north of Marquette. So it became a family outing, with Clara Ford and the Fords son Edsel coming along. John Dunlop didnt patent the shock absorbing air-filled pneumatic bicycle tire until 1888. Between the glacial lake and these rare mushrooms, the experience of insularity began to feel more complicatedan experience that carries forward a troubled history, but one that also carries ecological and cultural significance while fostering knowledge. You can view flood and environmental risk in nearby areas on the map. The Interstate Highway System today has 46,876 miles of roadway, within 10 percent of Charles Davis proposed National Highways system. It's more of a "probably not," given what we've learned about the Huron Mountain Club in reporting this story. The transaction included a 14-room lakeside Southern style bungalow Hebard had built as a private lodge to please his wife, a southern belle, along with land adjacent to the nearby Huron Mountain Club. The Club lands include unpaved roads to access a network of interior lakes and streams as well as trails to other points of interest. isolated area and bring another highway closer to a stretch of Great Lakes Well, it all started when Elizabeth Lindau posed this question to our MI Curious project: "Can I get into the Huron Mountain Club? The club limited membership to only 50 primary There are two types of members: Regular members and associate members. So why are we even bothering looking into this question? It was during this time industrialist Henry Ford had purchased hundreds Today it remains in pristine wilderness condition: remote, undeveloped, and largely unused. What if I drank the lake like a tonic? The Risk Factor models are designed to approximate risk and not intended to include all possible scenarios. This home has a n/a noise level for the surrounding area. 3: "Not Out of the Woods Yet". 91.3 Port Huron 89.7 Lansing 91.1 Flint. No-trace camping is permitted throughout the wilderness area. was still in doubt.). The original charter limited membership to 50 partners. Big Bay, Michigan 49808 The 138-mile Au Sable River was as popular then as it is now, with private clubs and lodges popping up along the riverbanks to attract anglers. When Wildlife sightings can be excellent as the states largest moose herd roams here, which in turn has attracted predators like the elusive gray wolf. 609 N Mountain View Pl, Fullerton, CA 92831 is for sale. Insularity favors stasis, a myth itself because people, cultures, ideas, ecosystems are mobile, and transgressive, even if for varying and violent reasons. Oddly enough, Ford's wife, Clara, was unimpressed with the "cabin" and the Fords left the Club not long after. It was exclusive then and its not cheap to belong today. TBD Huron Mountain Club Rd, Update, MI 49808 | MLS# 10058258 | Redfin SOLD APR 28, 2022 Street View TBD Huron Mountain Club Rd, Update, MI 49808 $84,138 Redfin Estimate Beds Baths 41.30 Acres (Lot) Off Market This home last sold for $62,000 on Apr 28, 2022. According to Burroughs account, Ford also served as chief mechanic for the Vagabonds, fixing any machinery that needed repair. Mayor told us that the 1920s were the height of the clubs ritziness. Between 1915 and 1924, Ford and a group of friends began taking extensive camping trips throughout the eastern United States. 131, Ford Motion Picture Laboratories and Ford Photographic Department. Directly or indirectly, the Vagabonds shaped public opinion about many things, including the famous participants image as regular folks, the practicality of the automobile for long-distance travel, and the need for better roads. He then hired continues northwesterly as a road called "Blind 35" on many maps. The Huron Mountain Club, a private club reported to encompass somewhere between 10,000 to 20,0000 acres, does not dispute that fact. Asphalt paving wasnt introduced until after the Civil War and costs prevented it from replacing cobblestones or block pavers until the 20th century. Between the whiskey and the tea, we might have been swimming in a toddy. From the top of Bald Mountain the morning light gave our surroundings a very much different aspect when we awoke to a perfectly crisp autumn daybreak. Ford said, Ill get that car up the hill, and the caretaker took Ford over a narrow bridge to the angry auto owner. Now, 30 years later, I have no idea what the rules and regs are, but they were very protective of introducing the modern world into their environment.". and even brought close friends Harvey Firestone and official highway map. Their next trip was delayed by the war, but in 1918 Ford was able to join them, with an even larger entourage, and the four men started going on annual camping trips to mountains and wilderness areas in the eastern United States. 65 miles, via highway. The author steeps in Ives Lake. In 1916, Firestone met Edison at the latters factory in New Jersey, where the two men proceeded to Burroughs summer home in the Catskill Mountains. Freelance writer Dianna Stampfler is president of Promote Michigan and resides in Petoskey. Photo by Yooperann, June 2014. In the U.P., Ford had sawmills in Alberta (most recently a lumbering museum operated by Michigan Tech University), and Kingsford, near Iron Mountain, where the mill manager, E.G. Lindau says years ago, on vacation, she and her husband drove down a little two-lane road, up to the gate, where there were two guards. Many of the Interstate Highways follow pretty much the same routes as Davis. along the Keweenaw Bay shoreline to L'Anse. It's an interesting thing to witness.". Baraga to Rockland was redesignated as M-38 and the concurrent portion of Further construction on the incomplete portion of the highway through Once those basics are covered, its time for the road test along a 2.5-mile paved route that meanders through the historic 90-acre manicured campus. The schedule planned for completion in time for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition, to be held in San Francisco, the western terminus of the Highway, whose other end started in New York City. Frederick Miller of Miller Brewing owned his piece of wilderness at Craig Lake, now a wilderness state park. Au Gres and Cheboygan. Sara Thomas is a Literary Studies Ph.D. student in the English Department at the University of WisconsinMadison and a member of the Edge Effects editorial board. Sign up for the latest automotive news and videosin short, everything for people who love cars. Beginning around the 1880s, the Huron Mountains became the wilderness retreat of choice for several millionaire industrialists. (Obviously, the July 15, 1939 map likely went to They were frequently joined by family members and a variety of notables like President Warren G. Harding. Hes lived about 30 miles south of the Huron Mountain Club for his entire life. (Considering Longyear originally developed the rustic property with an eye towards steamship passengers, theres a certain irony to this logic.). Its a clear example of Fords relentless obsession with power in all senses of the word, willingness to throw around his weight, and (ultimately) short attention span. M-35 began For more information, contact the Ottawa National Forest Ranger District (4810 E. M-28, Kenton, 906/852-3500). Henry and Clara Ford found solace in the quiet country of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. He had a hard time joining, likely because club members feared the publicity his name would bring. Youre not likely to see a wolf, but you may be treated to ones hollow wail at your camp in the evening. The group was so elite, Ford originally was on the waiting list to join. is complicated. A hand-drawn map of Huron Mountain Club property. We are unclear on how these types of memberships are doled out. In the meantime, we'll just say it doesn't hurt your chances if youre Channing Tatum, or related to Henry Ford (and even Ford had trouble getting in). While Ford and Edison are still household names today, it should be pointed out that conservationist Burroughs was one of the best-selling authors in his day, with his books selling millions of copies, and was almost as famous as the other two men. 13. Her research spans twentieth and twenty-first century transnational American literature and culture. As early as 1916, Ford began making regular fishing trips to the Lovells area, located northeast of Grayling in Crawford County. 10. Via GPS Huron Mountain Club, 4700 N. County Road KK, Big Bay, MI 49808. Later, though, the State Highway Department decided to let motorists enjoy some scenery and started laying out routes for shoreline roads on the coastlines of both Upper and Lower Peninsulas. The Model T sparked a friendship between the two men. Proceed about 5 miles (on County Road KK) to the end of the paved road and the Huron Mountain Club gate. It was likely they were welcomed with a homecooked meal prepared for them by Mrs. Douglas. No environmental risk data is available for this property. But the Huron Mountain Club says the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers needs to sign off too. section beginning at L'Anse-Baraga and continuing westerly to US-45 near Though Ford was unable to join them, the three men set out on a two week trek to the Adirondack Mountains, roughing it with a staff of a cook and five servants. a product of First Street Foundation. 1 / 4. As ironic as it may seem, Henry Fordthe man who revolutionized There was speculation hed develop a major summer resort or game preserve there. of thousands of acres of land in the U.P. 131. This became his private and personal playground. The club is more about conservation these days. Negaunee and Marquette to US-41 at With even modest elevations, their watersheds mean lots of rivers and waterfalls. And for the National Park Service, maintaining this belief is a growing challenge due to a surge in visitors, invasive species, climate change, and other factors. Updated October 12, 2019. Among his assets was the 1914 Hebard Bungalow an expansive 5,000-square-foot summer home overlooking the bay, which today welcomes new generations of vacationers as a year-round rental. The club has definitely purchased more land in the last 10 years. Mayor still remembers the history he wrote quite well. shoreline. Burroughs found Ford and Edison to be intelligent and entertaining companions. Ford instead wanted counties, states, and the federal government to support road building, and he devoted public relations and lobbying efforts toward that endmuch as he would later do regarding airports for his Ford Tri-Motor airplanes. Back in the 50's the government was considering making this area a National Park but the deep wallets of the club members convinced them otherwise. Calling themselves the Vagabonds, Ford, Edison, Firestone and nature writer John Burroughs covered considerable territory over a nine-year period. Even in urban areas, what we today call pavement was then a relatively new thing. The different textures and smells of our finds were enchanting: witches butter (Tremella mesenterica), trumpets of death, blue stain fungus (Chlorociboria aeruginascens). Some say the crew invented glamping (read: luxury camping). Because no members of the club would talk to us, this information is all sourced from other news articles, the club's tax returns, plat maps, excerpts from the now out-of-print book The Huron Mountain Club: The first 100 years, and a very gracious interview given by its author, Archer Mayor (who we should mention has also written a best-selling 28-book series of crime novels). The Huron Mountain Club is a private club whose land holdings in Marquette County, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, constitute one of the largest tracts of primeval forest in the Great Lakes region. hunting and fishing preserve. Enviro-Capitalists: Doing Good While Doing Well, Moon Travel Guide discussion of Huron Mountain Club, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Huron_Mountain_Club&oldid=959285238, This page was last edited on 28 May 2020, at 01:10. For all that work, though, Henry didnt even get to enjoy his membership in the Huron Mountain Club for very long. The so-called "Steel Bridge" carried Co Rd 510 (the successor route to M-35) across the Dead River until bypassed by a newer structure in 2010. He started describing it to us, and that rich families belonged, and it was private, and it was exclusive, he said. If you think being sustainable is a new thing, Fords Kingsford facility had a chemical plant that processed wood waste into acetate of lime, methanol, charcoal, tar, creosote, heavy and light lubricating oils, and fuel gas. The HMC is island-like because some people desired an exclusive space in a way that corresponds to colonial desires for desert island paradises. the automotive industry and enabled the "common man" to afford his very own The growing popularity of the automobile helped fill out the constituency of those who wanted better roads. of northwestern Marquette and northeastern Baraga counties, then southwesterly These rarified acres on the shore of Lake Superior may be left undeveloped if approved for a tax break by the state. segment through the Huron Mountains west of Big Baysaw very little As noted above, Ford owned large tracts of land in nearby Baraga County On Thursday, August 23, 1923, the newspaper reported the Ford party had made its way to LAnse in Baraga County, where Ford owned a sawmill, dock facilities, 30,000 acres of timber and other facilities. Insularity makes islands appear remote and parochial instead of interconnected. century, very few state-maintained roads ran along the Great Lakes shorelines. for about five miles, it is a two-lane, paved road while the next 19 miles Gov. Eminent domain is a monopoly generally reserved to governments. He succumbed to a year-long battle with glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer, in March 2018. The three men enjoyed the excursion so much that Edison proposed they go camping the following year. That the state of Michigan would take the extraordinary step of granting that power to a private person shows the extent of Henry Fords political and economic might. Map of Never-Built M-35 through the Huron Mountains, County Fisher said it would cost $10 million to build. In 1921, the MSHD erected this 271-foot We are inholders, not members. Formed circa 1890, the club consists of 50 dwellings clustered inside about 13,000 acres of private land, encompassing the Huron Mountains area. He liked to keep tabs on his operations and holdings. Follow the signs for Huron Mountain, avoiding roads to Ives Lake (to the left) or Conway Lake (to the right). Code Of Ethics Policy | left two widely-separated segments of the highway remaining. routings were built, such as US-2 between Members feared that the new road would expose the wilderness to harm, and maybe they also thought that a resort hotel nearby might make their own holdings less exclusive. We started off by reaching out to current club members and to folks who have connections to the club. The increased number of people using their personal automobiles for leisure travel was another group that wanted better roads. Last September, I was invited to go mushroom hunting with a group of mycologists, visual artists, a poet, and a literary scholar at the Ives Lake Field Station, a restricted-access research station on Michigans Upper Peninsula located within the Huron Mountain Club. Between cities, though, there were hardly any decent roads to speak of, and only a fraction of them were improved, which typically meant a dirt road that had been graded and those were mostly close to cities and towns. "One of them was Henry Ford's and it's big enough to put two of my houses [in it], but they're called cabins nevertheless.". In the 1920s, Henry Ford himself wanted to become a member Dozens of others owned camps at the Huron Mountain Club, an organization so exclusive that even Henry Ford was turned down for membership when he first applied. Today, the Huron Mountain Club consists of 50 primary members and 100 associate members who have access to the private and heavily guarded hunting and fishing resort facility. You could get a job there and work for the Huron Mountain Club. ", If you know anything about the club, you know it's kind of a silly question. But those conversations quickly stalled, so finding an answer to Lindaus question took some time. Personnel at Huron Mountain Club. In this context, sharing knowledge across disciplinary boundaries takes on a sense of urgency. The Huron Mountain Club is a private club whose land holdings in Marquette County constitute one of the largest tracts of primeval forest in the Great Lakes region. This terrain, deep in the interior of the continent, was a place apart from the islands and archipelagoes that Im accustomed to thinking and writing about. The Stonehouse on Ives Lake in Michigans Upper Peninsula. Ford loved It can be assumed this route was designated more to serve a relatively And in the 1930s the HMC was an important stop for Aldo Leopold whose report on the Club helped put into practice his theories of land management driven by a conservationist ethic. He said the Model T had the gas tank in the rear, and when the car was pointed forward up a steep incline, the gravity-fed gas could not get up to the motor. In 1919, the State Highway Department designated a new trunkline routegiven the M-35 route numberto run northwesterly from the Negaunee area through the Huron Mountains The Clublands include unpaved roads to access a network of interior lakes and streams as well as trails to other points of interest. acreage in Marquette County adjacent to the HMC holdings including land The 1919 trip had a caravan of 50 vehicles, including two said to be customized at Fords personal direction, a kitchen car with a stove fired by gasoline and built-in icebox, and a White truck with storage for tents, cots, chairs, and even the electric lights used at the campsites that were powered by a generator that Edison made. in getting the state highway skirting the southern eged of the Huron Mountain Club cancelled, Henry Ford He was twice president of banks and helped organize the Huron Mountain Club located on 10,000 acres of lakefront property about forty miles across the water from Marquette. The two discontinuous segments of M-35 were separated by approximately Today, there still is a place where drivers are invited to get behind the wheel of one of Fords legendary Model Ts. It was the summer of 1980. "If someone wants to have dinner at my house, they make a phone call, and they say, Hey, I happen to be really good friends with your friend Bubbaand Oh, well, any friend of Bubba is a friend of mine, come on over.". We found one copy at the University of Michigan's Bentley Historical Library. Mayor stayed at the club during the winter of 1986, and recalls that he had to drive to the edge of the property to make a phone call. Today the 25,000-acre enclave is owned mostly by the descendants of those original members. Mount Arvon, about 15 miles due east of LAnse, tops out at 1,979 feet, the highest point in the state. Moon Michigan reveals the best of the Great Lakes States charming small towns, vibrant urban hubs, and vast, untouched wilderness. Twenty-two miles southeast is the Michigamme Historical Museum, which features an exhibit focused on Fords impact on the community.
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