Ford and Firestone were already business associates, Firestone supplying Ford with tires and other rubber components, as well as good friends. 91.3 Port Huron 89.7 Lansing 91.1 Flint. While the towns 20 businesses are thriving, the bank closed down. membership, if ever. approach the mountains from both directions, eventually meeting in the There are two types of members: Regular members and associate members. Subscribe for emails announcing new content: Edge Effects 2023. By 1910, the state of Michigan required residents to register their vehicles and display license plates. Club membership has become something of a family responsibility. Also, Henry was exceptionally wealthy and powerful and perhaps members thought he would make a caricature of their own wealth and power. 609 N Mountain View Pl, Fullerton, CA 92831 is for sale. Well, it all started when Elizabeth Lindau posed this question to our MI Curious project: "Can I get into the Huron Mountain Club? 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 helped shape the states early tourism industry in more ways than one. 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. Lest you think that the Kingsford mill was a small lumberyard, it was a large industrial operation, including a body shop that assembled Ford woody station wagon bodies. We went into this story knowing this about the club, but still made a lot of attempts to get an exception -- to no avail. You know, Can I get in? could mean either, can I get in as a guest of a member? It can mean, can I get in under the radar? It could mean, can I get in, like, I mean finances notwithstanding, could I actually become a member of the Mountain Club? So I thought I would ask it in an open-ended way to explore any and all of those questions, said Lindau. A mushroom breaks through the duff on the forest floor. Thus the United States Supreme Court could decide against the full incorporation of Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam in the Insular Cases, after the acquisition of these lands following the War of 1898. 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. In the reporting process, we uncovered a lot of other information about the club. Youre not likely to see a wolf, but you may be treated to ones hollow wail at your camp in the evening. The proposed project is located within Craig Regional Park in the City of Fullerton, California. He rarely traveled alone. "I met a bunch of people who really see the club not as "something to do on the weekend," but as a cause. not serve any major population centers, only the small hamlets of Randy Annala is the father of one of my (Kaye's) best friends. Alberta, he was able to become a member of the HMC as soon as possible. Clara is reported as having been unimpressed with the cabinperhaps the bungalow in Pequaming was more to her tastes. Ford and Lincoln vehicles, as well as heavier trucks, were customized to carry the Vagabonds gear. By 1914 Ford Motor Company was selling over 200,000 Model Ts a year, and more roads were needed to keep pace. 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. But the value of this endeavor increases along another axis, as the isolation of private and elite lands nevertheless preserves species of fungi (and much more) in the face of global biodiversity decline. It was established around 1890 by millionaire industrialists from Detroit and Chicago. Ford had his favorite architect, Albert Kahn, design a white pine log cabin on club property that cost as much as $100,000 to build in 1929, which works out to more than a million dollars today. Today, no navigable road exists through the Huron Mountains along the Henry Ford's iconic tire tracks lead to dozens of historic sites around the U.P., including a 30-plus mile scenic two-track between Big Bay and L'Anse. Moon Michigan reveals the best of the Great Lakes States charming small towns, vibrant urban hubs, and vast, untouched wilderness. Associate members have no voting rights and no rights in the distribution of the organization's assets in the event of its dissolution. The property was sold in 1944, when Ford was 81 years old. The League of American Wheelmen founded the Good Roads Movement and the Good Roads magazine. Follow the signs for Huron Mountain, avoiding roads to Ives Lake (to the left) or Conway Lake (to the right). The cabin still apparently exists, but because of the very private nature of the Huron Mountain Club you cant visit it like you can the Ford Bungalow in Pequaming (available for rental by groups up to 16, should you want to sleep where Henry and Clara slept). Transportation began to change dramatically in 1903, with the founding of the Ford Motor Company and its release of the first Model T in Detroit in 1908. The club was created in 1889 by John Longyear. Ford needed to stack the deck in his favor to ensure This 24,000-acre tract was intended to be a private, membership-based Nearly the entire town of 3000 people turned out to greet them at the train, along with 31 Model T owners. John Dunlop didnt patent the shock absorbing air-filled pneumatic bicycle tire until 1888. Want updates when Huron Mountain Club has new . Michigan Highways > In Depth > M-35: The Highway Henry Ford Stopped. A quarter mile after crossing a small bridge (over Pine River) there is a three-way fork in the road. Firestone and Edison camped in the writers apple orchard and though the aging Burroughs initially preferred the comforts of his home, he was persuaded to join the other men by what he described as their Waldorf Astoria on wheels-level cuisine. One of the NHAs first projects was publishing a map of its proposed system of National Highways, a 50,000 mile network of roads that Davis characterized as a broad and comprehensive system of National Highways, built, owned, and maintained by the National Government. The association cited defense and military purposes to promote its system of national highways, presaging one of the Eisenhower administrations rationales for starting the Interstate Highway system in the 1950s. vehicleactually helped halt a highway project in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. 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). The Club Office is about 50 yards on the left. 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. prior to avoid a sinking area caused by flooded underground mine shafts To help his causethat of to travel to the U.P. members (those who are allowed to own their own cabin) and 80 "associate" members This 24,000-acre tract was intended to be a private, membership-based hunting and fishing preserve. [1] section beginning at L'Anse-Baraga and continuing westerly to US-45 near Dan took the plunge more eagerly, doing a double-jump off the ancient diving board. Ford worked to stop construction of the (Obviously, the July 15, 1939 map likely went to The club has definitely purchased more land in the last 10 years. a different river, but one in a completely different state! Fisher said it would cost $10 million to build. of M-35 from US-41/M-28 between as well as similar men from Detroit and Chicago purchased a massive tract No members or employees would agree to talk to us about the club. On this McCormick chose the site for a cluster of log and stone cabins,a grand camp, unparalleled anywhere in the world. press months before its issue date, when the status of M-35 in the Hurons The 1923 purchase of the town of Pequaming, just north of LAnse, for nearly $3 million helped make Ford the largest individual property owner and tax payer in the U.P. The Huron Mountain Club is a massive tract of privately-owned land northwest of Marquette, in the Upper Peninsula. Edison was intrigued at the possibility of finding a domestic plant source for natural rubber. nice grade with long, sweeping curvesthe type one would find on 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. the first state trunklines were laid out in the second decade of the twentieth The eastern leg was completed in 1926 and the western leg by 1932. It is said that he had his own private rail car that would drop him and his guests friends, family and colleagues at the town and the lodge of their choice. (The resort caretaker) Mr. Feldhauser found Mr. Ford in the clubhouse and told him there was a man on the other side of the river who could not get his Ford car up a steep incline. The Stonehouse on Ives Lake in Michigans Upper Peninsula. M-35 on official state highway maps issued by the MSHD showed the highway The couple built a large cabin in the Huron Mountain Club, an exclusive resort on Lake Superior about 40 miles north of Marquette. Some feel the Act is meant for struggling farmers, while others feel it is intended for land protection no matter . of northwestern Marquette and northeastern Baraga counties, then southwesterly 510 / Dead River Bridge, Steel Bridge on Marquette County Road 510, Michigan. Day 4. But a man he met explained otherwise. The club's interests have shifted over the years, toward conservation of its pristine wilderness. Drivers education wouldnt be required for years to come. This discontinuity was seemingly rectified in the In 1912, an entrepreneur named Carl Fisher had the idea of constructing a graveled transcontinental road that he initially called the Coast to Coast Rock Highway. north of US-41/M-28 travelling A steel bridge crossing the Allegheny River upstream from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was purchased, disassembled, and installed over the Dead River east of Negaunee, but the middle section through the Hurons was still marked on official state maps as Impassable. author in September 1999, November 2003 and September 2015 showed much evidence that the highway through his holdings and, according to local author and historican Environmental risk data is provided by Risk Factor, 1 / 4. Rick Snyder has signed into law changes to the regulation of Michigan copper mines.Legislation enacted Tuesday establishes separate regulations for, The moose population in the western Upper Peninsula appears to be rebounding after taking a dip a few years ago.Moose were reintroduced into the western, Jim Curtis lives in Ahmeek, a village in Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula. The lawsuit says sulfuric acid produced by sulfide mining could pollute the river, and the club is "horror-struck" by the prospect of the watershed collapsing . Once in the U. P., they loaded up in three chauffeur-driven Lincoln cars and made their way to Iron Mountain, caravan-style, with three supply vehicles and an Edison portable generator that kept the refrigeration working and the camp lit at night. Once the private wilderness retreat of Cyrus McCormick, whose father invented the reaping machine, the 27-square-mile McCormick Wilderness was willed to the U.S. Forest Service by his family in 1967. One history occludes another. Hes lived about 30 miles south of the Huron Mountain Club for his entire life. Then World War I broke out. Either way, Henry found a way to leverage his power to gain membershipand it all had to do with public road building. Though Burroughs died in 1921, these so called Vagabonds camping trips would continue until 1924. Instead of backing the Lincoln Highway, Ford was a supporter of Charles Henry Davis National Highways Association, founded in 1911 with the slogan Good Roads Everywhere. 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. of one man, one very influential man, weighed more heavily than those of The combination of water and fantastic natural scenery provided Henry a real playground.. Before we answer Lindaus question, she should know shes not alone in her curiosity. But, back to Lindaus question. Thats all because a man who helped persuade the federal government and states to start funding highway construction subsequently used his personal power to stop a public road from being built, just so he could join a club that he quit soon afterwards. In fact, most roads ran well inland of the 'big lakes.' 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. The Steel Bridge is now closed to vehicular traffic, but remains opens for pedestrians and non-motorized transportation. The three men enjoyed the excursion so much that Edison proposed they go camping the following year. We were all bathing in something very special, almost pure. Huron Mountain Club An ideal place for wealthy folks that want to enjoy the scenery in privacy, one would think. When Michigans state trunklines were first laid out and built in the nineteen teens, highway planners deliberately avoided running them along the Great Lakes shorelines, likely for winter driving safety. Updated October 12, 2019. along the proposed route of M-35. According to Burroughs account, Ford also served as chief mechanic for the Vagabonds, fixing any machinery that needed repair. around the state on both peninsulas. "We had all these scary signs wondering what in heaven's name might happen to us if we get caught. It would be 1919 before drivers were required to apply for paper driving permits. 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 history of the United States is the history of private property and the privatization of the non-human world. In 1927, Henry Ford bought land that essentially stopped road construction in its tracks. ", If you know anything about the club, you know it's kind of a silly question. 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. Rockland. We'll get to the downright practical ways you might get into the club below. through the Yellow Dog Plains to the south of the main Huron Mountain range. of determining shoreline routings for much of the Great Lakes coastline The route itself has a very There are hundreds of well-marked hiking trails and dirt roads that lead to beautiful picnic or swimming spots. This home has a n/a noise level for the surrounding area. Insularity makes islands appear remote and parochial instead of interconnected. five miles east of Skanee. The two discontinuous segments of M-35 were separated by approximately Even in urban areas, what we today call pavement was then a relatively new thing. Automakers, tire companies, and their customers werent the only people interested in better roads. The proposed road would have cut through Fords property and the adjacent Huron Mountain Club an exclusive 24,000-acre wilderness retreat along the shores of Lake Superior. Insularity favors stasis, a myth itself because people, cultures, ideas, ecosystems are mobile, and transgressive, even if for varying and violent reasons. As we bobbed through this glacial lake, the newly changing leaves danced like seasonal glitter before they landed on us. M-35 It likely costs about as much to be a Huron Mountain Club member as it does to belong to an exclusive country club. During this time period, the route of As previously mentioned they own around 20,000 acres of some of the nicest scenery in the mountains. For all that work, though, Henry didnt even get to enjoy his membership in the Huron Mountain Club for very long. Unlike the National Park system, which was founded at nearly the same time as the HMC and which conserved land for public enjoyment and appreciation, the HMC was always private, exclusive, and elite. the automotive industry and enabled the "common man" to afford his very own Freelance writer Dianna Stampfler is president of Promote Michigan and resides in Petoskey. in a three-way concurrency of US-41/M-28/M-35 But as Mayor points out, the Club has come a long way from that vision, and is really a money-losing venture for the families who run it. Between 1915 and 1924, Ford and a group of friends began taking extensive camping trips throughout the eastern United States. a product of First Street Foundation. Whistle Blower Policy, Driving from Marquette to the Club's main office. We don't have up-to-date information on the number of associate members, but Mayor gave us some info in an e-mail: "Since I havent been in touch with the Club for so many years, I would hesitate to affirm that the numbers are still the same. On this date- Rock and roll legends Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P.Richardson are killed in a plane crash in 1959, at Clear Lake, Iowa, often called as the The Day on which Music Died. The waters color was a testament to the accumulation of plant matter that had been steeping for centuries, if not longer. The Steel Bridge survived a catastrophic flood in May 2003 when a dam upstream burst. Edison) to the area on travelling expeditions. about four decades, a group of wealthy investors from nearby Marquette It changed the way people lived, worked and played. major task completed early on was the bridging of the Dead River northeast Fisher was able to get industrialists Frank Seiberling, who ran Goodyear tires, and Henry Joy, who headed Packard Motor Car Company, to sign on to the project, which was renamed the Lincoln Highway Association after the 16th President. From the Marquette-Negaunee area, the former M-35 route exists as rather a large sume (quivalent to millions of dollars today)! The table, which comfortably accommodates the party, is in two sections with a revolving center stand, so that any of them at the table may turn it around to get any food desired.. Featured image: Witches butter (Tremella mesenterica). The Upper Peninsula is also not very large and its surrounded on three sides by Lake Superior, Lake Huron, and Lake Michigan. at the time. Ford and his son returned to the Au Sable the following summer, checking into the Douglas and signing the guest registry on Sunday, June 10, 1917. He proposed that the money would come from car and automotive accessory companies donating 1 percent of their revenue to pay for materials with communities along the route paying for construction equipment. The cancellation of all of M-35 between Negaunee-Marquette and L'Anse But, it remained a rustic island where he, Edison and Firestone explored the shoreline and trails (while their wives stayed in town at the Park Place Hotel), according to local historian Kathleen Firestone, author of An Island in Grand Traverse Bay.. 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. shoreline. So I started to wonder, how might that logic help me make sense of our time at the field station, located on this continents Third Coast? We found one copy at the University of Michigan's Bentley Historical Library. And it did: the water was a deep amber color, dark and golden. Known today as Power Island and occasionally referred to as Ford Island (or Marion Island), it is open to the public and maintained by the Grand Traverse County Parks & Recreation Department. Known now as Fullers North Branch Outing Club, the Prairie and Victorian-style lodge is one of the few remaining historic fly fishing resorts in the state open to the public. We don't know exactly how this is split up among members, but as Mayor states above, the largest burden is on the 50 "regular members.". There was speculation hed develop a major summer resort or game preserve there. line of the proposed M-35 from the 1920s and 30s, not even a two-track the Huron Mountains, transporting logs to his mills at Alberta. 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. It seems like the first rule of the Huron Mountain Club, is: dont talk about the Huron Mountain Club. This new trunkline would The place is considerably pared down from its excessive glory years of the roaring 20's. 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. October, 2012. Even by UP standards, its a rugged place. Longyear planned it as a moneymaking operation, hoping to charge people passage to get there on his steam boat, and perhaps even build some kind of resort on the Lake Superior coast similar to the resorts on Mackinaw Island and the northern coast of Lake Huron. Henry and Clara Ford found solace in the quiet country of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. This belief is possible first because Indigenous people were forcibly removed. Via GPS Huron Mountain Club, 4700 N. County Road KK, Big Bay, MI 49808. 13. Go about four miles. This is where Henry Ford and the future of M-35 crossed Backtracking Sign up to receive the latest news, events, and offerings from, michigan.org/property/the-henry-ford-bungalow. It is listed on the state and national historic registers and is the only public fishing lodge in the state to hold such status. 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. Her research spans twentieth and twenty-first century transnational American literature and culture. "This is actually a whole lot simpler than it seems," said Mayor. of the Huron Mountain Club, but since the membership roster was full, Ford He was 49 years old. Formed circa 1890, the club consists of 50 dwellings clustered inside about 13,000 acres of private land, encompassing the Huron Mountains area. Ford had massive land holdings in Michigans Upper Peninsula, more than a half million acres of pine and hardwoods he needed to produce the wood used to produce his cars. 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. Today it remains in pristine wilderness condition: remote, undeveloped, and largely unused. Kingsford, developed charcoal briquettes from wood waste. Many people approach the Huron Mountains from the east, where County Road 550 climbs 30 miles out of Marquette to the tiny town of Big Bay (population 270). Twenty-two miles southeast is the Michigamme Historical Museum, which features an exhibit focused on Fords impact on the community. 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. We know that Ford liked to chop wood because, savvy about publicity and eager to shape his public image, he made sure to have teams from the Ford Motion Picture Laboratories and Ford Photographic Department to record the camping trips for posterity and not so incidentally create free content for newspapers and theater operators. As early as 1916, Ford began making regular fishing trips to the Lovells area, located northeast of Grayling in Crawford County. We know that an archipelago of private landholdings in the service of conservation will always have porous ecological borders, but human mobility across these borders shows how they can also be a selective and semi-permeable membrane that wealth and privilege (including academic privilege) alone can lubricate. And I think that explains in large part how the club has been able to survive for as long as it has, because these people are, and I think quite rightfully, devoted to something they have really created of their own.". So, dinner was not something where gentlemen could even take off their jackets if it was stifling hot, and it was stiflingly hot because there was no air conditioning in the early days.". We are inholders, not members. Business trips to the Upper Peninsula were common for Ford. The Northwestern Road is an alternative route from Ford Road to County Road 510 that completely bypasses the Yellow Dog Plains. middle, thus completing the route. A state trunkline log dated January 1948, however, Henry made sure the campers were refreshed with Poland Spring water he had shipped from Maine, and Edsel, then 21 years old, recorded the trip on his camera. He was going to charge to bring people to the club on his boat. He liked to keep tabs on his operations and holdings. 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. His efforts against the road project must have impressed the club, as they eventually made him a full member. if some rock cuts into the side of a hill were made for this highway as Henry Ford loved exploring the outdoors and was always seeking adventure, says Robert Kreipke corporate historian for Ford Motor Company. 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. As a matter of fact, regarding the publicity that the Vagabonds received, many transportation historians think that Ford had more on his mind than enjoying fresh air and the great outdoors. Naturalist Aldo Leopold produced a plan for preserving the tract in 1938. The Fabled Huron Mountain Club. The Marquette Regional History Centers archives contain extensive Ford files from the county and beyond. More recently, residents joke about how the local bank, well aware of the towns volatile economy, was loath to loan money to town businessesan overly conservative stance that proved to be the banks undoing. and even brought close friends Harvey Firestone and Though locals grumble about the lack of access to the property, the Huron Mountain Club has proved to be an exceptional steward of the land. Aldo Leopold was enlisted to help the club with land and wildlife management, and in 1938, he published a "Report on Huron Mountain Club.". 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. That year, Ford and naturalist John Burroughs decided to join Thomas Edison at the inventors winter home in Ft. Myers, Florida. Since this was one of the most four-wheel drive and higher ground clearance are needed in poorer conditions, The club limited membership to only 50 primary members (those who are allowed to own their own cabin) and 80 "associate" members (not allowed to own a cabin), which resulted in extremely limited and exclusive membership. The project site is on land owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in relation to the operation of the . official highway map.
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