This 24,000-acre tract was intended to be a private, membership-based hunting and fishing preserve. Henry Ford Feeding Deer at Huron Mountain Club, Michigan, circa 1945 One history occludes another. In 1917, he purchased a 200-acre island located 3 miles off Bowers Harbor in West Grand Traverse Bay. fact the gap was not signed until after that the proposed M-35 through the Hurons and the route from the junction of Insularity favors stasis, a myth itself because people, cultures, ideas, ecosystems are mobile, and transgressive, even if for varying and violent reasons. Sloan Jr., John D. Rockefeller Jr., Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone and the yet-to-be-published author, Ernest Hemingway, during the early part of the 21st century. a state trunklinein addition to longer straight segments, uncommon Project Information OC Parks is planning to construct, operate, and maintain the Craig Park Bike Facility, a 9.7-acre mountain bike skills course facility for all ages and abilities. There seems to have been some grumbling that the publicity was hampering their privacy, and Edison took to guiding the Vagabonds on back roads when crowds started to gather to watch them drive through towns. The town has swung from prosperity to near ghost-town status more than once, first as a bustling logging outpost, then as one of Henry Fords company towns, home to busy sawmills. in a time where real wood was used!) He and Edsel Ford did become members of the Au Sable Trout and Game Club, better known locally as the Dam Four Club, as it was located where the former logging dam, known as Dam 4 was situated on the North Branch of the Au Sable River, says Rob Burg, director of the Lovells Historical Museums. No members or employees would agree to talk to us about the club. 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. Club membership has become something of a family responsibility. On a map youll see its an intriguing parcel of land, virtually devoid of towns and roads. Industrialists like Ford, Edison, and tire magnate Harvey Firestone became concerned that the war would disrupt the importation of natural rubber. Kingsford set out on a week-long camping junket through the Upper Peninsula, visiting many of Fords operations along the way. Longyears original facilities meant some rough living but by the roaring twenties, the Club had become an exclusive retreat for the very wealthy, with cabins larger than many middle class homes. There are hundreds of well-marked hiking trails and dirt roads that lead to beautiful picnic or swimming spots. Name Title Compensation Date of data; Samuel T Desmet: General Manager: $115,666: 2021-03-31: Elizabeth Hudson: . He helped shape the states early tourism industry in more ways than one. A quarter mile after crossing a small bridge (over Pine River) there is a three-way fork in the road. 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. Aldo Leopold was enlisted to help the club with land and wildlife management, and in 1938, he published a "Report on Huron Mountain Club.". He then hired Model T driving class size is limited and reservations are required by calling (269) 671-5089. This home has a n/a noise level for the surrounding area. According to Burroughs account, Ford also served as chief mechanic for the Vagabonds, fixing any machinery that needed repair. of land in northern Marquette County on the shores of Lake Superior northwest Tags: ConservationIdeas of NatureParks and RecreationWilderness. But Lindau thought there might be some other ways to get in. All of those products were used either in house or sold commercially. Thus, the car would stall.. Whats the tallest waterfall in Michigan? at Pequaming, one of his company towns in Baraga Co on the Keweenaw Bay. author in September 1999, November 2003 and September 2015 showed much evidence that the Adding sub-categories of non-voting and non-cabin-owning members helped the bottom line somewhat, butagain as the book points outthe heaviest financial burden falls and has always fallen on the fifty full members.". It can be assumed this route was designated more to serve a relatively Ford also bought the entire town of Pequaming, on Keweenaw Bay, from its founder, Dan Hebard and turned it into a factory town. The club has definitely purchased more land in the last 10 years. All of this is a problem. acreage in Marquette County adjacent to the HMC holdings including land Most of the group boarded Fords 200-foot luxury steam yacht, Sialia (the ornithological name for the Eastern Bluebird) in Traverse City, traveling through northern Lake Michigan en route to Escanaba. 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. Hebard moved to land on the Pine River, in the Clubs holdings and Henry and Clara Ford began using the bungalow as a vacation home. The club has 50 regular members, who own cabins, and some number of associate members. 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. From Herders to Hikers, the Shifting Lives of Scottish Bothies, What Dogs Can Teach Us About Justice: A Conversation with Colin Dayan, 2020 Visions: Imagining (Post-) COVID Worlds, Plantationocene Series: Plantation Worlds, Past and Present, invasive species, climate change, and other factors, Center for Culture, History, and Environment (CHE), Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, When Aboriginal Burning Practices Meet Colonial Legacies in Australia, Reflections on the Plantationocene: A Conversation with Donna Haraway and Anna Tsing, In Hawaii, Plantation Tourism Tastes Like Pineapple, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. 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. 4. Just after you cross the Peshekee River, follow the first paved road north. Henry Ford and Ford Motor Company didnt just own thousands of acres of land in southeastern Michigan. For all that work, though, Henry didnt even get to enjoy his membership in the Huron Mountain Club for very long. L'Anse was officially "cancelled" as a state trunkline by the State Highway Finally, the Michigan Attorney General issued an opinion that said that if two-thirds of the property over which a road would pass was owned by people who opposed the road, that would be sufficient to overcome eminent domain and the road would be blocked. The three men enjoyed the excursion so much that Edison proposed they go camping the following year. We found one copy at the University of Michigan's Bentley Historical Library. Within its boundaries lie towering virgin pines, blue ribbon trout streams, and pristine lakes. 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. highway through his holdings and, according to local author and historican The roaring twenties were the years of excess. The HMC is island-like because some people desired an exclusive space in a way that corresponds to colonial desires for desert island paradises. I was the last to join the group for a swim, but no one seemed to mind. 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. Dinner was a formal affair (and might still be). Photo by Andrew Thomas, September, 2017. 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. She is especially interested in the archipelagic and oceanic networks of U.S. empire making and the affective, aesthetic, and ecological effects of these material and metaphorical relations. You would travel out there many a mile through dirt road[s], and if you were a member of the club and you had to call your office or home or something like that, that's how you had to do it. a state trunkline in 1919, it was not until 1926 that work was completed and transported to Marquette County. The original charter limited membership to 50 partners. The Huron Mountain Club is a massive tract of privately-owned land northwest of Marquette, in the Upper Peninsula. But those conversations quickly stalled, so finding an answer to Lindaus question took some time. In 1929, he was a member. Crushed and steam-rolled gravel roads between cities were rare and asphalt and concrete roads were almost nonexistent outside of cities. To help his causethat of These questions were made all the more provocative because the Huron Mountain Club (HMC) was sited on land ceded to the United States by the Ojibwe people in the Treaty of 1842. 12. (M-35 had been routed out of downtown Neguanee a few years However, the club also allied with the neighboring Keweenaw Bay Indian Community and conservation groups to fight a local sulfide mine. 510 / Dead River Bridge, Steel Bridge on Marquette County Road 510, Michigan. John Longyear: Landlooker from Michigan Longyear Museum The trail lead to the famed Huron Mountain Club that held vast amounts of land west of Big Bay, 26 miles away. To give you an idea of how much power and influence Henry Ford personally had, Michigans Public Service Commission granted Ford, a private individual, the right of eminent domain to seize land adjacent to dam sites in Michigan for his Village Industries project. You could get a job there and work for the Huron Mountain Club. He started describing it to us, and that rich families belonged, and it was private, and it was exclusive, he said. M-35 began Cyrus McCormick, head of the lucrative farm-implement company that would become International Harvester, amassed a huge wilderness estate around White Deer Lake, now part of the Ottawa National Forests McCormick Tract Wilderness Area. Can you get into the Huron Mountain Club? No. Here are 13 things we There is still not a single paved road today within the 1000 square mile area. 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. How does the logic of insularity shape the cordoning off of lands under conservation? 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.". It was during this time industrialist Henry Ford had purchased hundreds 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. Fortunately for Ford, there was some land near Mountain Lake that was available for his purchase and it made up more than two-thirds of the property that the planned route crossed. In other words, its perfect for backcountry hiking and camping. This resulted Return to Part 2. But first, some background. for minor backroads and two-tracks in remote country. Burroughs found Ford and Edison to be intelligent and entertaining companions. Later, he would invest in some swampland in Florida and turn it into Miami Beach. published on April 8, 2015 by Jacob Emerick. Many of the Interstate Highways follow pretty much the same routes as Davis. region represents one of the most extensive and best preserved tracts of prime- val forest in the state. There are two types of members: Regular members and associate members. The areas preservation wasnt the result of happy accident. Craig Park Bike Facility | OC Parks A portion of the area is controlled by a private organi- zation, the Hluron Mountain Club, which has owned property here since 1889. Field trips to the area by the hunting and fishing preserve. 91.3 Port Huron 89.7 Lansing 91.1 Flint. The Upper Peninsula is also not very large and its surrounded on three sides by Lake Superior, Lake Huron, and Lake Michigan. remained on official maps and documents through the 1930s, all the while If any club members are reading this -- we know two people named Elizabeth and Randy who would love to come for dinner! The three men met at the Pan Pacific Exhibition in San Francisco, where Edison was being honored and, on a whim, decided to visit botanist and plant chemist Luther Burbank at his lab in Santa Rosa about 55 miles north of the city. Formed circa 1890, the club consists of 50 dwellings clustered inside about 20,000 acres of private land, encompassing the Huron Mountains area. Proceed about 5 miles (on County Road KK) to the end of the paved road and the Huron Mountain Club gate. But the Huron Mountain Club says the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers needs to sign off too. And it did: the water was a deep amber color, dark and golden. in a three-way concurrency of US-41/M-28/M-35 Automakers, tire companies, and their customers werent the only people interested in better roads. The couple built a large cabin in the Huron Mountain Club, an exclusive resort on Lake Superior about 40 miles north of Marquette. While that may or may not be a legend, but at least one academic paper says that Interstate overpasses were indeed specified high enough to allow trucks carrying missiles underneath them. There are over 200 named waterfalls in the U.P., which has some of the most spectacular scenery in North America. 65 miles, via highway. Some say the crew invented glamping (read: luxury camping). Some time in mid-1939 the final decision was made to give up on completing A state trunkline log dated January 1948, however, Ford also had a "cottage" built 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. 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. Ford and Lincoln vehicles, as well as heavier trucks, were customized to carry the Vagabonds gear. Unfortunately for the Lincoln Highway Association, the one industrialist whose support would likely have guaranteed its success, Henry Ford, did not believe private funding would be sufficient for the countrys highway needs. In 1921, the MSHD erected this 271-foot In this context, sharing knowledge across disciplinary boundaries takes on a sense of urgency. Randy Annala is the father of one of my (Kaye's) best friends. work performed, if any. 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 club was founded to establish a remote hunting and fishing club for outdoor enthusiasts. Sign up for the latest automotive news and videosin short, everything for people who love cars. This left an impression on Randy Annala, who's lived in the area for his entire life: I know the members spent money and hired lawyers and the Huron Mountain Club fought tooth and nail to keep the Eagle Mine out, and I think that satisfied a lot of the outdoorsmen, like me and other outdoorsmen and fishermen and stuff like that, who saw that they were on our side," said Annala. Henry Ford grew up on a farm and had a great love of the outdoors, which he advocating accessing by means of the automobile. [2] The research facility at Ives Lake was started in the 1960s, after it passed from a member family's hands into Club ownership. This new trunkline would 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. 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. Visitors now frequent Big Bay for its Huron Mountains access, Lake Superior harbor, Lake Independence fishing, and unique lodgings. a large sume (quivalent to millions of dollars today)! of the Huron Mountain Club, but since the membership roster was full, Ford He had a hard time joining, likely because club members feared the publicity his name would bring. Claim your home and get an email whenever there's an So why are we even bothering looking into this question? of Big Bay. A giant polypore fungi or artists conk inhabiting a tree trunk at the Ives Lake Field Station. Negaunee to L'Anse was concurrently designated with M-35. In 1928, the road was rerouted to skirt the Huron Mountain Club property and in 1929 Henry Ford was voted in as a primary member. You couldnt see more than a foot or two down. membership, if ever. We went into this story knowing this about the club, but still made a lot of attempts to get an exception -- to no avail. 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. M-35 from Negaunee to Baraga was removed. Hebard changed the rules to put the decision in the hands of club directors and only one no was needed to block election. Her research spans twentieth and twenty-first century transnational American literature and culture. Follow the signs for Huron Mountain, avoiding roads to Ives Lake (to the left) or Conway Lake (to the right). In fact, only one generally passible road through the area exists 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.