Documentary on the History of U.S. 12

"From Moccasins to Main Street" is a new documentary about the history of U.S. 12 that is premiering this Friday, July 14, at Sturges-Young Auditorium at 7 p.m. The film is produced by Mike Mort and Lee Fraim and features many actors from the Sturgis area. Tickets for the premiere are $10 with the proceeds going to the Sturgis Historical Society and the St. Joseph County Historical Society. Organizers would prefer if you made reservations.

The documentary takes viewers through the different stages the route has seen over the years. What began as an Indian trail and ended up as U.S. 12 makes for some interesting history. Before I-94 came into existence in 1962 the current highway known as U.S. 12 was at that time known as U.S. 112.

Read more about "From Moccasins to Main Street" at the Sturgis Journal.

Controversial Topics in Book About Michigan Copper

Fred Rydholm is a local historian up in Marquette. He has written a few Michigan-related books in the past, but his newest one will contradict what most of us have been taught about history. His new book is entitled "Michigan Copper - The Untold Story.” As a boy he saw the ancient copper mines on Isle Royal and wondered where the 10 - 15 million pounds of copper went that was mined in ancient times. Rydholm thoroughly researched this question until he came to the conclusion that Europeans were here before Columbus' "discovery" and had mined the copper for trade.

Fred Rydholm has come across numerous unexplainable findings across Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Some of which were dolmens located atop Mount Huron and other mountains along Lake Superior that follow ancient canoe routes. Stone tablets with strange characters and writing on them were found in Newberry and in the Escanaba river. Such findings led Rydholm to dig deeper into the copper mystery and arrive at his conclusions.

Rydholm's other book is “Superior Heartland — a backwoods history” which is an Upper Peninsula history that took two volumes to tell. I would very much like to find those books in addition to his current one, "Michigan Copper - The Untold Story." All of the Michigan history books I have read really don't tell much about the history of our Upper Peninsula (which is a shame) so my knowledge has been limited.

You can read all about Fred Rydholm's newest book at The Mining Journal.

Video Clip From Tiger Stadium Documentary

"Stranded at the Corner" is the documentary that chronicles the demise of Tiger Stadium and the battle (which appears to be over) to decide what to do with the historic structure. I wrote about this documentary back in April here. The clip is about 2 1/2 minutes long. It shows how ridiculous the "security" is at Tiger Stadium, which the city of Detroit has been paying Mike Ilitch about $400,000 per year for along with any ongoing "maintenance." Anyone that has seen the recent pictures of Tiger Stadium knows that Mike Ilitch has not been doing maintenance. There are TREES growing in the stadium seating area for crying out loud! It is hard for me not to believe that this wasn't a flim-flam sham by Mike Ilitch to get more money out of Detroit without doing anything. Unfortunately, that is another story in itself that I will not go into here.

If the video player does not appear you can view the clip here.

Tiger Stadium Links

I have a few significant links related to Tiger Stadium that I thought I would share. Tiger Stadium information at wikipedia.org

Pictures and commentary on the demise of Tiger Stadium

Read and post your memories of Tiger Stadium

Aerial View on Google Maps. You can see just how poor the condition of the playing field is. What a shame.

Check out my previous posts on the fate of Tiger Stadium here.

Tiger Stadium to be Torn Down This Fall

All I can say is I am so glad that there will not be a Wal-Mart standing at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull. That being said, I feel as though the wind has been knocked from my chest to hear the finality of Tiger Stadium. We all knew (or we were about 99.99% sure) that Tiger Stadium was not going to see the light of day as a ballpark in the future. What we did not know was if anything would remain to show the rich history of "The Corner." According to Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's plan about 10% of the stadium may remain. The field, locker room, press box, and some of the seating would remain if this plan is approved. A ring of residential housing and shops would surround the field. A historic salvage consultant will be evaluating what parts of the stadium and seating could be sold to the public (Yes! Sign me up for a couple of seats!) as a form of fundraising.

Say so long, to Tiger Stadium this fall. The next baseball game you will see played there will probably be a Little League game as that is what planners are going to gear it towards. How lucky would those kids be?

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Numerous memories and thoughts are flickering through my mind. I just read about this in the Detroit Free Press and have yet to fully process the news. So, I will end this post with some random histories and memories of Tiger Stadium.

• Lou Gehrig ended his playing streak at 2,130 games at what was then Briggs Stadium in 1939
• The championship seasons of 1968 and 1984
• Dramatic late season comeback of 1987
• Unfortunate loss to underdog Minnesota Twins in 1987 ALCS (Tigers last postseason action)
• The flagpole in-play just left of dead-center field
• 11,111 home runs with the final home run a grand slam by Robert Fick that hit the top of the roof in right field. It was also the last hit at Tiger Stadium
• Sign above the visitors' clubhouse used to read: "Visitors’ Clubhouse - No Visitors Allowed."
• They put in lights in 1948. The last old ballpark to do so before Wrigley Field.
• Ernie Harwell, longtime Tigers announcer

Shipwrecks in Michigan

The Glen Arbor Sun has an intriguing article on shipwrecks in the Sleeping Bear Dunes area that have been shifting with the sands over time. You won't need a boat or to perform any dives to see a couple of these wrecks. One of them is at Empire beach just west of the village of Empire. I myself have walked along the wooden skeleton that lies on the beach where water meets sand. It is pretty neat to think you are seeing a piece of a boat that sailed on Lake Michigan in the 1800s. Steve Harold, Director of the Manistee County Historical Museum, has studied the shipwrecks in the Sleeping Bear Dunes area and notes that this particular wreck has "moved a mile" in the 25 years he has studied shipwrecks in the area.

If you enjoy Michigan's maritime history you should read the full article here.