Touring the Calumet Air Force Station
Last Monday started in the typical fashion with a 2,500 yard swim at MTU’s SDC. We had a Houghton County Recreation Authority meeting that afternoon at WUPPDR. Without a quorum (I suspect the solar eclipse had something to do with that), the meeting was largely confined to reports from Jeff Kakuk from the MDNR and updates from members of the authority. I had the opportunity to make a plug for that evening’s Discovering episode on WLUC TV 6 which would feature the building of the Chassell Historic Trail. Kristin Ojaniemi did an outstanding job of piecing together video shot across five years to tell a concise, coherent story about the project! You can see it at this link on YouTube:
Tuesday’s Team Peninsula meeting would center on an update from Sarah Lucas with the Michigan Office of Rural Prosperity. Afterwards, I would talk with Megan Haselden, Leah Polzien, and Ian Lewis about the possibility of doing a remote worker networking event in the Calumet/Laurium area.
Tuesday evening, Julie and I would get out for a walk down to and through the Chassell Historic Trail.
You can see more photos from our walk at my Instagram post below:
If you find yourself in Chassell, be sure to stop by and hike the trail! You will find the trailhead at the 4th Street entrance to Centennial Park next to the rail-trail!
Wednesday would start out with a 2,500 yard swim at the SDC with the rest of the day focused on scraping our waterfront deck in preparation for re-sealing. This is an every third year project for us and, weather permitting, we are looking to complete it ahead of the opening of our Airbnb season which begins on graduation weekend for Michigan Tech which falls the last weekend of April. That evening I would attend the township board meeting at the Fire Hall where I would brief the board on the grant proposals recently submitted as well as discussing additional questions Senator Peters office had about the sewage lagoon project we submitted to them for consideration for congressionally directed funding.
Thursday morning we hauled broken deck chairs and trash to the transfer station in Atlantic Mine before continuing with the deck scraping.
Friday would start with a 2,500 yard swim at the MTU SDC and then I would take a break from deck scraping to attend the ribbon cutting to acknowledge the re-opening of the Finnish American Heritage Center in Hancock. The Finlandia Foundation National out of Pasadena, California, was quite a hero as early on they committed to acquire this important repository of Finnish-American history and culture as well as the North Wind Bookstore next door. Both had very uncertain futures after the closing of Finlandia University in 2023. The Foundation rallied the needed financial support (and then some) for this commitment and the future development of its services.
I would start Saturday by attending the Chassell Township Schools pancake breakfast to benefit the Chassell Physics class trip to Chicago. The rest of the day would be spent scraping the deck and stacking split firewood that will be available to our guests this summer for both the sauna and the fire pit.
Sunday, the hiking group would drive up to Mt. Horace Greeley for a tour of the Calumet Air Force Station given by the site’s current owner the Open Skies Project. The radar station operated from 1951 to 1988.
The former base has two arrays of transmitting and receiving towers like the ones below.
The tour includes stepping down into the bunker.
Looking eastward toward Mt. Houghton, Mt. Bohemia, the Keweenaw Point, Lac La Belle, and Lake Superior from atop Mt. Horace Greeley which is the highest point on the Keweenaw Peninsula.
After hiking a little over two miles on the site, we would drive down to Gratiot Lake which is frozen over in the photo above. Once there we would hike the Michigan Nature Association’s Gratiot Lake Overlook Nature Sanctuary which would include stops at Eister Falls and a steep climb to the lake’s overlook. I will share more about that hike next time.
The Chassell VFW Post 6507 & Auxiliary and the Chassell Lions Club will be holding a Chassell Community Benefit pancake/french toast/sausage breakfast this coming Saturday morning from 7:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at the Chassell VFW Post 6507. Tickets are $7 and children under 5 are free. The Chassell Historical Organization will be the beneficiary. Tickets will be available at the door. I hope to see you there!
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