Waterfalls on the Gratiot River
Tuesday would be another milestone day for Chassell as demolition would begin on the former Holy Trinity Lutheran Church at the entrance to the cemetery on Hancock Street. Like the Chassell Mercantile site, the former owner failed to address concerns about the building’s condition raised under the township’s dangerous building ordinance and the building partially caved in under the snow load creating an even more dangerous attractive nuisance for the community. Matters were then complicated when the owner passed away. We would subsequently learn that the assessor made the mistake of identifying the building as a church which meant that the owner was paying no property taxes on the building. To make a long story short, the property was ultimately transferred to the Houghton County Land Bank Authority.
With help from the Keweenaw Economic Development Alliance (KEDA) Executive Director Jeff Ratcliffe, the township was able to secure a large part of the funding needed for the demolition through the Round 3 Blight Elimination Program through the State Land Bank Authority which was utilizing federal Recovery Act funding which the Houghton County Land Bank Authority put into five priority demolitions including this one.
The night before the demolition, I would coordinate with Chassell’s Volunteer Fire Department Chief Curt Judson on their presence to spray water during the process. Curt would have two of their members, Craig Austin and Mat Moore, on the scene with the department’s tanker truck to spray down the building with water as it was being demolished.
You can see a video snippet of the building’s demolition on the Chassell Township Facebook page at this link.
After stopping by the church, I would then stop by the Chassell Mercantile site where significant progress was being made with the clean-up of that site.
In the course of returning from an errand up in Calumet, I noted my temperature gauge rising on the truck. I needed an oil change, so I stopped by Superior Lube and they noted a significant coolant leak. I stopped by Keweenaw Automotive afterwards to set up an appointment for the following afternoon to have it looked at. With a gallon of coolant added at Superior Lube, we were able to get home without incident.
I would slip in a grass cutting that afternoon while our guests were out for the day. We had a really nice couple staying with us for four nights with one being from Chicago and the other from Ireland. The latter works in information technology and she was very interested to learn about the Remote Workforce Keweenaw initiative, particularly since she found the Keweenaw so beautiful.
Wednesday our friends Amy and Robert would take us to and from MTU to swim and I put in 3,000 yards. I would run the truck up to Keweenaw Automotive after lunch and hang around long enough to learn that the water pump was shot. This would be the first one I would have replaced on the Tahoe in 350,000 miles. I would get a loaner vehicle from them and head back to Chassell. I stopped by to look in on the church demolition project which was moving along nicely.
Julie and I would stop by the Chassell Farmers Market where we picked up flowers for the yard. While we were there, I heard back from Pete Baril with the Western Upper Peninsula Health Department in response to my message regarding a potential splash pad at Centennial Park. I would learn from Pete that the developer of the RV park on the Canal Road west of Hancock has asked about doing a similar lake suction splash pad project, so our timing with our question was well placed. I would forward Pete all of my communication with the EGLE in Lansing on this topic. Once he has a chance to digest this information, we will have a follow up discussion. I then had a chance to stop by to talk with Pete Torola at the Farmers Market. Pete is a former member of the Chassell Township Planning Commission who is on the Houghton County Road Commission. It was an excellent opportunity to get him up to date on all the projects we have going on in Chassell and to bend his ear about our frustration with the lack of action on the bent culvert next to the old ice rink at Hancock Street which has caused our ski trail grooming shed to flood a couple times this spring. Since this is a FEMA project related to the 2018 Fathers Day Flood, they have been careful about not taking any action that would jeopardize that funding. While talking to Pete, I would receive a phone call from Matt Lubejko at EGLE expressing concern about the location where the spoils would be deposited in our pending EGLE permit application to dredge the Sturgeon River notch where we place our kayak launch. I asked if we could work toward an alternative location and he indicated we could.
Julie, our friend Sue, and I would then get out for a 2.3-mile walk on the Chassell Fitness Trail and other parts of the Chassell Trails.
Thursday morning, I would pick up our truck from Keweenaw Automotive and I proceeded to haul the mower over to the Chassell Trails where I would cover 3.47 miles mowing long grass on the trails. Just as I was finishing up something would break on the self-propelling system, so I would run the mower up to Colin Pekkala at Abe’s in Dodgeville.
I got back from Dodgeville in time to snarf down some dinner and head to the Fire Hall for a Chassell Recreation Committee meeting. We would cover a range of topics including: a review of the pickleball court rules that Brian had put together which will be presented to the board next week; potential acquisition of rubberized surface for under the park’s older swings that had been identified as a need by the Superior Alliance for Independent Living that Craig Austin with our DPW staff had brought up this week; a discussion of where to place the spoils from the Sturgeon River notch for the kayak launch (we would decide on placing them on the north end of the parking area at Misslitz Field and I would update the EGLE application that night); a discussion of next steps on the decking of the Pike River Bridge; updating the committee on my discussion with Pete Baril at the health department regarding the splash pad; following up with fence contractors regarding the batting cage and dog park projects; looking at the possibility of benches for the new pickleball courts; proposing a replacement of the basketball court at the park to the board at their meeting next week; Steve reported that the Chassell Township Schools will have the directional signs for the Fitness Trail ready soon and we discussed having an event once they are in place; checking in on the status of re-seeding near the pavilion; getting an estimate for new steps on the first base side of Misslitz Field; and Brian and I will be getting out to clean the signs on the Historic Trail.
Friday morning would start with a 3,000-yard swim at MTU and then I would meet up with Brian Waters and Steve Spahn at the ski trail grooming shed to move a couple of pieces of equipment inside. We would then stop by to check out the clean-up progress at the former Holy Trinity Lutheran Church which was only a few loads from being completed.
Brian and I would then go to the Chassell Historic Trail where we would wash and apply marine wax to the trail’s nine interpretive signs.
We would finally get out to do some hiking yesterday with our friend Sue. We checked out the waterfalls on the Gratiot River. You can see my GoPro video from this adventure on the Remote Workforce Keweenaw YouTube channel at this link:
We then drove down to the Keweenaw County Park at the mouth of the Gratiot River to spend some time rock picking. No photos or video from that stop, but you can see past stops there on the Lake Superior playlist on the Remote Workforce Keweenaw YouTube channel at this link. On our way back, we enjoyed some awesome baked parmesan crusted whitefish at 4 Suns across from the Quincy Mine!
Do you embrace winter and have the ability to work remotely? Consider locating in the Keweenaw where you will find ubiquitous natural beauty, no congestion, and lower crime! Not sure? Come UP for a workcation to check it out! Learn how at Visit Keweenaw at https://www.visitkeweenaw.com/plan/trip-ideas-itineraries/workcations/ Visit Remote Workforce Keweenaw at https://remoteworkforcekeweenaw.com. Learn about those making the decision to locate here by following the Remote Workforce Keweenaw Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/RemoteWorkforceKeweenaw.