<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Are you an optimist or a pessimist?\u00a0 Do you see the glass as half empty or half full?\u00a0 Even the most \u2018pie-in-the-sky, the sun is always shining somewhere\u2019 people (think REM\u2019s <\/span>Shiny Happy People <\/span><\/i>or Katrina and The Waves <\/span>I\u2019m Walking On Sunshine<\/span><\/i>) certainly have days when things don\u2019t look so rosy.\u00a0 I won\u2019t profess to being one of those perpetually happy \u2018pie people\u2019, but I will admit to leaning farther to the \u2018half full\u2019 side of the ledger.\u00a0 Certainly there are days when things can trend toward \u2018gloom and doom\u2019, but the spin doctor in me will always try to find the shiny side of the coin.\u00a0 Now that you have been bombarded with every cliche I can think of, let me ask you the questions that inspired this FTV:\u00a0 How do you see our fair county right now?\u00a0 Where are we headed now?\u00a0 We have seen our share of \u2018boom and bust\u2019 episodes throughout the history of Ontonagon County, but is our half a glass getting fuller or slowly draining toward empty?\u00a0 Okay, we are still trying to wrap our collective minds around the elephant in the room – otherwise known as the COVID-19 pandemic, but we are still writing that particular chapter into the history books.\u00a0 COVID is a pretty big bump in the road, but at this point in time, \u2018Mr. Half-full\u2019 will leave that chapter unfinished and bookmarked for another day.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If one has read any of the fine histories of Ontonagon County by Knox Jamison, Bruce Johanson, Earl Doyle, or the host of other writers who have added to the list of available references, one can not escape the facts.\u00a0 When it comes to \u2018boom or bust\u2019, our local history has had as many \u2018BoB\u2019 cycles, maybe even more, than some areas of our country.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0For our purposes, we will start with \u2018BoB number one\u2019.\u00a0 When one examines the rugged hills from the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula to the western most peaks of the Porcupine Mountains (not to mention Isle Royale), one can see ample evidence of the economic boom centered on copper.\u00a0 The thousands of ancient miner\u2019s pits that dot the landscape mystified the Native pioneers and the first European settlers who came to inhabit the western Upper Peninsula.\u00a0 Some think this ancient mining was done by the Native peoples who were here before the Europeans arrived, but the lack of any mention (of mining activity) in their oral histories belies this idea.\u00a0 When the first European explorers asked about the pits, the local Natives simply said, \u201cThey were here when we got here.\u201d\u00a0 Copper was a valued commodity for Native groups, but they utilized the pieces of float copper they found scattered about;\u00a0 they did not actively mine it.\u00a0 It was viewed as \u2018gift\u2019 from the Creator and the Native People attached much mystical significance to their copper finds.\u00a0 The famed Ontonagon Boulder\u2019s status as a talisman is well documented by the previously mentioned historians.\u00a0 The economic importance for the Native peoples came later as they bartered copper for useful items offered by the new kids on the block.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Some scholars of North American history either do not see or will not admit that the copper mining boom that took place in ancient times was the work of earlier visitors.\u00a0 We won\u2019t call them pioneers because when their tenure here ended, mining pits and artifacts of their endeavors were all that they left behind.\u00a0 I always liked the way the late Fred Rydholm summarized this copper mystery in his presentations:\u00a0 \u201cAll across Europe there are tons of Bronze Age artifacts.\u00a0 They had the tin resources to make this alloy, but they did not have the amount of copper necessary to make this volume of artifacts.\u00a0 Here in the Copper Country, we have evidence of thousands upon thousands of tons of copper being mined, but we scratch our heads and wonder where it went.\u00a0 If one took all of the copper artifacts housed in every museum in North America today, it wouldn\u2019t add up to the amount of copper found in one of the massive chunks of float copper that have been uncovered.\u00a0 Even if only 10 percent of the native copper was removed, that is still a massive amount of copper.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t just disappear.\u00a0 The Bronze Age in Europe was driven by Copper Country copper!\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Fred took a lot of heat for his theories and he spent his lifetime researching this very subject.\u00a0 It is hard to ignore the fact that Upper Peninsula copper was traded throughout the ancient world; from Bronze Age Europe to the east, China in the west, and to Central and South America. \u00a0 When discussing the copper history of our area with my students, I used a little less eloquent description:\u00a0 \u201cAt one time, the western U.P. was the Walmart or Menards of copper trading.\u201d\u00a0 Yes, there was a copper boom in ancient days and then something changed.\u00a0 The ancient miner\u2019s tools were left strewn about and for reasons we still don\u2019t fully understand, they never returned to continue mining.\u00a0 Some miner\u2019s pits still contained large copper slabs supported on wooden cribbing the ancient miners were in the process of removing, but again, they never came back to finish the job.\u00a0 This mining boom may have been interrupted by climate, sociological, or political changes in the world, but the bottom line is simply this:\u00a0 The ancient copper industry went bust long before Columbus reached North America.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The second European influenced economic boom to hit the upper Great Lakes began with the first wave of explorers (or invaders, depending on your point of view) who arrived after the continent was rediscovered by Columbus et al.\u00a0 When the voyagers began dotting the Lake Superior shoreline with trading posts, the era of fur trading began.\u00a0 This was the first modern \u2018boom\u2019 cycle.\u00a0 The fur trade flourished until the number of pelts available for harvest began to decline.\u00a0 The trade survived as new lands were opened in the west, but it could not survive changes in fashion.\u00a0 The collapse of the fur trade wasn\u2019t expected, but it seems to be part of human nature:\u00a0 enjoy the boom and don\u2019t worry about the bust that is sure to follow.\u00a0 Like it or not, \u2018Boom and Bust\u2019 is a cycle that we have seen repeated enough throughout history and it should never be a big surprise when it happens.\u00a0 In this regard, human behavior is maddenly consistent.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The copper industry began a new chapter in the 1800s with all the optimism of all the previous mineral rushes that have taken place.\u00a0 People usually think of gold and silver when talk turns to discoveries that prompted people to head for the hills to make their fortunes.\u00a0 Though iron and copper are rarely connected to these types of mineral discoveries, the truth of the matter is somewhat astounding.\u00a0 All of the big silver and gold rushes that have occured in North America have produced a fraction of the wealth that iron and copper mining in the Upper Peninsula have racked up.\u00a0 To get a much more detailed account of the various \u2018BoB\u2019 copper mining cycles, I encourage you to see Bruce Johanson\u2019s book <\/span>This Land, the Ontonagon <\/span><\/i>(Firesteel Publications – 1984).\u00a0 Driven by various human conflicts and inventions, the copper industry alone has seen more ups and downs than a yo-yo.\u00a0 As the first modern copper boom ended, there was a new boom centered on the vast virgin pinery in this area, but that is another long story we shall save for another day.\u00a0 The only copper \u2018BoB\u2019 cycle I will discuss in more detail here is the one I am most familiar with:\u00a0 the one I experienced first hand.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When yours truly arrived in Ontonagon as a 21 year old, fresh out of college JH teacher in 1975, the White Pine Mine was thriving.\u00a0 These were the peak years of the most recent copper boom.\u00a0 The town of White Pine was booming and the Ontonagon Area Schools boasted five schools (three elementary, one junior high, and one high school) that served the needs of more than 1700 students.\u00a0 During my first four years teaching here, there were some indications that things were going to change.\u00a0 The labor force at the mine was reduced and our school population began showing some signs of shrinkage.\u00a0 When I received a pink slip near the end of my fourth year, it was hard to ignore the hints;\u00a0 we were beginning an economic downturn.\u00a0 I was eventually offered a position for the next year, but decided to take a voluntary leave of absence without pay to finish my Master\u2019s of Arts degree at Northern Michigan University.\u00a0 The administration agreed and indicated if the school numbers looked better the next year, I would be able to come back to my original position teaching JH Geography-Earth Science.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The 1979-80 school year saw a small upturn in the area\u2019s economic fortunes.\u00a0 When it was announced there was a shipyard coming to the mouth of the Ontonagon River, it was hailed as great news.\u00a0 We were told at a staff meeting that this was going to be a big change. \u00a0 During his welcome back to school message, the superintendent said, \u201cWhen this new business gets rolling, we would see a class of people coming into the area unlike what we are used to seeing in Ontonagon County.\u201d\u00a0 The influx of students in the school certainly caused a mini-boom for the district.\u00a0 Without going into all the wranglings, let me just say there were things going on in the company that would make the shipyard\u2019s stay and their role in the local economy a short one.\u00a0 This isn\u2019t to say that everyone at the shipyard was crooked because there were some very good people involved with the company.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It is a shame the actions of a few, ahem, \u2018business men\u2019 scuttled the shiphyard\u2019s long term economic impact prematurely.\u00a0 When the indictments were handed down, I thought about that \u2018class of people\u2019 we were told about earlier.\u00a0 Lakeshore has now taken over the facility and the workforce is a small but welcome addition to the local economy.\u00a0 The big shed at the end of River Street is no longer just a hulking reminder of what can happen when people put their own gains above those of the community that welcomed them with open arms.\u00a0 We will consider this a positive \u2018mini-BoB\u2019 element embedded in the larger \u2018BoB\u2019 picture currently playing out.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As the end of the 20th century loomed, the Ontonagon County economic base began a nose-dive that signalled another \u2018bust\u2019 was coming our way like a runaway locomotive.\u00a0 The mine at White Pine eventually closed taking the once thriving White Pine Schools with it.\u00a0 The Subterra underground (plant) growing facility took over part of the abandoned mine.\u00a0 The water plant was retained as the regional water facility for White Pine and Ontonagon while some smaller businesses were recruited for the industrial park that now occupies the old mine mill site.\u00a0 Large scale employment was replaced by operations running with a much smaller labor force.\u00a0 The Smurfit – Stone paper mill in Ontonagon was unceremoniously closed and razed even though it was a profitable,\u00a0 environmentally sound plant.\u00a0 As with many of the county\u2019s past economic skids, the decision to close the mill was made in a distant corporate board room for reasons that can only be filed under \u2018just business\u2019.\u00a0 Unfortunately, this case of \u2018just business\u2019 also cost Ontonagon the rail spur from Rockland that had serviced the paper mill for decades (as well as the shipyard for a short period of time).\u00a0 Pulling up the rail lines added an exclamation point to the latest economic bust.\u00a0 Ontonagon was, as the medical folks say when a patient is doing poorly, circling the drain.\u00a0 The work force began to trickle out of town, the school districts lost students (and income), and it seemed that the communities in the county were on the verge of pulling up the sidewalks and blowing away.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Every year, the Ontonagon County Historical Society remembers the Great Fire of 1896.\u00a0 It is a story of tragedy and triumph.\u00a0 The little village by the big lake literally rose like a Phoenix from the ashes.\u00a0 As I once told a reporter for the defunct <\/span>Marquette Monthly <\/span><\/i>paper, \u201cOntonagon is a lot like a cockroach – we have gotten stepped on a lot, but are hard to kill.\u201d\u00a0 The pessimists out there tend to refer to Ontonagon in the past tense like it is \u2018game over\u2019.\u00a0 Optimists (remember, I am one of the latter not the former) are seeing signs that it is too soon to start shoveling dirt on us.\u00a0 Perhaps we are still circling the drain to some degree, but recent events indicate that we are at least circling and holding our own, not just heading down the drain.\u00a0 The plan for the Syncel project slated for the old paper mill site is moving along slower than most would like, but it is still in the hopper.\u00a0 The new copper lodes being explored in the western end of the county haven\u2019t been developed yet, but the minerals aren\u2019t going anywhere, are they?\u00a0 Lakeshore\u2019s use of the old shipyard has increased to the point where they would like to partner with the Ontonagon Area Schools to help train welders.\u00a0 Tourism may not carry the whole burden, but it certainly isn\u2019t harming the economy.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The old saw goes something like this:\u00a0 \u201cYou have to hit rock bottom before you can start climbing out of the pit.\u201d\u00a0 It seems like Ontonagon County has, more than once, managed to hit rock bottom and then dig in a little deeper.\u00a0 Do we have reason to be optimistic about the future of Ontonagon County?\u00a0 I, for one, would like to think so.\u00a0 How about you?\u00a0 Is our glass half full or half empty?\u00a0 The COVID 19 pandemic is far from a done deal, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.\u00a0 Ontonagon County has thrived, struggled, and thrived again in the past.\u00a0 We thought we were already past rock bottom before COVID 19 hit, but we are used to these ups and downs by now.\u00a0 Are we beginning to see past this latest bust?\u00a0 I remain optimistic about the future.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0One last note on the subject.\u00a0 As this article was being written, my old high school classmate, Willie Peterson, announced that he and his wife were going to cease publishing <\/span>The Munising News<\/span><\/i>, a paper they have owned for the past twenty three years.\u00a0 Seeing yet another newspaper end a century plus run is sad, but there are a number of factors that led to the decision.\u00a0 We are more than lucky to still have our hometown newspaper (which is also a century plus old) and it is up to all of us to support <\/span>The Ontonagon Herald<\/span><\/i> anyway we can.\u00a0 \u2018Shop local\u2019 can not be a catch phrase in a small town economy.\u00a0 It has to be a habit.\u00a0 Support your local businesses now more than ever, including our hometown newspaper.\u00a0 As the unhappy people in Munising have just found out, when it is gone, it is gone for good.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Top Piece Video:\u00a0 Huey Lewis and the News:\u00a0 YES!!\u00a0 We all need to work for a living!!\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Are you an optimist or a pessimist?\u00a0 Do you see the glass as half empty or half full?\u00a0 Even the most \u2018pie-in-the-sky, the sun is always shining somewhere\u2019 people (think REM\u2019s Shiny Happy People or Katrina and The Waves I\u2019m Walking On Sunshine) certainly have days when things don\u2019t look so rosy.\u00a0 I won\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,8,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-from-the-vaults","category-woas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2141"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2142,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2141\/revisions\/2142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}