County note shelf
Houghton County Porch Notes
Stories, practical details, outdoor places, tax quirks, and local history connected to Houghton County. This shelf has 5 practical notes and 15 local stories.
20 notes
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- History and culture Hancock and the Copper Country's Finnish roots When the copper mines needed workers, thousands of Finns crossed the ocean to the Keweenaw. Their mark is everywhere in Hancock -- in saunas, in pasties, in street signs, and in the Finnish American Heritage Center.
- Money and taxes Is there a city income tax in Houghton or Hancock? Neither Houghton nor Hancock charges a city income tax -- and neither does anywhere else in the Upper Peninsula. The nearest one is Grayling, well over a hundred miles away.
- History and culture The Portage Lake Lift Bridge, the heaviest of its kind The big green bridge between Houghton and Hancock is the world's heaviest double-decked vertical-lift bridge -- and the only land link between the upper and lower halves of the Keweenaw Peninsula.
- History and culture Who Houghton County is named for Houghton County, the city of Houghton, and even Houghton Lake all carry the name of Douglass Houghton -- Michigan's first state geologist, whose 1841 copper report set off the boom, and who drowned in Lake Superior at just thirty-six.
- History and culture George Gipp: The Gipper from Laurium The Gipper from Laurium became Notre Dame's first All-American — and the source of the most famous deathbed line in sports, true or not.
- Outdoors One Michigan County Got 390 Inches of Snow in a Single Winter The Keweenaw Peninsula got 390.4 inches of snow in the winter of 1978-79, likely the record east of the Rockies, marked by a giant roadside snow gauge.
- History and culture The Christmas Eve That Calumet Never Forgot On Christmas Eve 1913, a false cry of "Fire!" at a crowded party in Calumet's Italian Hall killed 73 people, 59 of them children.
- Outdoors The Wolves and Moose of Isle Royale Walked There Across a Bridge of Ice The wolves and moose of remote Isle Royale arrived across the water — and a 68-year study still tracks their rise and fall, with wolves now near a record high and moose crashing.
- History and culture Mishipeshu, the Great Lynx Beneath the Waves Mishipeshu, the Great Lynx of Anishinaabe tradition, is the underwater panther said to guard the copper of Lake Superior — the oldest "something in the water" story the Great Lakes have.
- History and culture There's a Mountain of Pure Copper Under the U.P. — and America's First Mining Rush Happened There The Keweenaw Peninsula's pure native copper fueled America's first mining rush in the 1840s — and was mined by Indigenous peoples for thousands of years before that.
- Outdoors Canyon Falls and the 'Grand Canyon of Michigan' A short walk off US-41 near L'Anse leads to a fifteen-foot plunge into a box-walled gorge — the start of the 'Grand Canyon of Michigan,' which downstream runs a mile wide and 300 feet deep.
- History and culture The Hand-Pie With a Crust You Weren't Supposed to Eat The U.P.'s beloved pasty came over with Cornish miners — and the famous story about its thick crust being a disposable handle is half legend.
- Outdoors Hungarian Falls Above Hubbell in the old Copper Country, little Dover Creek puts on a big show — three drops totaling about ninety feet — a short walk from Michigan's tallest waterfall, Douglass Houghton.
- History and culture The Isle Royale Greenstone Michigan's state gem is a rare green stone with a 'turtleback' shimmer — born of billion-year-old lava, and findable only on Isle Royale (where you can't collect it) and the Keweenaw.
- Home and property What to know about well and septic in Houghton County Outside the cities and villages, most of Houghton County is on private well and septic. Michigan has no statewide septic code, and the local health department doesn't require an inspection when a property is sold -- though it offers one that some home loans and buyers ask for.
- History and culture Calumet, the town copper built Calumet was once the beating heart of the world's richest copper district -- a booming, polyglot town of immigrants. Today its grand old buildings anchor Keweenaw National Historical Park, and a quiet memorial marks the Copper Country's deepest tragedy.
- History and culture The Quincy Mine, 'Old Reliable' above Hancock The red shaft-house on the hill above Hancock marks the Quincy Mine -- a copper mine that paid out for half a century, drove a shaft over a mile and a half deep, and holds the largest steam hoist engine ever built.
- Money and taxes Live in a Michigan village? You pay an extra layer of property tax Michigan village residents usually pay village property taxes on top of township taxes, so the village boundary can change a buyer's total rate.
- Money and taxes Buying in a township? Watch for special assessments on top of your taxes Michigan township buyers should check for special assessments that can add separate road, sewer, water, lighting, sidewalk, or drain charges.
- Money and taxes In Michigan, you get two property-tax bills a year — not one Most Michigan property owners get separate summer and winter tax bills, with local rules deciding what lands on each bill.