Underwater archaeologists searching for lost village [ Empire, Michigan ]

UpNorthLive.com ^ | Friday, May 18, 2012 | Lauren Amstutz

[SunkenCiv]

A group of underwater archaeologists are preparing for a project off the shores of Empire. The goal is to discover clues about the village's booming history, a history that currently lies several feet below Lake Michigan.

The action will begin on June 8th, when a team of divers will employ the latest electronic and underwater sonar technology to find evidence of a once thriving lumber town.

More than 100 years ago, the small village of Empire boasted one of the largest hardwood millis in the state of Michigan. Dave Taghon, with the Empire Museum built a scale model of the Empire Lumber Company.

Dave Taghon says, "There were two 50 feet wide by 500 feet long docks used in shipping between 1887-1917."

It's those huge piers that has history buffs intrigued. While the lumber company burnt down in 1917, the piers are still out there and a group of underwater archeologists are setting out to rediscover them.

Troy Wilson, who is a part of Northwestern Michigan College's Nautical and Underwater Archaeology Department says, "Instead of taking hand measurements by tape, we will have lasers to do different spots. They will do the math for us."

He says the group could also find old tools and machinery along the way.

The second part of the mission is to plot the position and diameter of tree stumps that are out in 20 feet of water. The tree stumps are more than 10,000 years old and are from the Ice Age.

You can watch this project from the shore. Just go to the public beach in Empire on June 8th through 10th.

[SunkenCiv]

[cripplecreek]

Michigan Archeology (Raiders of the lost sawmill)

[SunkenCiv]

GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach	join list or digest view topics view or post blog bookmark post a topic subscribe
To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.

[SunkenCiv]

And to think I was kicking myself for forgetting to ping ya.

[AndrewB]

Why do they want to do this? The article doesn’t say.

[cripplecreek]

I grew up near the Michigan ghost town of Stoney Point (Not the one near Monroe) When I was a teenager we used to party back in the old quarry and go 4 wheeling in the hills.

http://genealogytrails.com/mich/jackson/hanovertwp.html

[1010RD]

Can you imagine building a dock of any size on Lake Michigan in 2012? We’ve lost our spirit of growth and innovation, thanks to our progressives. They’ve feminized us to the point that we’ll sit back and watch the TSA rub down children and seniors in wheelchairs. At least we’re safe.

[cripplecreek]

This one took a little over 3 years to build with no winter construction and its still an awe inspiring sight.

[SunkenCiv]

Around here, the ghost towns vanish, remaining only as placenames, e.g. Singapore. Also fun are the unincorporated hamlets, like Lisbon.

Marlborough Cement Factory, MI

[cripplecreek]

The little towns sprung up where the resources they sought were at. My little 150 person burg was considerably larger in the late 1800s due to a railroad that ran through here. My house sits on the spot where the icehouse was. Even my yard is largely underlaid with cobblestones that made it easy to slide blocks of ice from the lake.

[cripplecreek]

Michigan Ghost towns. I know the list is considerably longer than what is listed. I can think of at least a half dozen from my corner of Jackson county alone.

http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/mi/mi.html

[SkiKnee]

Beautiful aerial photo! Thank you!

San Francisco can keep it’s Golden Gate. We’ve got the Mighty Mac!!!

[stayathomemom]

We visited the ghost town of Fayette in Fayette State Park, east and south of Escanaba. I thought its setting on the bay was absolutely gorgeous. The photos I can find of it on the net don’t seem to do it justice.

[cripplecreek]

More than 11,000 people were employed to build the big mack.

http://www.mackinacbridge.org/facts—figures-16/

Began Construction May 7, 1954, Open to traffic November 1, 1957.

That’s an astounding feat in my book.

[cripplecreek]

Yeah we have one seriously beautiful state.

[RedMDer]

Click the link.
The Republic you save may be your own.

[Mrs. P]

Did you know that the old car elevator is still in Mackinaw City at the ferry docks from when the car ferry was in operation? My father told me several years ago that it is there, you can see it easiest while driving southbound, off to the east. It looks like it’s two or three stories high. I can’t make it out in the pic you posted, but it would be just off to the left of the bridge in the upper right corner of that photo, on the point of land that sticks out.

I’ve never seen an aerial shot of this before! Pretty cool.

[ApplegateRanch]

Marlborough Cement Factory, MI

Yeah, it's made of cement, alright. What did they manufacture? *<];-')

Here's a potash plant at Antioch, (now a ghost town) Nebraska: "The Potash Capital of Nebraska". There were several of these in the Sandhills region that were built when Germany cut off trade in the run up to WWI. After the War to End Wars, they all closed down. Easily visible along the highway, east of Alliance...famous for Carhenge.

We saw them on a back-roads trip, and had to do some digging on the Net to finds out what the ruins were.

[NoLibZone]

Is it underwater due to Manbearpig being correct?

[Lakeshark]

Manbearpig predicted the lake level would just keep going down.

Hasn't happened.

But if we wait long enough, it just might (law of hysterical historical avearages).......