EDITOR’S NOTE: Superiorland Yesterdays is prepared by the reference desk staff at Peter White Public Library.

30 years ago

December 23, 1992 -SAULT STE. MARIE – It’s been 17 years since the Edmund Fitzgerald took its fatal plunge to the bottom of Lake Superior in a November gale. There are few clues to what exactly happened to the ship, but the curious hang on every possible bit of evidence. The wreck, in two pieces, was discovered under 535 feet of water through sonar detection. In 1989 a robot-controlled sub-marine crawled all over the ship and took six hours of video in minute detail of the wrecked vessel. However, due to limitation of the camera, an overall view was not possible. That left a final piece of the puzzle: The Historical Society needed an artist to create a series of paintings showing the wreck as it would be viewed from afar. The artist chosen was renowned wildlife artist David Conklin. Conklin was given access to the hours of videotape, which he watched, creating first a grid of what the whole ship would look like. From there he did paintings in oil of the fore and aft sections. Conklin worked under a grant from the Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs, and his paintings will be permanently kept in the museum at Whitefish Point.

60 years ago

Several special events have been scheduled for Christmas Day at the Marquette State Prison, Warden Raymond J. Buchkoe reported today. Special events include the holiday dinner “extras,” movies and hockey games, Warden Buchkoe said. Christmas dinner at the prison for inmates includes ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, candied yams, buttered peas, celery sticks, mince meat pie, bread, coffee and candy. The “extras” which are on the Christmas menu for the inmates are provided for under the inmates’ own Inmate Welfare Fund, Warden Buchkoe noted. The big dinner will be served at noon. In the evening, inmates will have a light super, including soup, sandwiches, cocoa, and fruit. Special movies will be shown on Christmas Day, routine for which will be similar to a Sunday. Intramural hockey games also have been scheduled.