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

30 years ago

SKANDIA — Third- grader Kim Krans’ fire prevention poster will soon become billboard size and seen in 20 sites around Michigan. Kim’s poster was the winner from 1,300 Upper Peninsula third graders who submitted designs to the special billboard contest to kick off Michigan Wildfire Prevention Week that begins Sunday. Her entry depicts an owl on a tree branch with the warning, “Once There’s a Flame, It’s No Game.” Each county in the U.P. held regional competitions. Other area winners were Dayne Porter of Eben in Alger County and Annette Summersett of L’Anse in Baraga County. Last year, more than 15,000 wildfires burned about 25,000 acres of Michigan forest, said Bill Rockwell, state Department of Natural Resources fire officer in the Marquette area. “This year, finally, for the first time in three or four years, we’re going into spring with normal groundwater in most of the U.P.,” Rockwell said. Even though last year was dry during the spring and early summer, major fires were kept to a minimum by quick response and the lack of heavy winds.

60 years ago

MARQUETTE — Not since Teddy Roosevelt sued the publisher of an Ishpeming weekly newspaper have the residents of Marquette County had a conversation piece to compare with the filming of “Anatomy of a Murder” on location here. And coincidentally, the drama of President Roosevelt’s libel suit unfolded in the very same spot where the movie company is now shooting – in the stately courtroom of the historic Marquette County courthouse. The eyes of the nation were turned on the courtroom those days in June 1913 when Curcuit Judge Richard C. Flannigan heard Roosevelt’s libel suit against George A. Newett, publisher of the Ishpeming Iron Ore, who had charged in his paper that the ex-president was addicted to the use of liquor. Judge Flannigan directed the jury to find Newett guilty as charged and to return a nominal verdict of 6 cents in damages.