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

30 years ago

ISHPEMING — District 23 convention of the United Steelworkers of America and the majority of the presidents of the taconite mining local unions in Minnesota and Michigan have announced their support for Dave Foster in the upcoming election for director of the district. The six presidents represent more than 70 percent of the taconite miners in the two states, including Donald Parkkonen, president of United Steelworkers of America local 4974; Gary Waterman, president of local 2912; and Michael Prusi, local 4950 president. Foster says the number one priority of the district director will be to restore stability to the collective bargaining process, particularly in the iron ore industry. Currently wages in identical job classifications vary by more than $2.50 an hour in the different taconite plants, according to a USW release this week. Foster’s campaign will also highlight the need to focus organizing efforts in the non-union mines that have opened across the upper Midwest in recent years. District 33 of the USW is composed of 72 local unions located in Minnesota, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, and the northern third of Wisconsin. It has approximately 16,000 members.

60 years ago

MARQUETTE — Marquette area residents this morning literally took hold of their bootstraps and began pulling themselves out of one of the worst rain and snow combination storms to hit here since the turn of the century, with precipitation totals since Friday coming close to topping all records. The 4.06 inches of precipitation here Saturday from midnight to midnight is the greatest since June 10, 1939 when 3.65 inches fell. The all-time record is 5.14 inches, which fell on June 20, 1878. Meteorologist Emil Ellingson, however, noted that rainfall during the weekend established an October record for 24-hour rainfall.