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

30 years ago

NATIONAL MINE — “Busy as a beaver” has taken on new meaning for the Tilden Township Board, which this week discussed a problem with beavers damming up Ely Creek along County Road 476. After some small lakes to the east were drained for work being done by Cleveland Cliffs Inc., the beavers moved west, according to township Supervisor Eugene E. Ostola. “They build their dams along Ely Creek and it creates a problem with the wells in the area,” Ostola said. When the beavers dam up the creek, standing water can contaminate wells nearby, Ostola, said. Frustrated township residents, with permission from the Department of Natural Resources, have tried live trapping and shooting the industrious pests to get rid of them, but have not succeeded yet, he said. “It’s a big nuisance,” Ostola said. “You break their dam at night and the next morning, it’s back up again.” Ostola said there’s good news and bad news for the problem in the immediate future. The good news is that trapping season opens Oct. 25. The bad news is that with prices running low, few trappers are interested in beaver.

60 years ago

ST. IGNAGE — The skeleton of an Indian man believed to have died about 300 years ago was uncovered near St. Ignace Monday. Workmen from the Mackinac County Road Commission found the skeleton, along with an Indians bowl-like object and a piece of flat copper believed to have been a mirror or reflector, in a gravel pit on the property of Lawrence Tanlyn about a mile from Lake Michigan. Emerson Smith of the Mackinac County Historical Society estimated the bones were about 300 years old. He said the find was unusual, pointing out that Indian graves are not normally found that far away from a body of water.