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

30 years ago

GWINN — Cory Phare, a fifth-grade student at K.I. Sawyer Elementary School, recently met with Gov. John Engler at his office in Lansing. Phare was presented with a $1,000 savings bond as a prize for his first-place state winner in the U.S. Savings Bond National Student Poster Contest. He also won a Compaq Computer for his school. The first-place winning state posters are now on display in Washington, D.C.

60 years ago

MARQUETTE — The Michigan Department of Economic Development this week approved the Marquette & Huron Mountain Railroad Co. project and forwarded the company’s application to the Area Redevelopment Administration in Washington, D.C., for final processing. The $300,000 project to set up a tourist railroad line between Marquette and Big Bay was approved last week by the Marquette County Economic Study Committee. Private investors, banks, etc. would finance $60,000 of the $300,000 needed for the project. Presque Isle Development Co. would provide $39,500 and Thunder Bay Recreation, Inc., $5,500. The remaining $195.000 would be provided through a federal loan, if the project is approved by the ARA. John A. Zerbel, Milwaukee, former Marquette resident who is president of the Marquette & Huron Mountain Railroad Co., said the project would be expected to provide part time employment to 45 persons after one year of operation and indirect employment to 135 persons. Under terms of the proposal, the Marquette & Huron Mountain Railroad would acquire the 24-mile Marquette-Big Bay line from the Lake Superior & Ishpeming Railroad Co., which has discontinued operation on that segment of its system. This would be converted to a tourist and freight route for the Marquette & Huron Mountain Railroad operations.