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

30 years ago

HOUGHTON — Cooperative planning is still going strong in two Upper Peninsula school districts. The Houghton-Portage Township Schools Board of Education agreed Monday to participate in a $74,000 telecommunications grant secured by the Copper Country Intermediate School District. Hancock gave the nod to getting involved last week.

Also, representatives from both districts’ school boards and administration will talk with legislators this week about a proposed pilot reorganization project that could see Houghton and Hancock schools merge.

Houghton-Portage Superintendent Dennis Harbour said the schools want to let legislators know that Michigan needs a model to conduct reorganization studies and these two districts want to try it. Harbour will be in Lansing with state legislators who will include State Sen. Don Koivisto, D-Ironwood, and State Rep. Steve Shepich, D-Iron River, while Hancock Superintendent John Vaara and a number of school board representatives from both districts will be in Marquette.

A draft proposal outlines a three-year plan that would include organizing citizen committees and developing a middle school concept in the first year (1993-94), along with doing a voter attitude survey and developing staff and operating procedures.

The boards will seek legislative approval to allow them to develop the pilot project and would seek state funding for development costs.

60 years ago

MARQUETTE — Marquette’s 1963 iron ore shipping season may open on Wednesday. Inland Steel Co.’s L.E. Block is tentatively scheduled to arrive at the Lake Superior Railroad Co.’s ore dock in Upper Harbor sometime Wednesday.

The time of the arrival of the Block here depends on ice conditions in Lake Superior. Harry Nelson, LS&I dock agent, said the ship might be slowed by ice in Whitefish Bay. The past winter is considered one of the worst in years and for the first time in the memory of man Lake Superior was completely frozen. The Block is tentatively scheduled to arrive here Wednesday, assuming that the ship runs into no ice problems, Nelson said. He said that this morning the Block was either heading down Lake Michigan towards Chicago or unloading at Indiana Harbor in Chicago. From there, the ship is scheduled to travel through the Straits of Mackinac and the Soo Locks, bound for Marquette.

If the Block should arrive here Wednesday, Marquette’s shipping season will open only four days later than last year.