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

30 years ago

MARQUETTE — Marquette residents Carl Barnett, Dick Sarasin, and Hank Pascoe watched the first two freighters of the shipping season pull into Marquette’s ore dock near Presque Isle park Monday. The freighters, the Charles Wilson and Algorail, traveled in a broken ice path carved by the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw. The eastern two-thirds of the lake remains frozen from the Soo Locks to the tip of the Keweenaw. “Marquette is pretty easy,” said Capt. Carl Swedberg, after he and his 75-person crew docked in Marquette’s lower harbor. “Normally, Lake Superior is open at this time of year.” With six diesel engines producing 2,000 horsepower each, cutting through sheets of ice is usually no problem for the steel-hulled ship. While the sound of breaking ice isn’t as soothing as splashing waves, the crew grows accustomed to it while living on board. “It sounds like you’re at a refinery where they tear up cars,” said Yeoman 1st Class Paul Brinkman. “It’s the sound of grinding metal all the time.” “This winter we have escorted more ships than we have in the last three winters combined,” Swedberg said. The Mackinaw was scheduled to leave Marquette at 1 p.m. today to take a convoy back to Sault Ste. Marie, followed by two freighters out of Marquette.

60 years ago

CHOCOLAY TOWNSHIP — Fishermen opening the early rainbow and brown trout season in the Upper Peninsula had uniformly poor luck – except on the Chocolay River near Marquette and at the mouth of the Falls River at L’Anse. The season opened Saturday on the Great Lakes and portions of 43 specially designated streams in the Upper Peninsula. Fishing was practically impossible in Lake Superior because ice clogged the mouths of nearly every stream. Some spectacular catches were made on the Chocolay River, however. Several anglers took limit catches early on opening morning. By 10 a.m., conservation officers had confirmed catches of at least 21 trout, including a five-pound brown trout. Only two or three trout were known to have been caught in the Carp River in Marquette. Robert T. Apple of W. Bluff St., Marquette, caught six trout on the Chocolay River. The Graveraet High School teacher’s catch included two browns, each measuring 20 inches long. Fishing success remained good there this morning