Ghost towns of Michigan. Vol. 1

188 Pages·1994·19.809 MB·English

by  Lawrence Wakefield

GHOST TOWNS MICHIGAN
OF
GHOST TOWNS
OF MICHIGAN
by Larry Wakefield
Northmont Publishing, Inc.
West :Bloomfield, Michigan
On the cover: The old Gibson Drug store and telephone
exchange.
Northmont Publishing, Inc.
6346 Orchard Lake Road, #201
West Bloomfield, Michigan 48322
©1994 by Larry Wakefield • All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
96 95 94 5 4 3 2
ISBN: 1-878005-65-0 (cloth)
ISBN: 1-878005-66-9 (paper)
Ghost Towns of Michigan
For Lucille, of course
She always knew where I was,
because she was always with me.
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Ghost Tuwns of Michigan
Contents
1. A Railroad Stop Named Tunk
2. The Short, Happy Life of Deward
3. Sigma Started Late and Faded in the Stretch
4. Train Wreck at Bond's Mill
5. Wetzell: Broom Handles and a Bank Robbery
6. Wilson Lingers On
7. Idlewild: A Black Ghost Town
8. Good Day at Big Rock
9. Aral: Ghost Town with a Bloody Past
10. Dighton Has a GhQstly Charm
11. Jennings Got Moved Away
12. Henry: Where the Railroads Crossed
13. Hoxeyville Marches On
14. The Ghostly Ruins of Marlborough
15. Cleon Died While Harlan Thrived
16. Onominee: An Indian Ghost Town
1 7. Tragedy at the Mansfield Mine
18. Isadore and the Mystery of the Missing Nun
19. They Called It Jam One
20. Murder at Sharon
21. Mabel Didn't Make It
22. The Battle of Chase
23. Westwood Lives-Just Barely
24. North Unity Nearly Starved
25. Fayette Awoke from Its Slumber
26. Atkinson, Gibbs City and Badman Jim Summers
27. Manseau and the Old Gristmill
28. Walton Was a Hell of a Place
29. Peacock and the Legend of Bloody Run
30. Crescent: An Island Ghost Town
31. Stratford Nearly Disappeared
32. Show Me the Way to Jacktown
33. Looking for Goo
Acknowledgments
I had help putting this book together. For historical
material and photographs I am especially indebted to the
following people:
Steve Harold, George Gregory and Ed Tillitson of
Traverse City; Rena Bellinger and Phebe Cotton,
Kalkaska; Betty Dunham, Sigma; Eleanor Bonner,
Mancelona; David and Howard Moore, Peacock; Ray
Nelson, Lucille O'Berg and Minnie Ringler, Chase; Joe
Murphy, Grayling; Jenny Micinski, Baldwin; Orville
Gillespie, Dublin; Randy Buyze, Westwood; Don
Stedronski, Henry; Ed Belanger and Owen Bahle,
Suttons Bay; Rita Remington Fiddes, Mary Manier. Larry
Rice, Garnett Tripp and Tom Young, Big Rock; Ora E.
Corriveau and Clarence O'Sullivan, Wilson; Harold and
Marcia Bernhardt, Caspian; Mary Duvall, Lake City;
Maxine Robinson and Harry Taylor. Harlan; Bernard S .
.K ondrat, Boyne Falls; Pat Dishaw, Mansfield; Rev. Orson
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Ghost 'Ibwns of Michigan
Deemer, Pauline Heyd, Jean Curtice Hutchins, Ren
Briggs and Marjorie Smith, Dighton; Mary McNaughton,
LeRoy; Harry Colony, St. Germaine, Wisconsin; and
Laura Ashley, Michigan Department of State, History
Division, Lansing.
All of these stories first appeared in the Summer
Magazine of the Traverse City Record-Eagle, and I am
grateful for permission to publish them here. Many
thanks also to my Summer Magazine editors, Bob Kirk
and Eileen Young, real professionals and fun to work
with; and to Brian Steele, whose diagrammatic maps
accompany each story and add much to its presentation.
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