a little history on a Monday morning

This will be a wordy photo blog today!  This historical sign is in the park on two of our rivers, the Rocky and the St. Joe.  It is the Rocky you see in the background.  Not mentioned here but just a block away is a very small historical plaque high on the wall of a building that commemorates the founding of Jesuit Mission here in 170l.  The Indians that LaSalle encountered might have included the Miami and the Potawatomi.  

It was the Potawatomi who were removed from this area of southwest Michigan in the 1830's although the Polkagon Band stayed.  They were Roman Catholic and acculturated because of the St. Joseph mission and were protected from removal by treaty. Their name derives from Chief Simon Pokagon, a famous Native American lecturer during the 1850s.  Refused tribal status under the Indian Reorganization Act (1934), their long struggle to gain federal recognition finally succeeded in 1994. With tribal offices located in Dowagiac, Michigan, the Pokagon are in the process of reacquiring a land base.  Their casino in New Buffalo, Four Winds, opened in 2007.

Monarch of the bridge

Gene is ruler of the suspension bridge over the Presque Isle River which forms the western boundary of the beautiful Porcupines Wilderness State Park.  In our twenty four years of traveling the UP every summer, we have done the trail along the western side of the river several times, in awe always of the waterfalls and amazing rock formations formed by the water.  The bridge is near the mouth of the river and takes you to a piece of land that is an island when the water is high, i.e.,  every spring. 

Join Louis' gang of bridges watchers at the series Sunday Bridges.

Under the bridge

Roaring overhead (just kidding) is M-107 leading into Porcupine Mountains Wildnerness State Park.   Quietly flowing underneath it is the Union River as it enters Lake Superior.  The Union is on the eastern boundary of the park and the Presque Isle River is the western boundary.  It is September and there was no one else on the beach with us that day.  Perfect!  Also no bugs.  Even more perfect!
Just turn around and here is the view looking inland:

For more bridges, be sure to visit Louis la Vache's Sunday Bridge Series.

The view from the other side

Yes, we are back at the Cowling Road bridge (Fabius Towhship is bridge-deprived).   Unlike our first visit now all the leaves are out and the sun is shining, maybe a little too brightly.  We are looking southeast and if we could walk along beside the Rocky River, we and it would arrive in downtown Three Rivers.  This view of the bridge give you a glimpse of the sag developing, but isn't that something we all face? 

Across the road a farmer was plowing and cattle were grazing.  And down the road the first haying had already occurred and it is still May, one more piece of evidence for applying "spectacular" to this year's spring.  Question: how can you call it spring when the temperatures are in the high 80's?!

For more intact bridges, pleas visit Louis la Vache's Sunday Bridges from around the world.