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George's

Eagle Harbor Web

An unofficial source of Eagle Harbor, Michigan news, views and information.

Welcome

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Harbor Web In Summer Hibernation
S/V Peregrine And Her Skipper Recently Sailed To Isle Royale
Here's Pics At The Island's Extreme West End, Windego,On The Left And Extreme East End, Passage Island, On The Right
Thanks To Sailing Partner Derrick Robarge, For These Pics

Harbor Community Mourns Death Of Robert "Bob" Poull.
Obituary Posted

The 3rd Annual Fundraiser supporting the rehabilitation of the Main Street Bridge in Eagle River - Live Entertainment provided by several Keweenaw Artists and bands - food available - a silent auction of an amazing array of donated artistic works and fine objects - dancing in the street.
Friday, August 13th. 5;30 PM till 11 PM. On Main Street In Eagle River


(click)
Web Site Editor Will Be Roaming The Big Lake In SV Peregrine

Eagle Harbor Web On

Facebook

Check It out. Post a Comment.
Become A Fan
A Favorite Lake Superior Web Cam

Duluth Harbor Entry

Nice View Of The Western Lake and Occasionally Some Ship Action
Lake Superior In Summer

Lake Superior Satellite
NOAA Updates This Daily

Looking For Front Page Photos From Earlier This Winter?
You Can Find Them At 2009 - 2010 Harbor Walkabout Photos

Looking For Front Page Photos From Last Winter?
You Can Find Them At 2008 - 2009 Harbor Walkabout Photos

Here's Tom Landowski's Great Eagle Harbor StormVideo




Winter 2009 - 2010 Season Snowfall
October 4.0"   November 1.5"  December 86.8"  January 42.5"  February 34.5"   March 0.0"    April 0.0"
Season To Date 169.3"




Messages From Readers
Something New Almost Every Day
"Let The Record Show......."
Hoser

Please Check Your "Eagle Mail" Address!

Also Visit the Harbor Web Facebook Site For More Messages


(click to enlarge)
Peregrine's Summer 2009 Lake Superior Cruise Map

1907 Miles - 77 Sailing Days
Here's 2008
Here's 2007
Here's 2006
Here's 2005

Township News.
Check Out The Township's Great Web Site
Board Meeting Minutes Posted






Jackson's
Harbor Cam


Today's UP Weather
June 7, 2010
George Hite - Editor
eagle-mail: E-Mail
ghite@pasty.net
277 E. North Street
Eagle Harbor, MI 49950

"Harbor Web" via the good folks at pasty.net
Today Out My Window
June 7th

The Swimming Raft Is In
And Flower Boxes Planted
Ah, Summer !


Bulletin Board
Here's the place to post your notice of an upcoming event, news of your family, or anything else your Harbor neighbors might find interesting

The Death of Robert "Bob" Poull
The Death of Marcia Poull
The Birth Of Eliza Mae DeVos
Looking For Bible Study and/or Computer User Groups

The Harbor Journal Periodic Harbor Web Editor Observations, Accounts and Musings About Harbor Weather, Happenings, and Odysseys.

Bone Rattling
Our little town, the epitome of quiet, unsophisticated gathering and unrelenting serenity , is about to get its bones rattled.

Not since the New Deal inspired invasion of electricity and communal water into our space has the installation of the generally regarded essentials of civilized urbanization interrupted our serenity. Yes, telephones subsequently arrived, but the installation was un-intrusive (just hang another wire on FDR’s power poles), as was the decades later much welcomed arrival of Bill Jackson’s cable alternative to the array of camp top Thunder Bay TV receivers. (Once again tacked onto FDR's poles.) There was a little fuss and muss a few years back when we got tired drinking Minnesota taconite plant polluted lake water and had to dig a couple wells back in the bush and run a big pipe into town center. But that event was mostly on the outskirts of our little hamlet. Road improvements have been minimal as is so readily apparent. We complain but take secret joy in the rustic quality of our urban infrastructure. And the Internet? It just snuck in, not carving much of an urban footprint.

But now? Oh wow! We’re about to dig up every street to install new water pipes, I will be among the many with a real up-town fireplug parked out in front of my camp, one that my relatives in suburban Minneapolis and San Diego would envy. This blessing, a part of our town’s quest to “get with it” in terms of reliable and efficiently delivered water supply. The fireplug will complement my pesky streetlight, bringing me closer to full compliance with what are apparently the symbols of civilized life. UGH! The next thing you know, my street, and all the other cow paths in our little town, might get paved as part of this “upgrade”.

But before the arrival of a street one can navigate safely without a 4-wheel drive and super shocks, and the availability of big rust free water pipes (not like the current 3 inch WPA pipes clogged like my heart arteries), we must endure a summer of “bones rattling”. It will be messy.

Already, big machinery is gathering at our border. Strange markings are appearing on our cinder roadways, and little orange flags marking buried pipes and wires are competing with spring dandelions for attention. Our sleepy little town park is being prepared to be a temporary gathering place for project supplies and the water pipes destined to spend a century or two deep in our town bowels. Workers are busy clearing beautiful pine from a large parcel up near the Delaware Road that will be the site of an enclosed reservoir to supply our July 4th and pig roast weekends surge in domestic water demand and sufficient fire suppressing water we hope we never need. And a very noisy praying manta look alike digger is slowly crawling closer to our unsuspecting town as it tears away at the trees lining the cutoff road to make ready for the pipe installation.

The digging and pipe laying in town should start soon and will last through the summer and perhaps into the fall. We are being assured that care will be taken to see that we won’t have the war zone our friends in Copper Harbor endured a few years ago when they “upgraded”, but it won’t be pretty.

And, of course, with the commotion comes the bill, actually forty years of bills. The good news is that we borrowed, not begged, to pay for this fun. No “stimulus” money, and no wealth transfers from out of out of towners, no entitlements – just plain old-fashioned pay to play. It’s expensive – water service cost per year now rivaling combined county and school taxes, but what the heck it’s still less costly per gallon than the cheap wine I buy, and better for me. Works better for washing, flushing and lawn watering too!

So we who are to be alongside the trenches will fret and fume as we witness the flying dirt and dust generated by our money at work, and our town’s suburban neighbors and summer visitors will share in our inconvenience during their occasional forays to town beach or the Inn, but the bones will not rattle for long. By the time winter snows cover the scars, all but the bill will be forgiven and serenity will return.

But till then, I’m going sailing.


Neon
Neon has arrived in Eagle Harbor ! Yes folks, we're on the slippery slope to becoming Wisconsin Dells North. Our pacesetter is the Eagle Harbor Inn. Remember the little unlit sign that hung in the window that simply said "Open" or "Closed"? Well, the "disability correct" movement noticed that many Inn patrons are getting to the cataract stage, so something bigger and brighter is in order. So now, atop the Inn entry is a red neon "Eagle Harbor Inn" sign. All we have to remember is that when it's lit, the bar is open. When not, come another day. So easy. No more squint searches for the little window sign. Mary's pretty proud. I like it. It's Eagle Harbor cool !
( I should add, that in deference to the all too limited adaptabilities of local fuddy-dutty watchdogs like me, and to not grease the slippery slope, Mary rejected the sign builder's plans to add eye catching flashing tipping martini glasses to the display.)
Next weekend, when the new sign is on, I'll add a picture to this report. (It might be past my usual bedtime before it's dark enough, but I'll take a preparatory nap.)
OK, here's the pic. Didn't make it until after dark, but you get the idea. Click pic to see all the nice detail.


No Pulitzer
The Pulitzer prizes were awarded today. Darn, the Eagle Harbor Journal was not among the winners.

I was sure the committee would at long last recognize the cutting edge journalism represented by the likes of this foray in small town electronic "news, views and information", i.e. gossip and story telling. The champagne was iced and 2010 Pulitzer Champion shirts ready to don, but alas, it was not to be. A web site did earn a prize, but to no one’s surprise, the awardee was affiliated with old school, the New York Times. It apparently pays to have friends in high and traditional places.

I fretted for a while, wondering if the unfairness of this world might be overcome by hiring a high price NY agent or PR firm to argue my case. But then, I stumbled upon a report on BBC America, my only reliable news source, explaining that award winning journalism must be subjected to “vetting”, a standard totally foreign to me and a word that not even my Webster’s seems to recognize. I think it has something to do with upon being examined, what one says is factually correct. I’ve never burdened myself with such a limitation on making my rambling prose interesting to me, much less my reader.

Given this standard, I shouldn’t have been surprised with the committee’s failure to recognize the merit of my work. In fact, just yesterday, a neighbor “vetted’ me for claims made in my last journal, Riding It Out. “George”, he chastised, “you neglected to confess that you snuck out of town for a few weeks basking in the warmth of Southern California, probably spent more time in the cocoon of Marquette General than in the wintery wild of the Harbor, and, given your frailties, are rarely out in the middle of the night sledge hammering frozen firewood piles.” Ah, all so true. But I’m there in spirit.

So, I’m relegated to the ranks of the unvetted storytellers. A good deal short of the likes of Twain or Keillor, but they never won a Pulitzer either.


Riding It Out Eagleharborweb lurkers will occasionally depart from their understandably desire for anonymity to press the website editor for an explanation of what one could possibly do to maintain one’s sanity in the long interval between color season and the return of snowbirds and bugs – a period that encompasses almost two-thirds of annual existence for bipeds hunkered around this little niche in the rock shouldered shore of the world’s biggest, wildest, and coldest freshwater lake.

The honest answer is not much. We just ride it out.

They say, “We know you take a weird delight in measuring the abundant snowfall, seemingly find sufficient solace in just cozying up to a warm fire with a good book or your Bach as winter storms send cold drafts inside and noisily batter your old camp, and get a kick out of trudging outside in the ever present darkness to sledge firewood free from your frozen and toppled woodpile, but is all that enough to ward off senility and atrophy; i.e. how do you keep from going crazy?”

Ah, that’s the secret. We do go crazy – at least by what seemingly passes in more urbane places as norms. (I take undue license with “we”. It’s probably just “me”.)

While we delight in the all too occasional shoulder rubbing with our common specie, the nectar of most of mankind, we find equal satisfaction in just being with ourselves. It certainly helps to arrive at this place with a rich reservoir of lifetime experiences and interests - personal resources one can draw on for intellectual nourishment in our extended winter hibernation. I often counsel Eagle Harbor year-around wannabees, that if you find your own company as insufficient, this is not the place for you.

We who inhabit this place also seem to have in common a perhaps unusual appreciation that we are but one species, and perhaps not the most savvy, of the warm bloods in our midst. Many a long winter day can be fulfilled by simply watching the graceful soaring of an eagle, the coyness of a coyote perched on a snow bank alongside your camp, or the playfulness of an otter fishing among the harbor ice flows. Not the stuff of our more urbane counterparts, but it works for us.

We are also delightfully focused on history, not the stuff of school quizzes, but rather an innate appreciation from the still evident reminders that we who hunker in the Keweenaw between freeze-up and thaw are but the latest of this country’s adventures. Their ghosts are ever present – neighbors of sorts. (I told you we’re [me] a bit crazy!) When we stumble upon many millennium old mining pits on our bush treks, encounter the beautiful hand laid century-old decaying rubble stone mining structures that dot our snow clad landscape, and even during our “history tours” of old copper town bars, we feel and are nourished by the souls of the hardy who inhabited this place in much more difficult times. Soul food of sorts.

And of course, if you are lucky enough to be of the many Harbor year-rounders with deep family ties to the Harbor community, the experience and events of each day, trial or triumph, evoke comforting memories and good vibes. Moms, dads, siblings, children, grandparents, crazy uncles, et al, are forever with us. Having a sense of “place” in our lives’, a rare privilege in an increasingly transit society, forestalls many a “what am I doing here?” thought.

And lastly, we not without a sense of community. Indeed, it’s powerful, made even more so by our sparsity and resulting, of necessity, in a strong sense of interdependency. We may be few, but we’re close. Committed to looking out for one another. I know that if my lights are not on by late dawn, or my car is unmoved in a day, someone will stop by or call. I’ll do the same. Oh, what comfort this provides. In truth, the essence of the successful existence of “we few, we happy few, we band of brothers”.

So dear lurker and wonderer, take heart. There is reason to hope that we who “ride it out” may maintain enough sanity to be pleasant, perhaps even stimulating, company upon your return – which we hope is soon!


StimulusThe good news just keeps rolling in. First the report that a case of Ernest Shackleton’s whiskey had been discovered buried deep in the ice at one of his Antarctic base camps, left there in 1910 by my childhood hero as he wisely and quickly evacuated his comrades from the polar cap as disaster loomed. Now I hear the original distiller of the whiskey, surprisingly still in business but having long ago lost the recipe of this brew, is hoping to get a sample of the recovered whiskey into the lab to discover and reproduce the formula that so emboldened the courage and tenacity of my hero and his comrades. I’ll be first in line for a case of “Shackleton II”! And then, just today, I read in the Gazette, our local paper that still proudly links its name with “Mining” (bless them), a report of economic stimulus that actually works. Seems a son, just 12 years old, of a now very proud Copper Country native, both now living in suddenly snow bound Louisville, KY, discovered a yooper scooper, surely secreted there by dad, in his garage, and undaunted by the snow calamity unleashed its CC power on the Louisville snow, wowing everybody in his neighborhood with its advantages over back breaking shoveling. Not content with the few bucks he gathered from happy neighbors, our Horatio Alger in the making, shared his can-do spirit and miraculous remedy for moving snow with the Louisville Courier, a big time paper, even disclosing the maker of this marvelous device, Silver Bear Manufacturing, one of our own. Bingo! The orders for yooper scoopers began to pour into Silver Bear’s Atlantic Mine mail box, prompting the overjoyed owners of this little almost ma and pop outfit to hire three new workers to meet the sudden demand. Isn’t that a great story! Hey it’s initiative and good ideas that builds jobs, not money from the federal pot! If I’d been our president, I’d had this kid in the House gallery to take a well deserved bow during my State of the Union address.

Grand Opera Last evening was so peaceful, and so beautiful. Our daylight now lasts through the evening hour and the sun is now ending its daily stay with us by dipping behind the tall poplars that stand like sentinels along the west shoulder of our swimming beach. Dark tree shadows inch out across the pristine white snow that covers the beach and then onto the harbor ice, their ghostly images stretching almost to mid-harbor before being lifted off the ice and absorbed by the gathering darkness of the approaching night. The mostly vacant cottages along the harbor’s south rocky shore, their higher perch affording them a longer bask in the now gold tinged light of the setting sun, seem to be almost retrieved from their long winter hibernation as the light briefly plays across their harbor facing, making windows glow. Then as the sun dips lower, seeking the sanctuary of the big lake, and now once again darkened cottages return to their slumber, the last, and usually most colorful array of sunlight climbs up the darkly forested ridge lying to our south, offering for a moment a hint of the forest’s spring potential. By now the sun has disappeared into the cold and dark lake, but sends its brilliance around the earth’s roundness and through the dusty near earth heaven to transform the bottoms of otherwise lifeless winter clouds into a mesmerizing mosaic of shifting rust hued reds laced with black shadows set against a background of fading blue sky. This closing seems like the end of grand opera, the moment the magnificent curtain envelopes the stage.


The Forbidden I’m indulging in the forbidden. Nothing too exciting, but delicious. A camp fever remedy. Exotic food! Yes, dear reader, as I perused the aisles of my favorite green banana emporium after a day of languishing in the mid-winter shadows, I came to face with an old temptation – herring cutlets in wine sauce. What you say, herring, a pedestrian food for the hoards of transplanted scandihuvians clustered about the cold Superior Lake? How could a morsel of such a fish, a fish at the bottom of the fish chain, ever be considered a temptation, much less exotic? Well, dear friends, you forget my Scotch ancestry, blood lines tainted with reverence for avoidance of excesses and irrational indulgences – and such herring delicacies are for reasons unfathomable, now priced at over six bucks for a small pot full (16oz), including the water and other justifying ingredients (not much wine). Only in the unthinking ferment of camp fever could I ever place a grasping hand on such a forbidden delight. But I did, and while I feel great remorse at my sin, the herring is sooooo delicious. (And to add to my wontedness, I’m washing these little fishes down my gullet with equally sinfully expensive wine. some Beringer Napa Valley 2006 Chardonnay.) May King Robert the Bruce forgive my Scottish soul!

The Winter 2009-2010 Journals
It's Still Dark Outside, But.... (January)

>The Winter 2008 - 2009 Journals

Why So Little Of Late (03/08/09)
Seeking Adventure (02/20/09)
A Walk To The Marina (02/17/09)
Steinbeck (02/08/09)
Sun Storm (01/30/09)
Inaugration Day (01/22/09)
Like the Pics? (01/20/09)
Grub and Grog (01/18/09)
Enduring Hope (11/19/08)
An Evening With My Cursed Cursor (11/15//08)
Summer Ends (11/10//08)
A Letter To Ryan (11/06//08)
The Water Dilemma (10/21//08)
Life Ashore (10/15/08)

Earlier Journal Entries:
Winter 2007-2008 Journals
Winter 2006-2007 Journals
Winter 2005-2006 Journals
October 2004 - January 2005 Journals
January & February, 2004 Journals
December, 2003 Journals
November, 2003 Journals
April & May, 2003 Journals
February & March, 2003 Journals
December 2002 - January 2003 Journals
Fall-Winter 2002 Journals
Recent Journals
Earlier Journals
Much Earlier Journals
Journals From The Last Millennium
Editor Musings


Harbor Q & A
A forum for posing and answering questions about Eagle Harbor.

The Latest: Where and What Is This?
You might stumble upon this out in the bush. What is it?

Who Is This Guy?
Just a couple blocks from downtown Eagle Harbor, this brightly painted carving sits high in a tree trunk. What's the story? Who carved it, and why?


What Happended to the Eagle Harbor Life Saving Station?
Built In 1910-1912, It Disappeared in The 1950s. What happened To It?



The Ah-Wa-Nesha? Who knows the history of one of Eagle Harbor's most b eautiful boats?




Where Is the "Arch Rock"
Are there mountain lions in the Keweenaw?
Why are five Mile and Seven Mile Points so named?
How much does one of Keweenaw's giant snow plows cost?
How Long Does It Take To Swim Across The Harbor? Who Claims The Record?
What's it take to get the lake effect snow machine going?
Where's the "Old Military Road"?
"Where are the "stamp sands"?
"Is the story of a load of automobiles being driven off a ship wreck true?"
"What's the scoop about a big float copper find in Great Sand Bay?".

The Snow Report
A record of this and past years' Keweenaw snowfalls.


For Monthly Snowfalls Since 1957 See Keweenaw Snowfall Record

Keweenaw Snowfall Forecast Contest
It was the only game in town! Fearless forecasters vied for bragging rights and fabulous prizes.

Sorry, no contest this year. Yes, for several years snow junkies p[articipated in what passes for entertainment at Eagle Harbor. It's our opportunity for fame and fortune. Despite suggestions that this is just a game of chance, past winners have almost all attributed their success to skillful analysis of such things as global weather patterns (for sure the El Nino phenomena), solar wind forecasts. and even the historical correlation between the state of the economy and snowfall.

Dont forget, there is more than fame to be gained. Monthly winners in November through February, the big snow months, will feast on the scrumptious pasties from our friends at Pasty Central , and our total season champ earning the choice of either a Copper Harbor dinner cruise in PEREGRINE, or a weeks use of the Harbor Web's guest cottage.

Forecasts, actual results and identification of winners can be viewed at: 2007 - 2008 Forecasts

For more information, including some Keweenaw snowfall historical data, please go to: 2007- 2008 Keweenaw Snowfall Forecast Contest.

Want to know where and how the snowfall is measured? Go to In Quest Of The Measuring Stick

Winter Scenes
Some winter pictures for those who aren't fortunate enough to be here!
More Winter!See Folio Two
A January 2003 Walk To The Lighthouse



Harbor Potluck. A wonderful collection of reader submitted Eagle Harbor related stories, poems, whatever.
Some recent contributions.

The Thor Saga, by Fred Geis. Some pooch. geezer troubles up at Copper Falls.

Lost Lake, by Paul Freshwater
An irresistible urge meets an impregnable morass.
The Art of Rink Building, by Ross Freshwater
Youthful exuberance, good deeds, and other Harbor holiday shenanigans.

Lake News
What's our noisy neighbor up to now?
Check Out NOAA's New Lake Superior Conditions Web Site
For Level Update see NOAA's Daily Lake Superior Level Report
See today's Surface Temperatures
How about the Wind and Wave Forecast
Yes, there are Surface Currents
And in the winter, Lake Ice Conditions

Early July, 2010 Lake Level is 12" Below Normal And 7" Below This Time Last Year.
For the latest on inflows, outflows, levels, etc. check out Environmemtal Canada's Level News .



Harbor Cottage Stories.
Ever wondered about the history of some of Eagle Harbor's landmark cottages. Here's what we hope is a building collection of stories about these cottages as submitted by their current owners.

The Mugford Cottage By Cathy Stites

The Harvey House By Rebecca Markee



Ann Johnson's "Note From A Cabin In The Woods"
"A Look Back At 2004 - A Year Of Change" Ann's no longer writing these letters, but they are still lively and interesting to read.




A Place To Stay
Not everybody is lucky enough to have a cottage, camp, or accomodating relative waiting for them at Eagle Harbor. Here are some folks who share our love of the Harbor, but need a place to stay. If you can help them, or know someone who might be able to, please send them an email.

Our listing also includes a few "place to stay" possibilities. If you want to list, please send an email with particulars.
Recent listings:
Dave and Peg Carlson - Cedar Point Cabins .

Township News

Township email address is office@eagleharbortwp.orgTownship Office.
Township Web Site is Eagle Harbor Township
Township Completes Purchase Of Nearly 1,000 Acres For Recreation Area and Wildlife Preserve. See Park Plan and Map

Harbor Photo Gallery

Harbor Photo Gallery is a show place for the many very talented photographers who capture the beauty of Keweenaw and Harbor summers on their film. If you have photos you would like to add to our collection, email them to George or snail mail them to me. (277 E North St Eagle Harbor MI, 49950).

The Jim Simak Collection

The Melanie Ehrenreich Collection

The Ross Freshwater Collection



Good Neighbors
A pat-on-the-back to some neighbors for doing something "really nice".(Here's your chance to say thanks. If you observed a good deed, tell us about it.)
Eugene and Pegg Johnson Assist A Neighbor In Need
US Coast Guard Helps To Keep A Harbor Holiday Tradition Alive
The Willoughby Good Neighbors
Harbor Woodchoppers Aid Koops
Volunteer Firemen and Neighbors of Ivan Fisher
Pine Grove Cemetery entry sign repairers Doug and Ginny Schubert and installer Fritz Kesanan.

2005 Eagle Harbor Halloween Pumpkin Art Festival!

Once again the pumpkins have gone to pumpkin heaven (locally known as Boggio's Deer Blind.) They were probably glad to get out of the Festival pumpkin patch. It was COLD and wet out there! But a good time was had by all, and the pumpkin creations were, as usual, a glorious sight to behold.

For a report about this year's event and a picture of the pumpkins, see 2003 Eagle Harbor Pumpkin Art Festival

For earlier Eagle Harbor Pumpkin Art Festival wrap-ups, awards and pictures, go to:
2002 Pumpkin Festival
2001 Pumpkin Festival
2000 Pumpkin Festival
1999 Pumpkin Festival
1998 Pumpkin Festival.

Favorites
The place to post a Favorite Harbor memory, thing to do, place to go, food to eat, etc.

Latest Posting: "Memories from 1976"
Deer Story
Don & Barb Nelson's saga of deer feeding and bucks shedding antlers.

Harbor Walkabout
Some digital camera shots while walking about the Harbor.



An Adventure On The Ice
Here's Some Photos Taken While Tempting Fate In The Harbor Entry

Abby Goes To Fire Drill



November 1, 1999 Storm Photos

Star Raising

Readers pick their Favorite Walkabout Pictures

A Collection Of Abby Photos



Harbor School Millennium Project
The Eagle Harbor community commemorated the advent of a new millennium by paying homage to the good works of the community's founders. Not the least of the tangible evidence of their contribution is the Eagle Harbor School House, a handsome example of early American school building that sits alongside the harbor's south shore. It served as the place of learning for hundreds of Eagle Harbor kids from 1872 until its closing in 1956. After two years of restoration funded by the generous donations of many Harbor families, the structure reopened in the millennium summer as a place of community gathering. A July 2nd celebration and rededication, complete with hours of joyus school bell ringing, was attended by almost 200.
For a few photos of the festivities, go to Walkabout




Keweenaw Development.

Township and County planning committees recently prepared an updated comprehensive plan for our area. Called Blueprint for Tomorrow it was adopted in 2002. Eagle Harbor Township subsequently decided to have its own zoning regulations and adopted an interim zoning ordinance in early 2007. The County at the same time adopted a new zoning ordinance covering the rest of the county.. Visit the Eagle Harbor Township Web Site for links to these documents and status reports of the Township's current drafting of a comprehensive plan to replace Blueprint for Tomorrow within the Township and serve as a basis for a permanent Township zoning ordinance.
To review the last (2002) go-around on township planning visit
2002 Planning Issues and Opportunities
2001 Community Meeting On Planning
2002 Adopted Plan Vision and Planning Objectives and Strategies

Keweenaw and Township Development OpinionHere's an archive collection of your Harbor Web Editor's musings and letters to public officials and neighbors on Keweenaw and Township development issues.
The Latest! George weighs in on Township's proposed zoning ordinance. (2/07)

Click .Keweenaw Development.for reports and comment on other development issues.

Favorite Keweenaw Links
Internet connections to other web pages for people who enjoy the Keweenaw, especially Eagle Harbor, and the things we do here.

Recent Additions
Gull Rock Lightkeepers. The lonely little lighthouse off the tip of the Keweenaw has new keepers who are busy restoring it to its former glory. Check out their progress.




Neil Harri Photos
Harbor neighbor Neil Harri is a skilled pilot and photographer, and frequently contributes his photos to the Harbor Web.. We often see him buzzing above the Harbor snapping pictures. Now he has web site for sharing and selling his beautiful photos. Check it out.



Old Pics
A place to share old pictures of Eagle Harbor, Harbor events, and Harbor people. Pictures that abound in old family albums, scrapbooks, and dusty files that might help us better understand and appreciate the Harbor that is now ours to enjoy. Mail or email any you might have to George and I'll add them to what I hope will be a growing collection.

Musings
George, your editor, muses about life and the changing Eagle Harbor community.

Latest Musing. What Makes Eagle Harbor So Special?

Eagle-Mail
We have collected more than 250 e-mail (Eagle-Mail) addresses of Harbor area friends and neighbors. Look here for the current whereabouts of someone you would like to send a friendly "Hello!". You will also find links to the web sites of Harborites. If you are not listed and would like to be, or your address changes, please "Eagle-Mail" to George today!

Recent Additions:Alan Church, Susan Church, Leslie Haeger, Gene & Pegg Johnson Recent Changes & Corrections.Curt & Barb Pippenger, Gayle McKenney, Sue Kaat, John Gunnari, Julie Goodell Asslin, Gratia Scrutton, John Diemart, Phyllis Diemart, Don Marpe
Eagle Mail A thru G
Eagle Mail H thru O
Eagle Mail P thru Z

More Pages Below.


Harbor Moose Population Drops To 650!. (Click Moose for the Big Picture.) Bet that headline got your attention. OK, so the moose in mind are all on Isle Royale, but it is in Eagle Harbor Township...at least the west half of the island.(East half is Houghton Township...not sure why since on the peninsula Eagle Harbor Township is east of Houghton Township.) Anyway, the big news from the winter '07-'08 annual census of Isle Royale moose and wolf population was the continued decimation of the moose, primarily due to tick infestation brought about by warmer summers. (There were an estimated 2,500 moose on the island in '95-'96.) The wolf count, which has been as low as 11 and as high as 50 in the annual winter count, has stablized at 23, with two additions in the latest count.(Two mature wolves died, but four pups survived.) The ratio of moose to wolf is quite low, now just about 28 to one. Considering that the researchers estimate the "kill rate" to be about 2/3rds of a moose per wolf per month, the wolves are having to be more aggressive hunters, with packs increasingly invading each others territory. There are now four wolf packs scattered about the island, with pack sizes ranging from 4 to 8. For the full story on the latest moose and wolf research, go to Isle Royale Moose and Wolf Research Annual Reports and click on the 2007-2008 Report. There are some great photos in these reports.

For updates from this winter's in-progress study go to '08-'09 Notes From the Field

2008 - 2009 Update Report from the Isle Royale/Keweenaw Parks Association. (4/08/2009)
This year’s report from Isle Royale’s wolf/moose winter study is in, and the numbers show the wolf population at 24, up just one from last year’s count. Moose have had another hard year with a loss of over 100 animals, down to 530.
The biggest news from this year’s report is the confirmation that Isle Royale’s wolves are suffering from backbone malformations caused by genetic inbreeding. That finding raises the important question: Do Isle Royale wolves need genetic rescuing? This is the topic of discussion on the Isle Royale Wolf Study website.
You can weigh in on this important issue, or just read what others have said. There are already 114 responses posted today and you are encouraged to join the discussion.


Lake Superior: Does Water In = Water Out?.
We all know it's a big lake. With a surface area of about 31,700 square miles, it exceeds the combined size of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Connecticut. There is enough water in the lake, over 3200 billion gallons, to supply the freshwater needs of the 30 million residents in the lake's adjacent states and province for over three years. But how much new water does all the snow and rain add to the lake each year, and if over a period of several years the lake level is stable, as it is, where does all the new water go? Is all this new water flowing through the lake why the lake is so nice and clean? A Web search provided some surprises. For complete article, go to Lake Superior


A Message To New Eagle Harbor Web Viewers.

Welcome! Remember the small town newspaper? The Eagle Harbor Web is the same idea gone high tech. Just as corny,as unpredictable,as untimely, but, hopefully, as friendly as the Chillicothe Constitution Gazette,or your town paper of choice. (At least those are my editorial standards.) Perhaps you'll find a few nuggets of stuff you didn't know, will meet some new friends, and enjoy a chuckle or two. It's for anyone with a browser, but if you don't know where the Popeye Rock is, you'll be bored to death. So help yourself to the inside pages by clicking the "picture thumbnails" (the little pictures) and learn what your township has done for you lately, meet some old and new neighbors, say thanks to some special people, find ways to do your part to keep Eagle Harbor special, share a memory, and catch the flavor of the place in AJ's Letter and The Harbor Journal. And please, Sign The Guestbookand send me your comments, your questions, your news, and any ideas you have to make the Eagle Harbor Web more useful and interesting (keeping in mind the editorial standards.) Thanks for checking in. George, web site editor.


Some More Pages

Old Friends
An opportunity to better know some of our "old" neighbors. Most of us live or visit here because we like "to get away", but we also like "to get together". Neighbors are important, and "old friends" are especially valued.

New Friends
The arrival of new friends and neighbors is cause to rejoice. Some are long time Eagle Harbor vacationers, often members of Copper Country families. Others return and sometimes move here after only a few vsits. All attracted by the rugged beauty of Keweenaw, the ever changing moods of the Lake, and the advantages of life in a small close-knit community. Each bring a wealth of experiences and personal interests, adding to the richness of all our lives. All are welcomed. (If you know someone others would enjoy knowing, or someone with a new home, be "neighborly"; introduce them.)

Helping Out
"It's so great to part of a town where everyone gets into the act and helps."(If your project or organization needs some help, here's the place to let us know.)

Who's George?
More than you want to know about this web site's editor. Why would anyone do this?

Sign The Guestbook
Please send your comments, suggestions, questions, news, Good Neighbor nominees, Potluck contributions, Harbor Q & A questions/answers, new neighbor introductions, and anything else that suits your fancy. Internet is interactive, so jump in.


Thanks to these folks for their generous recognition of the Eagle Harbor Web

Site of the Year

Golden Pasty Award