Michigan: the way it was. Michigan Ghost Towns compiles settlements and communities that have faded into Michigan's history and legend: ""Baraga County's $2,000,000 Ghost Railroad"" (Reprinted from the September 23, 1964 Issue of the L'Anse Sentinel by permission) A few rusty nails, some old telegraph poles and a bed grown over with brush and trees in the Huron Mountain district is all that remains today of a $2,000,000 railroad which never ran a train of cars and failed to bring in a cent of revenue. For several years men labored in the wilderness to lay 35 miles of tracks through rocky gorges and swamps from the mining town of Champion (now a ghost town) to Huron Bay. At Huron Bay an immense ore dock, buildings and homes were erected in preparation for a rush of business which the promoters of the Huron Bay and Iron Range Railway thought would make them wealthy. Pequaming: One of the largest ghost towns in the Upper Peninsula with buildings still standing is Pequaming. Located about 8 miles north of L'Anse, the huge smokestacks and water towers are visible from the L'Anse waterfront where the remains of the once prosperous industrial town lies at the tip of a tree-covered peninsula jutting out into the Keweenaw Bay. Emerson: Named after Chris Emerson, Saginaw millionaire lumberman and considered by some an eccentric. Thousands of tourists travel highway M-123 between Eckerman and Paradise each summer and visit the Tahquamenon Falls area, unaware that they pass near the site of this one-time lumbering and fishing village at the mouth of the Tahquamenon River where it empties into Lake Superior. What was once a road to the site is now a marsh- and weed-grown trail almost impassable by automobile. A spring flowing from a weed-covered mound is about all that remains where the town once was.

Michigan has had several towns that have been abandoned or disappeared over the decades. Some were sawmill towns or mining towns that faded away after the trees were cut or the mine closed. Some towns moved when the railroad tracks passed them by and others faded away for some other reason. They show up on the map and sometimes have an old abandoned building or cemetery that mark their existence. This book tells the stories of some of the many towns that faded away. It has locations and things to see if you choose to visit them. Some locations in this book are places that are like ghost towns. They are modern construction made to look old or a collection of historic buildings in a park. They may not be actual ghost towns, but they are still fun to visit and explore. No matter where you live in the Great Lake State there are towns and stories in this book that are near you. There are places in the Detroit Metro area all the way to the Keweenaw Peninsula in the Upper Peninsula. If you love exploring Michigan and its history, this book is a great way to learn about the state's past with locations of some interesting and forgotten ghost towns or places similar to one.

Based on the popular Lost In Michigan website that was featured in the Detroit Free Press, It contains locations throughout Michigan, and tells their interesting story. There are over 50 stories and locations that you will find fascinating.

Old Victoria, a ghost town from the copper boom, shows what life was like homesteading in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Over the years, some of the site has been destroyed or has collapsed; still, many of Old Victoria's original homesteads remain standing. Thanks to the efforts of a local group, The Society for the Restoration of Old Victoria, quite a few of the buildings have been restored and refurnished in their original condition. Unlike Fayette, the U.P.'s best-known ghost town and a small shipping port on Lake Michigan, Victoria is a remote, rugged mining town, buried in the Ontonagon wilderness. Thus, Victoria is one of the least-known yet most interesting attractions of the Upper Peninsula. The town was carved out of one of the harshest sections of the rugged U.P. landscape. Situated at the top of a Michigan mountain, part of the picturesque Ontonagon River Gorge, Victoria is within the Gogebic Mineral Range. When visiting here, you get the feel for what it was like to struggle in a remote mining town. Join Mikel B. Classen, the Yooper History Hunter, on a romp through time with two dozen photographs that portray more than a century of Old Victoria! "Both history and travel guide, this thoroughly researched and gracefully written book -- illustrated with both historical and contemporary photographs -- is a must-read for people planning visits to lesser-known parts of the western Upper Peninsula." -- Jon C. Stott, author Paul Bunyan in Michigan "Old Victoria: A Copper Country Ghost Town, the inaugural volume of the Yooper History Hunter Series, offers a colorful, up-close look at the life of a small mining town in one of the remotest corners of Michigan. Painstakingly researched, but an effortless read." --Victor R. Volkman, Marquette Monthly Learn more at www.MikelBClassen.com From Modern History Press www.ModernHistoryPress.com