Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
SHIPPING
Mention Lake Superior and associative synesthesia sets in: foghorns, hurricane force gales,
flickering ship lights, and rocks littering shoals. The Apostle Islands have the highest con-
centration of lighthouses in the United States, due in large part to the necessities of fish
delivery to eastern and southern population centers and the sociopathic nature of the lake.
A lighthouse keeper in the Apostles once reported more than 125 ships in deep-water lanes
at the same time. One gruesome tale pre-lighthouse days involved a ship in a fierce storm
washing ashore with the frozen corpses of sailors lashed to the masts, surviving the winds
but not the hypothermia that followed. Twenty-five documented wrecks litter the lake bot-
tom.
The first lighthouse went up in 1857 on Michigan Island; by 1891, a half-dozen lights
had been constructed on the islands, which made them the primary shipping landmark
across Lake Superior. Today, the Apostles are still a vital link in the North American ship-
pingchain.Ironore,wheat,andcoalaretheprimarycargoesofthemassivebeastsprowling
the shipping lanes. But they are far surpassed by more modern pursuits—pleasure crafters.
LOGGING
Seemingly incongruous but bitterly ironic is the fact that the Apostle Islands today have
some of Wisconsin's most breathtaking old-growth northern forest. This despite the fact
that by the 1930s most islands had been depredated by the lumber saw during the dreadful
timber epoch. Virgin tracts of red and white pine and hemlock lay yards from a natural wa-
terway; in winter, logs could be stacked atop the ice and floated toward shore come spring.
Eventually, the sawyers set their sights on the hardwoods, which required transport. Only
those particularly steep-sided islands—North Twin, for example—managed to bedevil the
cutters. In 1930, when the National Park Service made research inquiries into national park
status at Herbert Hoover's behest, so denuded were the islands (fires subsequent to clear-
cutting all but moonscaped most islands) that the National Park Service said they were un-
recoverable.
Theloggingheritagemadeareturninthemid-1990s,whenanentrepreneurlogsalvager
got permits to raise, one by one, the millions of red oak, maple, birch, hemlock, cherry, and
elmlogsthatsankduringtransportation acenturyagobuthaven'trottedonthelakebottom
because of the cold and low oxygen levels. Up to 30,000 logs per year can be raised; once
surfaced, old tie hack engravings and markings are still visible. These pristine logs are in
high demand from woodworking and timber industries worldwide.
