One of the things I have in my Historical Photos collection is press wire photos of northern Michigan. These are pictures that are issued by the news wire services to accompany newspaper articles. They come with a headline and a caption explaining the picture’s news worth. I thought it might be fun posting these creating Headlines from the Past. All pictures are from the Mikel B. Classen Historical Pictures Collection.
This page is continuously updated, keep checking back for more as I get them posted.
Last Update – 12/14/25
_____________________________________________________________
Plane crashes in Ironwood – 1/22/1961
The wreckage of a small plane crash in Ironwood.
Wreckage of a private plane missing since 1/19 is inspected in knee deep snow at nearby Gile Flowage 1/21 shortly after it was discovered. Both occupants, Dr. H.H. Albrecht, 47, Lindstrom, Minnesota, and Alvin Johnson, Baraga, Michigan, were killed in the wreck. Their bodies were thrown from the plane. The craft had taken off early 1/19 from Osceola, Wisconsin and was reportedly seen about two hours laterin a snowstorm near crash scene – UPI photo.
The Fantome II at Mackinac Island – 7/4/1937
The Fantome II, a barque owned by A. E. Guinness of Southampton, England, has been sailing on the Great Lakes after a trip from England – 17 days across the Atlantic under full sail with occasional aid from her twin diesels. The owner boarded her in Chicago recently and will return to England. The Fantome II has been offered to the duke and duchess of Windsor for a cruise in August. This picture was taken when the barque lay off Mackinac Island.
Archaeological Discoveries – Menominee – 7/20/61
On a hill overlooking the blue waters of the Menominee River between Wisconsin and Michigan, anthropologist Robert Hruska of Oshkosh is digging into a culture at least 3,000 years old. Hruska and his helpers are probing the graves of Indians in a modern cemetery in Menominee, Mich. The site was once an Indian village and burial ground. Red and black stains, red from ocher (iron ore) and black from charcoal or leather, mark the Indian graves, which Hruska and his crew have uncovered about three feet below ground level.
Old Johnston House and Trading Post at Sault de Sainte Marie – 2/20/36
The original building on this site was somewhat larger. It was burned by American raiders in 1812; an act of retaliation because John Johnston had participated in the British capture of the fort on Mackinac Island. The huge fireplace of the original house is visible in front. Generals Jacob Brown, Alexander Macomb, and Lewis Cass were entertained by the Johnstons in this house and the treaty of 1820, with the Chippewa Nation, was signed there. John Johnston’s wife was a Chippewa woman. Henry R. Schoolcraft married one of the daughters. From John Johnston, his father-in-law, and George Johnston, his brother-in-law Mr. Schoolcraft obtained the history and legendary lore of the Chippewas. From Mr. Schoolcraft, the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow obtained the basis of his “Song of Hiawatha.” (Today the Johnston house is preserved and can be found in its original location on Water Street.)
Necklace In The Night – 8/15/56
St. Ignace, Mich.: The majestic $100 million Mackinac Bridge appears all lighted up like a Christmas tree in this photo made at dusk from the St. Ignace, Michigan, side of the Straits of Mackinac. Lights are on every night on the world’s longest suspension bridge for several reasons. They are there so that workmen on duty around the clock can see what they are doing, so that ships passing through the straits won’t crash into the structure, and so that aircraft won’t hit any of the 552 ft. high main towers. The five-mile bridge, which will link Michigan’s Upper and Lower peninsulas, is scheduled to be completed in November 1957.
We Know How Strong It Must Be, But How Much More Will It Take? August 10, 1955
Testing the Strength of the cables for the Mackinac Bridge in 1955.
American Steel & Wire test engineers at Trenton, N.J., examine a length of Mackinac Bridge suspender cable that has just been “break” tested. Bridge specifications call for this 2 1/4 ” wire rope to have a catalog strength of 235 Tons. The break tester adds over 100 additional tons to see how the rope will take it. At 350 tons it broke, note that two of the six strands still remain intact.
Disaster Strikes on Lake Superior – May 12, 1953
Lake Superior: A lifeboat carrying two crewmen of the freighter Henry Steinbrenner which sank in Lake Superior, May 11, is reached by the rescue ship William Sykes. Man at bottom of lifeboat, identified as Frank Tomszak, was dead when reached by rescuers. Other crewman rescued here was identified as Bernard Oberski
Survive Sea Tragedy – May 12, 1953
Superior, Wis.: Captain George Fisher of the freighter Alfred Sykes, stands with two survivors of the cargo vessel Henry Steinbrenner, which foundered off the Rock of Ages in Lake Superior, May 11. Of the ill fated ship’s crew of 31, there were 15 persons rescued and 10 known dead. Kenneth Kumm (center), 19, of North Tonawanda, N.Y., and Bernard Oberski (right), 24 of Plymouth, PA., were rescued from a lifeboat adrift and nearly filled with water in a raging sea. The Sykes was one of four shipa able to reach the scene of the disaster, and the first to return to port. Along with the two survivors, she brought back the body of one victim.
Fort Michilimackinac Reconstructed – June 24, 1933
Model of the fort at Mackinaw City in the Straits of Mackinac, between Lakes Michigan and Huron, scene of the massacre on July 1, 1763, when the entire British garrison was butchered by Ojibway Indians during a camoflaged LaCrosse game, which is being reconstructed in detail on the foundation of the original structure and will be opened July 1.
Railroad Bridge Collapses Two Men Dead! – October 9, 1941
Remove Locomotive From Soo Canal – October, 10 1941
Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan – Large derrick lifting engine from canal, clearing canal so that delayed ore freighters could pass from Lake Superior through the nearby locks into the lower Great Lakes. The engine and tender had caused collapse of a railroad bridge across the canal, and two trainmen were killed when the locomotive went into the canal.
Supplies To Isle Royale CCC Camp Pulled Across The Ice – March 11, 1937
More equipment and supplies for the special National Park CCC camp on Isle Royale, in Lake Superior, are hauled from the United States Coast Guard Cutter Crawford, by enrollees. The ship, which nosed its way iinto the ice locking th island, is morred a short distance away.
Ice Still a Problem In Straits of Mackinac – April 21, 1962
The Coast Guard cutter Arundel, which has its home port in Chicago, is engaged in ice breaking in the Straits of Mackinac. The icebound area is still slowing the travel of many boats. Here the Arundel (right) leads the tanker L10 and steamer Conneaut through an ice field. St Lawerence Seaway ships are expected in Chicago this week.
Michigan Resort Where FDR Will Make September Visit – July 14, 1938
Mackinac Island, Mich – A view of Mackinac Island, a popular resort during the summer months but completely isolated from the world during the long winter period. The little island will be visited by President Roosevelt when he is a guest at the Grand Hotel on September 8th, and is the location from which he will give his first fireside chat.
Tug Dashed Against Dam Gate – One Lost – November 7, 1941
Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. – Raising the Alfred E. Noble, a tug-boat, which sank after being torn from its moorings and dashed against a dam gate by strong currents in the Sault Rapids, hurling one crew member into the water.
Carpenters In Colonial Costume Rebuild Fort – June 23, 1966
Mackinaw City, Mich – Ships longer than two football fields glide under the mighty Mackinac Bridge that joins Michigan’s two peninsulas but in its shadow, where birch bark canoes once landed, archaeologists literally are turning back the sands of time. They’re uncovering two centuries of drifting sand to reconstruct a time of adventure, of treachery, of intrigue – a time when the Straits of Mackinac was inhabited by voyageurs, French and British soldiers, fur trappers, and traders, the Chippewa and Ottawa Indians. The site is Fort Michilimackinac here at the top of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. Under the direction of the Mackinac Island State Park Commission, archaeologists from Michigan State University are rebuilding the fort as it was 200 years ago when it was a key western outpost for the lucrative fur trade.
Closing Soo Bridge Steel – March 9, 1962
“Steel superstructure on the new St. Mary’s River International Bridge at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, is moving toward a meeting at the International Boundary in the Soo Rapids. The bridge is being built from both sides toward the center. The meeting place at the boundary is at Pier 29, the first uncapped pier to the right in this view. The U.S. girders are scheduled to reach Pier 29 about March 20 to be met by the Canadian steel about April 20. The bridge project is more than two miles long and will cost $20,000,000.”
Some of these Press Photos appear in my book: Faces, Places, & Days Gone By.
Content copyright. Mikel Classen. All rights reserved.