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Preview
By Stephen Kirchner, Editor & Publisher
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elcome to Byways Rivers and Lakes 2021 issue. Travel with us from Georgia to Alabama, north to the smallest Great Lake and west to Yellowstone Lake, with the final stop in the Willamette River Valley in Oregon. Lake Erie is the 4th largest of the 5 Great Lakes, but it is also the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes. Lake Erie’s southern border is the Canadian province of Ontario, and it also forms part of the borders of four U.S. states, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. Lake Erie has been a shipping lane for maritime vessels for centuries. The largest city on the lake is Cleveland. Other major cities along the lake shore include Buffalo, New York; Erie, Pennsylvania; and Toledo, Ohio. Lake Erie is home to one of the world’s largest freshwater commercial fisheries. Its fish populations are the most abundant of the Great Lakes. Over the centuries, the Chattahoochee River served as possibly the most important route for connecting the Gulf of Mexico to the interior of the nation. Today, the Chattahoochee River supplies 70 percent of metro Atlanta’s drinking water, which is more than 300 million gallons per day! The Chattahoochee River was of considerable strategic importance during the Atlanta Campaign by Union General William Tecumseh Sherman in the American Civil War. In a state known for boating and bassin’, it’s hard to believe any secrets remain. But Alabama’s Black Warrior River has been called one of America’s best kept secrets for boating. It’s also been described as one of northern Alabama’s top secrets for bass fishing. Byways 4
The river rises in the extreme southern edges of the Appalachian Highlands and flows 178 miles to the Tombigbee River. The Black Warrior is a busy commercial and industrial waterway for tugboats and their barges, which tow coal, chemicals, steel products, wood products, and more up and down the river for import and export. This is made possible due to 4 large lock and dam structures on the main stem of the river. Situated at 7,733 feet above sea level, Yellowstone Lake is the largest freshwater lake above 7,000 ft in North America. In the southwest area of the lake, the West Thumb geothermal area is easily accessible to visitors. Geysers, fumaroles, and hot springs are found both alongside and in the lake. During the early 1800s, Oregon’s Willamette Valley was advertised as the “promised land of flowing milk and honey”. Throughout the 19th century it was the destination of choice for the oxen-drawn wagon trains of emigrants who made the perilous journey along the Oregon Trail. The river is nestled between the Cascade Mountains and the Oregon Coast Mountains. With the ultra rich soils, comfortable summer temperatures and moderate rainfall, this place is home to more than 70 percent of Oregon’s population. In What’s Happening, learn about one of the country’s truly unique homes. For almost 100 years, Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California, has stood as a testament to the ingenuity, singular vision and lore that surrounds its namesake, Sarah Pardee Winchester (heiress to the Winchester Repeating Arms fortune). We hope you enjoy this issue of Byways.
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Volume 38, Issue No. 4 2021 On the Cover. Lake Erie bluffs, David M. Roderick Wildlife Reserve, Erie County. For more on Rivers and Lakes, turn to page 8. Photo courtesy Nicholas A. Tonelli and Wikimedia Commons CC BY 2.0.
Features Lake Erie, The Smallest Great Lake...................................................................................................... 8 The Chattahoochee River ................................................................................................................... 16 Alabama’s Black Warrior River ............................................................................................................ 22 Yellowstone Lake................................................................................................................................. 28 Oregon’s Willamette River................................................................................................................... 34
Departments Byways Instant Connect ........................................................................................................................ 3 Byways Preview .................................................................................................................................... 4 Traveling the Highways & Byways with Bill Graves............................................................................. 26 Advertiser/Sponsored Content Index .................................................................................................. 49
What’s Happening Winchester Mystery House ................................................................................................................. 44
Coming in Future Issues Future issues of Byways will feature . . .Great American Roads, Dams & Bridges, Great American Railroads and more . . .
Next Up: Great American Roads From the 18th century to Outer Space, experience a road trip through Virginia’s Fairfax County. Right. George Washington’s Mount Vernon. Photo courtesy Cameron Davidson. .
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ake Erie is the fourth-largest lake (by surface area) of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes. Situated on the International Boundary between Canada and the United States, Lake Erie’s northern shore is the Canadian province of Ontario, specifically the Ontario Peninsula, with the U.S. states of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York on its western, southern, and eastern shores. The lake has been a shipping lane for maritime vessels for centuries. Ships headed eastward can take the Welland Canal and a series of eight locks descending 326 feet to Lake Ontario which takes about 12 hours. Thousands of ships make this journey each year. During the 19th century, ships could enter the Buffalo River and travel the Erie Canal eastward to Albany then south to New York City along the Hudson River. Generally there is heavy traffic on the lake except during the winter Byways 10
months from January through March when ice prevents vessels from traveling safely.
Cleveland The largest city on the lake is Cleveland. That means scenic cruise ships, pedal-powered boats and beach parties. Any Clevelander can tell you about the many benefits of being so close to amazing waterways like Lake Erie and the Cuyahoga River. Near the top of the list is the view. Cleveland offers plenty of restaurants that take advantage of that waterfront scenery for a dining experience you won’t soon forget. When summer rolls around, the city heads to the shore daily for massive beach parties with live music and amazing food, not to mention gorgeous views of the lake and all its surrounding nature. Break out those sea legs of yours and get out onto the open water with kayak, paddle board and jet ski rentals, or just relax on a leisurely cruise with a cold drink in
your hand. There’s no wrong way to do Lake Erie. Home of summer fun on the near west side, Edgewater Beach boasts a 2,400-foot beach with 1,000 feet of swimming access and a pup-friendly section (plus cabana rentals and a fishing pier). Overheated? Grab some local Honey Hut ice cream at the Edgewater Beach House—an openair hangout that oozes relaxation. Other major cities along the lake shore include Buffalo, New York; Erie, Pennsylvania; and Toledo, Ohio. Situated below Lake Huron, Erie’s primary inlet is the Detroit River. The main natural outflow from the lake is via the Niagara River, which provides hydroelectric power to Canada and the U.S. as it spins huge turbines near Niagara Falls at Lewiston, New York and Queenston, Ontario.
Water Quality During the 1960s water quality issues in the Great Lakes became a concern and Lake Erie was perceived to be “dying”. By the late 1960s, Canadian and American regulatory agencies were in agreement that limiting phosphorus loads was the key to controlling excessive algal growth and that a
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coordinated lake-wide approach was necessary to deal with the phosphorus issue. These controls represented an unprecedented success in producing environmental results through international cooperation.
Fishing Paradise Lake Erie is home to one of the world’s largest freshwater commercial fisheries. Lake Erie’s fish populations are the most abundant of the Great Lakes, partially because of the lake’s relatively mild temperatures and plentiful supply of plankton, which is the basic building block of the food chain. The lake’s fish population accounts for an estimated 50% of all fish inhabiting the Great Lakes. It contains steelhead, walleye (known in Canada as pickerel), largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, perch, lake trout, king salmon, whitefesh, smelt, and many others. the longest fish in Lake Erie is reportedly the sturgeon which can grow to 10 feet long and weight 300 pounds, but it is an endangered species and mostly lives on the bottom of the lake. The lake supports a strong sport fishery. While commercial fishing declined, sport fishing has remained. The deep cool waters that spawn the best fishing is in the Canadian side of the lake. As a result, a fishing boat that crosses the international border triggers the security concerns of border crossings, and fishermen are advised to carry their passport. If their boat crosses the invisible border line in the lake, upon returning to the American shore, passengers need to report to a local border protection office. Like the other Great Lakes, Erie produces lakeeffect snow when the first cold winds of winter pass over the warm waters. When the temperatures of the relatively warm surface water and the colder air separate to at least 18 °F to 23 °F apart, then “lake-effect snow becomes possible”: Lake-effect snow makes Buffalo and Erie the eleventh and thirteenth snowiest places in the entire United States respectively. In winter when the lake freezes, many fishermen go out on the ice, cut holes, and fish. It is even possible to build bonfires on the ice. But venturing on Lake Erie ice can be dangerous. In a 2009 incident, warming temperatures, winds of 35 miles per hour and currents pushing eastward dislodged a milesByways 13
wide ice floe which broke away from the shore, trapping more than 130 fishermen offshore.
Ship Wreck Diving Lake Erie is a favorite for divers since there are many shipwrecks, as many as 1,400 or more, according to one estimate. Of these, about 270 are confirmed shipwreck locations. Research into shipwrecks has been organized by the Peachman Lake Erie Shipwreck Research Center, located on the grounds of the Great Lakes Historical Society. Most wrecks are undiscovered but believed to be well preserved and at most 200 feet below the water surface.
Ocean-like Beaches and Shoreline Lake Erie is known for its ocean-like beaches and immense shoreline. If you’re looking to get away from the crowds and escape to a secluded beach off of Erie’s coast, then you’ll want to plan a trip to Presque Isle State Park. Although this park is not actually an island, as the name would imply, its thin neck leading to a 3,000-acre peninsula provides endless views of the Great Lake along with an abundance of outdoor activities. Presque Isle is a large peninsula that juts into Lake Erie. Presque Isle literally translates to “almost an Byways 14
island” in French. The park is located in Erie, Pennsylvania. It’s one of the state’s most visited attractions because of its year-round recreation. Visitors are encouraged to take advantage of all the peninsula has to offer, from hiking and swimming to snowshoeing and ice fishing. Presque Isle Lighthouse is centrally located on the peninsula. Originally constructed in 1873, the lighthouse is one of Erie’s oldest. https://www.visiterie.com
One Hundred Miles One of Ohio’s best summer destinations is the 100mile stretch of Lake Erie shore and resort towns between Toledo and Cleveland. Marblehead and Catawba peninsulas curve into the lake and dissolve into a handful of islands, the largest of which are Kelleys, Middle Bass and South Bass, all accessible by ferry. Vacationers browse comfortable Victorian-era towns known for their lighthouses and breezy harbors, and enjoy a taste of leisurely shore life. South of the peninsulas, Sandusky draws visitors to its bay location with Cedar Point Amusement Park, the
largest in the world, and three giant indoor water parks among its family-friendly resorts. https://www.shoresandislands.com
Put-in-Bay, South Bass Island, has been an ideal stopover for boaters ever since early French and English explorers “put in at the bay”. By 1864, wine making established the island as a visitor destination. Today more than 1½ million people annually enjoy the quaintness of small-town life, with Victorian-era buildings, and resort community amenities. Most tour the island by bicycle or golf cart. When the sun goes down Put-inBay lights up with exciting nightlife; dozens of restaurants and pubs offer a wide selection to please every taste. Kayaking has become more popular along the lake, particularly in places such as Put-in-Bay, Ohio. There are extensive views with steep cliffs with exotic wildlife and extensive shoreline. Long distance swimmers have swum across the lake to set records. The lake is dotted by distinct lighthouses. A lighthouse off the coast of Cleveland, beset with cold lake winter spray, has an unusual artistic icy shape, although sometimes ice prevents the light from being seen by maritime vessels.
Great Lakes Circle Tour The Great Lakes Circle Tour is a designated scenic road system connecting all of the Great Lakes and the Saint Lawrence River. Scenic routes encircle four of the five Great Lakes: Superior, Michigan, Huron and Erie.
states and the Canadian province of Ontario in the process. http://greatlakescircletour.org/tours/lect.html
Drivers can cross from the United States to the Canadian town of Fort Erie by going over the Peace Bridge. The 629-mile Lake Erie Circle Tour circles the second-smallest Great Lake, spanning four U.S. Byways 15
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he Chattahoochee River originates in the southeast corner of Union County, Georgia, in the southern Appalachian Mountains and flows southwesterly through the Atlanta metropolitan area before terminating in Lake Seminole, at the GeorgiaFlorida border.
the river flow south from ridges that form the Tennessee Valley Divide. The Appalachian Trail crosses the river’s uppermost headwaters. The Chattahoochee’s source and upper course lie within Chattahoochee National Forest.
The river runs for a total distance of about 434 miles. The river joins with the Flint River as the two flow across the Georgia-Florida border, and the name changes to the Apalachicola River, which flows on to the Gulf of Mexico.
The Chattahoochee River supplies 70 percent of metro Atlanta’s drinking water, which is more than 300 million gallons per day! The headwaters above Atlanta comprise the smallest watershed providing a major portion of water supply for any metropolitan area in the country.
Over the centuries, the river served as possibly the most important route for connecting the Gulf of Mexico to the interior of the nation. It allowed for Indian tribes to travel and trade, and it provided entry for white explorers and settlers. The Spanish traveled up the river as early as 1639 and tried to establish exclusive trade with the Creeks.
The river eventually turns due-south to form the southern half of the Georgia/Alabama state line. Flowing through a series of reservoirs and artificial lakes, it flows by Columbus, the third-largest city in Georgia, and the Fort Benning Army base. At Columbus, it crosses the Fall Line of the eastern United States.
The source of the Chattahoochee River is located in Jacks Gap at the southeastern foot of Jacks Knob, in the very southeastern corner of Union County, in the southern Blue Ridge Mountains. The headwaters of
The Chattahoochee River ends in the city of Chattahoochee, FL. From there, the same river becomes the Apalachicola River, which ends 160 miles away in the city of Apalachicola, FL.
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American Civil War The Chattahoochee River was of considerable strategic importance during the Atlanta Campaign by Union General William Tecumseh Sherman in the American Civil War. Between the tributaries of Proctor Creek and Nickajack Creek on the Cobb and Fulton county lines in metropolitan Atlanta, are nine remaining fortifications nicknamed “Shoupades” that were part of a defensive line occupied by the Confederate Army in early July 1864. Designed by Confederate Brigadier General Francis A. Shoup, the line became known as Johnston’s River Line after Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A month prior to the Battle of Atlanta, Shoup talked with Johnston on June 18, 1864 about building fortifications. Johnston agreed, and Shoup supervised the building of 36 small elevated earth and wooden triangular fortifications, arranged in a sawtooth pattern to maximize the crossfire of defenders. Sherman tried to avoid the Shoupade defenses by crossing the river to the northeast. The nine
remaining Shoupades consist of the earthworks portion of the original earth and wooden structures; they are endangered by land development in the area.
River Navigation Since the nineteenth century, early improvements and alterations to the river were for the purposes of navigation. The river was important for carrying trade and passengers and was a major transportation route. In the twentieth century, the United States Congress passed legislation in 1944 and 1945 to improve navigation for commercial traffic on the river, as well as to establish hydroelectric power and recreational facilities on a series of lakes to be created by building dams and establishing reservoirs. Creating the manmade, 46,000-acre Walter F. George Lake required evacuating numerous communities, including the historically majorityNative American settlement of Oketeyeconne, Georgia. The lakes were complete in 1963, covering over numerous historic and prehistoric sites of settlement.
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The Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area is a 48-mile-long, 10,000-acre chain of parks that stretch south from the river’s dam at Lake Lanier. The river flows wide through metro Atlanta, coursing through angular shoals and over multiple dams. The river’s flow ranges from glassy, serene stretches to frothy, turbulent whitewater, offering a wide variety of onwater adventures.
Lake Lanier Lake Lanier encompasses 38,000 surface acres of water with 540 miles of shoreline. There are many recreational areas with boat ramps and camping facilities. Marinas dot the shoreline and sailing, kayaking and boating clubs provide training and social Byways 20
activities. Lake Lanier is the most heavily used U.S. Army Corps of Engineers impoundment in the nation. Combined with its proximity to Atlanta, there is no wonder this lake is a recreational mecca with 10 million visitors annually. The Elachee Nature Science Center and the Lanier Museum of Natural History offer educational opportunities. For more information, visit https:// lakelanier.com/welcome/. Power generation is the single largest water use in the basin. Sixteen of the Chattahoochee River Basin’s 22 power-generating plants are located along the main stem of the Chattahoochee River. Beginning in the late twentieth century, the nonprofit organization called “Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper” has advocated for the preservation of the environment and ecology of the northern part of the river, especially the part traversing Metropolitan Atlanta.
In 2010, a campaign to create a whitewater river course was launched in the portion of the Chattahoochee River that runs through Columbus, Georgia. Between 2010 and 2013, construction took place on the river, the Eagle and Phenix and City Mills Dams were breached and a 2.5 mile Whitewater Course was formed in Uptown, Columbus. The project returned the river to its natural path across the Fall Line, as well as creating the longest urban whitewater course in the world. The Chattahoochee RiverWalk is a 22-mile walking and biking area along the Chattahoochee River in Columbus. The trail is paved with asphalt, concrete, or brick. Due to the RiverWalk bike path, Columbus has been listed by the League of American Bicyclists as one of the forty most Bicycle Friendly Communities in the United States.
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labama is ranked #1 in the United States for freshwater aquatic biodiversity, meaning it has more aquatic species of fish, turtles, crayfish, mussels, and snails than any other state. According to the Alabama Office of Water Resources, Alabama has more species of freshwater turtles than the rest of North America combined (52% of the continent’s species). According to the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Alabama is home to 97 species of crayfish, more than any other state. The Black Warrior River is a waterway in westcentral Alabama. The river rises in the extreme southern edges of the Appalachian Highlands and flows 178 miles to the Tombigbee River, of which the Black Warrior is the primary tributary.
Chief Tuscaloosa The river is named after the Mississippian paramount chief Tuskaloosa, whose name meant “Black Warrior” in Muskogean. The Black Warrior is impounded along nearly its entire course by a series
of locks and dams to form a chain of reservoirs that not only provide a path for an inland waterway, but also yield hydroelectric power. The Black Warrior River is formed about 22 miles west of Birmingham by the confluence of the Mulberry Fork and the Locust Fork of the Warrior River, which join as arms of Bankhead Lake, a narrow reservoir on the upper river formed by the Bankhead Lock and Dam.
River Dams Bankhead Lake drains directly into Holt Lake, formed by the Holt Lock and Dam, which itself then drains into Oliver Lake, formed by the Oliver Lock and Dam. These three reservoirs encompass the entire course of the river for its upper 60 miles stretching southeast into central Tuscaloosa County and Tuscaloosa, the largest city on the river.
Port of Tuscaloosa The Port of Tuscaloosa grew out of the system of locks and dams on the Black Warrior River built by
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the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the 1890s. Its construction opened up an inexpensive transportation link to the Gulf seaport of Mobile, Alabama that stimulated the mining and metallurgical industries of the region that are still in operation. The Army Corps of Engineers has maintained a system of locks and dams along the Black Warrior River for over a century to allow navigability all the way up to Birmingham. Barge traffic thus routinely runs through Tuscaloosa to the Alabama State Docks at Mobile, on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. A series of fourteen locks and dams were built on the river in the late 1800s. In the 1930s, work began to replace those dams with a more modern series of four locks and dams. The river is heavily used by barges for the transport of commercial commodities such as coal, coke, steel, wood, and chemicals.
Boating and Bassin’ In a state known for boating and bassin’, it’s hard to believe any secrets remain. But Alabama’s Black Warrior River has been called one of America’s best kept secrets for boating. It’s also been described as one of northern Alabama’s top secrets for bass fishing. Byways 24
Boating Magazine called the Black Warrior River one of America’s best kept secrets for recreational boating. The big bass and boat-friendly atmosphere are largely the result of a river-wide lock-and-dam system that has made the meandering Black Warrior navigable along its entire course. The chain of reservoirs provides an important path for an inland waterway, and also yields hydroelectric power, drinking water, and industrial water.
University of Alabama Rowing Home of Alabama Rowing, the Black Warrior River is one of the best practice and competitive courses in the nation. Having the river largely to itself, the Crimson Tide gets to practice and compete on a body of water that features high banks, long, protected straightaways and minimal current, which makes for a rower’s dream.
Alabama, The River State Alabama, “the River State”, contains more miles of navigable waterways than any other state. Over 200 miles of the Black Warrior River system are navigable by barge – from Demopolis to North of Birmingham up the Mulberry and Locust forks.
Industry and Coal The Black Warrior is a busy commercial and industrial waterway for tugboats and their barges, which tow coal, chemicals, steel products, wood products, and more up and down the river for import and export. This is made possible due to 4 large lock and dam structures on the main stem of the river, built and maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: Bankhead, Holt, Oliver, and Selden. The Black Warrior also runs through the Warrior Coal Field where most of Alabama’s coal reserves are found. The threat of a 1,773-acre coal mine that would discharge polluted wastewater only 800 feet from a major drinking water intake on the river’s primary tributary, the Mulberry Fork, put it on the America’s Most Endangered Rivers® list in 2011 and 2013. Most of Alabama’s coal reserves are found in the Warrior Coal Field, which is the source of so much coal mining in the Black Warrior basin over the past 200 years. There are over 50 currently permitted surface or strip mines, mountaintop removal mines, and underground mines. Strip mines can range up to nearly ten thousand acres in size and some of the deepest vertical shaft underground coal mines in
America are in Tuscaloosa County. Most of the coal mined here is exported overseas.
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Traveling the Highways & Byways with Bill Graves Tower, Minnesota T he late Charles Kuralt wrote from Ely, Minnesota: “You could paddle a canoe to the end of Moose Lake and camp overnight and put the canoe in another lake the next morning.
You could cross that lake, and camp for the night, and paddle across another lake the third day. You could keep this up, visiting a different lake every day for a hundred years, and you still wouldn’t get to all the lakes.” He was writing about the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness – “a million acres of wilderness with no roads, no buildings, no sign that human beings have ever been there, except for some Indian pictographs and maybe ashes from an old campfire.” All motors are banned – outboards, airplanes, generators. It’s even against the law to cut a branch off a tree or bring bottles or cans into the area. Groups of more than ten canoeists must split up and go in different directions, same deal if the group has more than four boats.
Established by Congress in 1964, the Boundary Waters run north from Ely well into Canada. The U.S. Forest Service, which manages our part of it, says that more people visit this Wilderness than any other in the country, about 200,000 annually. (There are 662 Wilderness areas in the U.S.) While some regions draw hikers in the summer – skiers and dogsledders in winter – at least 75% of the visitors come to paddle canoes. Kuralt’s assertion of a lake-a-day for 100 years may be an exaggeration, but not by much. Looking beyond the Boundary Waters, Minnesota claims 10,000 lakes, but it’s more like 15,000. Throw in the lakes of Ontario and Northern Wisconsin and there are certainly more lakes up here than I want to count or will ever see. Highway 1 runs from the shore of Lake Superior up to Ely, than on west across the state. Twenty miles west of Ely, it passes through Tower-Soudan: two towns that grew up on opposite sides of the tracks, but today accept living together, yet hyphenated. Tower was an end-of-road railroad town, populated, in its early days, by miners, loggers and explorers. Main Street was mostly boarding houses and saloons. With two miles of woods between them, Soudan was a company town, owned by the Oliver Mining Company, of US Steel. If you lived in Soudan, you lived in a company house, shopped in the company store, and the man-of-the-house worked in the company mine. Tower’s Main Street today is not abridged from what it once was, as they have been most towns its size – less than 500 people. There is still life behind the
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storefronts – not yet sucked out by the event-driven draw of urban shopping malls. Still, it’s happening – the Iron Range city of Virginia, population 10,000, is just 25 miles away. And once in the car with kids strapped in, what’s 25 miles? The mom-and-pop bakeries, cafes, souvenir shops and outfitters seem to be hanging on. And when you consider that tourism is the only game in town, with a season of four months at best, it’s a tribute to the tenacity – they call it stubbornness – of Northern Minnesotans. The senior business on Main Street is The Tower News. Founded in 1900, it’s the oldest newspaper in Saint Louis County, a huge county that stretches from Duluth all the way to the Canadian border. I visited Tony Sikora at the paper, a short time before he retired. Since 1985 he had been the publisher. When I asked why he came to Tower, he said, “Because I was born in Gary, Indiana.” Along with putting out the weekly paper, Tony rented movies. And his backroom had the basics of an Internet Café, without the croissants and coffee. With a beard and short hair that didn’t require combing to be in place, Tony was the free-spirited, stress-free sort found more often probably in Tower than Gary. Raising two kids, now in their teens, he told me that he has pulled the Internet and cable TV out of his house. “We just get local TV now. No need for the other stuff. I didn’t move here to be urban. I know what McDonald’s looks like.” I sat on a high stool while Tony stood by his worktable stripping address labels off a sheet and sticking them on the front of that week’s edition. Some labels covered the logo, “A Century of Service,” others hid the headline, “Hunting Seasons Announced”. He continued: “I avoid the super highways when I can. I go to Duluth all the time now, as I am working on a teaching degree at UMD. I can go from here to
there on county roads (about 125 miles) and only hit two stoplights. And I can do it too without hitting any deer, if I don’t doze off.” Tony explained that Ely has a “green-peace economy. Up there, they are all canoe people. Here we are into serving fisherman and boaters in the summer and a few snowmobilers in the winter.” Tower is on Lake Vermillion, a purely recreational lake with 365 islands and 1200 miles of shoreline. The National Geographic Society declared it one of the top ten most scenic lakes in the United States. Owners of summer homes here live as far away as Des Moines and Kansas City. On my way out to the HooDoo Point Campground, I stopped at the unmanned outlet of the Tower-Soudan LP Gas Company. It works on the honor system: Leave your empty tank on the platform. Come back later, it’s filled. Take it and drop your money in the box. Honesty makes life so simple. About the author: After seeing much of the world as a career naval officer, Bill Graves decided, after he retired, to take a closer look at the United States. He has been roaming the country for 20 years, much of it in a motorhome with his dog Rusty. He lives in Rancho Palos Verdes, California and is the author of On the Back Roads, Discovering Small Towns of America. He can be reached at Roadscribe@aol.com. Byways 27
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ituated at 7,733 ft above sea level, Yellowstone Lake is the largest freshwater lake above 7,000 ft in North America.
It is also the largest body of water in Yellowstone National Park. It is roughly 20 miles long and 14 miles wide, with 141 miles of shoreline and a surface area of 132 square miles.
Yellowstone Lake History The forest and valleys surrounding Yellowstone Lake have been populated with Native Americans since pre-historic times. Archaeologists have found evidence of human presence in the park long before 1872. They found that Native Americans hunted bison and bighorn sheep, fished for Cutthroat Fish, and gathered bitterroot and camas bulbs for at least 11,000 years. In the southwest area of the lake, the West Thumb Byways 30
geothermal area is easily accessible to visitors. Geysers, fumaroles, and hot springs are found both alongside and in the lake. After the magma chamber under the Yellowstone area collapsed 640,000 years ago in its previous great eruption, it formed a large caldera that was later partially filled by subsequent lava flows. Part of this caldera is the 136 square mile basin of Yellowstone Lake. The original lake was 200 ft higher than the present-day lake, extending northward across Hayden Valley to the base of Mount Washburn.
Geological Research In the 1990s, geological research determined that the two volcanic vents, now known as “resurgent domes”, are rising again. From year to year, they either rise or fall, with an average net uplift of about one inch per year. During the period between 1923 and 1985, the Sour Creek Dome was rising. In the
years since 1986, it has either declined or remained the same. The resurgence of the Sour Creek dome, just north of Fishing Bridge is causing Yellowstone Lake to “tilt” southward. Recent research by Dr. Val Klump of the Center for Great Lakes Research and the University of Wisconsin has revolutionized the way we look at Yellowstone Lake. Figuratively, if one could pour all the water out of Yellowstone Lake, what would be found on the bottom is similar to what is found on land in Yellowstone National Park: geysers, hot springs, and deep canyons. Yellowstone Lake freezes over completely every winter in late December or early January, with ice thicknesses varying from a few inches to more than two feet. The lake usually thaws in late May or early June. Yellowstone Lake remains cold year-round, with an average water temperature of 41°F. Because of the extremely cold water, swimming is not recommended. It is thought that Yellowstone Lake originally drained south into the Pacific Ocean via the Snake River. The lake currently drains north from its only outlet, the Yellowstone River, at Fishing Bridge. The elevation of the lake’s north end does not drop substantially until LeHardy Rapids. Therefore, this
spot is considered the actual northern boundary of Yellowstone Lake. Within a short distance downstream the Yellowstone River plunges first over the upper and then the lower falls and races north through the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.
Cutthroat Trout Yellowstone Lake has the largest population of wild cutthroat trout in North America. How a Pacific Ocean fish was trapped in a lake that drains to the Atlantic puzzled experts for years. Scientists now believe that Yellowstone Lake once drained to the Pacific Ocean via Outlet Canyon and the Snake River, and that fish swam across the Continental Divide at Two Ocean Pass. Lake trout, an illegally introduced, exotic species, is now found in Yellowstone Lake and threatens the existence of the native cutthroat trout.
Recreation Recreational boating has been permitted on the lake in various forms since 1890 when the first permits for the Yellowstone Boat Company were issued to operate a ferry across the lake between road junctions. Today, powerboats, sailboats, canoes and kayaks are allowed on the lake with a Yellowstone Boating Permit. A marina is operated at Bridge Bay and there is a boat ramp at Grant Village in West Byways 31
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Thumb. Areas in the southern arms of the lake are speed-restricted and/or no-motor zones to protect sensitive wildlife areas. Access to some of the lake’s islands is also restricted. Xanterra Parks and Resorts at Bridge Bay Marina on Yellowstone Lake provides boat rentals and other boating services. Numerous outfitters operating outside the park are licensed to provide boating services in the park. Several dozen backcountry campsites line the southern shoreline that is accessible only by boat. Two major hiking trails provide access to the lake shore away from the major road. Come aboard the Lake Queen for a one-hour guided tour of Yellowstone Lake. The boat departs Bridge Bay Marina and heads out and around Stevenson Island before returning. While on the water, passengers are also treated to the history of the area while watching for eagles, ospreys, and shoreline
wanderers such as waterfowl, and occasionally elk and bison. https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/nature/ yellowstone-lake.htm Byways 33
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hen visiting Oregon, don’t leave without visiting the Willamette River Valley. This area of Oregon is known for its fruitful vineyards and incredible wineries. During the early 1800s, the Willamette Valley was advertised as the “promised land of flowing milk and honey”. Throughout the 19th century it was the destination of choice for the oxen-drawn wagon trains of emigrants who made the perilous journey along the Oregon Trail. The Willamette Valley is nestled between the Cascade Mountains and the Oregon Coast Mountains with the Calapooya Mountains supporting it to the south. With the ultra rich soils, comfortable summer temperatures and moderate rainfall, this place is home to more than 70 percent of Oregon’s population. Byways 36
The Willamette River runs the entire length of the valley, and is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia’s flow. The valley is synonymous with the cultural and political heart of Oregon, and is home to approximately 70 percent of its population.
Wine Region The Willamette Valley is Oregon’s leading wine region. It has two-thirds of the state’s wineries and vineyards and is home to nearly 700 wineries. It is recognized as one of the premier Pinot noir– producing areas in the world. The Cascade Range to the east forms a natural boundary and protects against the opposite extreme: the dry, desert-like climate of eastern Oregon.
Willamette River History The river was an important transportation route in the 19th century, although Willamette Falls, just upstream from Portland, was a major barrier to boat traffic. In the 21st century, major highways follow the river, and roads cross the main stem on approximately 30 different bridges. In addition to sharing some of those, more than half a dozen bridges not open to motorized vehicles provide separate crossings for bicycles and pedestrians, mostly in the Eugene area, and several others are exclusively for rail traffic. Interstate 5 and three branches of Oregon Route 99 are the two major highways that follow the river for its entire length. For at least 10,000 years, a variety of indigenous peoples populated the Willamette Valley. These included the Kalapuya, the Chinook, and the Clackamas. The indigenous peoples of the Willamette River practiced a variety of life ways. Those on the lower river, slightly closer to the coast, often relied on fishing as their primary economic mainstay. Salmon was the most important fish to
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Willamette River tribes as well as to the Native Americans of the Columbia River, where white traders traded fish with the Native Americans. Fur traders heavily exploited the Willamette River and its tributaries. During this period, the Siskiyou Trail (or California-Oregon Trail) was created. This trading path, over 600 miles long, stretched from the mouth of the Willamette River near presentday Portland south through the Willamette Valley, crossing the Cascades and the Siskiyou Mountains, and south through the Sacramento Valley to San Francisco. Starting in the 1820s, Oregon City developed near Willamette Falls. It was incorporated in 1844, becoming the first city west of the Rocky Mountains to have that distinction. After Portland was incorporated in 1851, quickly growing into Oregon’s largest city, Oregon City gradually lost its importance as the economic and political center of the Willamette Valley. Byways 40
Steamboats Beginning in the 1850s, steamboats began to ply the Willamette, despite the fact that they could not pass Willamette Falls. As a result, navigation on the Willamette River was divided into two stretches: the 27-mile lower stretch from Portland to Oregon City—which allowed connection with the rest of the Columbia River system—and the upper reach, which encompassed most of the Willamette’s length. Today there are still ferries that convey cars, trucks, motorcycles, bicycles, and pedestrians across the river for a fare when river conditions permit. They are the Buena Vista Ferry between Marion County and Polk County south of Independence and Salem, the Wheatland Ferry between Marion County and Polk County north of Salem and Keizer, and Canby Ferry in Clackamas County north of Canby. Since 1900, more than 15 large dams and many smaller ones have been built in the Willamette’s drainage basin, 13 of which are operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The dams are used
primarily to produce hydroelectricity, to maintain reservoirs for recreation, and to prevent flooding.
The river and its tributaries support 60 fish species, including many species of salmon and trout; this is despite the dams, other alterations, and pollution
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(especially on the river’s lower reaches). Part of the Willamette Floodplain was established as a National Natural Landmark in 1987 and the river was named as one of 14 American Heritage Rivers in 1998. In the second half of the 19th century, the Army Corp of Engineers dredged channels and built locks and levees in the Willamette’s watershed. By the early 20th century, major river-control projects had begun to take place. Levees were constructed along the river in most urban areas, and Portland built concrete walls to protect its downtown sector. In the following decades, many large dams were built on Cascade Range tributaries of the Willamette. The Army Corps of Engineers operates 13 such dams, Byways 42
which affect flows from about 40 percent of the basin. The only dam on the Willamette’s main stem is the Willamette Falls Dam, a low weir-type structure at Willamette Falls that diverts water into the headraces of the adjacent mills and a power plant. The locks at Willamette Falls were completed in 1873. You’re invited to join the travelers who love to explore the Willamette River Valley for its wine, beautiful waterfalls, picturesque landscape and so much more.
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or nearly 100 years the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California, has stood as a testament to the ingenuity, singular vision and lore that surrounds its namesake, Sarah Pardee Winchester (heiress to the Winchester Repeating Arms fortune). Originally known as Llanada Villa, today it stands as an architectural wonder, a time capsule of a bygone era and one of America’s most alleged haunted mansions. Sarah Winchester was a true woman of independence, drive, and courage who lives on in legend as a grieving widow who continuously built onto her initially small, two-story farmhouse to appease the spirits of those killed by the guns Byways 44
manufactured by her husband’s firearms company. The mansion is renowned for its many design curiosities, innovations (many ahead of their time) and rumored paranormal activity. From 1884 to 1922 construction seemingly never ceased as the original eight-room farmhouse grew into the world’s most unusual and sprawling mansion, featuring: • 24,000 square feet • 10,000 windows • 2,000 doors • 160 rooms • 52 skylights • 47 stairways & fireplaces • 17 chimneys
• 13 bathrooms • 9 kitchens The mansion was built at a price-tag of a then astronomical sum of roughly $5,000,000. In 1884, Mrs. Winchester moved from New Haven, Connecticut, to San Jose, California, and started building what is now considered one of America’s most peculiar grand residences. For 38 years thereafter, Mrs. Winchester had a staff of gardeners,
domestics, woodworkers, plasterers, tile setters and plumbers working on the estate ensuring that the grounds and home were constantly in a state of becoming. Designed in the most fashionable architectural style
of that time, American Queen Anne Revival, the Winchester Mystery House (or Llanada Villa) features turrets, asymmetrical facade, witches’ caps, balconies, finials, generous porches, a monumental stone chimney, and lots of fanciful wooden ornamentation, often called “gingerbread”. The house once stood seven stories high which included an impressive tower that entirely collapsed during the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Today the home stands at four stories high. For the interior and exterior ornamentation and design of
her house, Sarah Winchester drew on her travels as a young woman, most notably the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair and the Aestheticism Movement – the adaptation and blending of decor from many cultures with an emphasis on nature which helped give rise to the modern interior design. The interior decor of the Winchester Mystery House shows influences from a number of diverse cultures: Persian, Moorish, Egyptian, and most importantly— Japanese. Design motifs of flowers, leaves, insects, Byways 45
birds, spider webs, and sunbursts, sure signs of Aesthetic decor, can be spied throughout the mansion. The Winchester Mystery House showcases one of the
world’s foremost collections of antique art glass windows, doors inlaid with German silver and bronze, and rooms filled with the lost graciousness from another time. The ballroom alone is filled with beauty from floor to ceiling: from the elegant gold and silver chandelier to the highly polished inlaid parquet ballroom floor. As beautiful as the house appears, Mrs. Winchester never worked from blueprints or formalized designs. This resulted in the creation of a residence where cabinets open to walls, doorways lead to plummets many stories below, stairs that go straight to the ceiling and rooms built within rooms. Whether these designs were intentional or accidental remains a mystery. The number 13 is also prominently featured
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in the design and decor of the house such as ceilings with 13 panels, rooms with 13 windows, staircases with 13 steps and even 13 bathrooms. Other design oddities include posts installed upside down and a front door without an outside door handle. According to legend only Mrs. Winchester and the carpenters that installed the front doors were the only ones to ever pass through its threshold. Visitors will also notice areas on the exterior of the house where the woodwork is painted black, an indication that this portion of the facade was never finished before Mrs. Winchester’s passing in 1922. Although Mrs. Winchester is gone, work on her mansion continues today where artisans and craftsmen are constantly restoring, refurbishing, and working in the same precise detail as they did during her stay at the house. Entry halls and dining rooms are presently being restored, utilizing century-old techniques and practices, including the use of over 100-year old original Lincrusta wallpaper found in Byways 48
the mansions many storage rooms. The Winchester Mystery House is located at 525 S. Winchester Blvd. in San Jose, California, between Highways I-880 and I-280, and is open daily to the public and group events. Additional information can be found at www.winchestermysteryhouse.com.
Byways is published bi-monthly by Byways, Inc. and distributed electronically throughout North America. Byways is emailed to more than 5,000 tour operators and Travel Trade. Subscriptions are complimentary. An iPad & iPhone version is available for consumers in the App Store. An Android browser version is available at www.issuu.com/byways. Byways’ distribution includes motorcoach companies, tour operators, selected travel agents, and
other group tour travel promoters. It is also available to consumers with an interest in North American travel. For advertising rates, editorial deadlines, or to place advertising insertions, contact: Byways Magazine at 502-785-4875. ©Copyright 2021 by Byways, Inc. All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be duplicated in any form without express written permission of the publisher.
Editor & Publisher Stephen M. Kirchner
Advertising 502-785-4875 Internet
bywaysmagazine.com stephen.kirchner@gmail.com Byways on Facebook Byways on Twitter
Charge Electric Bikes .....................................................................................................................6 Dutchess Tourism, New York .........................................................................................................2 Generac Home Standby Generator ...............................................................................................5 LeafFilter .........................................................................................................................................43
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