Heritage Trail Highlights History While Providing Fun

In the future––planners hope about five years from now––there will be 48 miles of nicely maintained, connected trails running from Republic in western Marquette County to Chocolay Township in eastern Marquette County. But for now, the finished portion of this project, known as the Iron Ore Heritage Trail, includes the long-established bike trail between downtown Marquette and Harvey, along with a newer section that is a little over two miles long and runs from Ishpeming to Negaunee. This new section, established and paved within the past two years, already provides kids and families in the west end of the county a place to exercise and enjoy the outdoors.

The trail can be used all year round. In the winter you can see people cross country skiing and snowshoeing. In the summer you see people walking, biking, and rollerblading on the smooth surface. Robby Riutta, thirteen, of Ishpeming, feels it helps get people active.

“It gets a lot of people out that usually would stay inside and stay on the couch,” Riutta said.

Carol Fulsher, the Recreation Development Specialist with the Lake Superior Community Partnership, agrees that getting families outdoors is one of the best things the trail has to offer.

“It’s excellent for kids and families because, one, we need to get you guys (kids) outside so you understand how important being outdoors is, and two, because we want to get you on bikes again,” she said. “With the amount of traffic on the roads up there it’s difficult for kids to get on bikes and it’s difficult for parents to teach their kids how to ride a bike when you are competing with cars.”

Riutta said he uses it because it’s easier than biking on the road.

“I bike it a lot because it’s quicker to get to Negaunee instead of taking the road,” he said.

The land the trail runs on between Negaunee and Ishpeming is rich in local mining history and this area of the Heritage trail can provide an education on the past.

Once you’re about a mile down the trail from Negaunee you’re near the old Jackson Mine where three life-size miner statues made of iron stand to represent mining’s importance in our history. The miners are frozen in time: one is holding a metal chisel, the other two hold sledgehammers to take turns hitting it. Behind the statues is what’s left of the Jackson Mine, the first mining site on the Marquette Range. Now it is a big pit that is filled with water.

Near the iron men and the Jackson mine are four old iron cars on a small section of train tracks. The cars used to be used for mining. One has a number of seats so you can climb up and sit in the car. The two others are filled with iron to show the Upper Peninsula’s natural resources.

This is the general area where Negaunee was founded, but the city was moved because Mining left the grounds too unsteady for buildings. This historical area where iron ore was first discovered was fenced off to the public for many years. When the Heritage Trail was built the fences were partially removed and the area became accessible to the public.

“We did a survey one month after the trail was paved last year and we found out that 456 people a day are using it,” Fulsher said. “Before it was paved zero people were using it.”

The cost of paving the trail is very high. Fulsher said it costs between $150,000 to $200,000 to pave one mile of trail. For example, the cost to pave the trail between Ishpeming and Negaunee was $450,000.

However, Flusher said, the trail can help bring money into the area.

“It’s an economic development project,” she said. “Sparta Wisconsin, a tiny community in southeast Wisconsin, built a trail 25 years ago––32 miles of crushed limestone––and they have 80,000 people using that trail every year. What that means for the businesses is that 80,000 people now are exposed to those businesses in Sparta.”

Even though there are some bigger issues surrounding the building of the trail—the Economical development and the history of the area—kids see it as a place to have fun.

Shawn Peterson, fourteen, of Ishpeming raced his friends back from Negaunee to Ishpeming on his bike.

“We just wanted to bike for a little bit and me and some of my friends, once we got down there, we had nothing else to do so we started to race. It was just for fun,” Peterson said.

Families can also have fun together on the trail. Jeff Bess, nine, of Ishpeming said he likes going to the Heritage Trail with is family.

“We always bring food because we always find this one place and we all just have a picnic there,” he said.

The paved section of trail between Negaunee and Ishpeming serves many purposes and provides its resident’s with many opportunities. The Iron Ore Heritage Trail brings families together while allowing them to exercise in a historical atmosphere, and perhaps most importantly, it allows kids to have fun.

Editors Note: This story was written by Lorissa Juntti, 12, Sydney Dorow, 11 and Mariel Morton, 10