[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 98 (Tuesday, July 21, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1361]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               THE SESQUICENTENNIAL OF MARQUETTE TOWNSHIP

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                            HON. BART STUPAK

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 21, 1998

  Mr. STUPAK. Mr. Speaker, Marquette Township in my northern Michigan 
district is celebrating its Sesquicentennial this year. Although my 
House colleagues and most other Americans may not recognize Marquette 
Township by name, this community on the shore of Lake Michigan has 
played an important role in the development of the U.S. steel industry 
and in the improvement of highway traffic safety.
  A theme of Marquette Township on the occasion of its 150th 
anniversary might be its blending of old and new, and this theme is 
reflected in the topography of the township itself. The iron-rich hills 
that rise to become small mountains on the southern Lake Michigan shore 
are made up of some of the oldest rock formations on Earth, but they 
have been scoured and shaped by the great glaciers that covered North 
America only yesterday, geologically speaking.
  Two important resources, iron ore and timber, drew settlers to this 
region. The old days of the boom in both mining and lumbering, however, 
are now merely part of the region's lore. Lumbering on a massive scale 
ended when virgin forest were cut, and the economies of steel 
production and shipping brought an end to the early ambitious steel 
mills and mines. In these new days, lumbering is a managed and planned 
enterprise, conducted with an eye toward reforestation and preservation 
of the environment, and new mining techniques, which allow iron ore to 
be shipped as pellets, has allowed mining to find new life in the 
region.
  Marquette Township and the surrounding communities enjoyed for years 
the economic benefits of K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base, one of the 
airfields which served as a staging area for U.S. strategic bombers. 
The area was devastated by the closing of this base, but the 
enterprising nature of the people of this region has permitted this 
base to find new life as a center for economic development.
  It's clear, Mr. Speaker, that the people of Marquette Township can 
celebrate their sesquicentennial with confidence that those elements of 
their social and economic lives which have had value will be preserved 
and renewed.
  K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base was named for a former Marquette County 
Road Commission Superintendent, Mr. Kenneth Ingalls Sawyer, who in 1917 
performed a singular act in Marquette Township that has led to his 
being recognized in the Michigan Highways Hall of Honor. Mr. Sawyer 
went out to a dangers curve in the township, called ``Dead Man's 
Curve,'' on part of what later became U.S. 41 and painted a strip in 
the center to help drivers stay in their own lanes. Successful in 
Marquette Township, the practice was adopted for all Marquette County's 
roads in 1918, and eventually across the entire nation.
  Marquette Township has a complicated history as a political entity, 
because as the region has developed the township has grown and shrunk, 
seen its township lines shifted, and has watched as the city of 
Marquette was carved from its holdings. Much of its history, therefore, 
now lies outside the current township lines.
  But, Mr. Speaker, there is located in Marquette Township an old gold 
mine. I probably shouldn't reveal its exact location, and it is 
currently not in use, but the mine is probably an excellent symbol of 
this rural community as it reflects on its 150-year history. The real 
treasury of the area is not the gold or the iron ore or the timber that 
people have found there. The treasures are the people, the families, 
the quality of life, and the rich heritage and tradition that is 
revealed when residents begin the process of researching their roots.
  That is the real importance and value of Marquette Township's 
Sesquicentennial. I ask my colleagues to join me in praising the local 
organizers of this event for their efforts, and in wishing the 
Marquette Township a future as rich and interesting as its past.

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