THE PLEASURE PENINSULA

[Music] so good evening ladies and gentlemen this is jack douglas the motto of the state of michigan translates from latin as follows if you seek a pleasant peninsula look about you well as these snapshots indicate the word pleasant is i think an understatement the word pleasureful is far more descriptive especially to vacationers well whatever the season may be whatever your idea of the perfect vacation you can't go wrong if you decide to get away from it all in michigan the pleasure peninsula as we can see from our map outline michigan is actually two peninsulas upper and lower michigan the state is bordered by four of the five great lakes some three thousand two hundred and fifty one miles of freshwater shoreline the longest in the world it has eleven thousand inland lakes thirty six thousand miles of rivers and streams four times as much water covered area as any other state and hear this no point in michigan is more than six miles from a river or lake no wonder the state is called america's water wonderland speaking of water this beach is considered the most beautiful in all the state running some 20 miles north and 20 miles south of muskegon on the shores of lake michigan the sand is fine-grained clean and soft the great lakes are well named straight ahead there's nothing but water press eel lighthouse they pronounce it eel not isle overlooks presque isle harbor on lake huron but the unusual thing is that this is the only privately owned lighthouse in america built in 1840 it was abandoned in 1870 when a new lighthouse was built about a mile north it remained a ghostly sentinel until the 1930s when the lighthouse was purchased from the government by mr francis stebbins who restored the property to its original condition i fell in love with the lighthouse as young boy i climbed the winding stair to the top saw the boat going north and south i'm so happy to share this little part of americana with everybody to share this part of americana you will pay only a couple of pennies as a token fee just enough to enable mr stebbins to keep up with the expense of maintaining this privately owned lighthouse you can climb the winding stairs to the top look out over the vastness of lake huron and even update the beacon light well a young boy fell in love with a lighthouse and when he grew older he bought it from the united states government it can happen in america at welch's dock in sault ste marie you can begin a most enjoyable two-hour boat cruise through the famous sioux locks sounds dull don't you believe it you'll follow in the wake of the giant cargo freighters you'll experience a literal lift of 21 feet from the level of lake huron to that of lake superior and on the canadian side you'll pass our neighbors from the north they're just as impressed as we are by the complexity of the soo lock system and the magnitude of great lakes shipping and huge lock booms a mile in circumference are common sights along the way the fare for these sioux lock cruises is 250 for adults a dollar for children from six to twelve and children under six are admitted free welch's suit tours at sault ste marie in upper michigan near the canadian border believe it or not this beautiful blue water cove is the entrance to a ghost town once the town of fayette and now a part of the fayette state park this iron ore sample weighing 400 pounds is a direct clue to how a boom town became a ghost town in the span of 30 years in the late 1800s michigan experienced a tremendous iron boom and this was selected as an ideal smelting spot plenty of limestone for construction of furnaces and kilns and thousands of acres of hardwood forests wood to provide the charcoal needed for the smelting process well at the peak of the boom fayette became the second largest producer of pig iron in michigan then in 1892 the fayette iron boom had ended the 500 residents of the town packed up and left but left behind the ghostly memories of a fascinating chapter in michigan's history the black river parkway will take you to the ottawa national forest in ironwood michigan and here is unspoiled splendor almost without parallel the black river drops a thousand feet from its source in the highlands to lake superior in the course of just 30 odd miles the area is dotted with falls and two of the five major ones are only 800 feet apart but contrasting in form this is gorge falls and here the swirling patterns of potawatomi falls this attractive swinging bridge permits visitors to cross over to a viewing platform the visitors are hank vandenberg his wife and two daughters and from the bridge you can look out over black river harbor where the swiftly moving current empties into lake superior this tantalizing secluded section of lake superior is at the edge of porcupine state park in northwest michigan and from the cliffs of the park you can really appreciate the size of the lake really it's as big as many of the world's best known seas the cliff walkers are michiganders mr and mrs ted scurda of harper woods also at porcupine park this high bluff overlooks the legendary lake of the clouds it's one of the most isolated lakes in the state virtually inaccessible unless you're a good climber downer this creek carries away the overflow from the lake of the clouds aquaman falls on the river of the same name is the best known waterfall in upper michigan those rusty brown streaks in the water by the way are caused mainly by ore and mineral deposits isle royal is 48 miles from the northern tip of upper michigan in lake superior park service boats make the trip in six hours but to save time we went by seaplane from the mainland to the island in just 25 minutes royale is the national park and the largest of lake superior islands 45 miles long and nine miles across at its widest point for those of us who like to rough it in comfort there are numerous government-owned lodges renting rooms at reasonable rates these visitors are mr and mrs stephen beers of columbus ohio incidentally some 200 small islands surround isle royal we followed steve and joe ellen on a trek to the rock harbor lighthouse now this lighthouse if it could speak would tell a tragic tale in 1885 shortly after the light had been abandoned the steamship algoma ran aground in the pitch darkness 40 men lost their lives but isle royale is a happy as well as a lovely and a perfect setting for vacationers like barbara davis of topeka kansas she made a quick sketch of the lighthouse just for our cameras and with a smile like that who could refuse buying the paintings of the permanent residence on isle royale one of the most interesting is mr peter edison a commercial fisherman born in norway peter has lived on the island since 1916 he sells his catch mostly lake trout and whitefish to the tourist lodges in the area and he told us that isle royale reminds him of the fjords of his native norway that he loves living here and wouldn't leave the place for any reason [Music] the children and you will want to stop at game haven near wolverine michigan and as the name implies it's a haven for wildlife and one of its many attractions is a large buffalo herd including this one charlie by name weighing well over a ton and one of the biggest buffalo or bison bulls in captivity game haven also has many foreign species of deer and antelope and they seem to thrive and multiply in michigan's climate visitors are encouraged to feed the deer fresh green leaves and in this one enclosure we saw four different species the sikh the english spotted the european brown and the australian white yes there are also reindeer at game haven and the white siberian elk one of the few of its kind in this country and if you're up on your westerns those are pure longhorns a touch of texas in michigan all at game haven near wolverine ironwood in upper michigan will also appeal to the young in heart for smack in the center of town is this enormous statue of hiawatha reminding us that this part of michigan is sometimes referred to as hiawatha country the kind of setting longfellow had in mind when he composed his sing-song stanzas of gichigumi and the big sea water anyway ironwood's hiawatha stands 52 feet tall he's made of colored fiberglass braced with steel and will withstand winds up to 140 miles per hour no chance it is toppling over and these youngsters will never never forget this moment yes now we're in holland holland michigan and to be exact at the picturesque dutch village this wasn't the tulip season but the dahlias were in bloom miss marilyn rosema is a native of this holland usa but her grandparents migrated from holland in europe many years ago and in europe's holland lucky is the house that can boast of a real nesting stork well this isn't a real stork but hereabouts it's considered a good luck omen all the same after a few hours at dutch village most people are inclined to say looks just like a hollywood movie set doesn't it well maybe so there's even a touch of make-believe in the air but all that is here is a copy of a charming country across the atlantic so it's not too difficult to imagine that you're not in america but in a tiny village just outside amsterdam an added treat when you journey to this is the skyline of detroit as you would see it from windsor canada on the opposite bank of the detroit river windsor by the way is the only place in canada where you look north to see the usa woodward avenue is detroit's most attractive downtown street and the first street in america to try the electric traffic light system in front of the city county building on woodward you'll probably want to take snapshots of this fine sculpture by marshall fredericks the statue represents god holding the destiny of man in one hand and the power of the universe in the other lakeshore road parallels the detroit river and runs through the heart of gross point detroit's ultra-fashionable residential area here live many of the so-called first families of the city and some that are among the first families of the nation but now just a few minutes from detroit will visit the number one tourist attraction in all the state greenfield village established in 1929 by henry ford the ford museum building at greenfield is a replica of philadelphia's independence hall and another building is a copy of an old london jewelry shop and ford had it duplicated because he was fond of clocks and all manner of ingenious mechanical things [Music] but the preservation of americana was henry ford's burning passion and the reason behind greenfield the candle maker is just one of many shops at greenfield's street of american shops and here mrs marie hutton is making bayberry candles so named because the wax is derived from melting the berries of the bayberry bush the same source of wax used by many of the old candle makers also on the street of shops the milliner's store recreates the atmosphere and the styles of a century ago and then as now buying a new hat required a great deal of time on the part of the customer and an awful lot of patience on the part of the clerk the hat show that follows features authentic styles of the past [Music] well what are you going to do the henry ford birth place a small two-story wooden house was moved to greenfield from the original site the family farm about two miles away and in this garage which once stood at the rear of a boarding house in dearborn is where ford built his first cars now only after he had completed his first car did the inventor realize he couldn't get the car through the narrow doorway so he had to tear down the side of the garage yes that actually happened to the great henry ford this is the second car made by him in 1898 the first car practically a twin is sealed under glass at the ford museum each of the headlights had a wick and burned kerosene oil and this was the steering wheel the tiller bar yes in this garage was born america's most important single industry the genius that was henry ford admired and respected genius and others among them orville wright of the wright brothers sometimes referred to as the henry ford's of aviation ford personally supervised restoration at greenfield of the wright brothers cycle shop in dayton ohio the birthplace of the flying machine that was to find its fame in those brief but glorious seconds at kitty hawk then a few years later in 1908 orville wright was at the controls of a vastly improved machine and a new horizon was now within the grasp of man and among all men henry ford's admiration for thomas alva edison was absolutely boundless stick by stick ford acquired and reconstructed edison's original laboratory at menlo park and from this laboratory came the first light bulb and glass mechanism used to exhaust the air from the bulb before igniting it it was complicated but remember this was just the first step and it worked edison and not alexander bell invented the telephone carbon button microphone bell did invent a superior receiver then bought out edison's interest in the microphone in this 1878 brady photograph the young edison is shown with his tinfoil phonograph yes he also invented the photograph and this original model at greenfield is a priceless collector's item the voice is reciting mary had a little lamb the words aren't easy to understand but for the first time man's voice could be preserved for posterity listen [Applause] edison sat in this very chair during the greenfield dedication ceremonies in 1929 when he stood up mr ford ordered the chair nailed to the spot and here it has remained ever since a symbol of henry ford's enormous respect for america's and the world's greatest inventor [Music] no we're not on the mississippi we're still at greenfield giving the youngsters a peek at the paddlewheeler swanning [Music] all we're trying to prove is that at greenfield village there is much that is of interest to every member of the family in detroit as in most of the great lakes cities you can book passage on steamships that tour these huge inland seas these week-long steamship sailings cruise 2200 miles of the great lakes and you'll enjoy seven days and nights of scenic splendor we've boarded the steamship south american for a short holiday weekend cruise leaving to try it saturday at 9 30 a.m we're going to cruise lake saint clair the saint claire river lake huron and finally the straits of mackinac and colorful mackinac island [Music] we pass cargo vessels by the dozen lots of waving and cheering and since we're only human we sort of envy the people who own these lovely summer homes on the saint claire river at night there's entertainment aboard ship everything from charleston dancers to pom-pom girls and singers well this was something we hadn't been told about and as the saying goes there's no show like a pre-show so our fellow passengers joined us in a big hand for the entertainers the ss south american sites mackinac harbor at about 2pm the next day sunday incidentally as i'm sure you know mackinac is spelled mackinac ending in ac but as we were repeatedly cautioned aboard ship michiganders pronounce it mackinac a city ordinance prohibits the operation of private automobiles so mackinac and its countless vacationers depend upon horse-drawn vehicles mostly carriages for transportation but mackinac this summer is a wide awake town little bob's is a restaurant stays open until 4 a.m and this fudge shop inspired youngsters to call all tourists fudgies because they say they walk around the streets eating fudge candy all day long and even the milkman joins the festive spirit at old mackinaw since the city fathers won't allow cars the vacationer learns to pedal and the bellhops from the different hotels also use bikes but frankly they'd prefer gas carts even at the dock there isn't a cab or anything resembling a motor vehicle in sight but do the girls and women mind not on your life they see that horse-drawn carriage with a driver resplendent in red black and white and they just know they'll have something to talk about when they go back home this now is the grand hotel at mackinac and in every way it lives up to its name [Music] and talk about red carpet treatment that walk is red red red at night you can gaze in wonder at the mackinac bridge five miles long and connecting upper and lower michigan well we have called michigan the pleasure peninsula and pleasureful it is for the hunter the skier the fishermen the yachtsmen but there is a quiet kind of pleasure here especially in the ottoman winter that is even more appealing to the visual senses the pleasure of sheer beauty and as these snapshots indicate michigan has it with lots to spare it is from every point of view truly the pleasure peninsula [Applause] a closing note about mackinac island ladies and gentlemen be sure to visit the historic mackinac fort originally built in 1780 and preserved exactly as it appeared at that time now because of its glorious background many historians rate it the most historic spot in the midwest also don't overlook the fantastic grand sable sand dunes at lake superior now until next week jack douglas saying thank you so much and good night ladies and gentlemen boys and girls [Applause] you