a dabbler's journal » Mitten State

The Copper Mines of Lake Superior by T. A. Rickard: a review

joel — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:30:56 +0000

Rickard examined the mining practices of most of the major mines on the range, with the significant exceptions of the Calumet and Tamarack mines, where non-employee mining engineers were not welcome. For the mines he did examine, he highlighted what they did best, the roots of their technical preferences, and any glaring weaknesses he identified in their processes. He then did the same for the associated mills (including, interestingly, the C&H mill on Torch Lake). There's a wealth of technical detail, and enough economic detail that one could estimate the entire cost of production for many of the mines.

The Copper Empire, volume 1, by Mike Forgrave: a review

joel — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 01:00:27 +0000

Roughly fifty maps of towns and mining locations on the Keweenaw peninsula, with only a minimal amount of text. These are sort of idealized maps, actually, showing each town/mine's main features but not tied to specific dates. So (according to the author/mapmaker) some of the maps include structures which not only are no longer there but which never coexisted on the specific site. The result is that each map locates both current (2009) buildings and construction which was dismantled 70 years ago.

Black November by Andrew Klekner Kantar: a short review

joel — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 12:10:54 +0000

It's OK: A barebones retelling of the story of the wreck, with enough context in several dimensions. But I'm clearly not the target audience.

Michigan State Ferries, by Les Bagley: a review

joel — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 14:00:29 +0000

This is, I imagine, the sort of book Arcadia's business model intends: A well thought out picture book whose captions actually tell a coherent story. Nicely done.

Pensioned Off

joel — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 20:06:47 +0000

Many of us were planning to retire in the relatively near future, with or without incentives; inevitably we'd be exchanging experience for youth in the process. On the whole, this is a good thing. But this incentive distorts the hiring pattern, as well as the retirement plans, and the effects will be more obvious than they might otherwise have been.

Memoir of Douglass Houghton by Alvah Bradish: a short review

joel — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 10:12:47 +0000

An odd book. The 70-page memoir is essentially useless, but the appendix contains summaries of Houghton's geological survey work, including a long excerpt from his fourth (1840) report to the Michigan legislature, which is fascinating. Houghton's fourth report was a masterpiece of synthesis, summarizing the field notes of his team into a coherent and generally readable explanation of what they'd seen. Wonderful stuff. There are clues in other work excerpted here that Houghton could manage this sort of masterwork pretty much at will. Doubtless that's the reason he was so widely admired. It's a tragedy that he died so young.

Michigan’s Superior Boundary

joel — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 16:08:58 +0000

I find from Google that the "last touches" wording is from the federal law establishing the (prospective) state's boundary as a result of the Toledo War, and that it is repeated early in the 1850 State Constitution. (I also see that current Michigan AG Mike Cox quoted the phrase in a 2004 opinion.) It looks like Houghton didn't expect a fully literal interpretation of the boundary to stand. He was right in that Michigan evidently doesn't "own" the last few miles of Minnesota's North Shore, nor the aforesaid rocky islands--but Isle Royale remains part of Michigan, regardless of its proximity to Minnesota. And Ontario.

Traverse City State Hospital by Chris Miller: a review

joel — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 13:41:55 +0000

Not a real ambitious book--it's basically a set of pictures of the buildings at the TC hospital--but it accomplishes its limited mission extremely well. Well-selected photographs with relevant captions. And it's unusually well organized.

The View from the Dugout by Red Rolfe: a review

joel — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 13:59:23 +0000

Two audiences, mostly, will find this book useful and/or interesting: Those interested in the 1949 through 1952 Tigers, and those interested in how baseball's field managers go about their job. The second group, I fear, will be somewhat frustrated by the editor's methods.

S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald by Raymond Ramsey: a review

joel — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 12:12:52 +0000

Nonetheless: This is an awful book. At the very least, it needed an editor; a better solution would have been a competent co-author. Much of the argument is poorly-sourced assertion. The author spends far too much time raving about conspiracies and coverups. And hiding your arguments in disorderly, rant-prone, and opaque prose is an unlikely strategy for convincing anyone of your righteousness.