I got back yesterday from the Copper Country Homecoming . . . where I met a lot of nice people and even got onto radio and television. Check out the news story on Marquette's TV 6 (around the 4:30 mark):
http://wluctv6.com/Global/category.asp?C=23158
I was also interviewed by Stormin' Norman at WCCY --
and did two talks with the people at WMPL.
Rumor has it that the Daily Mining Gazette will do a piece on the book somewhere down the road too.
Steve
Momentum Books has been making big progress on the book. Here's the cover:
And, if you can't make it to the Copper Country Homecoming this weekend, check out www.momentumbooks.com.
Steve
I just had a few pictures of the Italian Hall story enlarged (BIG!) for display at the CCH. While you MAY have seen one or two of these pics before, I found some that were much higher resolution than any copies I'd seen before. I scanned them at the highest resolution my computer would allow and when they were enlarged, they retained all their detail.
I hope to have a bunch more blown up to 8X10 between now and then so that anyone stopping by Dee next week should be able to see a good visual presentation on the Hall and the strike of 1913.
Steve
I will be attending the Copper Country Homecoming in Houghton July 27 - 29. I’ve never been to it before but I hear that they put up quite a display in the Dee Stadium of things historic. I will set up a display of some of my Italian Hall stuff. The main thing I will do is enlarge some of the pictures I have – some of which I don’t think have ever been published before. They will be in the book when it comes out but it will be a great sneak peak for those who can attend.
For instance, I located a picture of the front doors to the Hall (taken the day after the tragedy) that is different than the one that is always show. It is from a slightly different angle and is much clearer than the one you’ve seen. It is interesting why it wasn’t the one that was widely circulated: the one you’ve seen shows the stairs better – this one shows the doors better. There are also a few pictures that I’ve seen that were cropped for various reasons (some to make the pictures square for a 3-D viewer) and I’ve found uncropped versions of many of them. I’ll get some of them blown up for the event.
Here is the common picture of the doors. After the photographer took this pic, he moved his camera back about a foot and took another pic that shows the doors more clearly. I'll bring a nice enlargement of that to the CCH (and it will be in the book -- I do not have permission to post it on the intermet).
If you get a chance to stop by and say Hello, please do. Momentum Books has told me that they will get me a flier that I can hand out describing my book and also offering it at a discount to anyone who wants to pre-order it. And of course, if you want to chat about the Hall, I’ll be more than happy to.
One of the more unusual aspects of the story of Italian Hall is that there is still disagreement as to how many people perished on Christmas Eve 1913. It seems odd to us – today – that such a thing could be unclear: after all, how could something so important NOT be carved in stone?
There are several issues that need to be addressed here, many of which are influenced by how different things were back then. First, the scene itself was confusing. Several thousand people were on the scene as the victims (and survivors) were pulled from the stairwell. Stories circulated that as many as 80 people had been killed. In fact, the headline of the Daily Mining Gazette gave the figure of 80 immediately after the event.
On the other hand, as Peggy Germain has pointed out (in her "False Alarm") – there were 73 death certificates issued by the Coroner which listed the Hall as the place of death. Since the certificates are numbered, she could show us that the one before the first and the one after the 73rd were unrelated to the Hall. To many (myself included), that is the strongest evidence that the number is, and should be, 73.
Of course, there are arguments that can be made for other numbers. In my book I explore this in much greater depth. For instance, in the days leading up to the funerals for the victims, the local papers quoted the numbers of victims being handled by each of the local funeral homes. Presumably, they got those numbers from the homes themselves. What did those numbers add up to? 79. Is it possible that the homes were mistaken about how many bodies they were handling? It seems impossible, or at least highly unlikely.
And then, several histories of the area were written, giving the number as 74. Often, they list among their dead people who were known to have survived. Confusion and mystery always want to swirl around the story of the Italian Hall -- I think however that a close examination of the facts and evidence allows us to get to the truth.
For a look at what life was like for the people who left the mines to fend for themselves in other ways, you need to visit the Hanka Homestead site in the Keweenaw. Here's an article Gary wrote, along with a photo of the site and some useful links--
The Hanka Homestead
by Gary Kaunonen
Many Finnish immigrants came to the Copper Country hoping to escape a feudal servitude on large industrial farms controlled by the Russian Czar. In America, many became workers in copper mines controlled by wealthy, absentee owners. These Finnish immigrants sought a life on their own terms. These terms were often found on marginal farm lands or "stump farms" as they were known. Often hacking and carving an existence acre by acre out of the wilderness, the Finnish immigrants lived a self-reliant life. This subsistence life was extremely difficult.
To make the subsistence lifestyle work, Finnish immigrants used seasonal work strategies to supplement their income. Many logged in the winter, trapped animals for pelts, and fished area lakes and rivers for food and profit. These stump laden, marginal farming lands became the Finnish immigrant’s unlikely ideal. Hanka Homestead represents this ideal. Hanka Homestead represents the dreams, labor and principles of an entire group of people that partook in a harrowing journey to carve out their own sense of freedom in a new land.
Herman Hanka left the Copper Country mines after an accident claimed the life of a partner and left him deaf. Many who knew him said Herman never emotionally recovered after the disaster.
http://www.pasty.com/crhm/pages/hanka/hanka.html,
http://www.byways.org/browse/byways/13828/places/61249/,
http://hunts-upguide.com/keweenaw_bay_hanka_homestead.html, and
http://www.upheritage.org/baraga.htm#b12
