Wednesday, 1/24

Since I have to go shoot yet another episode of “High School Bowl” (and, if you think we're shooting them a lot these days, we really are, but only have a few left to go) I'm going to leave you with the newspaper article I wrote for the big show tomorrow night. I've promised to do it a few times, and since I always try to keep my promises, here 'tis.

Tomorrow, how I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that we sold out the show three days before we hit the stage. And how the next few days are going to be...insane.

Sadly, perhaps, just the way I like it.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

******

One of the rainiest days in Marquette history led to one of the worst scenes of destruction in the downtown area of the city since the Great Fire of 1868.

July 28th, 1949 started off as a hot & sticky day in Marquette, part of a nation-wide heatwave that would eventually claim a hundred victims throughout the U.S.  That afternoon a cold front began to move through the area, with a leading edge that brought rain to a wide swath of the Midwest.

The most torrential of that rain hit Marquette County.

Between 7:15 pm & 10 pm that evening 3.93 inches of rain fell on the city of Marquette, which at the time set a one-day record, according to the National Weather Service.  The rain (and the lightning that accompanied it) knocked out electric and phone service to most of the city, and overloaded Marquette’s water and sewer system.  It also flooded buildings, tore out railroad lines, and washed out an entire block of a Marquette city street–

The 100 East block of Spring Street.

The excess rain water, which was running down the street’s hill, eroded the pavement and dug a gaping valley through the middle of the street.  It also damaged the walls and foundations of the structures that at that time lined Spring Street.  On the south side of the street 40 feet of a wall of the Tonella & Rupp store was damaged, while at the bottom of the hill the south wall of the Reliable Service car dealership was washed away, threatening to collapse the three story tall building’s foundation.

The rushing water also washed out both the LS& I and the DSS&A railroad tracks that ran along Lake Street at the bottom of the Spring Street hill.  All of that damage, combined with flooding along the Whetstone Creek and in south Marquette, led city officials to estimate that the three hours of rain caused over half a million dollars damage (equal to about $8 million today).

Photo courtesy Superior View Studios

The damage wasn’t limited to just the city of Marquette.  Ishpeming reported receiving over 5 inches of rain during those three hours, but with no major incidents to report other than a few flooded basements and broken windows.  Passenger train service from the Chicago & Northwest Railroad was also shut down in Marquette County as track washouts near Goose Lake made travel impossible.

The damage ended as soon as the rain stopped.   Almost all Marquette residents had their electricity restored by the next day, and receding waters allowed the resumption of passenger train service the day following.  Work also began on the buildings damaged by the Spring Street flood, an area that became a popular destination for city residents looking to take pictures of the destruction and, perhaps, to pick up a souvenir or two.

The street itself was eventually filled in and rebuilt by city crews over the next several months.  The businesses operating along that block of Spring Street continued operations throughout the entire time.

Several days after the storm, C.O. Tucker, who was a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Marquette, did the math and estimated that 694 MILLION gallons of water fell on the city during the three hour downpour.

Since then, according to the National Weather Service, the one day rainfall record for Marquette has been broken twice–-with 4.1 inches on October 24th, 1959, and then again with 5.1 inches on May 12th, 2006.  But neither of those storms seems to have caused the massive amount of damage as was caused by the storm that hit Marquette the evening of July 28th, 1949.