BLACK RIVER HARBOR

Region: Ironwood & the Gogebic Range

Photography by James Marvin Phelps

The Black River plunges over 200 feet on its way north to Lake Superior, creating terrific waterfalls and terrifying rapids.

Today this former Lake Superior village at the Black River's mouth looks like many cottage resorts. A hundred years ago, it was a fishing settlement based on abundant lake trout. Gogebic County purchased some waterfront in 1924, and the village moved a little inland along Black River Road (County Road 513). In the 1930s, during the Depression, make-work Civilian Conservation Corps projects further developed the harbor park. For decades after that, logging provided year-round customers for three taverns in the harbor.

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One old tavern remains as one of the Bear Track Cabins, a mile inland from the harbor. Here visitors can park in front of resort owner Norm Bishop's house and use the easy trails in the Ottawa National Forest for hiking, cross-country skiing, and snowshoeing through the old growth hemlocks and hardwoods behind his resort. There's no charge. Look for trail maps in a box. In winter the trails are single-tracked by a snowmobile and well suited to beginning and intermediate cross-country skiers.

For years, "the harbor" has meant an alluring mixture of attractions: a marina and swimming beach connected with a campground by a delightful suspension bridge, five beautiful and very different waterfalls, and the North Country Trail passing through the area. Black River Harbor really comes alive with a big Labor Day fishing tournament.

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