SKANEE

Region: Keweenaw Peninsula

Arvon Township Park overlooking Huron Bay doesn't have camping but there's a swimming dock, playground, and picnic tables.

On Lake Superior's Huron Bay near the Huron Mountains, this dispersed rural community on the road to nowhere once was the center of an apple- and potato-growing area. More moisture and moderate temperatures along the shoreline climate helped grow bountiful crops. Many old apple orchards can still be seen, but there's no commercial agriculture left in these remote parts, and no commercial fishing either. Skanee is now a summer resort and retirement community, with cottages along the shore and good hunting and fishing.

Few U.P. townships have as impressive a hall as Arvon's 1915 Colonial Revival building. It's next to Skanee's post office, the closest to a nucleus in the dispersed, remote community.

First homesteaded by Swedes in 1871, Skanee was named for a Swedish province. The deep, protected harbor here was a major factor in choosing this site, as was the valuable timber. In the 1870s thousands of Swedes immigrated to the U.S. because of crop failures at home. For just $26 they could homestead and eventually own 160 acres in Michigan. Initially, the only access to Skanee was by boat or by an old Indian trail to L'Anse. After the timber gave out, people relied for employment on fishing, farming, and jobs at the slate quarry at the end of Arvon Road. Its slate was shipped for roofs of grand buildings throughout the Midwest. Farmers used oxen to grow potatoes and apples, which were shipped by tug to Houghton.

A popular local watering hole on the way to Skanee. It's in the hamlet called Huron Bay, just north of the Slate River on Skanee Rd.

In the 1890s the overambitious Huron Bay Railroad was built from Skanee's new iron ore dock to Michigamme's mines. But the promoters failed to take the steep 8% grade into account. The roadbed gave way on the locomotive's first trip, the promoters left the country with what little remained of the railroad's funds, and the whole project vanished. The ore dock was dismantled, its timber shipped to Detroit.

Highway 41 North

Lumber camp in the 1910s near Skanee. As early as the 1890s Skanee had a big sawmill.

There's not much Skanee left. But if you drive out Skanee Road 15 miles northeast of L'Anse (it starts in town as Main Street), turn left onto Town Road, and go down the hill, you'll pass some old houses and a few commercial buildings from the 19th century and come to the intersection of Park Road. Park leads down to the Arvon Township Park and its swimming dock and boat launch. That intersection, the center of Skanee, has the post office and an impressive Colonial Revival township hall/community building from 1915.

North of Town Line Road on the water is Witz's Marina (524-7795) with a boat launch, dock, marina for 70 boats, and campground with water and electricity ($15/night). Most of the anglers who come here are out for lake trout, which are caught some dozen miles north around the Huron Islands.

Half a dozen miles southwest of Witz's on Skanee Road is the Trading Post convenience store. Just south of the Trading Post is a legendary century-old bar, originally called "Billy the Finn's Tavern." Now it's called the Huron Bay Tavern (906-524-6272). It sells burgers, pizza, and spirits to fishermen, hunters, and snowmobilers.

Skanee is 16 miles from downtown L'Anse. Take Skanee Road, the continuation of Main Street at downtown's main intersection.

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