The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1943-09-06

Continued from Page One)
L'Anse will remember your sur
prise and pleasure when you turn
! ed a curve in the scenic road and
beheld a picturesque. modern COM
munity white-painted sawmill
neat and trim cottages, school
house and firehouse. and all this
with boulevard lights and fine
drinking water and even sewage
| disposal.
We say "pre.war" days because
one dark winter morning, after
Pearl Harbor, an order arrived
from Dearborn to cease operations.
Overnight the town became de-
serted. Windows OF the cottages
were boarded up.
When we visited Pequaming the
other day, men were cutting hay
along the streets and on the lawns
OF unoccupied homes and the closed
school. Pequaming is an Indian
word for wooded peninsula, and
such It actually is, a mushroom-like
letting OF land, swept bp breezes
from Keweenaw Bay.
Henry Ford had been there the
week before. Unaccompanied by
company executives except for his
personal chauffeur, the head OF the
industrial empire talked with the
caretaker and few Of the remain
IA dwellings were occupied.
He was told that the Pequaming
school. which had been source OF
considerable pride and satisfaction
to him because of its unique rustic
furniture, was only shell OF walls
and floors. The rustic furniture
had been sold to company execu-
tives from Iron Mountain and else
where.
Ford declined to enter the build
ing, saying that he preferred to
remember it as IT was with the
sound OF children's voices.
Oscar Olson, his prize fiddler who
plays for old-time square dances,
was in L'Anse when the industrial
list arrived unheralded from his
Huron Mountain summer lodge
where he spends August each year.
We met Olden at the steps Of
the village postoffice. He was
smoking a pipe. stolidly. He spoke
affectionately first OF the founder
Of Pequaming. Charles Hebard.
Eyes. / worked for Yarley Heb
ard" he said, referring to the
'Englishman lumberman who laid
| out the community with wide
streets and oak trees. like an Eng
is, suburban town, "The guv'nor
was mighty good to us. We allus
had yob."
Olson related how the "goy'nor"
who ruled the town benevolently
like. a feudal lord, provided rent
free homes and free water and
light and would even stake
hardpressed family with food from
his general store until the mill re-
sumed operations or logging work
started again. Hebard erected the
Union Church building. along
| Gothic lines, and he attended wor-
| ship services with the mill hands.
an informal friendliness which
everyone liked and remembered.
Hebard's son carried on the work
for while. but in 1922 the Ford
Motor Company located at L'Anse
and the next year it acquired Pc
auaming along with approximately
500 900 acres OF timber land in
Baraga County. Gig business had
| arrived.
For many years the Pequaming
| folk looked to Governor" Hebaid
for security of employment. Then
a big corporation, backed by multi
| millions. became their employer.
/ The workmen thought they had
steady jobs for the remainder OF
| their useful days. In old age a
retired worker could always hsh
and trap and grow a few vegeta-
bles while enterprising, God-fear-
ing sons and daughters kept the
home fires burning.
The shingle.sided cottages re-
sounded with laughter OF children
and the modern school had IL
square dance music led by Oscar
Olson. a supervisor OF music ,
thank YOU, who now composed his
own adding numbers. The chill
dren delighted Henry Ford on many
an occasion by their skill OF intri-
cate dance steps.
An this was changed when efhci-
ence experts at Dearborn, inhue nc.
ed perhaps by a few heartless and
ruthless executives. decided last
wear TO close down Pequamlng and
Alberta. The workers could hard
" believe the news, but they know
new things might be expected be-
cause of the war.
Veteran employees, who enjoyed
high seniority rights, were trans
ferred to L'Anse. Confusion was
inevitable, but strangely enough
the Pequaming and Alberta fam
! lies blamed company politics" for
their troubles and they chung 10
a strange and abiding faith In their
former boss, Mr.. Ford. Fiddline
oscar Olson. typical OF these. said
proudly that Ford had asked
about him on his recent August
visit. And the mill superintendent
at Pequaming beamed with happi.
ness az he told us how Ford had
extended his hand for a friendly
..n.tnc "I naver though | would