Touring Cloverland: An Early Auto Adventure Across Michigan’s Upper Peninsula

Prior to the coming of the automobile, travelers to the Upper Peninsula had to maintain the routes of the railroads and could not venture into the wilds of the region. With the arrival of the automobile, Lower Peninsula people began to look to the corners of the Upper Peninsula as a place to tour.

In the spring and summer, ads were placed in newspapers and magazines by the Michigan Tourist and Resort Association and were having positive results.

In July 1921, an anonymous Grand Rapids couple took an 18 days trip and including their car upkeep cost them $100 (2025 value $1,752). They returned home praising the roads and scenery of Cloverland as the U.P. was referred to at the time. What follows is their account of the trip:

We went from Grand Rapids to Newago and then to Baldwin. From Baldwin, the second day we cut over to the West Michigan pike at Scottville then north to Manistee and Onekama around beautiful Crystal Lake to Traverse City, Charlevoix, Petoskey and Mackinaw City.

At Mackinaw City we took the ferry to St. Ignace and from there we followed Route 12 through Cedarville to the Soo. From this point we cut across to Rexton, going over elegant roads. At Rexton, we veered to the north as far as Newberry over stone road.

From Newberry we cut through the stumps over a winding road to the mouth of the Two Heart river on Lake Superior. Here was Paradise indeed. For 35 miles over this woods road we never saw a sign of habitation or human life, never even meeting another car.

Fishing in Two Heart

Near the mouth of the Two Heart we came upon a lumber camp of mighty hospitable folks. They were glad to see us and said our “Big Six” Studebaker that was the first large car that had been that far into their woods.

I found the fishing in the Two Heart, all that Upper Peninsula press agents have claimed.  Not a large stream, the water is of a brownish hue and the German brown trout lie in holes waiting for fishermen to yank them out. At the mouth of the river, in the deep water of Lake Superior, the Coast Guard captain told me that you could in calm weather, see big German brown trout swimming along the bottom of the lake.

We camped for two days on the Two Heart and were very  sad when we had to leave. Turning back we cut through the woods to Newberry then west and north through Seney over the beaver trail to Munising. Here we passed through mile after mile of virgin hardwood, beautiful maple, beech and birch.

Marquette was our next stop then Houghton, Hancock, Calumet and Lake Linden. We hit Lake Superior again at Ontonagon. Because of the work on the roads it was necessary to turn south to Route 12 at Watersmeet and then west to Bessemer, Ironwood and Hurley, Wisconsin. Doubling back to St. Ignace we passed through Iron Mountain, Iron River, Escanaba, and Manistique. 

Camped 15 Nights

Our return trip from St. Ignace through the lower peninsula was through Petoskey, Boyne City, Kalkaska, Lake City, and Cadillac. During our tour we were on the road for 18 days. Fifteen nights we camped using a side tent alongside of the car. Having a floor to our tent we were never bother by mosquitoes or bugs. We did all of our cooking out-of-doors, except the two days we stayed at hotels and the one day we spent with friends at Luther. While you folks down here have been suffering with the heat we found the nights so cool in the Upper Peninsula that all of the blankets that we had were scarcely enough.