08/15/2026
Post by Bernie Arbic, Chippewa County Historical Society. We posted this picture in June of 2018 in our Throwback Thursday series. Besides it being a very interesting picture of an iconic Sault Ste. Marie structure under construction, I have an ulterior motive for re-posting it: to announce that the Historical Society will be publishing a second volume of "SaultVenirs" sometime this fall. My co-author, Collette Coullard and I are hard at work now indexing the book, which will contain 72 popular Throwback posts over the years, together with our captions and a few of the comments made by followers. This picture will be on page 16, over the title "Manpower + Horsepower + Steam Power = Powerhouse."
Here is the caption from 2018: "This picture shows the Cloverland Electric Cooperative Powerhouse under construction, looking northeast toward the west end of the building. The facility opened in October of 1902, so this image probably was made in late 1901. The magnificent structure was built with manpower, horse power, and steam power...all three visible in this image, scanned from an 8 by 10 inch glass negative. Chippewa County Historical Society owns about 1,000 such negatives, which document the construction of the power canal and powerhouse between 1898 and 1902 by the Michigan Lake Superior Power Company. "
One of the comments on the 2018 post by a follower, referring to those who worked on the building was this: "I bet they’d be shocked and amazed to know that this building has not only survived, but has continued to thrive over 100 years later!" Indeed! We can be proud of the skill of those who built it, and also of those who continue to maintain it.
Volume II of "SaultVenirs," with 71 more images like this one, should be available in plenty of time for Christmas gift-giving. We'll keep you posted! Anyone living in the area, and even those who have roots here but have moved away will find pictures in the book that bring back memories. (And BTW, Volume I is still available!) Cloverland Electric Cooperative Collection neg. #238