Musical Excerpts Recorded By Thomas Edison.

Stories From Superior Heartland

Stories From Superior Heartland is a down-home taste of Upper Peninsula history the way it's meant to be served: a generous, 2-CD helping of historical accounts, anecdotes and detailed sketches delivered in an intimate setting. In this 2-CD set, Fred Rydholm, Marquette's premier storyteller/historian, sits fireside with a small group of friends and neighbors, bringing to life the early days of the region and its founding fathers.

Included along with Rydholm's narratives are excerpts from his book, Superior Heartland: A Backwoods History, read by his son, Dan.

Fred Rydholm sits fireside with a small group of friends and neighbors, bringing to life the early days of the region and its founding fathers. Stories from Superior Heartland contains two CDs full of stories from Fred's popular books Superior Heartland a Back Woods History. Fred provides the inside scoop on Marquette founding father Peter White, Charles T. Harvey, the builder of the Soo Locks, Marquette's first Christmas, and the rags-to-riches story of J.M. Longyear. It's almost 2½ hours of Marquette County's early history with a few good ol' campfire stories mixed in. Fred's son Dan introduces each story and reads short excerpts from Fred's book.

On CD 1 you will hear...

1. A Distinguished Citizen (3:02)
   Accepting his Distinguished Citizen Award in 2002 from Northern Michigan University, Fred speaks about the Upper Peninsula.
2. Marquette's First Christmas (16:17)
   Preparing for the town's first winter, the sinking of the Siscowit and Marquette's first Christmas.
3. How Marquette Got its Name (2:47)
   How the town of New Wooster became Marquette.
4. The Honorable Peter White (23:30)
   The rise of Peter White from laborer to one of Marquette's most distinguished founding fathers.
5. Marquette's First Railroad (4:31)
   Moving the ore down to the bay. From carts to planks to iron straps, the story of Marquette's first railroad.
6. Horatio Seymour, Santinaw and the Wetmore Cabin (17:19)
   The history of the Wetmore's Landing cabin, the story of businessman Horatio Seymour and legendary woodsman Henry Santinaw.
7. Dr. Dawson's Gold Nugget (4:35)
   A mysterious story of U.P. gold nuggets and murder.

On CD2 you will hear...

1. The Best Stories (:15)
   Fred's opinion on storytelling
2. The Black Phantom (6:29)
   Boy Scouts, ghost stories and tree planting on the Yellow Dog Plains.
3. John Munro Longyear (16:48)
   The rags to riches story of J.M. Longyear who went from postal worker to one of the country's richest businessmen.
4. The Howard Longyear Tragedy (17:48)
   The untimely death of Howard Longyear and how it led to moving the Longyear mansion.
5. The Longyear Mansion (10:13)
   Moving the mansion from Marquette to Boston.
6. George Baker in the Yellow Dog Swamp (11:08)
   Another tale of adventure in the Marquette County wilderness.
7. Charles T. Harvey (10:07)  
   The Marquette resident who built the Soo Locks and invented the New York elevated train.