A fund has been established at Lansing Community College Foundation to support projects, research and conferences related to the rehabilitation of historic iron and steel. From this fund scholarships have been awarded to students in engineering, preservation, and industrial arts to attend previous Iron and Steel Preservation Conferences. Please consider donating to support ISP scholarships for the 2019 Iron & Steel Preservation Conference/Workshop. The Lansing Community College Foundation is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation. Your contributions make a big difference. Thanks, Vern Mesler

Left to right: Vern Mesler, Roger Morrison, Jeff Haynes, Jeff Seelye

 

From left to right: Jeff Seelye, Nan Jackson, Robert Arthur, Vern Mesler, Roger Morrison, Jeff Haynes, Jeff Dever

Jeff Dever (right) and Roger Morrison (left) assist a participant in riveting at the 2011 ISP Workshop.

A display of Michigan Pneumatic rivet hammers and rivet buster at the 2011 ISP Workshop.

Every once in a while, a postcard makes an appearance in this newsletter. Usually the images on the chosen postcards have some connection to a historic bridge that links them to the theme of iron and steel preservation. Equally (and sometimes even more) interesting and thought-provoking is the text written on the other side of the card, along with details about the writer and the intended recipient. Claud wrote this message to his mother, Mrs. A. J. Kellogg, in Mattawan, Michigan:

Lake Kerr, Mar 10, 1914

Dear Mother,

I came across this bridge when we came it the highest bridge in the world. I am still eating oranges by the bushel and fish by the dozen and we have biscuits most every meal and I do not get tired of them. Claud

 

Lake Kerr was the name of the post office near Kerr City, Florida, a town on the northwest shore of the lake in an area known for its production of oranges in the late 1800s. Kerr City is now a ghost town, residents having deserted it after the severe freezes of 1894-95 [en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerr_City,_Florida]. I wonder what Claud was doing there in 1914; his message suggests he was living in the area, maybe working there. Or might he have been enjoying an extended stay for his health? The post office was kept open until 1942.

Now, what about the Kentucky Bridge, "the highest bridge in the world" -- is there a connection here between Lake Kerr and Mattawan? Google maps show this important railroad bridge to be more or less on a direct route traveling by car from Mattawan MI to Kerr City FL, about one third of the way along. In 2018, if I were to text a photo with the message "I came across this bridge ...," I'd probably mean that I was driving and caught a glimpse of the bridge from the highway, like "coming across" a forgotten glove under the passenger seat. In 1914, Claud undoubtedly meant it literally: traveling by train, he actually crossed this bridge. I assume that for some readers of this newsletter, their interest in iron and steel is born of an interest in railroad history. They may know that the founding of Mattawan MI was closely linked with the railroads and that a station was built there early on (I can imagine Mrs. A. J. Kellogg waving goodbye to her son from the platform ...). Feel free to contact Vern ( meslerv@gmail.com) if you know anything about the Kentucky bridge you'd like to share or about a possible pieced-together train route Claud might have taken between Michigan and Florida. What do you make of the trademark stamp in the lower left corner and the lack of postage stamp and postmark? For those of you short story writers, perhaps you'd like to try your hand using this as a writing prompt: "I am still eating oranges by the bushel and fish by the dozen and we have biscuits most every meal and I do not get tired of them."

 

For another postcard piece (from ISP newsletter January 2016):  

One Postcard, One Bridge, One Key