"Efforts to secede and form a new state date back to 1858, when a convention was held in Ontonagon for the purpose of forming a new state combining the upper peninsula of Michigan, northern Wisconsin, and northeast Minnesota. The new state was to be called either Superior or Ontonagon. The New York Times editorialized:
"Unless Congress should interpose objections, which cannot reasonably be apprehended, we see no cause why the new "State of Ontonagon" should not speedily take her place as an independent member of the union."
In 1897, another proposal for creating a State of Superior included areas in the Upper Peninsula along with portions of Wisconsin."
2. From The Washington Post (1877-1922) - Washington, D.C.: The State of Superior. Date: Oct 3, 1897 [Excerpt]
"The latest proposition is to take that portion of Michigan which lies west of Lake Michigan, add to it a slice of Wisconsin, and convert the territory into the new State of Superior."
And the one I remember from my years at Michigan Tech (Houghton, MI):
"In 1962, an Upper Peninsula Independence Association was founded to advocate for the formation of State of Superior. A secession bill was submitted to the Michigan Legislature, and 20,000 petition signatures were collected—36,000 short of the number needed—for a ballot referendum on separation."
And yet again, a decade later:
"Efforts continued into the mid-1970s (one bumper sticker suggested naming the 51st state "North Michigan"), with residents of the Upper Peninsula and northern Wisconsin, each resentful of tax drains and other perceived slights from their downstate cousins, joining together to pursue the desired legislation."
"… there was a revival of a movement, more than a century old, to give the Upper Peninsula statehood, as the State of Superior. In 1962, a U.P. Independence Association was founded. In the early 1970's, Lower Michiganders started calling their northern cousins 'Yupes,' which quickly became 'Yoopers.' The response was to brand the southerners 'Trolls,' because they 'live below the bridge.'"
And more:
"Then Joe Zimmer erected a billboard proclaiming 'Governor's Mansion' next to his mobile home on Highway 28 and proposing Bruce Crossing (population 551) in Ontonagon County as 'the capital of the 51st state.'
[Note: (click →) Bruce Crossing¹ — The center of the universe (and my maternal grandparents' farm!) -FRN]
"… the Upper Peninsula's collective dialect, which draws on Cornish and Italian from immigrant miners, the French of Canadian trappers and the Finnish of farmers and loggers.
The Finnish substratum is strong in the idiom some call Yoopanese, said Stewart Kingsbury, a Northern Michigan University professor, both in phrases like 'let's go store' for 'let's go to the store' and in the substitution of 'da' for 'the.'"
[ ¹ See also: Hunt's Guide to the Upper Peninsula, specifically Bruce Crossing (… including, in the center of the 'center of the universe', the famous Settler's Co-op, Inc. (est. 1919), still thriving today. ("Hey, wit' da cooperative store, who needs da COSTCO and da Sam's Club, and da Home Depot, eh?") ]
Pretty Cool Thing on the UP in the Free Press
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Originally Posted by snowdancer
