The Upper Peninsula Experiment Station at Chatham has a long history in developing improved practices of agriculture and raising livestock tailored to U.P. conditions.
The station began in 1899 when the Michigan legislature recognized that soil and climate in the U.P. were different from the rest of the state and decided this area needed special study. The legislators appropriated $5,000 for the State Board of Agriculture "to carry on such experiments pertaining to agriculture" as, in its judgement, would ber most beneficial to the agricultural interests of the U.P.
After extensive surveys, members of the Board accepted from the Munising Railway Company a donation of 160 acres of land north of Chatham. The railroad company also agreed to "stump, clear, and grub" twenty acres so that immediate field demonstrations could begin. The railroad was trying to attract settlers who would need rails to ship goods on. The donation probably was seen as an "investment" of sorts.
Ten years later the Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company gave Michigan State University 620 acres adjacent to the village of Chatham. Several smaller tracts of land have been acquired since.
The station, which now comprises 800 acres, is devoted to research that will improve agricultural management and provide more income and higher living standards for people in the U.P.
Livestock at the station has at various times included dairy cattle, beef cattle, horses, sheep, hogs, turkeys, and chickens. Except for the dairy herd, all livestock was discontinued by 1982.
The dairy herd was started in 1912 with six registered Holsteins purchased in southern Michigan by members of the Michigan State University Dairy Department to send to Chatham. Since that time, no female has been added to the herd. Improvement has come through the careful selection of herd sires (today artifical breeding) and through management. The purpose of the herd is to provide practical research information that directly relates to the Penninsula's dairy industry. The herd in 1983 consisted of about 100 herd - 45 milking cows and the rest young stock.
Experimental work with chickens was carried on until 1966, and with turkeys from 1967 to 1969. Horses, sheep, and hogs were the subjects of other original livestock projects. These were phased out in 1948. Beef cattle research was started in 1969 and continued until 1982.
Farm crop research work started at the station in 1900, and many varieties of crops were developed and/or acclimated at Chatham, including potatoes, other vegetables, and cereal grains.
A U.S. "benchmark" weather station (one of 26 at the same latitude) and observation post is operated at the Experimental Station and provide accurate enviromental measurements for researchers.
Farmers' meetings have been held at Chatham since the establishment of the station. No regularity was followed until the first Farmers' Round-Up on August 13, 1919. (A free barbeque in 1920 attracted 3000 people.) The annual round-ups were discontinued several years ago.
In 1938 permanent buildings to house 500 4-H club members and leaders during their week-long summer camp were errected at the station. The 4-H camp actually begain in 1920 when a small group of boys was brought to the station to give demonstrations and to spend the night in tents on the banks of the Slapneck Creek. More groups, both boys and girls, came in following years. The girls' tents were set on the opposite bank of the stream. In 1924 the camp was named Camp Shaw, then president of Michigan State University. Boys and girls from every county in the U.P. and many other groups used the camp facility. Because of declining use (many U.P. counties today have their own 4-H camps), the buildings at Camp Shaw were dismantled in the late 1960's.
Leo M. Geismar was the first superintendent of the station, holding that position from 1900 to 1912. Others who followed were R.G. Carr, B.E. Householder, D.L. McMillan, G.W. Putnam, J.G. Wells, Russell Horwood, William Cargo, S. MacCallum King, C.J. (Jack) Little, Gary Greathouse, Daniel Hunt, and Ben Bartlett.
Although the state's tight financial situation in the early 1980's created budget problems for the station, administrators still felt it should continue the research that has contributed significantly to U.P. farming. Dairy and crop research continues as well as work on such related items as faba beans as a source of protein for dairy cattle. Production of seed crops like birdsfoot trefoil to diversify the U.P.'s agricultural economy also is tested. |
