Exploring Michigan with GLMS Quiz | States M

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. "Red Jacket miners had sore throats" ("Red Jacket Miners/Salt Trucks") The Upper Peninsula village of Red Jacket or Calumet was the site of major mining activity in the late nineteenth century. The area, in the 1870s, was responsible for more than half of America's production of which of these metals?

Answer: Copper

The song references a 1913 tragedy at the town's Italian Hall when a false cry of "fire" caused a stampede in which 75 people lost their lives. It occurred during a Christmas party held for striking miners and, although nobody was ever found to be criminally liable, most fingers pointed at the mine management. The event is also immortalised in the Woody Guthrie song, "1913 Massacre".

2. "Jimmy Stewart came to Marquette County in 1959 And he was shot for two months there And all the pines wept stardust for a while And the Duke would play his soundtrack there As Preminger had cast him in the film His character was Pie-Eye" ("Marquette County, 1959") Which movie, that also featured Lee Remick, is being described here?

Answer: Anatomy of a Murder

As the song title suggests, "Anatomy of a Murder" was filmed at the Marquette County Courthouse during the Spring and Summer of 1959. Although the movie was based upon a novel, its central events were very similar to those of a 1952 killing at Big Bay, about 25 miles north of Marquette.

The "Duke" refers to Duke Ellington who composed the soundtrack and appeared in the uncredited role of Pie-Eye.

3. The song "Lake Effect" contains a litany of freighters lost on the Great Lakes. Which of these was also the subject of a 1976 Gordon Lightfoot single?

Answer: SS Edmund Fitzgerald

The Edmund Fitzgerald sank on Lake Superior on November 10th 1975. Lightfoot's "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" was released as a single the following year and reached Number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.

4. "She takes musicians to Bois Blanc. She takes the dancers there too and at the end of the long nights, she takes them back by lamplight but until then she stays clear out of view. Before we dock at Richmond there's a hidden tax of merit and all the boaters inherit one dollar for every Lincoln brought in. We exchange them their Loonies and unwind." ("The gales of 1838") The song is about the smuggling of alcohol during the era of prohibition but which detail is historically inaccurate?

Answer: The Loonie (Canadian dollar coin) was not introduced until 1987.

"Bois blanc" means white wood and there are several islands bearing this name in the Great Lakes region. Boblo is the corruption of the French name into English. This particular Bois Blanc island lies on the Canadian side of the Detroit river. Richmond was an alternative name for Windsor.

The Boblo amusement park, now closed, opened in 1898 and contained a dance hall that was, in its time, the second biggest in America accommodating more than 5000 dancers.

5. "In the distance, old St. Ignace" The lyric comes from "Across the Bridge" whose title refers to the Mackinac bridge that joins Michigan's Upper and Lower Peninsulas. What, though, is St. Ignace?

Answer: An Upper Peninsula town

The town was named after Ignatius of Loyola, having been established in 1671 as a mission station by the French priest Jacques Marquette. It passed into British hands in 1763 after the Seven Years War until, in 1783, it passed to the USA.

"Across the Bridge" is designed to last the exact same time as a motorist crossing the Mackinac bridge whilst driving at the official speed limit.

6. The song "No. VI" repeats which myth about the naming of the city of Novi?

Answer: That it was named after the sixth stagecoach post between Detroit and Lansing

The name of Novi was formerly adopted in 1832 upon its separation from the town of Farmington. It was proposed by a Dr. J. C. Emery whose reasoning behind the name is not known. It was, presumably, meant to convey a sense of newness although critics pointed out that, in Latin, it means unknown or forgotten.

A persistent urban myth has endured that the name developed from the number six expressed in Roman numerals.

7. "The lilacs hum against my Schwinn" ("Nightfall at Electric Park") During the early years of the twentieth century, you might well have traversed Michigan on a Schwinn but on what would you have been travelling?

Answer: A bicycle

The Schwinn Bicycle Company of Chicago was founded by German emigre Ignaz Schwinn in 1895. The Great Lakes Myth Society are clearly into their Schwinns as a previous album, recorded under their former name of the Original Brothers and Sisters of Love, contained the song, "Vintage Schwinn Enthusiast".

8. "Down to Electric Park, Warmer winds are blowing. Twilight heavy on the road, Ferries steam across the water." ("Nightfall at Electric Park") From 1906 until 1928, Electric Park was a major attraction in Detroit but what was it?

Answer: An amusement park

Detroit's Electric Park (aka Luna Park aka Riverview Park) was located on the site of what is now Gabriel Richard Park. It started life as a trolley park - an open air recreation area at the end of three streetcar lines - and expanded with the development of electrification. Its attractions included roller coasters, circus acts, a scale model depicting the 1889 Johnstown flood and the Palais de Danse where dancers could strut their stuff over the Detroit river.

The "Detroit Free Press" announced the park's opening with these words:
"Detroit's new Electric Park will be one of the largest in the world. Rome, with its seven hills will be a poor second to the roller coaster which is to be installed on the western site of the park. Here will be found l4 hills and any amount of hilarious fun may be derived within the enclosure." (Source: waterwinterwonderland.com)

9. In "Big Jim Hawkins", the GLMS boys create their own mythology by attributing the formation of the Great Lakes region to the activities of Big Jim and Paul Bunyan. What manner of creatures are Jim and Paul?

Answer: Giants

Paul Bunyan was created by James MacGillivray in 1910 and Michigan claims his hometown to be Oscoda on the basis of the first stories to be published.

"[Big Jim Hawkins] is essentially a fable about the origin of the Great Lakes themselves; part Greek tragedy, part Norse legend and part Native American tall tale. Paul Bunyan (who was created by a Milwaukee-based advertising firm to sell pancakes) and Treasure Island's Jim Hawkins always seemed larger than life to me when I was growing up, so I put them both in a small bar in Northern Minnesota to fight to the death. To simplify; they hit each other in the face for five years straight, Paul goes down, Babe the Blue Ox rushes an unsuspecting Jim and their dying blood, spit ... floods every river and tributary in the region, forming the lakes currently known as Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie & Superior." (GLMS' James Monger quoted at greatlakeswiki.org)

10. "It's an Indian summer And the tap water's brown sand 'Cause the lamprey are crammed 'Neath the Chippewa Dam" ("Isabella County, 1992") Isabella County's Mt. Pleasant is home to the Central Michigan University but who or what is the county named after?

Answer: Queen Isabella of Castile, patron to Christopher Columbus

"Sweetheart, this city has beautiful, beautiful snow"

The song reflects James Monger's experience of living in Mt. Pleasant whilst studying at the university.

Isabella County was created in 1831 and was named at the suggestion of Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, one of whose other claims to fame was as the discoverer of the source of the Mississippi river. The county is one of several to bear the name of an important person from Michigan's then present or past. Curiously, there is no corresponding credit for King Ferdinand.

Source: Author glendathecat

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Exit10 before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Exploring Michigan with GLMS Trivia Quiz

GLMS doesn't refer to global positioning but to an indie-folk rock group - the Great Lakes Myth Society - whose wonderfully evocative lyrics chronicle Michigan life and myth. Let them guide you in an exploration of the Mitten State.

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