Michigan's Boot Hill Cemetery
Seney, Michigan
The historic logging town of Seney was home to some very colorful characters. A couple miles south of the old railroad depot is a cemetery full of unmarked and partially marked graves. We call it Michigan's Boot Hill.
Seney
on M-28 is another cross roads in Michigan that is rich in stories
from the lumber era that most have forgotten. This stretch of
highway is what has been described as the most boring stretch of
road in Michigan. Its history is anything but boring.
The immigrant lumberjacks followed the vanishing forests north and many simply disappeared in this vast wilderness. At one time the likes of characters named "Stub Foot" O'Donnell, Frying Pan Mag and "Pump Handle" Joe were part of the local scene that gave Seney the reputation as the toughest spot in the Upper Peninsula. Few remember the epic fist fight between "Wild Hughie" Logan and "Killer" Shea. Ears were bitten and eyes gouged but the brawl was a draw in the end.
Tales of gambling, corruption, and even slavery brought the area known as the Ram's Pasture under investigation in the late 1800's. The stilt houses that were constructed due to the wetlands are gone, the gambling and drinking houses are gone but, the old cemetery and a museum are still there. Historic stops on the back roads of Michigan.