Saturday, October 27, 2018

Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone, and John Burroughs, embarked on a series of camping trips, they called themselves the Vagabonds and in 1923, the group visited Northern Michigan lumber camps at Sidnaw and Iron Mountain.





The above photo is taken near L'Anse at the Keating Spur, probably 1923 or 1926


Here they are talking with Kingsford, of the charcoal briquets fame, who started the process with scraps of wood left over and thrown away from the wood and lumber used in making Ford cars. It was a free supply, and resulted in a substitute for coal, and burned cleaner.



The above photo is taken near L'Anse, at the Keating Spur, probably 1923 or 1926



https://www.flickr.com/photos/thehenryford/albums/72157628233721391/with/6437342101/
at

5 comments:

  1. Nancy and Dennis10:40 AM

    That sure looks like Will Rogers in a couple of those pics, but some quick research shows no evidence of him being included on any of the trips. I did see that the 1919 trip involved 50 vehicles! These guys were not exactly roughing it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jesse6:47 PM

      They were sort of on Safari, just within easy distance of the luxuries of civilization, and they could afford the best of everything

      Delete
    2. Thelonegunman595:00 AM

      Really this was not easy they drove in Model T's from Detroit with all that gear, there were State Park Camp sites with showers and bathrooms.

      Delete
    3. Jesse9:18 AM

      model Ts at first, but look at the photos again, and look at the Lincolns, and the entourage of cooks, chefs, maids, butlers. Yes, they were roughing it compared to living at the palatial mansion back in Dearborn, but they were not roughing it compared to anyone else's version of camping.

      Delete
  2. MarkIXSwede3:19 PM

    Hey Jesse - neat post. I was just at the Gilmore Museum and they have one of the cars from the trip in unrestored original condition, I think on loan from the Henry Ford museum.

    ReplyDelete