Even Hiawatha, the famous character from Henry Waldworth Longfellow’s epic poem, travels the shores of the rushing Escanaba.

Escanaba or “Escanwba” as it was originally called, comes from native words meaning “flat rock”.

The flat rock that cradles and engineers the mighty Escanaba River is limestone.

Layers of limestone white, buff and grey straddle the river. From that rock a city sprung forth!

Karen Rose Wils

From a sawmill to a paper mill and from a power dam to a four-lane highway, that river rock is the bedrock of our community.

Limestone is an amazing thing. History tells us that millions of years ago, a great salt ocean covered Upper Michigan. As the waters slowly receded a sediment of ancient life was left at the bottom of the sea.

Like soap scum left after the bathtub is drained, limestone is what’s left over after the sea and its layers are loaded with fossils.

In modern times limestone was crushed and used for making everything from cement to garden fertilizers.

The rocks of the Escanaba River have always been friends of mine. I spent a good amount of time playing around the mouth of the river as a youth.

An even greater amount of time I spent navigating the river rocks near our family camp near Cornell. It didn’t matter if I was wading, swimming, crayfish hunting, bird watching, or taking pictures, it seemed like I was always walking on river rocks.

Back in my younger days, I got to know the smooth slippery rocks, the rough scratchy rocks, and the rocks with little round carters in them very well. I could even cross the river with my bare feet.

Now, many decades later, I have a new respect for the river rocks. My old feet only very carefully step cautiously around the river and with sturdy boots on!

We grew up on the river rocks near camp. My Dad made a path of steppingstones from the river to camp’s door. All constructed by hand (no tractor or power tools back then).

The river stone sidewalk still exists after 60-some years with the mosses and the wildflowers twisting through it.

In the early 1980s I helped Dad line the fire pit with limestone. I wish I had a nickel for every campfire we had in it.

Sometimes the sandy beaches are a nice place to be. The creeks with their tiny pebbles are peaceful and fun, but river rocks rule! They are the backbone of Escanaba.

If that limestone with all of its fossils, shells and bones could only talk. What an awesome story of life it could tell!