McMillan Township near Newberry in Luce County, Michigan — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)

Life Saving Station

Photographed by J. J. Prats, August 3, 2024

1. Life Saving Station Marker, Side One

Inscription.
Here stood the Two-Hearted River Life Saving Station, built in 1876. This station, like many others on the Great Lakes, was of the second class — erected at a cost of $4,790 and manned by volunteer crews. The facility, a simple two-story building with a small lookout tower, housed a lifeboat and other necessary equipment for recovering endangered sailors. An average crew consisted of six to eight experienced surfmen. In 1915 the Life Saving Service was integrated into the U.S. Coast Guard.

Several shipwrecks occurred near the mouth of the Two-Hearted River, also referred to as the Twin River and the Big Two-Hearted River. Among these were the Cleveland (1864), the W. W. Arnold (1869) and the Sumatra (1875). After construction of the lifesaving station here in 1876, the lifesavers were responsible for brave rescues in the Satellite (1879) and the Phineas S. Marsh (1896) disasters. The station was decommissioned in the 1930s and the structure was razed in 1944.

Erected 1980 by Michigan History Division, Department of State. Registered Local Site. (Marker Number 758.)

Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Disasters • Waterways & Vessels. In addition, it is included in the Michigan Historical Commission

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series list. A significant historical year for this entry is 1876.

Location. 46° 41.93′ N, 85° 25.307′ W. Marker is near Newberry, Michigan, in Luce County. It is in McMillan Township. It is on Mouth of Two-Heart Road (County Route 423) 4.3 miles north of Pike Lake Road (County Route 414). It is at the Two-Hearted River State Forest Campground, at the main parking lot at the mouth of the river. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 33115 Co Rd 423, Newberry MI 49868, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

It is also in the American Midwest

and on Lake Superior’s South Shore Region.

Globally, it is in North America,

in the Great North Woods,

on the Great Lakes,

in the Western Hemisphere,

in the Western World,

and in the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Northwest Territory.

Other nearby markers. At least one other marker is within 12 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Taming the Tahquamenon River (approx. 11.6 miles away).

Also see . . .
1. Wikipedia entry for Two Hearted River. Excerpt:

The river runs approximately 23.6 miles through forested wilderness, and drains into Lake Superior. It rises in several short branches in northeastern
Photographed by J. J. Prats, August 3, 2024

2. Life Saving Station Marker, Side Two
Luce County, about 15 miles southeast of Grand Marais. The north and west branches meet approximately 8 miles south-southeast of Muskallonge Lake State Park. The main branch flows generally northeast, approaching Lake Superior at a sharp angle.

(Submitted on August 11, 2024.)

2. Wikipedia entry for the “Big Two-Hearted River,” a short story by Ernest Hemingway. Excerpt:

“Big Two-Hearted River” has strong autobiographical elements. During World War I, Hemingway signed on as a member of the Red Cross at age 19, and was sent to the Italian Front at Fossalta as an ambulance driver. On his first day there, he helped to retrieve the remains of female workers killed in a munitions factory explosion, about which he later wrote in Death in the Afternoon ... A few days later, on July 8, 1918, he was severely wounded when a mortar bomb exploded between his legs. He was sent to a hospital in Milan where he recuperated for six months; after his return home, he went on a week-long fishing and camping trip in September 1919 with two high school friends to the backcountry near Seney in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula—a trip that became the inspiration for “Big Two-Hearted River.” The manuscript shows the use of plural pronouns, suggesting that in an early version more characters were included,
Photographed by J. J. Prats, August 3, 2024

3. Life Saving Station Marker
The Two-Heart River is in the cut before the dunes (its mouth is out of frame on the right) and Lake Superior is visible in the distance.
but by publication any mention of his friends or the townspeople had been removed—leaving [his protagonist] Nick [Adams] alone in the woods.

(Submitted on August 11, 2024.)

Mouth of the Two Hearted River in Late June image. Click for full size.

By Notorious4life via Wikimedia Commons (CC0 Public Domain), June 28, 2021

4. Mouth of the Two Hearted River in Late June

Lake Superior is in the distance. The marker is out of frame on the right.

Credits. This page was last revised on January 9, 2026. It was originally submitted on August 11, 2024, by J. J. Prats of Powell, Ohio. This page has been viewed 255 times since then and 43 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on August 11, 2024, by J. J. Prats of Powell, Ohio. 4. submitted on January 9, 2026, by J. J. Prats of Powell, Ohio.