Initial Deductions by Chris and Fiona Jackson

We fully concur with the conclusion that Moose County is probably in Upper Michigan, although the subtleties of the Eastern timezone and the 11pm evening news naturally escaped us [ref. deductions in regards to the time of the evening news in Moose County listed in the "Readers' Thoughts" subsection].

We had wondered whether it might be northern Wisconsin, but closer examination suggests the Upper Peninsula. For one thing, heading north from the WI shore brings you to eastern Minnesota, rather than Canada (the boat scam in Played Brahms). Homing in on MI, we found various locations which could have provided the originals for many elements in the book. Geographically they don't stack up, of course, but we reckon that Moose County is an amalgam of features set roughly in the Alger/Luce/Schoolcraft area.

The mining heritage could suggest a location further west, like Otonagon, or even Keweenaw, which certainly counts as 'farthest north', but we don't think that the peninsula setting is quite right. Amongst the possibilities we identified were:

• General - the UP calls itself the home of the Pasty

• Luce County - Deer Park disused logging town; Shipwreck Museum @ Whitefish Point; Newberry + Historical Museum; Tahquamenon Swamp (wetlands?)

• Alger County - Grand Island (Breakfast Island + Grand Island Club); Munising rare book store; Grand Marais (Great Dune); Pictured Rocks National Foreshore (Top o' the Dunes?); Republic (historic) iron ore mine; Kenbuck Horse Resort (Kennebeck?)

• Schoolcraft County - Kitch-iti-Kipi mineral spring + Garden Corners (Squunk Water + Squunk Corners?); Indian Lake Resort (Indian Village?)

• Menominee County - firework festival

• Marquette County - iron mining industry

As for the Ittibittiwassee River, this could be based on either the Tahquamenon River and Hiawatha Falls (Luce) or the Manistique River (Schoolcraft) - or a great many other rivers, of course.

The towns are more problematic - we imagine Mooseville as an amalgam of various north coast harbour towns, such as Grand Marais (the dunes), Munising (the shops) and possibly Marquette (the fishing - e.g. Fishport), possibly with Au Train thrown in for luck. Pickax may have elements of Newberry and/or Seney, or even south coast towns like Manistique and Naubinway.

We've not had any success with pinning down Lockmaster. Logging there is aplenty throughout the region, but we can't find any references to horses. Heading southwest would take us to Menominee, or even over the Wisconsin border? Or could it be based on Chippewa/Mackinac counties, with the Lock being an oblique reference to the ship locks at Sault Ste Marie?

The development of a map and more precise locations

I have been doing some further digging into the history and geography of the Upper Peninsula, trying to confirm that Moose County is indeed set across the real Alger, Luce and Schoolcraft counties.

My first shot at a map of Moose County is attached. This was a bit of a rush job, from memory without notes, and needs to be refined in several areas as and when I get time to do some more research. (I have already decided in my own mind that there are some errors, but I would value your comments on the various points below.)

My map differs in several respects from Sharon Feaster's, not least in trying to match sections of the UP coastline. I also intend to expand it to include parts of Lockmaster and Bixby where I have found more details, and to try and get it closer to scale where distances are quoted. Also, for some reason I put Bixby County to the east of MC, in Mackinac or Chippewa, when the book references to 'more industrialised' suggest perhaps it ought to be to the northwest, in the Marquette-Ishpeming mining belt.

Looking at various web pages about the history of Grand Marais and its Great Sable Dunes seem to confirm my feelings that this is probably the original for Mooseville. However, the Pictured Rocks National Foreshore means that in reality there is nothing to the west that would replicate Fishport, until you reach Munising - which is more like 20 or 30 miles rather than 4 or 5. However, Munising does have Grand Island a few miles offshore in the right place to match Pear/Breakfast Island off Fishport.

Working east along the coast, I am having problems locating Purple Point. It seems pretty safe that Seagull Point is the rocky headland on which Brrr is located, which could be somewhere around the historic 1880s logging town of Deer Park. However, Purple Point is more difficult. For a start, I'm not sure whether the 'purple appearance at sunset' would be when you are looking at it from east or west. The books refer to beaches and houses on the west of the point, and rocks to the east, and a long lonely approach across the wetlands. Elsewhere, Polly goes birdwatching in 'the wetlands between Chipmunk and Purple Point', although Chipmunk is a long way inland.

My first thought was that Purple Point must lie between Mooseville and Brrr, perhaps near the Top o' the Dunes. If so, the wetlands must lie to the east, between here and Brrr. This means the Mooseville - Brrr road must pass across the wetlands between Huggins Corner and Squunk Corners (but there again, there is nothing to say that it doesn't). However, there is no obvious equivalent feature on the 'real' coast. The other option is that Purple Point is east of Brrr, perhaps on the far northeast tip of the county, equivalent to Whitefish Point. This would put the wetlands east of Brrr near the real Tahquamenon Swamp, but then they would be much further from Chipmunk.

I can't lay my hands on a copy of Whistle at present, but is there anything to show whether Sawdust City lies north or south of the Ittibittiwassee River? Or whether Trawnto is north or south of SC? [Maintainer's note: I haven't been able to find anything myself. Readers?] The Feaster map shows Trawnto to the south, but I suspect it may lay further north, near the real town of Paradise. That would accord with the Tahquamenon River being the original for the Ittibittiwassee.

Turning to Lockmaster county, Sharon Feaster shows Horseradish on the 'east coast'. But this does not really fit with an Upper Peninsula location, and I suspect that it should be on the south, or Lake Michigan shore. Further research suggests that Lockmaster is also on the coast - which I had not previously appreciated. In Cardinal, Bushy tells Qwill that where 'the river' flows through downtown, 'there were once sawmills and shipyards on both banks' - which suggests it cannot be far from navigable water. Comparing the geographical relationship of Lockmaster and Mooseville, assuming that the latter is Grand Marais, would put Lockmaster somewhere around Manistique, or maybe slightly further southwest towards Escanaba. Horseradish could be near Gulliver, or further east towards Naubinway.

This in turn raises another radical suggestion. There was, in reality, a Manistique & Lake Superior Railroad, running northwest across the peninsula to Munising, which could make a good 'original' for the Sawdust City & Lockmaster. But all maps so far suggest that Sawdust City is in the east of Moose County, although I have not been able to find any book references to confirm this. If SC were to lie in the west, on the site of Munising, would it matter if the Ittibittiwassee River flowed the other way? (Are there any specific references to upstream/downstream in the books?)

The relationship of the various villages in the 'middle' of the county is more complex, and I am not really sure about the course of the Ittibittiwassee River. However, I feel that Black Creek should probably flow into the Ittibittiwassee around Middle Hummock (if SC is east) rather than taking a separate course to the lake. If it flows the other way, Black Creek would start in the wetlands, meander through the Hummocks and Kennebeck, and then through the former Black Creek mining area south of Mooseville to meet the Ittibittiwassee near Sawdust City (Munising).

Bloody Creek at Wildcat could just as easily flow south into Lake Michigan as north into the Ittibittiwassee, given that in Brahms Qwill drives over a range of hills on his way into Pickax from the south. I do not believe that the reference to 'Black Creek Junction' in Whistle actually means that Black Creek flows south of Wildcat. It could easily be a railroad name for the junction of an old branch line leading northwest towards the Black Creek mines.

If we map the Ittibittiwassee Road (running east-west) on Highway 28 as the UP spine road, and Pickax Road from Mooseville as Highway 77 south of Grand Marais, then Dimsdale would be somewhere around Seney. This would locate Pickax near Germfask, although obviously bigger and without the Manistique Lakes nearby. There are references to people driving from Pickax to Duluth, which would be westwards along H28 - which could easily be the desolate 'Airport Road' as the mining country mostly lies to the west of this territory in western Alger and Marquette counties.

Shantytown is near Dimsdale, and could lie at the intersection of H28 and Sandpit Road, heading up to Mooseville through the Dune. Based on the same road configuration, Chipmunk would map onto McMillan, and Middle Hummock onto Dollarville (W) and/or Newberry. There is nothing directly relating to Kennebeck, although we did find the Kenbuck Horse Resort in Alger County south of Munising, which could provide for a 'name transplant'.

The Kitch-iti-Kipi mineral spring, which we thought might provide the 'original' for Squunk Water, lies in the southwest of Schoolcraft County, near the Indian Lake Resort which might form the basis for Indian Village. These would also need 'transplants' to get them in the right geographical location for Moose County.

LJB has already admitted that Moose County is an imaginary amalgamation of different places, so perhaps we should not be surprised that the 'originals' don't always fit together neatly. Nevertheless, the high degree of corroboration with the Alger/Luce/Schoolcraft area suggests that we cannot be too far out.

On Nick Bamba's previous place of employment

Scrolling through local economic statistics, I discovered last week that one of the largest employers in Alger County is the Michigan Department of Corrections, which has a prison somewhere in the Munising area. It employs over 300 people, compared to the total population of 350 in Grand Marais, but it seems likely to be the prototype for Mooseville prison.