"Wolfgang" wrote in message
...

"riverman" wrote in message
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"William Claspy" wrote in message
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On 3/3/06 11:21 AM, in article , "Wolfgang"
wrote:

http://makeashorterlink.com/?Z4E623CBC

Anybody recognize the setting?

No, but I think that chap's been borrowing my tweed jacket!

The description says filmed at (along?) the "Grand Trunk RR", which led
me
to this:

http://www.t-one.net/~bessey/GrandTrunk.html

So, the line ran between Detroit and Grand Haven. Potentially the Grand
River? I don't know that area very well, perhaps Wayne could chime in.
I'm
guessing whichever river it is doesn't have brook trout in it any more.



Looking at this:
http://www.memoriallibrary.com/Trans/RRGaz/CGT/map.htm
I'd be surprised if we ever identified that river. There are a lot of
little streams in the Grand Trunk RR network.

I love old maps!

Bill's find was interesting but, while brookies in the southern half of
Michigan's lower peninsula as late as 1902 seems plausible, it doesn't
strike me as very likely. This map opens up many VERY likely
possibilities.....places where brookies are still common today.

There isn't much to go on here but judging by the size of the stream (lots
of open space visible), the exposed rock, the gentlemanly attire, and the
prevalence of coniferous trees, I'm guessing someplace further north and
east.....some traditional northeastern holy water. Of course, identifying
the precise spot IS virtually impossible.....unless someone happens to
recognize it. There's a pretty good chance that it looks very much the
same today as it did a century ago.



On the same vein, I tried to scour the picture for other types of clues. It
appears that the shadows are in front and to the left of the fisherman (as
referenced from the direction he is facing). If that is so, from the
knowledge that the sun is never in the northern sky when you are north of
the tropic of Cancer, then we can assume the sun is probably in the SW or
SE, and the river is running eastwards (probably something from SE to NE).
Of course, this could be taken on a big bend. If we assume that he is
fishing around midday (an assumption not supported by the best time to fish,
but I figure those old cameras needed a lot of light to work), then the
river is flowing ESE.

I can't seem to open the link to see the movie again now, but I was hoping
we could see some large glacial striation features in the rock to help us
identify north. Or maybe a general trend of the hills in the background (or
if they are drumlins, or some other glacial feature). In the northlands,
there was a primary glaciation from the far north, however there was a
secondary spreading zone from Hudson's bay (hence the orientation of the
Finger Lakes' region of NY), and unfortunatley, in the north heartland there
was a tertiary spreading zone from Michigan. In the region we are looking
at, there could be gross evidence from any of these, so glacial evidence
would not be great for a direction indicator. However, there are some
well-defined drumlin fields in eastern Michigan that point N-S.

There is one link indicating a family named 'Armitage' with associations
with the Grand Trunk RR back at the turn of the century:
http://nortvoods.net/armitage.html The region is about right: Port Huron,
MI. but the initials are wrong (Charles J Armitage instead of FS Armitage).
Making the wild assumption that the families might be related, I'd start by
looking at southeastward running rivers around the Port Huron region.

--riverman