February 2, 1924: Many escaped harm by running away
Pedestrians on the west side of Main Street after twelve o’clock this afternoon scattered for their lives and some barely escaped in time to avoid a serious result when a farmer’s sleigh team broke loose and ran into south
The team was in the middle of the road heading south without a driver and traveling at a break neck speed when suddenly the horses, furious, veered to the right and started up the sidewalk in front of the Hub Mercantile establishment. They continued their wild dash nearly missing several pedestrians until at the corner of Court Street the journey ended when the horses slipped and fell. They were quiet and after a while they were driven out of town.
The team is understood to be owned by Reuben Elliott. The fugitive started from the Och and Dickson store on Duncan Avenue.
February 1, 1974: Shivaree shapes up for the season opener on Friday.
With sturgeon season starting Friday, plans for the 13th annual Black Lake Sturgeon Shivaree on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 23 and 24 are excellent.
Michigan rock sturgeon are concentrated in Black, Mullett and Burt lakes, and can only be taken by spearing. The season is the month of February. The greatest interest is in Black Lake, because of the annual sturgeon fishing festival there on the last weekend of the season.
Large sturgeon continue to be landed from Mullett Lake. No sturgeon have been reported taken in several years at Burt Lake, which has a reputation as home to the “big ones.”
Changes to regulations this year increased the legal minimum size to 50 inches. This is to give the females more time to grow and mature so they can spawn before being taken.
Another change provides that all sturgeon taken must be validated by the Department of Natural Resources.
The Black Lake Boosters Association, which sponsors Shivaree, is working in partnership with the DNR. A DNR trailer will be stationed in front of the Black Lake hotel, and all sturgeon taken from Black Lake must be registered there. Mason Shouder, DNR game biologist, will be present. The DNR will also seek permission to clean them for anglers and survey them to learn more about Black Lake sturgeon.
This trailer will be the registration center for all other fish taken in the annual Black Lake ice fishing tournament, now underway. Prizes will be awarded for the largest muskellunge, pike, walleye and perch, as well as sturgeon.
Already a 26 pound muskie has been spread on Black Lake this winter and entered the tournament.
A new feature this year is a drawing for a special prize for some of the anglers who catch a sturgeon.
Every time a sturgeon is registered, the angler is given a number. At the shivaree, a number is drawn, and whichever angler has that number is paid $1 per pound for the weight of his sturgeon.
The angler who lands the biggest sturgeon in Black Lake is Black Lake Sturgeon Shivaree King. He also (won a) prize equal to $1 for every pound of his fish.
Mrs. Frieda Paull, president of the Black Lake Area Boosters Association, said that if Sturgeon King’s number is drawn in the drawing another number will be drawn because Sturgeon King also cannot win the other $1 a pound cash prize.
DNR trailer-registered anglers in five tournament types will be eligible for the Michigan Master Angler award tournament.
There must have been a lot of anglers in the shack looking at the holes cut in the ice this Friday. said Mrs. Paull’s interest in ice fishing is strong, and he has never seen as many fish cages on Black Lake in his 14 years of experience on Black Lake as there are today.
Plans for Shivaree include a queen, snowmobile races, payday, poker run, children’s snowmobile parade, other children’s games, and rides, along with other features where the Association.
