Ghost Town Tour Route, Frost to McKeever: Upper Peninsula

Here’s another little route in the Upper Peninsula where you can hit a few good ghost towns. Your journey begins in Houghton County and runs east to west, ending up in Ontonagon County.

Start in the ghost town of Frost, on County Road FF 16. There is absolutely nothing left here except the railroad tracks. Frost wasn’t much of a village, just a location on the Milwaukee Road O&B branch. It was originally known as Frost Junction and is also said to be the location of another village named Withey that folded and withered away in 1897.

Next stop is Pori in Ontonagon County. Now a ghost town, Pori was founded in 1889 as Pori Siding, a station on the Milwaukee Road. During the Great Depression in the 1930s, Pori was the site of a Civilian Conservation Camp (CCC); then during WW2 it was turned into a prisoner of war camp from 1943 until 1945. It was the perfect secluded place for it.

Later, it became a training camp for Michigan Tech forestry students. That camp was closed and abandoned in 1953 and the whole thing was torn down in 1955.

Nowadays only one building remains next to the railroad tracks and is basically out in the middle of nowhere.

The third location is Rousseau. Originally called Hubbell’s Mills in 1893, the name was shortly changed to Rubicon. It was re-named to Rousseau in the 1920s after Edward Rousseau, township supervisor for 26 years. It once had a post office and general store, now both long gone. All that’s left is the town hall and maybe a house or two.

Up next is Wasas. The only remains are a former general store, which may or may not be a residence. It sits on the intersection of Wasas and Rousseau roads.

Founded in 1870, Wasas’ main source of income was from mining and lumber; but once the trees were depleted and the mines closed, the remaining people took to farming. Wasas was also a railroad stop on the Milwaukee Railroad.

Next stop Wainola. It sits next to railroad tracks, but there is no info on any station that was there. It was named after the name for a Finnish family, meaning “Home of Waino”.

There was a post office that kicked off in 1914 but permanently closed in 1939. All that remains are a couple of farms.

Last stop is McKeever. Named after R.T. McKeever, it was settled in 1899 by the Copper Range Company. McKeever was a junction on the Milwaukee Railroad between Ontonagon and Sidnaw.

There doesn’t seem to be any record of stores or other businesses there, or even a post office. A trailer sits at the railroad junction, and farther down the road is a building that looks like it once was an auto repair garage. The further you drive away, you’ll see sporadic homes along the road.

Those are the main little villages and ghost towns on this short route. If you wanna go one further, take it to Mass City. Not a ghost town by any means, but there are plenty of cool old abandoned downtown buildings and you may find a place to grab a bite to eat. It’s an interesting place to end your journey.

The gallery below takes you through the route, from west to east.