The Ultimate List of Upper Peninsula facts

This page will be updated with facts that are posted to the @UpperPeninsula Twitter account and Yooper Steez fan page. Have a fact to share? Share it with us on Twitter or our Facebook Page and we’ll get it on the list.

1. Every Upper Peninsula zip code starts with 49---
2. Tahquamenon Falls is the third most voluminous waterfall east of the Mississippi River, after Niagara Falls and Cohoes Falls
3. The word Yooper was first published in 1979
4. There are three public universities: Lake Superior State University founded in 1946, Northern Michigan University founded in 1899, and Michigan Technological University founded in 1885
5. Tom Izzo grew up in Iron Mountain and went to NMU where he was a Division II All-American basketball player
6. The four bordering states of Wisconsin (Gogebic, Iron, Dickinson, Menominee) are in Central Time while the remaining 11 counties are  Eastern Time
7. The maximum north-south distance is nearly 125 miles
8. The maximum east-west distance is nearly 320 miles
9. There are 1,700 miles of Great Lakes shoreline
10. Lake Gogebic is the largest inland lake, with over 13,000 acres of surfaces area
11. In the winter of 1978-79 there were 391 inches of snowfall recored in Delaware, that's 32 feet and 7 inches
12. Over 30 sunken ships can be located in Bay de Noc
13. Construction for the Soo Locks began in 1837 and it opened in 1855
14. There are over 3,000 miles of groomed snowmobile trails, that's the equivalent of snowmobiling from Orlando to Seattle
15. There are nearly 400 species of birds in the Upper Peninsula
16. Mount Arvon is the highest peak in the Upper Peninsula and Michigan
17. The Upper Peninsula is home to about 301,361 Yoopers (2010 Census)
18. Lake Superior has 917 miles of shoreline along the Upper Peninsula
19. There are 15 counties in the Upper Peninsula
20. 906 is the one and only area code
21. Marquette is the largest city with about 19,600 people
22. Marquette County has the largest population with about 67,077 people (2010 Census)
23. Keweenaw County has the smallest population with about 2,156 people (2010 Census)
24. The Upper Peninsula is 3.16% of the Michigan population
25. There are 89 known species of fish in Lake Superior
26. Lake Michigan is the size of West Virginia
27. Lake Superior is the size of South Carolina
28. The Seney Stretch is the longest curveless section of highway in Michigan, and one of the longest straight stretches of curveless highway east of the Mississippi River
29. 906 is the 6th largest area code east of the Mississippi River
30. In 1910, Houghton County was home to more than 88,000 people. That is the record for the highest population of any county in the Upper Peninsula
31. In 1910, with 325,000 people, the Upper Peninsula was 12% of Michigan’s population. Today the Upper Peninsula is 3% of Michigan’s population