There's Gold in Them Thar Hills

There's plenty of evidence to suggest Michigan is stuck in the olden days.

The union strikes.

The plans for new coal-fueled power plants.

The old sewers which, in some corners of some cities, literally are still made of wood.

But nothing screams "1800's" quite like the idea of prospecting for gold, which is what a Canadian company is doing in the Upper Peninsula.

Folks in the UP, remember, are still fighting off the idea of digging for copper and nickel beneath some of the more untouched landscapes in the nation.

Success in the new economy, we're constantly reminded, depends on innovation and mining the minds of creative people for new ideas.

Michigan, however, seems all too comfortable rooting around in the ground for minerals and water.

Hopefully the Deadwood development strategy is taking its last breaths.