MICHIGAN'S THUMB DRIVE" is a trip through Michigan's Thumb, it's also a history of Michigan, a geological survey and a travel guide. Michael J. Thorp tells stories of people, hard work and hard luck: legends of natural disasters, opportunity and riches and of failure and loss. Tales of presidents and war heroes, famous inventors and explorers, simple farmers and sophisticated Ivy League professors, it's all here in one trip around Michigan's Thumb. *Why did the terrified founders of the little community on Lake Huron call it Port Hope? *Who might be the most important political figure to come out of Michigan's Thumb? *What famous billionaire's fortune can be traced to his father's first job in the Thumb? *How did a telephone pole and an old street light change a Thumb community forever?