Arnold Transit Steamer Mackinac Cruises to Les Cheneaux Islands

An old Arnold Transit Company passenger steamer, Mackinac, transporting visitors to the Les Cheneaux Islands, appears to be getting assistance from a tugboat after getting stuck near the Hessel passenger and freight dock. Prior to the 1950s, Arnold Transit made regular trips to the Les Cheneaux Islands from Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island. According to an account in Philip McM. Pittman's "The Les Cheneaux Chronicles" by former cottager Sam Benedict, Mackinac was built by Arnold Transit prior to World War I, and served the islands for a time before it was reassigned to elsewhere because it "was too big for the channels and not economical on this relatively short route." (Photograph courtesy of the Les Cheneaux Historical Association)