1888 Republican Heralds Arrival of Rail Ferry in St. Ignace

Captain L.R. Boynton

Editor's Note: In response to last week's first column in a year-long series on Straits ferries, by Les Bagley, the following article, published in the St. Ignace Republican April 24, 1888, reports on the April 17 arrival of the steamer Saint Ignace. The speech is by J.J. Brown, father of the late Senator Prentiss M. Brown, and was delivered in appreciation to Captain Louis R. Boynton, Ollie and Robert Boynton's great-grandfather, who delivered the rail ferry to St. Ignace.

The Gateway City Jubilates Louis R. Boynton Surprised in

Tears

Grand Flag and Medal

Presentations

Eloquent speeches, vociferous

cheerings,first class music,

distinguished guests, a ride, etc.

The presentation of a set of colors to the wonderful steamer "Saint Ignace" was formally observed by our citizens on Tuesday afternoon last. The day was fine, and the attendance so large as to amount to an ovation. Many of the stores were closed, and such as remained open might as well have been closed for all the business done. Flags were displayed all over the city, and a general disposition manifested to celebrate the day.

"The Republican" has already published, in common with the press of the State generally, descriptions of the "Saint Ignace." But after all, these descriptions can hardly be said to convey any adequate idea of what she is like. Personal inspection alone can do this: and she is worth a trip of hundreds of miles to see. She is the first of her class. There is no other ship like her. As the Monitor revolutionized the navies of the world, so will this boat revolutionize our merchant merine; and the day is even at hand when monsters of her class will navigate the Great Lakes in winter as in summer.

The exercises of the day were begun at 2:30, when Hon. A. Foley called the vast concourse to order, and introduced Hon. J.J. Brown, who delivered the following beautiful presentation speech, amid frequent interrupting rounds of applause:

Captain Boynton: I have the honor to represent the City of St. Ignace on this occasion in being deputed to present to this boat a testimonial of appreciation for conferring upon her the name of "Saint Ignace."

And I may be pardoned, Captain, if I say here, incidentally, that the people of this bustling city, so favorably nestled in this beautiful bay, have ever been active in all that pertains to advancement and progress. From the thinly scattered habitations of only a few years ago, we have grown into a City of nearly 4,000 people; and the untravelled pathways of a recent past have been supplanted by the noise and bustle of shops and manufactories until, now, sir, from the great bluffs that overlook us, echo and re-echo along these shores the hum and activity of a city destined to become one of the most important points in the whole Northwest.

And as another step in advance now steams to our shores - this sturdy messenger of the Lakes, which comes to surmount the impediments to winter's travel; which comes to join the Upper and the Lower State, and which comes to make the connecting link from sea to sea without leaving the rail!

We hail its coming with words of welcome. We hail its coming with happy greetings and with loud huzzas! Nature's great barriers which heretofore have blocked the way across these Straits must now succumb to human progress. This giant of the Lakes is simply illustrative of what human skill and ingenuity can do, and what can be accomplished by energy and enterprise. The glory and the greatness of the Icy King which so long around these waters has held its sway supreme, is gone forever!

All honor to the projectors of this enterprise! All honor to the brains that devised, and the skill that put afloat, this mid-winter messenger of the Lakes!

The benefits to be derived from an uninterrupted communication through all the seasons of the year, to the great North-west, is almost beyond comparison; and to the development and prosperity of this upper country it will add advantages which no other undertaking could accomplish.

Realizing this, the people of our city deem it fitting to show some mark of appreciation - some mark of their appreciation - not only for hoisting aloft the name of our City of the Straits, but for putting afloat an iron-clad like this which makes its way through the ice course as readily as a boat in a mid-summer's stream. And calling on you, Captain, as master of this marine wonder, is a mark of esteem and confidence for the services you have heretofore rendered; and for which, sir, you may justly feel honored.

We realize that many a weary night and day have you struggled across these Straits with your sturdy old war-horse, the "Algomah," fighting every inch of your way through the masses of ice and sleet and snow with which our winters abound; and never once, sir, have you faltered in your trust, or been recreant to the duties imposed upon you.

And now, Captain, as you bid adieu to your old "stand-by" to take charge of this Monarch of the Straits, the people of our young city come to you with words of commendation for the past; with hearty good wishes for all that's before you, and with one accord exclaim, "Captain, God bless you!"

And now, sir, in behalf of that people, I have the honor to transfer to your custody, for the final equipment of this boat, the colors which float to the breeze the name of our city by the bay. Take them, Captain, and may your days be numbered to hoist them to the mast for many winters to come. And as the years go on and your step becomes enfeebled, your hair whitened, and the lustre of your eye is dimmed by the flight of time, green in your heart will be the memory of this pleasant gathering.