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Autos Across Mackinac: City of Cheboygan Readies for Transport
Michigan's newly acquired ferry was not the first vessel to bear the name "City of Cheboygan." One of the Port Huron-Sarnia ferries had been named that before the name was changed to City of Port Huron. There had also been a side-wheeler owned by Capt. Sam Carrow operated on the Inland Route by that name.
The coal arrived just in time for Memorial Day weekend. Traffic volumes built quickly, and the third boat was called into service on the evening of May 28, a day earlier than projected. The three boats ran wild, but could scarcely keep up. Finally, as the weekend began to wane, the Sainte Marie (II) was also brought online to relieve the remaining congestion. Final figures showed an increase of 54% over the previous Memorial Day weekend. On the day before the holiday, traffic was up 300%! Requests for information at the state-run "tourist lodge" near New Buffalo were up 90%. Based on these early figures, everyone forecast a huge resort season for 1937.
The Chief Wawatam took a trip to Manitowoc for a routine month in dry dock. When she returned, Commodore Gerald Stufflebeam and part of the crew turned around and went back with the Sainte Marie (II).
"Nothing will be left undone to expedite fitting the steamer for service at the Straits," he said. Without the new boat, the ferry fleet moved into the 24-hour summer schedule at 12:30 a.m. on June 25. Now back from dry dock, both railroad boats supplemented the three-boat state fleet as it ran wild, moving traffic across the Straits on demand. Just two days before, Joe Louis had run wild in Cominskey Park, Chicago, defeating James J. Braddock to claim the World Heavyweight Boxing Championship, a first for a black man. At the same time, the black-hulled ferry, Ann Arbor No. 4, was at last repainted. By now, more than 100 men were scrambling to complete the vessel. On June 30, Commissioner Van Wagoner announced, "We have just received approval of the U.S. Bureau of Navigation for the ferry's new name." He anticipated re-christening the ferry between July 8 and 10. It couldn't be soon enough! As Independence Day weekend approached, traffic at the Straits grew to volumes never seen before. At one point on July 3, more than 1,022 cars were counted in line at Mackinaw City. With all available boats at full capacity, the wait stretched for up to seven hours. Motorcycle police patrolled the lineup, which extended more than three miles out of town. Local residents quickly pocketed small fortunes by carrying out water, soft drinks, and food to waiting tourists. On the Fourth of July alone, 3,379 vehicles were ferried, a 40% increase over the previous year. For the weekend, traffic was up 60%. Motorists attempted to take the waits in stride, and no major problems developed, despite warm weather and a lack of facilities along the traffic lineup. Many simply abandoned their cars and walked on the boats as foot passengers, taking the bus once they got to St. Ignace. Others changed plans and vacationed in Mackinaw City, or took the boat out to Mackinac Island, while still others "wheeled around and spent the weekend in the Petoskey and Charlevoix area for the three-day period. If the lines weren't bad enough, there was tragedy in the headlines. Flyer Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, disappeared somewhere in the Pacific. There was an SOS call saying they were down on a small island, but despite a frantic search, nothing was ever heard from them again. Finally, the Highway Department announced the new City of Cheboygan was almost ready for service. All she needed was a Bureau of Navigation inspection. Officials hoped to have everything ready so she could be re-christened and enter service around July 10. O.T. Pries was hired to paint the ship's new name on her pilothouse, her bows, and on the stern, along with her new hailing port, designated as Lansing. Despite the July 10 projections, on July 15, the Cheboygan was still tied in her namesake city, with no word on when she would finally sail. By this time, 36 crewmen had been appointed, under the command of Captain Sigurd M. Frey of Frankfort, formerly master of the Sainte Ignace. Plankholding officers of the Cheboygan would include First Mate Emil Potvin of Cheboygan, Second mate, W. J. Mackin from Detroit, and Chief Engineer, Ivo Coveyou, of St. Ignace. Captain John Marino of Cheboygan replaced Frey in the Sainte Ignace's command. All the delays in getting the City of Cheboygan into service provided more fodder for the pro-bridge forces. Professor James Cissel, the University of Michigan's bridge engineer, told a banquet of the U.P. Development Bureau that it was apparent ferry service would never be able to meet the demand, even if a new boat was added to the fleet every year. He called for immediate surveys of the bridge location so construction could begin right away. He said Michigan should suffer no embarrassment that four of her congressmen had recently voted against the bridge measure in Washington. An article in the Detroit Free Press cited Independence Day traffic figures, saying traffic was growing at the rate of 28% a year, with no letup in sight. The article quoted Cissel's remarks about adding a boat a year, and concluded that a bridge at the Straits was a good idea. "The idea of the Straits as the shortest road route from North to South and from East to West appears again to be emerging," the paper said. The paper also reported the deaths of wireless inventor Guglielmo Marconi, and Vivian Burnett, the man immortalized as "Little Lord Fauntleroy." At the same time, wire services carried the news that the Public Works Administration (PWA) had once again rejected the Mackinac Straits Bridge Commission's $30 million bridge loan request. On August 3, inspectors concluded their checks on the new ferry. With everything in order, she quietly slipped out of the harbor for a test run around Mackinac Island before tying at the St. Ignace pier about 1:30 in the afternoon to ship 350 tons of coal. She returned to Cheboygan later that evening. On the way, her compass was "swung" to align it, and make sure it read with the same calibrations as those in the rest of the fleet. Finally, on August 4, the City of Cheboygan was christened. Following a grand parade through town, in which the commissioner and his daughters rode in a horse-drawn buggy, hundreds of guests and spectators converged on Cheboygan's MacArthur Dock for the 2 p.m. ceremonies, sponsored by the chamber of commerce. A bunting-draped speaker's platform with public address system and chairs for invited guests had been set up along the ship's port side. The gathering crowd extended the length of the ship and into the adjacent parking lot. For a better view, many onlookers climbed aboard and watched the ceremonies from a vantage point on the boat deck. Col. Roger M. Andrews, chairman of The Mackinac Island State Park Commission, served as master of ceremonies. The municipal band played, community leaders spoke, and Mrs. W. R. Stringham of the Marion Brown Woman's Club presented the ship with a flag, which was accepted by Commissioner Van Wagoner as "admiral" of the ferry fleet. After the commissioner's keynote remarks, carried verbatim in the Cheboygan Tribune, his daughters, seven- and nine-year-old Ellen and Jo Van Wagoner, jointly swung a ribbon-hung bottle of champagne to officially re-christen the ferry. In his remarks that day, Van Wagoner poked fun at his own speaking ability. "Before coming up here today, I tried to brush up on the proper procedure for christening boats," he said. "Everyone, of course, told me it was necessary to crack a bottle of champagne over the boat's prow. However, I couldn't get anyone to agree with me that it was also necessary to make a speech. They thought that was carrying my authority as admiral a bit too far." He complimented the ship's new name as well, but added, "For one thing, it was either select this name or have your state Representative, Ernest E. Faircloth, as a permanent resident in my office." Most importantly, Van Wagoner revealed that the long-awaited plans for the new, modified, streamlined diesel ferry had just been received from the naval architect and that bids for building the new boat would be advertised in just a few weeks. He also mentioned thoughts about moving the dock in St. Ignace to create a shorter route, capping the plans with a new park for St. Ignace visitors. Lastly, the commissioner agreed that a bridge was needed as soon as possible, but the soonest it could be built was a long way off, five to seven years at least, for design and construction. He assured them that, meanwhile, the Highway Department would do everything it could to keep traffic moving across the Straits. But, he added, based on past experience, the ferries were engaged in a losing battle. The afternoon ended with public inspection tours of all areas of the ship. She then departed on a smokebelching VIP cruise for invited guests, which went out into the Straits and circled Mackinac Island. Following the festivities, the Commissioner showed his daughters home and then joined his assistant, G. Donald Kennedy, on a trip to New York, where he visited the Naval Architect's offices and transacted "routine business" with the United States Bureau of Public Roads in Washington. The City of Cheboygan entered service, making her first run at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, August 5. It was just in time. Traffic in July had increased 27.9% over the year before, with no letup in sight. The first day, the new ferry was able to carry more than 500 cars, moving 96 cars in one trip alone. Her nominal capacity was between 85 and 90 vehicles, depending on the size of the autos and number of trucks being carried. It was hoped she would leave her bad luck days behind. Apparently, she did. Although she was now the oldest ship the state ferries owned, she became a reliable workhorse, and only once had any other serious problems for the rest of her ferrying career. Once in service, it became apparent just how large the Cheboygan was, compared to the rest of the fleet. Her white hull and sides towered over the side-loading slips at each terminal. When properly aligned, she could unload cars from one gangway while loading at the other. But the inefficiency of backing cars into and out of some corner parking spaces aboard quickly became obvious. By Labor Day, engineers were hard at work on plans to convert the St. Ignace utility pier into an end-loading dock for the ferry. The dock would be widened, and a temporary end-loading slip established. At the same time, the causeway at Mackinaw City would be enlarged to provide a 40 foot entry lane and 20-foot-wide exit. Work would include dredging at both terminals in preparation for arrival of the still-anticipated new ferry. Bids for the new boat were to be called September 27. Plans to relocate the St. Ignace terminal were postponed indefinitely, pending construction of a bridge across the Straits. Labor Day weekend showed just how great the need for the new facilities were. Statisticians armed with columnar pads kept tabs on auto arrivals at the end of each traffic line. Others marked down what time the same cars embarked on the ferries to determine just how long each auto had waited. The crowds were handled more easily than expected, and while the northbound backups were still very large, southbound lines totaled less than a mile, at their worst. At one point, traffic was backed up in St. Ignace from the dock to the State Police barracks, and to the depot in the other direction. An army of state and local police, ferry workers, and National Youth Administration (NYA) boys kept traffic lined up in an orderly manner throughout the weekend. To provide more room for traffic, St. Ignace police banned parking all along State Street. It helped the lineups, but local merchants were less than happy there was no place for their customers to park. Now that the City of Cheboygan was in service, officials planned to drop back to two boats immediately after the holiday rush ended. Traffic continued heavy well into September, however, so only the leased Sainte Marie (II) was pulled on July 9. The Mackinaw City broke off the schedule on July 11, and with Capt. Murray G. McIntosh in command, left the next day for the shipyard in River Rouge for routine maintenance. Finally, on the 13th, The Straits of Mackinac was taken to the coal dock to have her boilers washed, and the two-boat schedule at last became a reality. The Straits was kept ready, however, just in case her capacity would also be needed. Later in the month, the Sainte Marie (II), which may have had the busiest year of her career, was also sent to the shipyard for general overhaul. As planned, the Highway Department called for bids on the new streamlined, end-loading ferry in the third week of September, with a bid opening scheduled for October 21. The all-steel vessel would, this time, be 372 feet long, diesel powered, and capable of carrying 150 cars. At the same time, officials announced work on the terminals had been delayed, pending approval of the plans by the war department. This was important, as while America remained neutral, war had broken out on two fronts, in Europe and in Asia. Germany invaded neighboring countries and Japan was engaged in bombing raids on China. American industry geared up to supply war materials for each conflict. Meanwhile, work continued to design a bridge for the Straits. In late September, drawings of the proposed structure were released to the media. As planned, the new, more direct route would leave Mackinaw City on a 4,600-foot causeway and viaduct type steelwork, heading in an easterly direction and swinging northeast to a main bridge about 14,000 feet in length. This structure would carry two lanes of traffic and a single railroad line over the main shipping channel to North Graham Shoal. There, the traffic would return to another causewayviaduct, which curved north to the point just south of St. Ignace. Estimates pegged the cost at $32,400,000, depending on what type of submarine construction would be needed to support the bridge. In early October, Michigan highway officials hosted a tour of the proposed bridge site for highway engineers from California. The guests flew from Lansing to tour the site and look over plans for the new bridge, and the new ferry Michigan hoped to build in the interim. J.G. Stanley, Fred J. Grumm, F. W. Panhorst, and Richard H. Wilson were involved in building the 7-mile Oakland Bay Bridge, which cost $75 million. While they refused to make any statement about the proposed bridge, they did note that, from an engineering standpoint, it appeared entirely feasible. On the first Friday of October, Captain Stufflebeam left Capt. Ryerse in charge of the Chief, and, after a year of charter, took the Sainte Marie (II) to Manitowoc to be dry-docked. Servicing the ferry was expected to take about two weeks. Meanwhile, although the work to widen the Mackinaw City state dock had not yet started, a group of Cheboygan restaurateurs purchased the old boarding house across from the dock. They planned to build a new "eating establishment" on what the Republican-News called the "most valuable piece of property in Mackinaw City. The ferry Mackinaw City had remained at the shipyard in River Rouge, but soon after arriving, her master, Capt. McIntosh, had taken ill. Hospitalized at the Marine Hospital there, he died Saturday morning, October 16. His funeral was held in Detroit, attended by Capt. Ed Doner, and many family members, friends, and fellow ferry workers, who flew in for the occasion. Capt. Doner later named Capt. William L. McDougall of Detroit as the Mackinaw City's new master. The state still planned to build its new ferry, and at the same time, beautify the St. Ignace terminal by making the entire waterfront into a park. But when bids on the new boat were opened October 21, the lowest, from Great Lakes Engineering Works in River Rouge, came in at $1,625,280, which was $25,000 higher for the non-ice crushing version than had been bid for the heavier version the year before. The only other bid, from Defoe Boat and Motor Works in Bay City, was $1,847,800, $250,000 higher than the planner's projections. The Highway Department characterized both bids as "excessive" and summarily rejected them. It left the trafficchoked ferries with only one thing to do. Immediately following the bid opening, Ferry Superintendent Doner was called to Lansing, where he conferred with his superiors, and then left for Cleveland, where it was presumed he was "talking ferry boats, and looking over what's on the market." Cleveland was the headquarters of the Pere Marquette Railroad's ownership, and speculation ran high that Donor might be negotiating to buy one of that company's railroad ferries, much as the state had done the year before with the Ann Arbor No. 4. Editorial sentiment favored such a move. The Republican- News said it made much more sense to spend a few hundred thousand dollars to refurbish a boat than to spend $1.6 million to build a new one. The paper also commented that the Mackinaw City and Sainte Ignace were obsolete for Straits ferry service, and that the St. Ignace State Dock and Coal Dock could each be transformed to admit an ice-crushing, end-loading ferry. Captain Doner's talks were cut short, however, when he came down with an undisclosed illness. Instead of seeking a boat in Cleveland, he was forced to seek a hospital room. He ultimately spent nearly a month at Mt. Clemens Hospital before returning to the Straits with his wife in early December, and checking back into their quarters at the Nicolet Hotel. While Doner was away, in late October, the bids came in to modify the Mackinaw City dock. Price Brothers Co. of Dayton, Ohio, won the job with a bid of $199,920. The work would not only widen the entry and exit lanes, to be repaved in the spring, but provide a 200- foot wide parking area, as well. Altogether, the new facility would be 271 feet wide. In awarding the contract in early November, Commissioner Van Wagoner said work to build a stone dike and breakwall surrounded by sheet piling would start yet that fall, and water at the face of the dock would be dredged to an 18-foot depth. The spoils would be used as fill to widen the dock all the way back to the street. Two other bids were also received, but rejected; William J. Meagher of Bay City bid $238,794, and the Luedtke Engineering Co. of Frankfort bid $245,820 for the work. Again that November, an army of hunters descended on the ferry docks heading for the Upper Peninsula. For 1937, an army of ferry workers, 154 people strong, was there to greet them. All four state-owned boats and the Sainte Marie (II) were mobilized to meet the rush, although the railroad ferry almost arrived late. She had been taken to Manitowoc in September for dry-docking and was delayed by a strong northeaster storm, which delayed shipping all over the lakes when she tried to return. Excluding the Sainte Marie (II)'s crew, 128 men worked on the state boats and 20 or more people toiled on the docks. Four more men kept the administrative office open nearly full time while the boats sailed with no schedule during the 24-hour a day period, which started November 10. Local businesses were kept hopping day and night to meet the rush, as well. Nearly every tourist accommodation, closed since Labor Day, reopened to house the nimrod army. Restaurants were crowded to overflowing and stores selling hunting supplies did a land office business, vending guns, ammunition, clothing, and supplies almost as fast as they could be packaged and sent out the door. The 1937 hunting season turned out to be the largest so far on record, with more than 18,330 hunters transported across the Straits in just five days. To handle the traffic, both the Sainte Marie (II) and Chief Wawatam were pressed into service, so with all six boats running, more than 450 cars could be moved from Mackinaw City every 90 minutes. Still, traffic was backed up for more than five miles waiting to board. Returning traffic was spread out over a longer time, but still caused headaches for Marshal John McLean in St. Ignace. The city's only police officer found himself untangling traffic jams, mediating line-cutting disputes, and answering foolish questions, like whether arriving autos were now in Canada, why no copper mines were visible, and why he wasn't attired like the pictures of "other policemen in London." Many returning hunters and tourists also stopped just long enough to tell him how much they'd enjoyed their Upper Peninsula visits. A survey completed by the American Automobile Association showed that, of 1937 tourists in Upper Michigan, 85% had come by automobile, 10% by train, and 6% by steamships and buses. Fiftyfour percent kept vacation schedules open, going where and when they pleased. Sixty percent preferred hotels, as opposed to tourist homes or camps. Forty percent said they would probably return year after year. The conclusion: If a resort or hotel operator extended the right service at the right price, he'd hold business year after year, and get even more through transients. The U.P. Development Bureau published a questionnaire for resort owners, reminding them that to increase business, they needed to put themselves in the tourist's place and treat people the way they wanted to be treated. If the owners answered correctly, they could almost be assured of increasing business, the bureau said. Finally, by December, the hunting rush ended. The Sainte Ignace was tied up at the Mill Slip and the Mackinaw City was laid up at the State Dock. The chartered Sainte Marie (II) was also released for two weeks until the start of the winter navigation season. For early December, only The Straits of Mackinac and the City of Cheboygan were left on the run. They were laid up on December 14, as ice began to form in the slips, making it difficult for them to land. In early December, Commissioner Van Wagoner took steps to make navigation on the Straits of Mackinac a whole lot safer. He ordered short wave radio direction finders installed aboard each stateowned ferry for the 1938 season. The receivers would indicate whether the boat was on the correct course and heading, despite decreasing visibility from darkness, fog, or snow. On December 1, a demonstration of the technology was conducted aboard the lighthouse tender S.S. Marigold. A temporary transmitter was set up at Old Point Mackinac and Commissioner Van Wagoner, Deputy Commissioner G. Donald Kennedy, Captains Donor, George Loughlin, and McDougall, and Chief Clerk F. C. Davis all watched in awe as, using only the radio signal, the Marigold's master navigated across the Straits with no visual references. Alex Tromblay, the Chief's second officer, witnessed the display for the Mackinac Transportation Company and took word back to Capt. Stufflebeam of what he had seen. As winter once again embraced the region, Professor Cissel complained that only $14,000 had been spent on bridge surveys and planning. He cited inadequate funding as the reason plans weren't drawn well enough for federal funding approval, already rejected twice before, in 1935 and 1936. He noted the proposed bridge would be built with revenue bonds, paid for entirely out of proceeds from tolls paid for the crossing, and that with ferry traffic increasing by 22.5% a year, it was nearly impossible for the ferries to keep up. By the end of 1937, the boats had carried 268,000 vehicles, averaging 2,500 a day in August. Delays had extended up to eight hours to cross. Clearly, something more needed to be done. Both in the public eye, and behind the scenes, it was. Next week: Auto Ferries in Training, Part II Copyright 2007 by Les Bagley. All rights reserved. |
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