Autos Across Mackinac: Growth in Ferry Traffic Continues in July 1939
Part 25: GROWTH IN 1939
By Les Bagley

The summer of 1930 marked the opening of the new end-loading slip built just south of the triangle pier in Mackinaw City. The former railroad ferries, City of Cheboygan and City of Munising, could back in to discharge and load autos from their sterns. The arrangement, coupled with a similar pier in St. Ignace, sped up the ferries' turnaround times. They were easier to land, and easier to load with the new configurations.

To mark the 50th Anniversary of the opening of the Mackinac Bridge, the St. Ignace News is serializing Les Bagley's manuscript of the history of Michigan State Ferries in 52 installments. Arcadia Publishing will publish a smaller book he wrote, featuring many historic ferry photos, in mid-July.

For the first time in several years, the ferry fleet was not expanded in 1939. Perhaps it should have been. This week's installment begins with the continued growth of ferry traffic that summer.

This view, taken from the air a few years later, shows the arrangement of the ships at Mackinaw City. The end-loading slip is to the left, marked by the long pier used to guide the ferries stern-first into the landing. The Straits of Mackinac still used the side-loading slip at the head of the pier, as seen here.

The start of the Independence Day rush, July 1, 1939 , brought the new Mackinaw City end-loading pier into use. With volumes building to nearly the record levels of 1937, only the addition of the Chief Wawatam for several trips kept the wait for motorists from becoming unbearable. By the end of the weekend, 2,700 more cars had been handled than in 1938, only about a boatload less than the record set in 1937.

July 15 marked the middle of the summer, and traffic again approached records. Early July travel was up a whopping 25%, but there was less perception of crowding because of the extra terminals and slips. Commissioner Murray Van Wagoner noted that in 1937 and 1938, the state had relied heavily on the chartered Sainte Marie (II), while for 1939, the railroad boats had only been used as a contingency. For the entire month, the ferries carried 63,258 vehicles, a 14% increase over July the year before.

The City of Munising leaves Mackinaw City for St. Ignace.

There was even heavy pedestrian traffic on the docks when the ferries weren't busy. Carl W. Eggers, the music instructor at St. Ignace High School, conducted a series of Thursday night summer band concerts adjacent to the ferry administration building. Held through mid-August, the programs featured popular tunes, old favorites, and new compositions, with the downbeat scheduled promptly at 7:30 p.m.

But although if featured marches of the Chicago Police Band and Gems of Stephen Foster, the final concert on August 17 was nowhere near as exciting as the action out on the water just two days later. The Mackinac Island ferry Pilot II, owned and operated by Capt. Ed Couchois, was making a crossing that Saturday at about 9:15 a.m. with seven passengers aboard. Suddenly a fuel line broke, spilling gasoline onto one of the hot engines. The fuel ignited, engulfing the little craft in a cloud of smoke. Couchois used a built-in carbon dioxide extinguishing system to douse the blaze, but to keep his passengers clear of the smoke, he had them don life jackets and board several rafts which then drifted away from the powerless ferry.

One raft, with two adults and two children aboard, drifted across the ferry lanes to the buoy at N. Graham Shoal. The passengers, fearing they were in greater danger than they actually were, climbed aboard the buoy, with children hoisted to the top, and adults hanging on, partially in the water.

Captain Andrew Coleman of the City of Cheboygan spotted the drifting craft and he ordered his vessel to head to the scene, where the crew launched a lifeboat. The chilly, wet "survivors" were helped aboard, wrapped in blankets, and taken ashore in Mackinaw City when the Cheboygan finished her run. Altogether, the incident had lasted less than half an hour from the order to "abandon ship" until the passengers' rescue. The Pilot II was towed back to Mackinac Island by another boat, where the leak was repaired and wiring on one of her engines was replaced.

Auto traffic continued to build all summer. By the end of August, totals were well ahead of the previously largest season. Commissioner Van Wagoner projected the busiest Labor Day ever, although business manager G. Donald Kennedy cautioned that the alltime record of 3,955 cars in a single day, set in 1937, might not be broken. Still, Captain George Loughlin made arrangements with Captain Charles "Paddy" Brown to have the Chief Wawatam standing by and ready to haul autos on onehour's notice, if the backups got too big. Most observers felt that probably would not happen, now that the state had two docks on each side of the run to handle the rush.

Captain Loughlin's arrangements were wise. Cars descended on the ferries in numbers never seen before. The previous daily record was smashed twice that weekend, with a new all-time high set Sunday before Labor Day, at 4, 236 vehicles. With the Chief in the rotation, the state actually had three docks on each side to handle travelers. No one waited more than one sailing. While traffic for the whole weekend was about 400 cars below the record Labor Day of 1937, the season was still way ahead, and many felt 1939 would end as Michigan State Ferries "banner year."

Once traffic died down on September 3, the Straits of Mackinac, under Captain M.D. Rammage and Chief Engineer Mike Madden, left for Detroit, where she would undergo her fiveyear inspection and drydocking. Captain and Mrs. Loughlin motored to Detroit to oversee the work at Great Lakes Engineering Works. The same inspections would be done on the City of Cheboygan once The Straits returned to service.

Unfortunately, as Labor Day vacations wound down, the war in Europe heated up. England and France went to Poland's aid in response to the invasion of Adolph Hitler's Third Reich armies, and casualties quickly mounted. Newspapers streamlined their domestic coverage to handle the vast amount of war news from across the Atlantic. In Washington, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared America's neutrality, but most Americans secretly thought war for Americans was probably only a matter of time.

Michigan declared it had found enough funds for deep drilling to get core samples of the proposed bridge route across the Straits. The results of the survey were to be taken to a conference in Rogers City in October, which would kick off efforts to secure funding to actually build a bridge at Mackinac.

Fall auto traffic steadily rose. The Highway Department announced that September figures ran 13.5% above 1938 levels. For the year through September, the ferries had carried 229,842 cars, some 4,300 above the year before.

In October, the Highway Department enlarged the administrative offices on the St. Ignace dock. A 16-foot addition was constructed on the north side of the building to give more room for clerical offices. A basement vault was also built to handle the increased revenues the ferries took in, and the increased payroll and expenses.

But soon the ferry fleet found itself restricted to its three smallest vessels. The Straits returned from drydock to be replaced on the blocks by the City of Cheboygan, which was expected to take about $20,000 in routine maintenance and repairs. Then, unexpectedly, the City of Munising also had to be pulled from service. Workmen discovered a length of cable wrapped around one of her propeller shafts and thought the constant friction might have damaged her stern bearings beyond repair. The boat was tied up at the new St. Ignace pier, awaiting a decision on whether she would also have to go to drydock.

At the same time, the Chief Wawatam left the railroad run and went to drydock in Manitowoc. An inspection revealed she had suffered a broken shaft and a check in her keyway. A new shaft had to be manufactured and shipped from Erie, Pennsylvania, and repairs were expected to take until October 20, the same day the Cheboygan was due back. The Chief's Captain Brown had intended to stay with his ship, but was called back to the Straits temporarily to attend the funeral of a relative.

Then it was the City of Munising's turn. She left for River Rouge to have the damage done by the cable repaired. Captain Loughlin said she'd be back at the Straits in time for hunting season.

Michigan State Employment Director McGill traveled to the Straits from Lansing for a different reason. For several months, he'd been working with Michigan blind charities to establish blind-operated concessions that would sell candy and soft drinks, magazines and tobacco, but no food products, on the ferries. A recent ruling by the state legislature had authorized such sales on all state property, but the Highway Department demurred. The ferries had flatly denied blind people the right to operate onboard concessions. Their reasoning was that blind people might pose a hazard in times of heavy congestion when loading or unloading, or in case of an emergency. The fact was, since the service began in 1923, nothing had been sold aboard the boats by anyone. The only food service was for the crews, provided by the ferry galleys.

McGill visited a meeting of the St. Ignace Lions Club, asking the organization to petition the ferry authorities to change their mind. He said that with the Lions help, such sales could begin on all the boats by next year

St. Ignace Mayor J. E. Quinlan, who presided over the Lions meeting, told McGill the Lions were naturally in favor of helping the blind, but he "was not particularly favorable to the inauguration of such concessions on the ferries." Ed Fenlon told McGill he felt it was the intention of the legislature to allow the blind to operate such concessions where they already existed, but not to establish new ones. He said he was reluctant to try to force the Highway Department to allow blind people to do something they had flatly refused to allow other charitable groups to do since the ferry service began. Most people at the meeting agreed, and the club decided not to ask the ferry service to change its long-standing policy at the Straits.

In late October, the Assistant Secretary of the Department of Commerce honored the Cheboygan's crew for their Pilot II passenger rescue in August. J. M. Johnson cited Captain Andrew S. Coleman for his crew's prompt and efficient rescue work. But in the same week, the Marine Safety Board, which had investigated the ferry collision earlier in the year, condemned Coleman and the Sainte Ignace skipper, Louis Strahan. Both captains were charged with failure to check their speed when approaching each other in the fog, and both were handed a 30-day license suspension. Captains Strahan and Coleman never missed a day's work, however. The Highway Department noted that their services would be needed during the upcoming hunting season, so the board delayed imposing the penalty. Ultimately, they served their suspensions while their ferries were resting in winter lay-up prior to the start of the 1940 season

As planned, the Highway Department held it's meeting in Rogers City on October 27. Nearly 700 guests and officials from around the State gathered in the high school auditorium to hear plans for bridging the Straits and for highway construction in the Upper Peninsula in the future. G. Donald Kennedy was keynote speaker, and he disappointed no one. In his address, he told how final borings were being started that week to determine the location of bridge piers. He noted how maps had been prepared showing the exact bridge route. Most importantly, he added, the War Department had allowed the State to go ahead with plans to build causeways leading out to deep water, without requiring an Act of Congress.

Of particular importance was the causeway the State proposed to build out about a mile from the Upper Peninsula shore, from a point near Densmore's Tourist Camp to a spot just west of the Mackinaw City light. From there, Kennedy suggested, two suspension spans would leave the causeway and be about four miles in length to the lower peninsula shore. The causeway itself would be 4,373 feet long, composed of earth and rock fill and supporting a 32-foot-wide roadway with 3-foot sidewalks on each side.

The immediate benefit, he said, was that the causeway could be used as a dock to shorten the ferry route from about nine miles to only 3.6 miles each way. A landing slip would be built just off the eastern tip, so without expansion, the existing fleet could provide nearly double the capacity. That was important, Kennedy concluded, because ferry traffic had increased by 10.4% in October alone.

Captain Loughlin, who also attended the meeting, added that this amounted to an 8.4% annual increase. He anticipated the 1939 hunting season would boost the numbers even more. Loughlin anticipated the City of Munising would be back from drydock on November 2 or 3, and said the fleet was prepared to go to 24-hour service for hunters, beginning November 10, if needed. He also said he had again arranged for use of the two railroad boats if the volume of traffic became greater than his own fleet could easily handle.

His wife, meanwhile, went down to the court house and became the first person in St. Ignace to get 1940 auto license plates. Over a ton-anda half of plates had been delivered the first of November, and Mrs. Loughlin came home with license number UA-50-01. Perhaps she also came home with a box of fudge. The same week, F. J. Murdick, formerly of Mackinac Island, opened a candy kitchen and restaurant in the former Hiawatha Café downtown. "Murdick's Famous Fudge" was already becoming a fixture in the Straits region.

Highway Department officials predicted at least 19,000 hunters might cross on the ferries in 1939. They were wrong. The total was closer to 20,720. A thousand more cars, a full 10% more, were carried than in the same period the year before. To help hunters, the department set up an information stand at the intersection of US-23 and US-31 south of Mackinaw City. Stocked with maps and guidebooks, the kiosk was staffed by department personnel who helped guide hunters via the best available routes. Commissioner Van Wagoner said if hunters had to wait in traffic to get on the boats, they could conveniently stop by the stand for maps and information. He said, for 1939, the kiosk was an experiment, but if hunters found it helpful, the service would be repeated again the next year.

The ferries set a new all-time hunting season record on Sunday, November 12, when 2,883 vehicles were transported. Yet the state ran only the three largest ferries. The two smaller boats were held in reserve, just in case they were needed.

One of the hunters who came north was former ferry superintendent E. H. Donor. He had hoped to slip into the woods unnoticed, but alert ferry workers spotted him when he and his hunting party drove aboard in Mackinaw City. Still having many friends after six years at the helm of the ferry fleet, Donor was later treated to a testimonial dinner and reception at Fred Cronan's American Legion Hut. C. J. Mulcrone presided as toastmaster at the event, attended by many ferry workers, including Assistant Superintendent Arthur DeLoriea.

There was no word on whether Donor was as successful a hunter as he was a testimonial subject. For many nimrods, the 1939 hunting season was a disappointment. Poor hunting weather kept the deer kill to a minimum for the size of the army that tramped through Upper Michigan's fields and woods.

In late November, the company that had been tramping across the Straits and poking into the rock below them announced that deep test drilling to survey for bridge construction was nearly over. Sprague and Howard of Scranton, Pennsylvania, had completed eight of 10 test borings when the weather halted their work. They expected to finish the job before the holidays.

Another job to be finished soon was leveling the new parking area on the expanded pier in Mackinaw City. Since the area between the causeway and the new rock wall was filled, silt pockets had caused sinkholes in the gravel parking area. On November 22, the state took bids from contractors to remove the silt, level the area, install drainage pipes, and cover it all with a layer of sand to prevent frost heaves. A hard concrete surface would then be installed in 1940s construction season. Willits & Schweinsberg Co. of Bay City was low bidder with a price of $17,397 for the job. The work was to be completed by mid-January.

In St. Ignace, the Arnold Line purchased the old Favorite dock from Great Lakes Towing. Otto Lang said his firm didn't plan to use the pier for a terminal, but wanted it for winter quarters and storm shelter. Lang also discussed his firm's use of the State Ferry pier in summer months, saying his arrangement did not expire in 1940. There was no reference to when such an arrangement might have begun.

The Army Corps of Engineers finally approved dredging 88 acres of East Moran Bay to a depth of 18 feet, provided the State Highway Department and the St. Ignace Fuel Company continued the dredging up to their piers. The engineers stopped short of authorizing a breakwall and a 21-foot depth, however, saying that with the war in Europe, the expense could not presently be justified.

As November ended, Mackinac Island residents still tried to justify State Ferry service to British Landing. Island businesses were stinging over another year of poor tourist business, brought on by the demise of many Great Lakes cruise lines. As the liners stopped calling, fewer visitors had come to the "Fairy Isle," and business people blamed the automobile. They watched in envy as thousands of autos crossed on the ferry each year, realizing only about 3% of the travelers left their cars and came their way.

Some thought allowing limited use of cars on the island might help, and more than 200 islanders petitioned the Highway Department to include the island on the cross- Straits run. The plan, promoted by radio and telegraph operator E. M. Tellefson and hotelier Gail Cable, included a parking area near the island business district connected by the single state highway where cars would be allowed to drive from the landing. Tellefson claimed 85% of islanders were favorable to the idea, but others quickly rose to oppose the plan, saying that so late in the year, most people interested in the island couldn't even be contacted. They felt the petitions had reached only about 35% of those affected.

One of those in opposition was University of Chicago Law Professor E. W. Puttkammer, who compared the introduction of autos on the island to an old sea captain who ordered the anchor thrown out in a storm, even though it had no anchor chain. He thought, "Maybe it'll do some good."

The professor noted that resort business was down almost everywhere; people just weren't going for long stays at summer resorts anymore. By allowing cars on the island, it would reduce Mackinac to the same status as everywhere else, and one of its most unique features would be lost. He concluded that circulating the petition when the cottagers weren't in residence was unfair, and deprived a significant portion of the taxpayers a chance to indicate a choice.

Ultimately, the Highway Department again rejected the petition. G. Donald Kennedy said stopping at the island might impair the orderly handling of traffic across the Straits. He added, however, that if the bridge took the ferries off the run, he could see no better use for the state's equipment "than to provide service to the beautiful islands of the Straits of Mackinac."

Island stop or not, ferry travel continued at near record rates through the end of the hunting rush, and Commissioner Van Wagoner decided to keep two boats on the schedule all the way until January 1, ice conditions permitting. The Mackinaw City and Sainte Ignace laid up on December 1, one at the coal dock and one at the old mill slip, followed by The Straits of Mackinac and one of the end-loaders on December 15. Captain Loughlin planned to have the remaining larger boat use the endloading slip in St. Ignace for the rest of the season, as he felt it would be subject to less ice build-up than the older pier. The second boat on the schedule, Sainte Marie (II) would continue to use the railroad dock on each side.

Ultimately, the Sainte Marie (II) and the City of Cheboygan were put on a "holiday schedule," effective December 16, with sailings from each side every hour and a half. The schedule included an early sailing at 5:30 a.m., and ran until 10:30 p.m. from the St. Ignace side. If the weather continued to cooperate, and traffic continued to hold up, the State boat would remain on the run an extra week, finally tying up for the year on January 8, 1940, the first time ever a State Ferry had run into the new year.

For most tourism dependent businesses in Upper Michigan, 1939 ended up "satisfactory," despite earlier projections to the contrary. George Bishop of the UPDB noted that Michigan tourism held its own while some parts of Canada and surrounding states had experienced steep declines in travel. Bishop cited Michigan's participation in the recent World's Fairs, and continued advertising and promotion, combined with cooperation from downstate Chambers of Commerce, for the results. He anticipated even greater returns in 1940, particularly with the war putting restrictions on European travel.

The war was hitting closer to home. As Germany crushed Poland, many local people worried that relatives might be endangered. Retailer Saul Winkleman hadn't heard from his sister in East Prussia for many months, but finally learned her family had escaped across the border to Lithuania, with just the rags on their backs. Driven from their homes like cattle, they had been kept in "noman's land" for 77 days, with little food or water, and many died during the march, which was spurred on by whip-wielding soldiers. The reports could only hint at the atrocities yet to come.

On the home front, weather began to cause some minor atrocities at the Mackinaw City dock. An easterly wind and storm blew in around December 14, undermining part of the rock fill along the structure. The Highway Department decided to have sheet piling installed along 263 feet of the dock, with the space between it and the cribs being filled with cement by the "tremic method." The cement would be deposited in the water through a tube to place it directly where needed. Ludke Engineering of Frankfort won the bid with a sum of $13,571 for the improvements.

The storm also halted ferry service. With temperatures dropping to 22 degrees and snow falling heavily, the Cheboygan was tied up when she reached St. Ignace at 10 a.m. The Sainte Marie (II) was ordered to stay there, while the Chief Wawatam arrived with the rail traffic later in the day, and also tied up for the evening.

Travel resumed the next morning, and by the end of the year, with both the Cheboygan and Sainte Marie (II) running, holiday traffic had hit levels never experienced before. In just five days, the boats carried more than 2,000 cars. Good weather, clear roads, and added ferry service all contributed, Capt. Loughlin said. The year ended with nearly 2,600 more cars carried in 1939 than in 1938. The year-end total reached 280,160.

The boats were tied up for the winter in St. Ignace, with The Straits and Sainte Ignace at the Mill Slip, the Mackinaw City and the Munising at the state coal dock, and the Cheboygan at the new slip at what was coming to be called "Dock 2," where the city's marina now resides. After January 7, the Sainte Marie (II) carried autos alone.

But Michigan State Ferries weren't the only ferry boats in the news as 1939 ended. The Pere Marquette Railroad announced plans to construct a new, modern boat to run across Lake Michigan from Ludington. At a cost of nearly $2 million, the City of Midland 41 would be the ultimate auto and rail carrier on the Great Lakes when she entered service in 1941. On a smaller scale, the Fort Brady Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) District solicited bids to build a 100-passenger ferry, 65 feet in length, to run from Houghton to Isle Royal in Lake Superior. The boat would be used to transport CCC enrollees, personnel, and supplies to two camps located there.

The year 1940 started out on a high note. As it ended, Commissioner Van Wagoner sent a letter addressed to Captain Loughlin through the mail from Lansing. More than just a New Year's card, the message contained the news that Loughlin had been promoted from Acting Superintendent to take the position permanently, effective January 1. Loughlin shared the news with his wife at their home in Mackinaw City, and his son, Alvin, who worked for General Motors Corporation in Lansing.

About the same time, G. Donald Kennedy shared the news that field studies for the proposed bridge across the Straits had been completed. The test borings were sent to be analyzed at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and the results would be forwarded to Modjeski and Masters in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, for final tabulations and bridge designs. Meanwhile, Kennedy felt building the combination causeway-ferry dock extending south from St. Ignace would provide hundreds of unskilled jobs for U.P. residents, and that the federal government would be disposed to provide funding. Pits for construction material had already been located nearby, he related.

With the State boats tied up for the season, there was little going on at the state docks. Works Progress Administration (WPA) recreational program supervisor L. C. Litzner asked the Highway Department for permission to build an outdoor skating rink at Dock 2. Backed by a number of civic and community leaders, the request this time was granted, and the rink was built with the help of local school students. The 120-foot by 200-foot rink was flooded for use in mid-January, and ice hockey programs were quickly initiated.

Their work done for the season, ferry captains and crews set out for winter activities. Capt. Louis Strahan of the Sainte Ignace left to visit his daughter in Escanaba, before going to Detroit. Ben Houle and his wife closed their home on Truckey Street to go to Hot Springs, Arkansas, to visit a health resort. But some people weren't so lucky. M. F. Madden, the ferry's head engineer, had gone to visit friends in California when he was called back to the Straits. Two carloads of tubing arrived in late January to redo the boilers on the three smallest ferries, and his services were needed to supervise the work, to have it done before the next sailing season began.

Another ferry engineer also found himself in hot water. Ivor Coveyou had over a quarter of a century of marine engineering experience. As the chief engineer on the City of Munising, he had been one of the first to suspect something was wrong when vibrations ultimately lead to the discovery of a cable wrapped around a propeller shaft the previous year. That was the tip of the iceberg. An inspection in December showed the ship had been operating with numerous defects. There was faulty boiler welding, recently repaired air compressors had broken down, and in addition to the cable on the port shaft, the inspection revealed the starboard shaft bearing was down over 1.75 inches below specifications. One inspector said, "I wouldn't ride on it, or expect the public to."

The ferry service had blamed Coveyou for the problems. First, he'd been transferred to the smaller Sainte Ignace, and then he'd lost his job. To add insult to injury, now he was targeted by U. S. Steamboat Inspectors Edgar Ewing and Captain J. B. Gellick, who came from Marquette to investigate the overall condition of the ferry that season. Coveyou, who had first requested the hearing to "clear his clouded license," was charged with negligence, and was the first witness called.

The engineer reported that he had repeatedly asked the office for permission to "tip" the boat so that a visual inspection could be made on the bearings. Permission had been denied, he said, as the office didn't want the boat to miss the two trips or more the inspection would take in the busy season. Coveyou testified that tools to inspect the bearings from inside the ship were not available onboard, and only part of the tools that should have been on the ship had been provided, so during the season, no inspection of the bearings had been made.

The inspectors noted they had found the boat in "bad condition," but Coveyou denied responsibility, saying he'd put in long hours trying to keep the ship in repair, and that his requests for additional help had been denied by the office. He said licensed welders from the state bridge crew had done the boiler work, and the air compressor repairs had been farmed out to a shop in town, both out of his control.

Assistant Superintendent Arthur E. DeLoria countered that the Munising had a larger crew than many ships on the lakes. He said he recalled no requisitions had been turned in to request that the boat be "tipped." Inspector Ewing asked why certain engine repairs couldn't be made without the boat being tipped, anyway.

The hearing lasted for several days, with many crewmembers questioned, including Captain John S. Martino, Oiler Don Horton, and Douglass Bynorth, 3rd Assistant Engineer. Testimony was also taken from the head of the state's "bridge crew," John B. Marshall, and several members of his gang. Attorney Edward G. McNamara represented Coveyou and appeared with him at the investigation. In his summation, McNamara said the evidence showed a state of friction between the ship's officers, and that cooperation in many respects was not given. He said there was "not one shred of evidence" that Coveyou had been negligent in his duties as the inspectors had charged. And he reminded them that Coveyou had requested the hearing in the first place.

The inspectors forwarded their notes and minutes to higher authorities in Cleveland, and Coveyou was forced to await the outcome of their decision. The results finally came in late May. The head of the Bureau of Maine Inspection and Navigation, B. S. Field issued a statement exonerating Coveyou of all negligence charges. Coveyou and his attorney then set out to have the engineer reinstated at the ferry service.

With mild weather continuing into February, the Mackinac Islander II maintained a sailing schedule to her namesake island. On February 2, Captain Hilliard Bentgen was called when four local fishermen were trapped on an ice field, which was breaking up under pressure of a brisk northwest wind and waves. Bentgen, who left the ferries with Jerry Stufflebeam seven years before, set out to find the hapless men. It took two hours to find them and bring them and their gear aboard.

The next day, Bentgen and the Mackinac Islander II were called to rescue two more fishermen about three miles off shore who appeared to be in difficulty. It turned out they had a team and a sleigh, and were working their way toward Burnt Island, so no rescue was needed in their case. But Bentgen had other things on his mind. He was also helping organize the Mackinac Island Ice Carnival, which was expected to bring more tourists to the island in winter than ever before. The event, held February 16 through 18, included an ice sculpture contest, a contest for carnival queen, and many activities centered both in town and at the Grand Hotel. Bentgen just hoped the weather would cooperate so his boat could continue to haul visitors to the island during the event.

As luck would have it, the week before the carnival, a 10-hour blizzard blocked the Straits and halted highway and rail travel in the region. The Chief and Sainte Marie (II) were kept in port on Monday morning, as was the island mail boat, as wind-driven ice fields closed the St. Ignace harbor. By afternoon, the sun reappeared, and things again slowly began to move.

Though the State Ferries weren't running, the ferry lay-up slips were busy places over the winter. Acrew of at least 40 men worked to put the boats into prime condition for the expected busy 1940 tourist season. The State Administrative Board approved a Highway Department request for $4,536 in ferry repairs, and crews went to work chipping and painting the interior of the ferry hulls to determine their condition and preserve them. The retubing continued on The Straits of Mackinac's boilers, and contracts were let for other work to be done as well: J. B. Lunds would do work on the Sainte Ignace and Mackinaw City for $3,142, while the Cheboygan Snowplow and Boiler Company would work on The Straits for $1,394. The contract for work on the City of Munising was later re-advertised.

Except for the brief blizzard early in February, the climate looked more like April for the Mackinac Island carnival, which everyone deemed a huge success. It actually looked more like April throughout much of the region. Nevertheless, on February 22, Captain Loughlin left for Houghton, where he and a number of highway department officials attended the Upper Peninsula Snow Fighter's Conference. Plans had called for a "sno-deo" with plow drivers competing to buck drifts, in conjunction with the Michigan College of Mining and Technology, and the UP Road Builder's Association. It was the first time a competition had been included in the two-day event. There was no record of how well it went with so little snow.

Captain Loughlin apparently spent too much time out in the cold, however. On returning home, he took to his bed for several days to recover from the effects of a cold or the flu he'd contracted while in Houghton for the meeting. He also missed one of the most unusual pieces of equipment ever to cross the Straits on a ferry.

On Friday morning, February 23, a huge 40-ton high-pressure steam boiler was trucked aboard the Sainte Marie (II) en route from the state hospital at Newberry to Bay City. Hauled on a multiwheeled trailer by two diesel trucks, the boiler towered 18 feet, 10 inches, and wouldn't fit aboard the ship until fittings at the top had been removed. The job of maneuvering it off the ship on the narrow Mackinaw City dock was also a challenge.

There were rumors as to a challenge of another kind. Although nothing was being said for sure, Democrats speculated that Highway Commissioner Murray D. "Pat" Van Wagoner might challenge incumbent Republican Lauren Dickinson for the Governor's Office in 1940. Many democrats planned to attend a dinner in Van Wagoner's honor in his hometown of Pontiac on Jefferson Day that March, and with so many of his party in attendance, most observers felt Van Wagoner would give the race a nod. Mentally, he did, but it would be summer before he officially announced his intentions. Political campaigns didn't last as long in the days before WWII.

Another candidate who did announce for office in March was former ferry worker Ed Donor, apparently the worker, not the superintendent. He briefly moved into the political arena as a Republican candidate for constable in St. Ignace's Third Ward, where he had a residence, but was resoundingly defeated in the April Democratic landslide, which brought Edward Glashaw to the St. Ignace mayor's office.

The mild winter, the increase in winter activities, such as the Mackinac Island carnival, and better highway maintenance were all factors that contributed to a record February for cross-Straits auto traffic. February 1940 showed a 2,082- car increase, nearly double the traffic handled on the chartered Sainte Marie (II) just one year before. For the first two months of the new year, traffic counts were over 50% higher. The bulk of the increase came on weekends. Still, Captain Loughlin projected no early fitting out for the "great white fleet" much before April.

Perhaps one reason was that Loughlin, himself, wouldn't be around to supervise the work before then. In early March, he left the Straits for a series of meetings in Lansing, Detroit, and Toledo, before going on to Washington, D.C., for the 35th annual U. S. Rivers and Harbors Congress. He wouldn't return until almost month's end.

Another man who appeared at the Straits at the end of the month was Floyd Austin, who came up from Lansing in another attempt to gather support for blind-operated concessions on the ferries. He was surprised to learn local sentiment in both St. Ignace and Mackinaw City opposed his efforts, and people may even have resented his group's persistence. Captain Loughlin explained the commissioner had already rejected the idea, and no one had informed him of any policy changes to the contrary. Most local residents apparently felt that selling anything aboard the boats would be a detriment to shore-based local businesses, so the idea again was dropped.

While the blind still didn't get stands on the ferries, Germany's army did get a hold in Northern Europe, despite a valiant stand by defenders in Denmark and Norway. As April began, Hitler's forces overran those nations to protect Germany's North Sea trade routes.

Next week: The ferries experience their biggest year yet in the days before WWII.

Copyright 2007 by Les Bagley. All rights reserved.