Autos Across Mackinac: Tourism Becomes 'Very Big Business' in 1940
Part 26: A BIG YEAR BEFORE WWII
By Les Bagley

During 1940, a study determined that the state could save money by replacing the two smallest ferries, the Mackinaw City and Saint Ignace (seen here in winter layup in Cheboygan), with a larger vessel. Although the public took little notice, the boats were offered for sale.

To mark the 50th Anniversary of the opening of the Mackinac Bridge, the St. Ignace News is serializing Les Bagley's previously unpublished manuscript on the history of Michigan State Ferries. Arcadia Publishing will publish his smaller photo history of the fleet in mid-July. In last week's installment, traffic continued to build in 1939, with the state boats running into 1940 before the railroad icebreakers took over the run.

In 1940, most forecasters projected a mid-April start for Great Lakes trade. But falling temperatures solidified ice in the Straits and on Easter morning the mercury stood at minus-five degrees. The Escanaba was called to help open the upper lakes for shipping, arriving in the area April 4.

The railroad boats kept running, however, and based on loadings so far, officials projected a rosy summer tourist season. During the year's first quarter, auto traffic was up 5,180 cars, an increase of 49%! Passenger traffic grew even more, expanding an incredible 66% in the first three months of the year. On April 1, a crew of 50 men, excluding officers, was called to work to fit out the two state boats for service, and fires were laid in the newly retubed boilers of The Straits of Mackinac and in the City of Cheboygan. While the leased Sainte Marie (II) would continue through April 30, the Cheboygan would join her on April 16, and The Straits would replace her at month's end. The railroad boat would then be refitted and held until the start of dedicated truck and commercial runs in July.

On April 11, the Cheboygan broke a route across the harbor from her winter slip at the coal dock to Dock No. One. The ferries hoped to use her to thaw the ice from under Dock One's loading ramps so the season could start five days later. At the same time, the state police released a report on their efforts to capture fugitives in the Upper Peninsula. They hoped to use the ferries to stop them from fleeing southward, and the lawmen established a policy to notify ferry crews whenever they should watch out for fleeing lawbreakers.

The boats went into service as scheduled in April, and traffic continued to build. By Memorial Day, all five boats were ready to meet the rush of vacationers. The last boat to be activated, the Munising, made a trial run on May 29 and was pronounced fit for use. Captain George Loughlin scheduled The Straits, the Mackinaw City and the Cheboygan to make regularly scheduled sailings. The other two boats were used to fill in or if traffic began to back up.

In 1940, Memorial Day, May 30, fell at mid-week, so traffic was not quite as heavy as it could have been. May traffic actually fell off by 3%, and over the holiday the ferries only experienced an increase of about 37 cars from the previous year. Captain Loughlin explained that was because the return traffic wouldn't be counted until June. Resorts were still quite happy with their early season business, and everyone still looked forward to a banner year.

More importantly, the state looked forward to a report released June 1 by Modjeski and Masters about the feasibility of their proposed bridge, including final word on what type of bridge it just might be. Included in the plans was the causeway extending southward from St. Ignace for use as a summer ferry dock. The plans were forwarded to the federal government in hopes of getting final federal approval, as well as a commitment for federal financing.

Businessmen from around the Straits region were invited to a "Straits Boosters Club" meeting at Grand Hotel June 16. Nearly 400 decision-makers attended the affair, which saw the formation of The Straits of Mackinac Tourist and Travel Association. The Grand's W. Stuart Woodfill hosted the meeting, with transportation provided by the Arnold Line steamers Islander and Algomah and the Mackinac Island Carriage Association. St. Ignace's LaSalle High School Band provided music for the event, and 17 Island hotels, in addition to the Grand, provided accommodations at greatly reduced rates for the participants. Woodfill, called the "greatest booster in the Northwest" when introduced by Mayor Robert Doud, commented, "Never before have the communities of this region been called together to work out plans for the benefit of all… We hope this meeting will be just the beginning. We all want to know what neighboring communities have to offer the tourist, and how they get things done."

Col. Roger M. Andrews, organizer of the new Blue Water Trail Association, was the keynote speaker. The group had organized attractions and businesses for joint promotion all around the shore of Lakes Michigan and Huron. Andrews pointed out the great historical and natural attractions of the region and noted their great appeal to visitors.

"We can work together and win," he said. "We can be selfish and lose. If our friendliness and hospitality includes the favored summer territory from the Soo to Petoskey and Cheboygan, including Mackinac Island, St. Ignace, Mackinaw City, and the Snows, we will develop the greatest travel center in America. There is glory and profit enough for all. Each of us needs the other. Acquaintance will beget confidence, confidence will beget friendship, and friendship will beget business. Lets start tonight to make friends by being one."

Everyone at the meeting hoped that by working together, they could further expand tourism to create even bigger profit-making opportunities. All agreed, tourism was very big business.

The Michigan State Ferries, themselves, were now big business. James M. Haswell, a reporter from the Detroit Free Press, visited the fleet in early June and told his readers that, although the ferries generated more than a halfmillion dollars in revenue annually, they continued to lose money. The income didn't match operating expenses or repair costs. The state also continued to provide additional capital investment for improvements to the service each year.

Of particular note was the price of providing service for peak loads on Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, and the start of hunting season.

"Nobody who studies the figures questions that the ferry system would require a smaller investment and would make money if the holiday-peak problem were ignored," Mr. Haswell wrote. "In 1939, the six ferries took in $518,483 and spent $566,536 on operations and maintenance. The State Highway Department contributed $150,000 additional, of which $84,604 was spent as capital investment. So far in 1940, traffic at the ferries is up 32% over 1939, so highway executives are hopeful of showing a profit."

Haswell noted several adjustments could be made to save money.

"The two smallest boats, the Mackinaw City and Sainte Ignace, could be replaced with a boat having their joint capacity for carrying cars and save $20,000 a year. The ferries made 10,344 trips (in 1939.) On average, each trip cost $54.76 and produced $50.11 in revenue. But there was a wide difference in the revenue records of the different boats."

"The Straits of Mackinac ran the oftenest, took in $44 a trip and cost only $31.49 a trip. This boat made 2,534 trips and ran nearly all year around. The City of Cheboygan made 2,065 trips, took in $61.27 a trip and cost $55.94 a trip to operate. The Mackinaw City made 1,629 trips and took in $39.73 a trip at a cost of $39.25 a trip.

"These three boats handled the normal traffic. But now look at the cost of the special services: The Sainte Marie (II) is the icebreaker of the fleet. She ran in the wintertime and took in $34.86 a trip, but cost $94 a trip to operate. Similarly, the Chief Wawatam, another ice ferry, made 15 emergency trips under a lease arrangement, took in $115 a trip and cost $505.86 a trip to operate.

"The Sainte Ignace was in a collision last year and was laid up with an expensive bill for repairs. The record shows she made only 1,046 trips, took in $48.11 a trip and cost $70.21 a trip to operate. The City of Munising required extensive alterations last year, so her record looks bad. She made 1,627 trips, with revenue of $74.25 a trip and a cost of $82.37 a trip."

Despite the expense of operating the railroad boats, plans were again laid for the Sainte Marie (II) to resume service for truckers beginning July 1 after having been discontinued in 1939. Commissioner Van Wagoner announced commercial vehicles would be handled on five round trips a day, leaving from the Mackinaw Transportation Company docks. For safety, the sailings would not include vehicles carrying gasoline or other flammables.

The Highway Department also announced that, for 1940, it would finally close the gaps in the concrete surface of US-2 West of St. Ignace, meaning a continuous ribbon of pavement all the way from the Straits to Manistique. The department also planned to eliminate many "highway inadequacies and hazards."

On Thursday, June 13, Commissioner Van Wagoner made the long-expected proclamation that he would run for the office of Michigan's governor. His announcement was a surprise in that it was supposed to come at a "surprise" party in Pontiac a day later. But word of the decision leaked prematurely, and Van Wagoner felt there was nothing left to do but admit his intentions. To assist in his campaign, he appointed Deputy Commissioner G. Donald Kennedy as his campaign manager. Meanwhile, Grove M. Rouse, Governor Luren Dickinson's campaign manager, filed enough petitions with the Department of State to qualify his candidate to run for the office he'd inherited at the death of the late Governor Frank D. Fitzgerald.

The battle between Van Wagoner and Dickinson would be nothing compared to the battles raging across Europe that summer, however. Germany attacked France, Paris was evacuated and burned, and Italy declared war on the side of Germany. President Fanklin D. Roosevelt pledged all the help America could give her allies, short of war. American industry geared up an unprecedented armament program to help the European war effort. English headlines screamed, "The US is with us. They'll be in the war soon."

At the Straits, there was a problem in getting the Sainte Marie (II) ready to go into truck service on July 1. The railroad boat needed to be painted. Early Tuesday morning, June 25, three State Ferry crewmen, Kenneth Smith, William Proctor and Arthur Jurmo, tried to use a rowboat to tow a raft from the State Dock to the Merchandise Dock. They planned to stand on the raft to paint the Sainte Marie, which was tied there. Though they bent their backs to the oars, high winds conspired against them, and the harder they rowed, the further they were blown from their intended destination.

The boat and raft, with the hapless men waving frantically, was swept out of Moran Bay and into the Straits, where it drifted close to North Graham Shoal, rapidly approaching the open waters of Lake Huron. For two hours the men drifted amid increasing wind and waves until, in desperation, they hoisted an undershirt on an oar. Their makeshift distress flag was finally spotted by officers on the Sainte Ignace with a load of passengers and cars leaving Mackinaw City. Captain Louis Strahan altered course and picked up the men about 10:20 a.m.. The rowboat and raft were towed back to their starting point by a line from the ferry.

Throughout June, lines at the ferry ticket booths grew. By month's end, traffic had increased by 16.7% over June 1939. In June 1940, the ferries carried nearly 30,000 cars. The busiest days were at the end of the month, just prior to the Fourth of July weekend, when the ferries inaugurated a month-long survey to determine what time of day the largest traffic volumes arrived at the docks. Preliminary indicators said the peaks came just before and after the noon hour, and between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Over the holiday the ferries carried more than 21,000 cars in nine days. On four days the boats handled more than 3,000 cars a day, with a one-day record of 3,202 on July 7 during the southbound return rush.

For the crews, one of the best days was July 2, when The Straits of Mackinac steward Durwood Carmean and his new bride were guests at a surprise party aboard the vessel. Elaborate plans were made to charivari the young couple. Captain M. D. Ramage made the presentation, Officer Crawford placed guards at all the stairways leading to the cabin, and the newlyweds were escorted down the forward stairway in the innocent belief that the ceremony was all just a welcoming. Instead, the couple was treated to a Chinese dinner while the crew, who had raided the galley, appeared with pots and pans for noisemakers. One of the men even requisitioned the ship's dinner bell. According to Officer Crawford, this was the first degree given newlyweds aboard the boat. He said the third degree is a far more evident charivari, but the ship's crew and officers nevertheless guaranteed newlyweds a safe voyage, though a bit rough.

The Independence Day weekend was also a busy one for Senator Prentiss Brown and his family. The Senator went to Gaylord to confer with Democrats plotting Commissioner Van Wagoner's gubernatorial campaign, and his daughter, 17-year-old Barbara, was chosen as the first girl from outside of the Traverse City region to reign as the State's Cherry Queen. Later, she would travel to New York to compete for the national title.

In mid-July, the Mackinaw City was involved in another rescue. Five teenaged boys from St. Ignace got a dunking when their 18-foot sailboat was swamped by waves from a passing ship just outside Moran Bay. They clung to the overturned craft until a lifeboat from the ferry reached them and organized loading them aboard the speedboat Good News, which returned them to shore. They got home wet, but safe and sound.

During at least three weeks in July, organizers from the National Maritime Union, CIO, worked in St. Ignace to enlist support for union representation for unlicensed ferry workers. Martin Kari and Ralph Rogers, representatives from the union's Detroit and Cleveland offices, said they had signed up about 90 of the 135 unlicensed men on the boats and docks and set a meeting for the men at the American Legion hut. According to Kari, job security, regardless of which political party controlled the ferries, was a primary concern to the men.

"Naturally, wage increases and better working rules are (also) among our aims," he said.

The union sought a contract with the Highway Department in Lansing to cover the work on the state ferries.

The CIO wasn't the only union working to improve the state of ferry workers' lives. Later that summer, the AFL-based Marine Engineer's Beneficial Association forced a state labor mediation hearing involving ferry officers and the Highway Department. After nearly a year of negotiations, the union had been unable to reach a contract with the department, and James H. Blake, chairman of the Lake Executive Committee, wrote the labor board to complain.

"It is a well known fact," he said, "that the officers pay annual tribute of $25 to $200 for their 'jobs' and are responsible only to party requirements." He said that any private marine company that made seamen pay for their jobs would be liable to criminal prosecution. And he alleged that the ferries were not paying wages equal to other carriers.

Leonard C. Sauer, the highway department's personnel director, responded in the absence of Commissioner Van Wagoner. He said salaries had been set under civil service regulations and were satisfactory to the union several years before. He said he believes the pay was about equal, but that living conditions were better. He noted that some differentials in pay were due to civil service requirements.

There were some differences in opinion between the Soo Evening News and the St. Ignace Republican-News in early August. The Soo paper accused St. Ignace information booths and gas station attendants of telling tourists the locks were closed for viewing. The Republican-News said the St. Ignace Chamber of Commerce investigated and found that most tourists were confused by heightened measures of lock security owing to the war in Europe.

"Then the Soo got busy and plastered St. Ignace with big yellow signs pointing out that the locks were open to tourists. They did not point out, however, that the locks are guarded night and day, cameras are not permitted near the locks, nor can people carry packages of souvenirs or such on the locks," the paper added. The paper speculated that these regulations might discourage visitors from going to the Soo.

The differences between Republican and Democratic politicians were put aside briefly on August 3. Most political leaders from both parties visited Mackinac Island to attend a memorial ceremony at Ft. Mackinac to honor the late Governor Frank D. Fitzgerald. Governor Dickinson gave the keynote speech at the program, which was also attended by Commissioner Van Wagoner, Senator Brown, Congressman Bradley and others. Abronze plaque mounted on a granite stone was unveiled, followed by a 19-gun salute to Fitzgerald from the fort's cannons.

"No man who ever served as Governor of Michigan thought more of Mackinac Island," Mackinac Island State Park Commissioner W. F. Doyle said.

The guns at Ft. Mackinac were nothing compared to the guns being fired in Europe. England awaited the first shots of a German blitzkrieg. Russia gobbled up Estonia and Latvia, moving quietly to the Balkan borders. Adolph Hitler visited Napoleon's tomb in Paris, and President Roosevelt sent a bill to congress asking for permission to conscript up to 42 million American men of military age. The army predicted that might be too much for the country to swallow, and suggested the measure might be watered down some by the time it passed Capitol Hill.

On the last Thursday of July, Chairman G. Donald Kennedy and Secretary Richard Bartell of the Mackinac Straits Bridge Authority visited the Straits with Mr. and Mrs. Andrews, he being a noted bridge engineer. The group was hosted by the State Ferry Service and Captain Loughlin prior to their departure for Southern Michigan. Shortly thereafter, the authority released its long awaited report on construction of the Mackinac Straits Bridge.

It was entirely feasible from an engineering standpoint, the report concluded, and could be built for a cost of $26,740,000. Beginning near the entrance to Ft. Michilimackinac at Mackinaw City, the bridge would use lengthy causeways on each side, plus a pair of suspension spans, 2,950 and 4,600 feet long, to reach St. Ignace. The clear-water span would be four miles long and clear the water by up to 150 feet at the center. If begun in 1940, the report projected the bridge could be finished by 1947. The final plans did not include railroad tracks, which would have added another $16 million to the cost and would have required special equipment to move even limited sized trains. Instead, the bridge would have four traffic lanes, two in each direction, giving a maximum capacity of 1,200 vehicles per hour each way. Lighted roadways at each end, telephone stations at frequent intervals, aerial beacons, and radio beams would finish the bridge. Pier lights and fog sirens would protect the structure from ships navigating through the Straits.

The report had so far cost $175,000 Kennedy said. The first week of August, he and authority member Joseph Green went to Washington to confer with Congressman Bradley for enabling legislation to construct the bridge. That approval came Monday, August 4, and went to President Roosevelt for his signature. It was also taken to the War Department for construction approval.

A Republican-News editorial wondered if those actions might be the "beginning of the end" of the long fight for the bridge.

"The greatest man-made bridge in the world…is about to be realized," the paper said. "Michigan awaits clarification of plans as to the imminence of the actual construction project which will take seven years to complete."

Meanwhile, consulting engineers Modjeski and Masters recommended immediate construction of the causeway to extend south from the St. Ignace shore. At an estimated cost of $965,000, the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC)-funded project would provide a starting point for bridge construction and would speed up ferry service across the Straits.

That service had grown another 3.3% in July, according to Highway Department figures. Some 65,402 autos were carried in July, bringing the yearly total to more than 133,000 cars, a 9.6% increase for the first seven months of the year. Assistant Superintendent DeLoriea began sorting through hourly traffic statistics collected during the month. He said preliminary conclusions still showed most autos arrived at the dock between noon and 5 p.m. for transportation.

Professor James Cissel, the engineer from the University of Michigan who had worked on the initial part of the Straits bridge project, felt building the bridge would be a great boon for tourist travel to the Upper Peninsula. He said time spent crossing the Straits would be reduced from 1-1/2 hours waiting for and riding the ferry to just about 20 minutes. Since the bridge would include the longest suspension span in the world, it would initially see a much greater volume of traffic, as tourists would come just to see it. Traffic would then fall off for awhile, but would ultimately build as people of Michigan and bordering states became aware of the increased accessibility of the Upper Peninsula. Meanwhile, people would continue to cross on the ferries.

One visitor who arrived unnoticed in the crowd of cross-straits travelers was Hollywood idol Clark Gable. The star of such classics as "Gone with the Wind" and his entourage crossed on the ferry and then stopped to eat at a lunch counter in Brevort a few miles northwest of St. Ignace. No one recognized him, although Gable ordered a round of drinks for everyone in the place. Finally, his manager spilled the beans, explaining Gable had visited the area previously, about two years before. This trip, he'd left his mother and sister in Detroit and was heading to Duluth on business, the manager said.

On August 19, Highway Commissioner Van Wagoner took time out from his campaign schedule to open the 3rd Annual Picnic for State Highway Employees and their families at Iron Mountain. Many ferry workers attended the event, which included a golf tournament, baseball games, races, and contests for all age groups. Dinner was served in the city park from 5 to 7 p.m., followed by an outdoor movie show at 8:30.

Others who attended were engaged in completion of hard surfacing Upper Peninsula roadways during the 1940 construction season. US-2 and US-41 had received concrete surfaces of at least half of their combined 618 miles in the past seven years, with another 224 miles done prior to 1933. For 1940, the Highway Department hoped to complete the remaining 88 miles before bad weather set in.

One person who probably didn't attend was former City of Munising Chief Engineer Ivor Coveyou. Dismissed in 1939 under charges that he did not carry out his duties correctly, he complained he'd been discriminated against and appealed to the Marine Engineer's Beneficial Association, (AFL.) The union opened negotiations with the labor board, asking that he be reinstated with back pay. In a hearing August 23, Coveyou was reinstated, but not without the union making some concessions. In exchange for the engineer being hired back (as an assistant engineer, making $85 a month less than he had before), James H. Blake of the union's executive committee agreed to drop charges that ferry officers were compelled to "buy their jobs" with political tributes. Further details of the agreement were never released.

At the end of August, Congressman Bradley released a report on the various problems with getting bridge bills through congress. The entire matter hinged upon whether the State of Michigan or the Mackinac Bridge Authority would be backing the revenue bonds to be sold to finance the project. Apparently, some members of Congress were fearful that the state would be obligated to repay the bonds if bridge revenues didn't meet expectations. Finally, the War Department had approved a measure allowing Michigan to bridge the navigable waters of the Straits, Bradley noted. It seemed to him that it shouldn't be the decision of Congress on how the state did that, whether through the highway department or through a stateauthorized Bridge Authority. FDR would finally sign the bridge bill in late September, granting permission to build it, but no method for financing its construction.

However the main bridge would be built, the Highway Department pressed ahead with plans to build the causeway south from St. Ignace into the Straits. Commissioner Van Wagoner projected it could be finished in time for the 1942 season, and praised Michigan's political leaders, G. Donald Kennedy, and the Bridge Authority. He cautioned, however, that building the bridge across the Straits "must be kept from becoming a political issue. The Detroit Free Press speculated causeway construction would start in 1941. The cost, the paper said, would be about equal to that of a new ice-breaking ferry, but it would be worth it as, through lessened route mileage, it would double the capacity of the existing fleet. The paper noted it would also buoy up hopes that a span would follow.

For August, ferry travel was again up by 7.4 percent over the previous year. More than 77,000 autos were handled, bringing the yearly total to more than 195,570, a 9.7% gain so far over 1939. Assistant Superintendent DeLoriea observed that there were fewer trailers in the mix than in previous years. He felt that was good news for area resort operators. Indeed, Mackinac Island accommodations reported their first really good year in the past decade. Indications were that the season would probably last long past Labor Day.

Despite a threat of a polio epidemic, which cancelled the Upper Peninsula Fair and delayed the start of the 1940 school year, Labor Day weekend traffic on the ferries surpassed the record levels set the year before. Some towns and counties in the U.P. were quarantined to prevent spread of the disease, but on September 1, the ferries carried 4,227 vehicles, only nine below the all-time daily record set in 1939. All five state boats and the chartered Sainte Marie (II) ran wild for several days to handle the crowds, and for the first time since the City of Munising was added to the fleet, vehicles backed up on the piers. Even the Chief Wawatam was pressed into service to make a 4 p.m. trip on Monday to alleviate some of the rush.

Finally, with the climax of the season past, the fleet rotation dropped to three boats and the other two, plus the chartered Sainte Marie (II), were dropped from the run. The Mackinaw City was sent to Great Lakes Engineering Works in River Rouge for her three-year inspection and overhaul. The trip was delayed by bad weather, and the ship put in at Cheboygan overnight. Leaving again on Sunday at 1 a.m., she finally reached the shipyard at 10:15 Monday morning. There, she was drydocked, her hull was sand blasted and repainted, her seacocks were repaired, and other adjustments and repairs were carried out. Meanwhile, the City of Cheboygan retired to the coal dock for boiler cleaning and cosmetic sprucing-up prior to the hunting season. The Sainte Marie (II) was taken to the Merchandise Dock and laid up until the height of the hunting rush, projected for November 15.

With things slowing down, many ferry workers were laid off for the season. A number of St. Ignace young adults attended a farewell party at the William Morin home for ferry employee Edward Rackman, who was leaving to go to school at the University in Ann Arbor.

Others weren't so lucky. Captain Andrew Coleman, who planned to take time off while the Cheboygan was out of service, was called back unexpectedly on September 14 owing to the untimely death of the Munising's master, John S. Martino. The Munising's 61-year old captain was driving to Cheboygan to visit friends when he was struck by a heart attack. He somehow managed to retain control of his car and reached his friends' home, where a doctor was called. Though aid was given, he expired within half an hour after the doctor arrived. Many ferry workers, including most of his crew, attended his funeral Wednesday, September 18, in Cheboygan. Captain Coleman was temporarily assigned the Munising command, while Superintendent Loughlin went to Lansing to confer with Highway Department officials about Martino's permanent successor.

In mid-September, Commissioner Van Wagoner, who had come into office despite political campaigning against him by some Straits ferry workers, announced that under terms of the newly revised Hatch Act, ferry workers were exempt from restrictions against political activity. The act, designed to restrict political moves by employees on the federal payroll, or who's departments were wholly or partially supplied by the federal government, apparently applied only to five divisions of the Highway Department, Van Wagoner said. Employees of the road, bridge, testing, research, and highway planning divisions were barred from political activities, while land and legal, public relations, finance, office management, maintenance and traffic safety, and ferry workers were unaffected by the measure.

Van Wagoner brought his gubernatorial campaign to the Straits in early October. In a tour, which included 36 lower Michigan Counties in a week, he used St. Ignace as the starting point for his Upper Michigan campaign swing. Speaking at the Nicolet Hotel before a large crowd, his party also included Democrats Frank Murphy for Lieutenant Governor, Wendell Lund for Congressman, and Senator Prentiss Brown, who came in from Washington. The LaSalle High School Band entertained at the gathering.

The Mackinaw City, with Ben Houle in command, had arrived back from the shipyard in the wee hours of September 28 and was put back on the cross-Straits run the next day. But within days, she and her sister ship, the Sainte Ignace, became the subject of scrutiny from the Federal Government. As October began, Major Watkins and Col. Fitzgerald came to town to examine the two boats in connection with possible military use on the East Coast. After the ferry economics story in the Detroit paper earlier in the year, it was no secret the state was considering replacing the smallest ships in the fleet with one larger boat, akin to the Cheboygan or Munising. Following the announcement of the inspection tour, the state released no other information in connection with the examination.

Meanwhile, an accident the last Saturday night of September disabled Capt. Coleman's new command. The City of Munising lost a propeller blade and was docked so the stern could be raised for repairs. This time the "tipping" was carried out as planned, and the ship was soon returned to service. For the balance of the season, with Coleman on the Munising, Capt. M. D. Ramage took over the Cheboygan, while his ship, The Straits, was cleaned and reconditioned at the coal dock.

An accident on October 3 also disabled crewman Arthur Fleming of the Sainte Ignace. While directing parking onboard the boat, his right leg was caught between the bumpers of two cars, pinching him at the knee. Dr. L. C. Shaftoe drove Fleming to the Soo hospital for x-rays, where diagnosis showed the leg wasn't broken. Nevertheless, Fleming was laid up for a week in the hospital while the injured leg mended.

At the hospital, he had company. Another ferry worker, Chester Madison, the cook aboard The Straits of Mackinac, was also recuperating there. Madison had been rushed to the hospital for an operation to relieve appendicitis and complications, several days earlier.

Still one more ferry worker ended up in the hospital at the Soo. In October, Ferry Superintendent Loughlin also underwent surgery there for an undisclosed ailment. He wasn't expected back to work until at least early November.

By October 12, State Ferry officials announced traffic for the year was now averaging 6.55% above the previous year's figures. For the first time, the ferries had carried over a quarter-million cars in the first nine months, 12 days of the year. While September traffic had declined slightly, Commissioner Van Wagoner blamed the traffic loss on the Labor Day holiday, which was split between the August and September reporting periods.

That same weekend, the Associated Press broke a story from aides of Senator Prentiss Brown, which said that the War Department planned to buy the state's two smallest ferries for troop transport. The unnamed sources said the department would pay the state's asking price of $75,000 per ship and move them first for use in New York harbor and Boston Harbor and later to the Panama Canal, apparently in connection with a compulsory military training program. It should be remembered that in 1923, when Michigan first bought the ships from the federal government, they had only cost $15,000 each. The state had subsequently paid to enlarge them several times, however.

Next week: Another auto ferry in "training."

Copyright 2007 by Les Bagley. All rights reserved.