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Autos Across Mackinac: Tourists Flock to See Bridge, Last Ferry Ride
Charlie Ziegler's retirement and the return of the Democrats to control of the Michigan State Highway Department had several effects. First, the "us against them" attitude of ferry employees softened, helping even more to avert the threatened Independence Day 1957 strike. With Ziegler and his deputy, George Foster both gone, the only ones left to fight were the Civil Service Commission, which already showed its unwillingness to budge on additional pay and severance issues, and the Democrats, who had already come out in favor of a better severance package.
Before he took office, Highway Commissioner-elect John C. Mackie had instructed his future department heads to closely look in-house to find openings for displaced ferry workers. Though he said he wanted to start over with a clean slate, Mackie's administration was saddled with $88,800,000 in highway construction contracts recently let by the outgoing Ziegler. Fresh Interstate Highway funds, and the revenue from the new highway bond issues put the department in its best financial condition ever, with many areas slated for growth. In 1957, the department took back the responsibility of state trunk line maintenance, which had been farmed to county road departments for most of Ziegler's tenure. That meant additional jobs on state road building and repair crews and in state garages in every jurisdiction. Mackie offered these to ferry personnel. Many would take him up on the offer. But there was caution in welcoming Mackie. While he was a graduate engineer, he wasn't a member of certain engineering organizations, which expected their standards to be met. The Michigan Society of Professional Engineers filed in the Michigan Supreme Court to determine if Mackie was legally qualified for his new job. The court said he was. And there were other worries about the new commissioner. Old timers remembered Democratic purges that decimated the Highway Department under Murray Van Wagoner in the 1930s, and the ferries in particular. With Ziegler and Foster out of the picture, the highest-ranking remaining ferry official was Superintendent George Lloyd, and many thought his job was in jeopardy. While he wasn't particularly well-liked in the fleet, most admitted Lloyd did know how things were run at the Straits. With only a few months to go, a new superintendent seemed impractical. Former Employee Committee member William B. Johnson even wrote to Civil Service commissioners requesting Lloyd be retained. "If such a dismissal or resignation can be forced due to a change of administration, then no one with a Civil Service position can afford to feel secure." He added, "In my dealings with Capt. Lloyd, I have found him to be an honest and very competent Superintendent." The commission agreed, and while Mackie may have briefly considered replacing Lloyd, with only four months of ferry service left, he decided against making any changes, and Lloyd remained to the close of the operation. Still, as Independence Day 1957 approached, the ferries looked nowhere near closing. Summer tourists came in earnest, crowding to see the bridge they'd read about in papers and national magazines. People also wanted to take one last ferry ride. Parents brought children for the "once in a lifetime" experience. Seniors returned to reminisce while they could. Warm summer weather spurred travel, and the ferry docks filled from morning until night. Over the holiday, the Straits State Park in St. Ignace registered double the visitors of the previous year. The Grand Hotel marked its 70th anniversary with just a few special guests, including Governor and Mrs. Williams. Manager Stewart Woodfill said he'd planned a gala celebration, but had so many requests the event was canceled, rather than offend anyone crowded off the invitation list. At a convention on the island, newspapermen learned the Ford Motor Company planned to spend more than ever before to introduce a brand new automobile called the Edsel. And on Lake Erie, a new ferry and cruise ship started service between Detroit and Cleveland. A WWII freighter, the Marine Star, was revamped for the run and remodeled into the S. S. Aquarama, a luxury day and overnight ferry liner. That summer, Prentiss Brown released the tolls proposed by the Mackinac Bridge Authority. Autos would pay a flat rate of $3.25 per crossing. While that was 50¢ more than the ferry fare, auto passengers would cross free, meaning, on average, most drivers would pay 7% less to cross. Some trucks would pay more than on the boats, while others would pay less. The authority chairman proclaimed, "Our object is to serve enough traffic so we can reduce all rates as soon as possible." As part of that plan, Brown also announced that the bridge would issue no free passes to anyone, as legislation prohibited them. The ferry system was rampant with pass holders, not to mention family and friends of crewmembers, who usually either walked or drove on while official heads turned the other way. As July came to a close, so did the gap across the Straits of Mackinac, when the final steel truss was raised into place to connect Michigan's peninsulas with bridgework, not just cables. The bridge now needed only a roadway and finishing touches for completion, scheduled for November 1, 1957. But leery of bad November weather, members of four local chambers of commerce conferred and decided to postpone any major opening celebrations until better weather the following year. Instead of a gala Grand Opening festival in November, they scheduled threeand a-half days of festivities for the third week of June 1958, with only a ribbon ceremony and dedication on the bridge's opening day. Meanwhile, civic officials from all over the north met with Commissioner Mackie at the U.P. Highway Conference in Marquette. In addition to outlining local highway needs, St. Ignace representatives pressed for title to the state docks once the ferries stopped running. Mackie assured them he would do his best to help them get the properties. But once again, Mackie found his plans to redo Michigan roads in his own image were stymied by things his predecessor had done. Attorney General Thomas Kavanagh ruled that Mackie could not divert bond money raised for limited access expressways by Ziegler to any other purpose. The expressways Republican Ziegler's staff had worked so hard to design a decade before would ultimately be built by the Democratic administration of John C. Mackie. Republicans noted, "If Mackie just connects all the expressways started by Ziegler, he'll have nothing much to do during the three years of his term." In August, it looked like a lot of expressways might be needed. Tourist traffic continued to build at a rate that thrilled bridge builders, but taxed the ferries to their limits. On Saturday, August 10, more than seven miles of cars lined up outside Mackinaw City. A large convoy of Army trucks carrying National Guardsmen to Camp Grayling may have contributed to the backup. Meanwhile, 5th Army Headquarters in Chicago was told to survey the Army's need for maintaining ferry service at the Straits as a defense measure, should the new bridge be damaged by war or natural disaster. Milton Bachmann, the executive secretary of the State Bar Association, also noted that terrorists would pay dearly if they tried to damage the bridge. "A person who damages a bridge can also be held responsible in a civil action," he said. "If the damage was intentional, the penalty can be tripled. If you have in mind damaging a bridge, I suggest you attack some other structure than this one. Three times $99 million is a tidy sum!" There's no record of what the National Guard thought of his comments as a deterrent. But National Guard maneuvers were only part of the ferry traffic problem. Cars arrived faster than the ferries could handle them. There were backups nearly every day. Scarcely did a line-up clear away at Mackinaw City than a new one formed in St. Ignace. Sometimes waits were up to five hours long on both sides. On August 17, the fleet carried 9,270 cars. The lineup averaged at least two miles northbound, while cars extended out Highway 2 in St. Ignace past the golf course for most of the day. Traffic was almost as heavy Sunday, with the Labor Day rush still to come. Forecasters predicted as many as 31,000 cars over the four-day weekend. State police canceled all passes, and Supt. Lloyd ordered the ferries to all run wild as long as needed to handle the anticipated crush. No one was disappointed in traffic volumes the last Labor Day the ferries ran. But Labor Day was also bittersweet: It marked the beginning of the end of ferry operations. With the post-holiday decline in travel, on Sunday, September 8, Capt. Andy Monson guided The Straits of Mackinac on her final scheduled cross-straits run. The smallest of the ferries continued in service, but only shuttled highway department equipment to and from Mackinac Island. She also ran a few special excursions, but was tied up for good on the north side of St. Ignace Dock 1 by October 10. The other boats continued running as needed. Once traffic declined, Capt. Lloyd planned to have Capt. Pat Gallagher moor the City of Cheboygan on the north side of Dock 2. Either Capt. Alfred Tromblay's City of Petoskey or Capt. Pete Everson's City of Munising would also tie up there, while the remaining steamer would lay up on the south side of the pier. Plans called for the Vacationland to be laid up in Mackinaw City once her service came to an end on November 1. But before tying up, St. Ignace and the Highway Department planned one last ferry celebration. Mayor Al Phillips met with Deputy Commissioner Sid Woolner to create a ceremony including open house-style tours of the boats, some to be tied up on each side for the day, and speeches, presentations to ferry crews and dock workers, and one last observance to commemorate how much had changed in the 40 years since automobiles had first been ferried across the Straits. He also had an ulterior motive. The U. S. Coast Guard was searching for another homeport outside of Cheboygan and had made overtures to St. Ignace for one of the State Docks. Mayor Phillips, members of the Chamber of Commerce, the City Council, and even the Upper Peninsula Development Bureau tried to impress Woolner with how having the Coast Guard in town would benefit post-bridge development, especially with so many ferry workers to be unemployed. Woolner noted another overture by citizens wanting a ferry route from Frankfort to Menominee. He cautioned that projected costs were prohibitive. He didn't mention the opinion by the Michigan Attorney General that legislation authorizing the bridge prohibited the state from running ferries between the peninsulas, not only at the Straits, but everywhere. It was that opinion which ultimately doomed the idea. Commissioner Mackie visited the ferry office in St. Ignace to assure employees he'd do everything he could to help them find other employment. He also introduced Robert Howard, a management consultant, and Alexander Potter, placement consultant for the Michigan Employment Security Administration, who had been assigned full-time to help the employees find work. Meanwhile, two new green and ivory transit buses, purchased used from the Detroit Street Railway, arrived at the bridge headquarters, ready to ferry "walk-on" passengers across the span for 50¢ per passenger. With no ferries running, the buses would be the only way for pedestrians to get across the Straits. The four remaining boats of the state fleet continued to shuttle as excitement for the bridge grew by the hour. During October, the ferries carried 64,942 cars, an increase of 5.4% over 1956. Traffic in 1957 grew by 6%. Still, days before November 1, motorists camped out on the bridge approach roads hoping to be one of the first to cross. And then it ended. More than 200 delegates attended the Upper Peninsula Development Bureau conference in St. Ignace beginning October 31. It was the highest attendance in the organization's history. George Bishop, secretary of the organization for so many years, announced his retirement. Keynote speaker, Governor G. Mennen Williams, then appointed him to the Michigan Tourist Council. But the big excitement was planned for Friday, November 1. Almost shirt-sleeved weather greeted the throngs who jammed the bridge approaches. Alight haze with dappled sunlight greeted the official dedication party, and the sun broke through just at high noon, when Governor Williams, Commissioner Mackie, Bridge Designer David Steinman, Prentiss Brown and members of the Bridge Authority, and hundreds of other VIPs, reporters, and invited guests drove to the middle of the Mackinac Bridge for speeches, photo opportunities, and an official inspection. As a helicopter flew overhead and ships saluted with their horns and steam whistles, shutters snapped, movie cameras rolled, and pennies were dropped through the road grating. Former Governor Murray Van Wagoner was asked, "What do you think of your folly now?" He replied, "Well, we can't use it for fishing anymore!" It was a day for the Democrats to bask in glory. The bridge they'd fought for was finished on their watch. Noticeably absent was former Republican Highway Commissioner Charles M. Ziegler. Books on Mackinac Bridge history would soon paint him as the villain in the bridge story. That was a matter of perspective. This was a day for only heroes. The inspection group returned for a luncheon in Mackinaw City before making the first official drive across the length of the bridge. Mindful of the no-pass policy, Governor Williams searched for change. Larry Rubin saved the day when he suggested the Governor write a ceremonial check for the first toll. (The bridge wasn't really set up to take checks from the public, but he was the governor, after all.) The check was presented to Prentiss Brown promptly at 2 p.m., and with that the bridge officially opened for business. In the first hour, 830 vehicles crossed. The VIP entourage then moved to St. Ignace Dock 3 where a small stand had been erected near the flagpole. With St. Ignace Mayor Phillips presiding, the mayors of the communities for which the ferries were named presented the captains of each boat with certificates of appreciation and scrolls to be "logged" on each vessel. Though he'd already left for a desk job in with the state Administrative Services Department in Lansing, Capt. Lloyd returned and joined Capt. Aaron "Mickey" Sweeney to accept the Vacationland's honors. Sweeney had already made one round trip with the icebreaker that day. After the noon ceremony on the bridge, he'd brought her northbound again, this time doing something the Vacationland rarely did. When she left Mackinaw City at 1:17 p.m., he backed her out and turned her around. Besides the ships masters, several other employees were cited that day for their long careers with the fleet. Eugene Paquin, the only employee remaining on the staff since the beginning in 1923, and Charles P. Rhodes, who'd been with the fleet for 28 years, received special recognition. Altogether, 36 employees had more than 20 years of service, including Milton Hall, who'd been there for 33 years, four with 29 years, and two others marking 28 years. Speakers voiced pride mixed with regret at the demise of the ferries, but Munising City Attorney George S. Baldwin best expressed the feeling of everyone: "We all knew we'd eventually have a bridge, but we'll always miss the ferries." Mayor Chester A. Crago of Petoskey praised the highway department for operating the ferries for nearly 35 years. Governor Williams thanked the workers for their years of loyal service to Michigan. Commissioner Mackie thanked them on behalf of the Highway Department. "The State Highway Ferry service has played a vital role in the development of Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula," he said. "From the day the department purchased and placed the Ariel into operation, this highway over water, operated by the members of this ferry service, has grown in importance along with traffic between the two peninsulas." "In transporting some 12 million vehicles and 30 million passengers, ferry workers have provided Michigan with a vital tie which has contributed to the state's prosperity and advancement," Mackie added. "Today, we are saluting a new and great highway achievement in the opening of the Mackinac Bridge. The colorful chapter of the Michigan State Highway Ferry Service in over three decades of achievement comes to an end. But the contribution made by the members of this service will not be soon forgotten." Led by the Governor's sedan, a procession of 84 automobiles then drove aboard the Vacationland for the ceremonial last crossing of the Straits of Mackinac by a Michigan State Ferry. More than 600 invitations had been issued by the Highway Department for the voyage, and hundreds more tried to get aboard. At about 4:36 p.m., Vacationland cast off from Dock 3, and the huge white ferry disappeared into a bright white fog bank, obscuring the bridge that put her out to pasture. While Captain Lloyd hobnobbed with the invited guests, Captain Sweeney actually commanded the last passenger voyage. Making the run in just under a half hour, a few minutes less than the normal time, the crew was hard pressed to keep the invited guests from taking too many souvenirs needed to keep the ship running. When she landed in Mackinaw City, at 5:05 p.m. and the guests drove and walked ashore, Michigan State Ferry service at the Straits of Mackinac came to an end . . . almost. On Saturday morning, November 2, the Vacationland's crew gathered onboard one more time and made one last crossing, sans autos or passengers. The big boat left at 8:35 a.m. carrying supplies and materials from Mackinaw City for storage in the department warehouse in St. Ignace. Emptied of her cargo and supplies, and with only a minimal crew onboard, Vacationland left St. Ignace for the final time at 2:33 p.m. and somewhat more slowly returned to her Mackinaw City slip. Third Mate Jerry Cronan was on the bridge, along with wheelsman Bill "Old Stoneface" Nichols and Cronan's 10-year-old son, Bob, who had come along for the real last ride. It was the Vacationland's 5,211th and final crossing of the Straits and the last Michigan State Ferry crossing forever. The wheelhouse was silent as Cronan nosed her into the slip at 3:17 p.m. He rang up finished with engines and signed the last entry in the Vacationland's log. Then the process of winterizing the Vacationland for the first time began. Years later as an adult, in a letter to his dad, Robert Cronan recalled one of his most vivid memories of the day. "You walked off the boat holding my hand," he wrote. "We walked all the way down the dock, and you never once looked back!" There was no reason to look back. Thirty-four years of ferry operations were over, and now there was only the future, and no one knew exactly what that future might bring. That weekend, thousands of motorists crossed and recrossed the Mackinac Bridge. In 10 hours that first Friday, 3,005 cars passed the tollbooths. Traffic increased to 3,940 on Saturday, and 5,782 made the trip on Sunday. By hunting season, traffic was running nearly double what the ferries had carried on their busier days. November 14, upwards of 10,176 cars crossed. That beat the ferries' all-time record of 9,776, set on July 30, 1955. Except for people fumbling for change at the tollbooths, there were no unnecessary delays and no long lines of traffic. The true utility of the bridge was shown in December, when the St. Ignace fire department made its first mutual aid call to Mackinaw City. The Upper Peninsula truck arrived at the scene of a downtown blaze just 12 minutes after getting the call. About the only travelers disappointed with the bridge were two St. Ignace girls who learned the structure had no provision for horseback riders. Merchants also found that many hunters simply crossed the bridge and kept going. Business was off in many local stores and tourist accommodations, especially those nearest the ferry docks. To add insult to injury, the bridge buses traveled past crews working to secure the ferries for an uncertain future. While the Ferry Administrative Office and Warehouse long remained open to handle distribution of inventory, final payrolls, severance and retirement issues, and, hopefully, employment transfers, the ferries were laid up with only a watchman aboard. For the first time in decades, the bright lights were turned out at the ferry docks and the reign of Michigan State Ferries came to a close. It had been just 40 years since the first rickety automobiles had been loaded on flatcars aboard the Chief Wawatam. Emerson Smith, president of the Michilimackinac Historical Society, noted changes those four decades brought: "The electrical and mechanical ages were in infancy. This land was at the beginning of a development period which would exceed the accomplishments of all that transpired during the preceding 300 years. Within those years came [commercial] radio, television, sound pictures, tape recorders, teletype, photo teletype, push button elevators, food processing and freezing, high octane gasoline, nylon, plastics, commercial airplanes, rockets and satellites." "In the field of medicine, penicillin, cortisone, streptomycin and other wonders are among the discoveries of this age." "When the Ariel inaugurated the ferry service, Social Security was unknown and America had not faced a serious depression, or World Wars. The concept of government and the individual differed from today's standards, based on rugged individualism, without reliance on any form of socialistic state." Smith might have said more about the space race. On October 4, less than a month before the bridge opened and ferry service ended, Russia launched "Sputnik," the first man-made object in an earth orbit. Stargazers across the world strained to see the new artificial planet in the evening sky. All the changes in 40 years prompted some locals to propose saving one of the ferries as a "ferryboat museum." "Why don't we buy one of the boats and anchor it out in Moran Bay?" asked Gregory Gyftakis. To get the ball rolling, he wrote a $2,000 check, the first donation to what would become a State Ferry Museum fund, headed by Mayor Phillips. Frank Matthews donated one of five silver dollars he'd carried across the bridge on opening day. He paid his bridge toll with four, and then scampered with his wife and the remaining dollar to be the last aboard the Vacationland that day. By the time the bridge opened, fewer than 100 of the 475 men and women employed by Michigan State Ferries that summer were still looking for work. Many had been absorbed into other parts of the Highway Department, particularly since the state had taken back the responsibility for trunkline maintenance that summer. More than two dozen landed jobs with the state garage in Mackinac County alone. Of the men who joined the highway road crews, Sim Christensen wrote in his "Ferry Tales" column, "Since the big state ferry seagull fleet has been grounded, this reporter feels like the guy they write so much about without a paddle. The other day, Capt. Red Smith dropped anchor in downtown Moran and asked if there was anywhere he could purchase a radar set. When he received a negative answer, he turned a darker shade of red. He looked very sad as he climbed aboard the big shiny new yellow state highway road grader, and with one long blast on the horn, began winding his way northward into the fog. It's really getting to be a ticklish situation with so many of the seagull fleet skippers and crew operating this highway equipment, you really don't know when to salute." He concluded: "State Highway Commissioner Mackie: I want to congratulate you for finding replacement employment for the state ferry employees with the state road commission. They are doing a fine job up here, which is possibly a shock to some critics who had the belief in their mind that a sailor could not make out without a weaving deck underfoot." Other ferry workers transferred to other state agencies, while still more accepted work with private enterprise. Various estimates say that between 25 and 50 of them went to work for the Mackinac Bridge, but Larry Rubin questioned the higher figure. "We didn't have that many employees," he said in a much later interview. Some men found work on the Straits railroad boats or the Lake Michigan car ferries. Still others simply retired. Left behind were the ferryboats and the memories of millions who rode them. The state quickly advertised the ferries for sale and noted there had already been many inquiries. But hopes for a museum with a donated boat or a good deal for a private operator to take over the proposed cross-Lake Michigan route were dashed when Attorney General Kavanagh opined the states surplus property, including the ferries, could only be sold to the highest bidder. The opinion also apparently dashed Mackinaw City's proposal to use the Vacationland for sightseeing excursions around the Straits. Deputy Commissioner Woolner doubted the Highway Department could have "found enough money for a venture like than, anyway." Kavanagh later was promoted to the State Supreme Court. Paul M. Adams of the Soo replaced him as AG. But the ruling stood. The decision also vexed W. Stewart Woodfill and the Mackinac Island State Park Commission, which had hoped to obtain control of state docks on both sides of the straits and improve them for island ferry service with a half-million dollar grant. Later they learned that the docks wouldn't be sold by bid. The "improved real estate" could only be disposed of by an act of the legislature. So, instead, they concentrated on developing restoration programs to upgrade Fort Mackinac on the island and Fort Michilimackinac in Mackinaw City. Those efforts would become cornerstones of the next half-century's local tourist development. Next week: What happened to our ferries? Copyright 2008 by Les Bagley. All rights reserved. If you have photos or stories of Michigan State Ferries you'd like to share, contact Les Bagley through the newspaper office, or via e-mail at les@divco.org. |
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