Autos Across Mackinac: With the Bridge Open, the Ferries Sit in Storage
PART 57: Selling The Fleet
By Les Bagley

After November 1, 1957, Michigan State Ferries steamboats were tied up at Dock 2 in St. Ignace, awaiting buyers. At first, former crewmembers were kept on the payroll as watchmen aboard each ship, but after more than a year with no ferries being sold, the Michigan Highway Department decided to economize, and eliminated their positions. The ferries remained at Dock 2, but without watchmen aboard. This view is from a 1957 postcard published by the L.L. Cook Company of Milwaukee, and is entitled "Faithful Ferryboats." (Author's collection)

To commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Mackinac Bridge, the St. Ignace News has been publishing Les Bagley's manuscript on the history of Michigan State Ferries, which carried cars across the Straits of Mackinac for 34 years before the bridge opened to traffic in 1957. In the last installment, he related how the bridge opened, ending the service, and making the fleet of five ferries surplus. But with traffic now humming across on the bridge, the ferries remained at the Straits in storage.

While the new Mackinac Bridge dominated the regional skyline, the funnels of the laid-up Vacationland, stored in her old slip, could be seen above Mackinaw City from the newly created bridge approach road. Curious tourists could drive right out onto the State Dock to inspect the exterior of the ship for the next two years. Her interior was only used once in that time, when the Michigan State Police quartered a detachment aboard for traffic control and security during the official Bridge Grand Opening ceremonies in June 1958. (Hiawatha Card Company, author's collection)

With a cost of $15,000 a month to keep the ferry fleet in mothballs, Highway Commissioner John C. Mackie was confronted with disposing of the ferries quickly, to recoup some of the state's $6,600,000 investment.

"We do not intend to sacrifice the fleet to affect an immediate sale," he said. "But we do intend to get the wheels in motion to offer them for public bid, and regain funds from the sale for highway construction purposes."

Edward H. Anderson, a potato grower from Washington Island, Wisconsin, purchased the City of Cheboygan on the far left and converted it into a potato processing barge renamed for himself. He later also purchased the City of Munising, after a deal to use her on Lake Michigan fell through. While never officially renamed, the Munising was usually just called "No. 2." The boats were towed across Lake Michigan once a year to take his potato harvest to market. (Dave Christiansen collection)

Mackie also noted that the state had $4,600,000 invested in ferry dock facilities.

As 1957 came to a close, Mackinaw City and St. Ignace learned no docks would be coming their way soon. St. Ignace Mayor Al Phillips feared the state might move the Arnold Line from Dock 1 to Dock 3, removing even more tourist traffic from downtown. But the state decided to use Dock 3 for a maintenance and highway garage. A weigh station was also installed there to monitor bridge-bound truck traffic. Dock 1 was already leased to the Arnold Line, while Dock 2 could not be sold until the fleet moored there was gone. The Vacationland still occupied the large slip in Mackinaw City, although that city hoped part of the holding area could be used for a public parking lot.

This L. L. Cook postcard of St. Ignace's 1960 Black Gown Tree celebration is very telling. In the distant background, the laid-up steamboats continue to rest at Dock 2. But close observation shows that steam has been raised aboard The Straits of Mackinac, which had just been purchased for use as a Mackinac Island passenger ferry and excursion vessel by a group of former ferry workers. By the time this photo was taken, the other three ferries had also either been sold or optioned for sale, but had not yet been moved to their new homes. (Author's collection)

So far, there had been no apparent activity to sell the ferries. Highways estimated their value to be above $6 million. The bulk of that was the Vacationland, which had cost the state more than $4 million less than six years before. Built to fill a particular need at a particular place, in 1957 she was still the largest double-ended ferry in the world, and her potential uses on the Great Lakes were very limited. She didn't have enough overhead clearance to handle rail cars like the Chief Wawatam or cross-Lake Michigan ferries. She was too large to serve the various Lake Erie or Lake Michigan islands, and she was too heavy, with her overbuilt icebreaking hull, to operate many long-distance cruises. Besides, with her blunt bows and wide opening bow doors, she would need major reconstruction for open lake running. Lastly, her width precluded her immediate use off the lakes. Like the Mackinaw, Vacationland would be locked in mid-America until the St. Lawrence Seaway opened.

The second newest boat in the fleet was The Straits of Mackinac. The smallest, she had much better potential for short auto and passenger runs. But she was nearly 30 years old, middle-aged for auto ferries. Her design was even older; modeled after the Ariel, rebuilt in 1923, and the Mackinaw City and Sainte Ignace, both built in 1917 and remodeled in 1924. She was a hand-bombed (hand stoked) coal burner, a technology quickly falling out of favor worldwide. No one yet knew it, but the last coal-fired passenger ships on the lakes had already been built four years before. The C&O twin rail ferries Spartan and Badger had modern Skinner Uniflow steam engines and automatic stokers, but they would be the last of their kind.

The same antique propulsion worked against the remaining fleet. Even older than The Straits, the City of Cheboygan, City of Munising, and City of Petoskey had been passed their prime when sold to Michigan two decades before. Now, with modified bows, they were less worthy for open lake running, and they were much slower than any of the railroad ferries still operating. While there was hope they might find use in a private auto ferry service somewhere, they carried no great value.

The state found out just what it really had when it advertised for bids early in 1958. After a consultant estimated a total value of $4.7 million, with the Vacationland accounting for all but $468,000 of that, the Highway Department was disappointed when bids came in much lower than anyone expected the first week of May. Of 89 interested parties, only six submitted bids, and the highest of those offered only $1.1 million in time payments at 3% interest for the icebreaker. Paul Anderson, deputy purchasing agent for the Department of Administration, said the time payment scheme wouldn't be considered. He also rejected bids of $15,000 for The Straits from Owen Sound Transportation, $303,000 for the Vacationland from Gulf Ports Steamship Company, and multiple bids from International Export of New Orleans: $10,850 for the Cheboygan, $8,900 for The Straits, $11,890 for the Munising, and $13,987 for the Petoskey.

Other bids rejected included Lakes Seaway Lines' offer of $ 456,000 for the Vacationland, and Henry Mareks bid of $6,000 for The Straits, $8,000 for the Cheboygan, and $10,000 each for the Munising and Petoskey.

The state also rejected a request by St. Ignace that the city be given use of Docks 1 and 2, and the parks in between them for parking, along with the three largest steamboats to use as a breakwater off the harbor in the summer, and as small craft storage warehouses in the winter. Deputy Commissioner Sid Woolner said he looked favorably on the parking area proposal, but that the Arnold Line had asked to continue using Dock 1, much the same as they already were.

About the only major change was that the Highway Department lost the distinction of being the only one in the country to operate navigation lights. The familiar lights on the ferry docks that had guided the ships to port were dimmed for the final time. The Coast Guard also announced plans to turn off the Old Mackinac Point lighthouse, just west of the bridge.

State legislators proposed a bill to give the ferry docks to their local communities for $1, and in early June even held public hearings toward that proposal. In addition to requests from both St. Ignace and Mackinaw City, the Mackinac Island State Park Commission asked for control of the docks, Mackinac County asked for them, and some even proposed a threeway "port commission" to oversee their control. The legislators took the matter under advisement.

The ownership of the docks took a back seat to the dedication of the bridge in late June. The third weekend of the month saw what many described as the greatest celebration in the nation, with parades, fireworks, speeches, contests, and just about something for everyone, except good weather. While the opening day had been nearly pleasant in November, the celebration weekend was cloudy and cold.

Still, the state police massed the largest event force in their history to control crowds. To accommodate all the officers and set up a headquarters, the patrol took over crew quarters and lounges on the Vacationland, tied up in her Mackinaw City slip. The dock also was used for displays, as was Dock 3 in St. Ignace.

Bridge traffic was 45% above ferry numbers the year before. And heavy travel continued, despite two days of rain 4th of July weekend. The holiday was saddened by news of the death of 80-year-old Albert D. Murray, one of the first pursers on the Ariel back in 1923.

Just after the holiday, John C. Welsh of Mackinaw City tried to take the dock issue into his own hands. He had Judge Edward Fenlon issued an injunction barring Captain George Lloyd from letting Arnold Transit use the state dock in Mackinaw City. Claiming the part of the dock Arnold used was community property, and the state was denying the community of its rightful revenue, Welsh had the injunction served on Capt. Lloyd in St. Ignace and the Arnold Line on Mackinaw Island. Ingham County Circuit Judge Louis W. Coash later denied the request for the injunction, making Welsh show cause why it should be enforced. A hearing was set for August 8.

But the village wasn't to be denied. Officials requested a second order from Judge Fenlon, and barred Arnold from landing there by posting an armed policeman and lining the dock with snow fence. Arnold temporarily moved to the Railroad Dock to keep operating, while the city laid claim to the dock by way of a deed dating from 1882. Meanwhile, the Highway Department refused to accede to the city's demands.

"Arnold bid $2,500 to use the dock," Deputy Commissioner Woolner said. "They also paid $1,250 to use Dock 1 in St. Ignace."

Woolner refused to turn the dock over to the city, saying, "I couldn't do so even if I wanted to," and "Any income from the docking facilities should accrue to the state, and not to Mackinaw City."

The Mackinac Bridge continued to break traffic records all that summer. By August, officials were looking forward to showering a grab bag of gifts on the driver of the 1 millionth car to use it. The Bridge Authority predicted as many as 50,000 cars might cross during Labor Day, 85,000 more during hunting season. Volume rose by 45% to 65% every month over what the ferries had carried the year before.

The ferry office continued to note interest in the mothballed fleet. In August, several firms came and inspected the ships, but left without submitting bids. In September, the Highway Department laid off the dozen men who had worked since the previous November as watchmen, protecting the laid-up vessels. After Labor Day, Assistant Ferry Superintendent F. Phillips Case accepted a job with the Highway Department Right of Way Division and moved from St. Ignace to Lansing. Still, none of the ferries moved.

It wasn't until December 1958, that the Highway Department finally sold one of the retired ferries. When the City of Cheboygan was sold for $25,000.

"We figure it's about the best offer we'll get," Sid Woolner said. "It isn't doing us any good sitting idle right now, and the insurance alone costs $1000 a year." Nearly everyone was surprised by who bought it, and old salts and landlubbers alike shuddered when they heard Edward Anderson, described as a "Chicago potato merchant," planned to rip out the interior and use the hull to store potatoes.

Edward H. Anderson was born and reared on Washington Island, a land dotted with small potato farms, off the tip of Wisconsin's Door Peninsula. He sought his fortune in Chicago at age 14, wheeled an ore boat in WWII, and somehow made a small fortune when he sold a truckload of island potatoes his brother had sent him. That led him to join a vegetable brokerage firm in 1920, and to form his own potato brokerage business in 1921. The business thrived, and by the mid- 1930s, Anderson was shipping more than a million bushels of spuds per year.

He and his wife began looking for a summer home in which to spend the off-season, and settled back on his old homestead on Washington Island. With all summer to be idle, he planted a crop of potatoes and soon began buying up and planting other land. To run the expanding farm aspect of his business, he hired Jim Hanson, just out of the Merchant Marine in WWII, and a former crewman on a Great Lakes freighter. But they soon identified a problem.

Once their crop was harvested, it had to be warehoused, packaged, shipped in small lots across the ferry to Door County by truck, and then on to Chicago for ultimate sale. Each potato was handled at least 14 times between field and market, meaning a lot of bruising, loss, and expense. So Anderson and Hanson got the idea of buying a boat to use for a number of functions. The Cheboygan was the boat they chose. She was to be renamed after her owner and his name, Edward H. Anderson, was to be painted on her bow.

Modifications at a local yard would enclose the ends of her cardeck, make easier access to offices set up in the upper cabins, and created openings into her hull for access to an area which would become holds. Apparently, much of her engine and boiler room equipment would be removed, making her into a manned barge, to be towed by a tugboat in the future.

Once the work was completed, the Anderson would be towed to Washington Island to begin her new career.

The plan was simple: Freshly harvested boxes and wagonloads of potatoes were to be brought directly aboard from the fields. The tubers would be loaded loose into her holds, where cool Lake Michigan water circulating outside the hull would keep them from spoiling or sprouting. Fans would circulate fresh air through channels in the floor. In winter, gas heaters could maintain the crop at least 40 degrees, keeping it from freezing.

When the harvest was over, the tug would tow the Anderson to a winter berth in Benton Harbor, Michigan. There, over the next five or six months, a crew using onboard equipment could wash, size, grade, and package the potatoes for market. Anderson's Chicago potato brokerage was just an easy truck haul away.

Once empty, the ship would be reloaded with fertilizer, agricultural chemicals, and supplies for the next island growing season and towed back to Wisconsin. Her owner planned to make one round trip per year. By using the ferry as a potato barge, product handling and shipping costs would be reduced by nearly half. Anderson considered ways for even greater expansion.

As December 1958 ended, a score of Michigan State Ferries employees, who had been maintained on the payroll because of their longevity, retired. Among them were 62-year-old Capt. Pat Gallagher and engineer Doug Bynorth, whose City of Cheboygan had just been sold. But although the sale had been completed, winter ice kept the ship locked at Dock 2 in St. Ignace.

While she remained at the dock, the sale of the Cheboygan, her title actually transmitted in January 1959, apparently stirred other interest in the remaining fleet. Mackie said he had received "20 or 30 offers for the ships, most of which would return them to sea duty." They had heard from firms as far away as the West Coast.

The most promising deal seemed to be from a Michigan company that planned to use the Munising and Petoskey for "some sort of freight service" across Lake Michigan. Department officials were reluctant to give many details for fear of hurting sale talks, but suggested the line would be an extension of Highway 16 between Muskegon and Milwaukee.

"There is little chance the boats will see passenger service again," Mackie said. "Our negotiations have been successful. Our lowest offer through negotiation has been higher than the highest offer through bidding." He said he was hopeful the ships would be "operating in a manner that will help the Michigan economy."

The potential buyer was the K&K Truck Trailer Service of Montague, a town near Whitehall, just north of Muskegon. The head of the firm, Charles Keith, offered $90,000 for the Munising and $70,000 for the Petoskey. K&K hoped to secure contracts to haul truckloads of auto parts across the lake, saving movement through the huge bottleneck of Chicago's road grid.

But K&K needed operating authority for the run from the Interstate Commerce Commission, requiring public hearings to determine the "public convenience and necessity" of the route. Pending the outcome of those hearings, Keith purchased an option on the ferries, the Administrative Board accepted that purchase, and the ferries remained tied to the dock in St. Ignace.

In January 1959, two offers were also received for The Straits of Mackinac. A group in Cheboygan called to offer $35,000 for the ship, but never responded when asked to put the deal in writing. A second group made a written offer of $25,000 for the steamer and enclosed a check for 5% of the amount as a deposit and offered to deposit the balance in the National Bank of Cheboygan. Commissioner Mackie recommended acceptance of that bid, not only because it was the best received with cash so far, but also because it was made by a group of 15 local Cheboygan and Mackinaw City residents, 10 of chased fleet. They saw a number of former officers and unlicensed men, including Mickey Sweeney and Ken Smith, saying they hoped to have the Munising and Petoskey in service by June 1959. The only holdup was the approval hearings before the Interstate Commerce Commission. The firm hoped the hearings would be scheduled soon.

While K&K and potential crew members waited, traffic across the Mackinac Bridge actually declined slightly from the year before. Authority spokesmen blamed the loss on heavier-than-normal early traffic from bridge-curious travelers, saying traffic levels now were probably settling down to "normal."

Michigan tourism lost a major booster on April 11, 1959, when Marquette's George E. Bishop, former secretary-manager of the Upper Peninsula Development Bureau from 1921 to his retirement in 1957, passed away unexpectedly while visiting his son, Robert, at the Soo. He left a wife, three children, 11 grandchildren, and a big hole in tourism promotion efforts for the U.P. The hole was so big that by the end of June, bureau members voted to disband the group entirely. The next month, two new organizations, the Upper Michigan Tourist Council, and the U.P. Industrial Commission, replaced it under recommendation by attorney Prentiss M. Brown, Jr. and hotelier/tourism promoter W. Stewart Woodfill.

Seeking tourists for their new business, Emil Potvin and the new owners of The Straits of Mackinac completed fit-out in late April and moved their ferry to Cheboygan, where it was repainted and lettered for Straits Transit service. They also installed a snack bar and arranged to lease docking space at the State Dock in Mackinaw City and on St. Ignace Dock 2. They planned several ferry trips to Mackinac Island each day in competition with the Arnold Line, and a pair of daily evening sunset cruises.

Then, just before 8 a.m. on Sunday Morning, May 10, a tug towed the City of Cheboygan away, heading for her rebuilding as a potato barge in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. The local paper reported that suddenly Dock 2 in downtown St. Ignace looked rather barren. Only the Munising and Petoskey remained in St. Ignace, pending the ICC's approval of K&Ks operating rights. Still unsold, the Vacationland attracted curious tourists and seagulls in Mackinaw City.

The big excitement of summer 1959 was the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway. The U.S. Navy sent a fleet of 28 ocean-going warships on a tour of the Great Lakes, with several visiting Dock 3 in St. Ignace. More importantly, the region would receive a royal "sail through" by Britain's Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia. En route to Chicago, the royals would sail directly under the Mackinac Bridge, prompting its brief closure to auto traffic for security purposes. The flotilla would compete with vacation travel during the busy Independence Day holiday period.

Crowds lined both shores of the Straits, straining for a view of the Britannia and her escort of eight navy destroyers. But onlookers were disappointed when the fleet was enveloped in heavy fog, blocking their views and discouraging photographs, until the fleet was well beyond the bridge. They hoped for a better view when the queen returned from Chicago a few days later.

That occasion was overshadowed by a celebration on the bridge itself. Officials surprised Mr. and Mrs. Maurice Olsen and their children from Niles when they stopped their car at the tollbooth. Out popped Soapy Williams and Prentiss Brown along with a sea of reporters and onlookers to present the family with over $2,000 in gifts and certificates for driving the 2- millionth car across the bridge. The Olsens were particularly amused because they'd never crossed the bridge before.

Straits Transit wasn't amused when Arnold Transit built an extension to its dock at Dock 2, blocking the larger Straits from easily landing at her adjacent rented slip. The matter ended up in court before the summer was over. With their larger ship, the former ferry employees also managed to land several convention cruises from groups visiting the area. The company also donated the ship for a number of charity cruises, including one for the Big Mac Shrine Club on August 22.

That August the Mackinac Bridge Authority also repeated what was becoming a tradition. The public was invited to participate in the second annual "Mackinac Bridge Walk" on Labor Day, September 7, 1959. A "qualifying walk" was held the day before, starting at the abandoned State Ferry Dock, and more than 100 people qualified to participate.

In Mackinaw City, as summer turned to fall, attention again turned to the Vacationland, now approaching its second anniversary in lay up. Newspapers speculated the 7-yearold ship was becoming a white elephant. Appraised at $3 million, the state still kept a watchman permanently onboard, paying for heat to protect the ship's electrical equipment and fuel to occasionally start and maintain her engines. The Highway Department continued to answer requests for information about the ferry as representatives tried to shop her throughout the world.

A Chicago boy's bid of $5 from his allowance was rejected. The state more seriously considered a plan by a Greek shipping magnate to cut her in half and build a new bow on each end. But offers never approached what the department felt she was worth.

Then the state got a nibble. Troy Browning, late of the Truckers Steamship Company, approached the state with a proposal to use the Vacationland in a similar service, again hauling truck trailers between Detroit and Cleveland. He had recently started a new division of his business called the Detroit-Atlantic Navigation Company, or DANCO. Using two ore boats that normally returned from Cleveland to Duluth in ballast, DANCO was hoisting truck trailers onto their deck and, on September 23, 1959, began shipping them in "fishy-back" service from Cleveland to Detroit and Duluth. Browning felt the Vacationland could serve as a roll-on, roll-off vessel, carrying up to 60 trailers a trip on the Cleveland-Detroit part of the run. He offered $1.5 million for the ship, paid over seven years at 6% interest.

"The Vacationland has been idle for almost two years now and in view of the fact it would remain idle for an indefinite period and that the Detroit-Atlantic offer is the best received over the two years, I am hopeful to obtain administrative board approval of the sale and terms as soon as possible," Commissioner Mackie said. He added, "I'm especially pleased the ship will remain in operation in Great Lakes waters and will employ local men in the proposed auto transportation operation."

But a steel strike stalled the start of the operation, when, with auto parts plants shut down, DANCO found they would have no cargos to haul. With winter fast approaching and the shipping season coming to an end, Browning asked the state to keep his option open. The state began again to look for other buyers.

Inquiries came in from around the world. ASwedish company considered it for operations in the Atlantic. Another company considered using it for a food ship between Central and South America. But nobody came up with any money.

"We want cash," the Highway Department's Howard Hill said. "We don't want to take chances of getting the thing back! The Vacationland takes a big crew and it's an expensive thing to run."

Meanwhile, the state kept paying to keep the ferry in working condition with a man on board at all times to keep steam in her boilers for heat and keep a general watch.

"If we keep it too long, we may have to paint it!" Hill added.

On the last Saturday of October 1959, the Edward H. Anderson, formerly the City of Cheboygan, began its new life as a potato barge. Towed from Washington Island with 120 carloads of potatoes, the 2,400 tons of spuds became the largest single potato load shipped on the Great Lakes. While later trips would cross to Benton Harbor, Anderson sent his first load to Milwaukee to have easier access to his Chicago brokerage.

Next week: Goodbye to more of the fleet.

Copyright 2008 by Les Bagley. All rights reserved.

If you have photos or stories you'd like to share about Michigan State Ferries, Les Bagley would love to hear from you. You can contact him through the newspaper office, or by e-mail at les@divco.org.