125 YEARS AGO

September 16, 1884

The St. Ignace News

The Presbyterian parsonage is progressing quite rapidly in its erection and will add to the appearance of Truman street.

•••

There were several fights in town yesterday. Only one arrest made. His case will be tried to-morrow.

•••

The steamer Remora, which left here yesterday, only got as far as St. Helena Island, on account of the heavy storm. She returned here this morning.

•••

Last night’s wind storm was the fiercest we ever seen. Vessels that were out must have suffered more or less damage. At this writing we have received no particulars of any accident.

•••

The inhabitants of the Island should not fail to see the bicycle exhibition at the roller rink to-morrow evening. It is well worthy of patronage.

•••

Married. - At Martel Furnace, Saturday, Sept. 13th, by the Rev. C. M. Bruce, Carl E. Gustavson, to Miss Ida Johnson, both of this city.

•••

The last Republican says that it is rumored that the Rev. W. Allyn, formerly pastor of the Congregation church in this city, was accidentally killed near Seattle, Washington Territory, a short time ago, while out hunting. We are pleased to state that the rumor is without foundation, as we received a letter from Wm. Allyn last week, renewing his subscription to the News. He has resided at Leslie, this state, ever since he moved away from here.

•••

Saulson is sending out photographs of the presidential and Vice- Presidential candidates of both parties to his customers. As some parties feel aggrieved at having received pictures of Cleveland & Hendricks, they are invited to call at the store and exchange them for pictures of Blaine & Logan.

125 YEARS AGO

September 19, 1884

The St. Ignace News

R. C. Dion the artist, took a photographic view of the interior of Brown’s Monarch Billiard Hall yesterday.

•••

The night express trains on the D. M. & M. will not run after this week. The train leaving St. Ignace at 10:20 p. m., Saturday, September 20, will be the last one of the season.

• • • Furnace notes: The youngest child of Barney Feidler, a boy 9 months old, died on Wednesday and was buried the same day.

During the recent storm, we noticed from here that St. Helena Island was completely hemmed in with steam and sailing craft, which anchored there for shelter.

•••

The schooner Alice is still aground at Bois Blanc Island. Her owner, A. F. Stuart, is going to have her raised and caulked where she is, if at all possible.

•••

Leon Paquien returns to his homestead near Epoufette next Monday, and will remain there through the winter. He is bound to get his land out of the woods as soon as possible.

•••

A. J. Campbell and Abe Switzer went up to Palms yesterday on a railway velocipede. On the way they wounded and captured four hawks, which they turned over to Charley Londraville on their return last evening.

•••

For want of sufficient support to pay running expenses, the roller rink is not liable to be opened here again. We are sorry our people do not see fit to encourage our only place of amusement, through a long and dreary winter.

•••

On the 15th inst., a party of hunters left Jackson on a deer hunting expedition. The gentlemen chartered a special car, in which all their tents, guns, ammunition, cooking utensils, medicine boxes, etc., were packed. This car will be at their command until their return. Their headquarters will be at Jeromeville, Schoolcraft county.

90 YEARS AGO

September 18, 1919

The St. Ignace Enterprise Cedarville Hit by Disastrous Fire Four Business Blocks Burned to

Ground Tuesday

Caught in Rudd Building

LaFleur’s Cement Block Stopped

Spread of Fire to the Hossack Store

A disastrous fire occurred in Cedarville on Tuesday morning, Sept. 16, which burned a large hole in the business section of the town. It seemed for a time that the whole business section would go, and had the wind been stronger, nothing could have saved it.

The fire was discovered about 2:00 a.m. by Mrs. H. E. Townsend, who gave the alarm. The Townsend residence is just opposite where the fire was. When first seen the fire was through the roof on G. H Rudd’s building, and as the lower part was not on fire at the time, it is supposed that the fire originated from electric wires in the loft. The Rudd establishment had a Delco light and pumping system and a storage battery, and it is reported that the plant was running charging the battery. The church bell was rung and people came from far and near to help fight the fire. The telephone was also used to get men out. The fire gradually spread from one building to another until beside the Rudd building. George LaFleur’s old building, H. E. Townsend’s building and the Young Brothers building, which had very recently been purchased by H. P. Hossack & Co., were all in flames and were burned to the ground. The contents of these buildings were largely removed. There was a laundry outfit in the LaFleur building which was destroyed, and also a pumping plant back of it. The school board were using the Young Brothers building as a school room, and the school outlet was all saved. The rink building was saved by keeping a stream of water on it supplied by a bucket brigade, and the new LaFleur building was badly damaged. It was this latter building which kept the fire from spreading further. Had there been a wooden building there the Hossack store would have been burned.

It is learned here that Rudd carried $5,000 insurance, and that LaFleur’s loss is fully covered, the loss being between $600 and $700.

•••

D. W. Holland of the state highway engineering department, finished the survey of State street, preparatory to its being paved, Tuesday, leaving on the evening train for Gogebic county. Mr. Holland told The Enterprise that it was hardly probable that any paving work would be done on the street this fall, nor did he think it would be advisable. By the time the profiles are completed and the necessary advertising done it would be too late to accomplish much before winter set in. It is likely the work will begin in the early spring

•••

Otto M. Reif of Pittsburg, Pa., has purchased the holdings of C. H. Hopkins on Conner’s Point, Les Cheneaux Islands. The property includes the residence of Mr. Hopkins, two cottages, tea house, etc. Mr. Reif has arranged for the erection of a $20,000 summer residence on the point, and his intention of coming early and staying late in the season is evidenced from the fact that he will install a furnace for heating the building throughout. The location is one of the finest at the resort.

•••

The Ursuline Academy enters the new year with an enrollment exceeding 150 pupils, which number is expected to increase during the coming few weeks. The number attending from the city is somewhat in excess of last year and the boarding pupils also show an increase, which is very gratifying to the Mother Superior and her exceptional staff of aides.

•••

C. J. Mulcrone purchased 1500 tons of the cargo of Pocahontas coal on the steamer Landbo, which was taken off by the lighter Reliance and unloaded on the railroad ore dock. 500 tons of the cargo has also been purchased by the city for use at the pumping station and will be unloaded from the steamer at the city dock. The remainder of the cargo will be retained for fuel for the Favorite.

•••

The Upper Peninsula Development Bureau recently issued the second of its road guides for the section north of the straits. The report says that approximately 1,800 automobile tourists visited the peninsula during the season, and with road construction and improvements going forward at a rapid rate, upper Michigan has just reason to be proud of its achievement and to look forward with confidence to the next two or three years to establish this region as a section of country where “every road is a main touring highway.”

•••

From Brevort: Down along the beach, in the fishing district, men are coming ashore with nets and stakes, willing to call the season closed. Supervisor Carl Gustafson wears rubber boots clear up to his chin, for bringing in pond nets is a job waist deep in water and the utmost in muscle activity. “Vic, too, (there must be something in a name) Helberg was the lucky man in the last lift, which was Tuesday, 150 pounds of whitefish.

•••

The hawk season opened here last week with all boys “going over the top” at sunrise. At the end of the first day’s shooting the one hawk left afloat is the shell shocked hawk that Absent Minded Aleric fired nineteen shots at and missed, that being the critical time when one “runs out” of shells, and the pursued escapes. The firing lasted till feeding time and all good law abiding hawks retired to the roost. Reuben had the advantage of a long range gun, and “Teddy’s” sprayer brought down two dollars and fifty cents bounty money. Carl Helberg figures that his bounty will amount to about one-third of expenditures in explosives, and Ed Holmberg is ahead of the game as per sum total in shell fire - with a sore shoulder against the twenty-seven shots that he missed.

•••

From Mackinac Island: The Astor House, for the past two seasons leased by Mrs. Pilson and used exclusively as a rooming house, will again be opened as a hotel next summer, J. A. Beck, who recently purchased the property says.

•••

Miss Lulu Bunker and Walker St. Onge of St. Ignace were united in marriage at St. Ann’s parsonage Tuesday morning by Rev. Father Keul.

50 YEARS AGO The Republican-News and

St. Ignace Enterprise

September 10, 1959

Plans for the creation of Fort de Buade state park at the north shore of the Mackinac Bridge were outlined at a meeting here by W. Stewart Woodfill, chairman of the Mackinac Island State Park commission.

Attending the meeting held at the court house last Thursday with Mr. Woodfill were the commission’s historical director, Dr. Eugene Petersen, as well as Mrs. Carroll Paul and Kenyon Boyer, curator and director, respectively, of the Marquette County Historical society plus a committee of the Mackinac Historical society and interested citizens.

Woodfill explained that this third in a series of Michilimackinac forts to be restored in the Straits area would be located just north and west of the bridge toll booths and would memorialize Fort de Buade and St. Ignace history. Twenty-five acres would be used for the park and exhibit space and fort. Additional acres will be used for parking roadways, etc. Northbound traffic will park on the Graham Ave. side with southbound traffic on the upper part of the acreage on the west side. There will be a pedestrian overpass at the bridge approach.

Woodfill said that while the location is not historically correct, reference will be made and the true history picture presented.

Emerson R. Smith, president of the local historical society, says that some local people have felt that the location proposed would have an adverse effect on St. Ignace economy.

“I feel, however that those who heard last week’s presentation, have a different view-point,” said Smith. “The potential visitors to the St. Ignace shore would become greater in number just as at Mackinac Island, because of the new project. The fort will act as a sign to stop and linger.”

The Republican-News and

St. Ignace Enterprise

September 17, 1959

Young vandals, aged from 9 to 12 years of age, have been active at the new Methodist church now under construction.

Contractor R. A. Carlson says that youngsters not only damage building material, such as breaking bricks and blocks, but they write obscenities on the basement walls.

Local folk are urged to warn their children against despoiling property, especially since it is a church toward which so many struggle to complete and which will be a significant addition to the cultural facilities of St. Ignace.

•••

Officials of the Mackinac Transportation Co. and D. S. S. & A. railway have indicated that it is likely that the railway ferry, Chief Wawatam, will tie up at Mackinaw City instead of St. Ignace within a few days.

It long has been the policy to tie in the Chief here, where the majority of her personnel reside. However, the Chief is required to leave here daily at 2 a.m. and go to Mackinaw City to meet the Michigan Central train.

The move to tie in at Mackinaw City will permit the Chief to take advantage of the earlier arrival of the Michigan Central without making an “empty” trip.

It is believed the move will effect approximately 15 men who live in St. Ignace.

•••

In response to the appeal of a delegation of parents of Third ward school children, the St. Ignace board of education in session on Monday evening agreed to give a one-year trial of transporting Fifth, Sixth and Seventh graders who live in the Third ward to the LaSalle elementary school in the Second ward. Parents pointed out the hazards of having young children walk along the main highway in an area where there are no sidewalks on their way to school.

•••

Eight Detroit Times newsboys, who had won a northern trip along with many others for being outstanding salesmen, were apprehended at Nicolet Hotel here Tuesday night with more than 100 curio items taken from seven or eight stores in Sault Ste. Marie and St. Ignace. They were among 67 newsboys housed at the hotel.

•••

A special election will be held in the Les Cheneaux community school district on Monday, September 21. Mrs. Bruce W. Patrick, president of the board of education, explained that the purpose of this election is to raise three additional mills for school operation for a period of three years.

••• Vernon T. Hossack, “Tim” is now a candidate for his Masters Degree in educational supervision and administration. After completing his thesis and the required course of studies he will be among those receiving their Masters Degree at Wayne university in January. Tim is an alumnus of the Les Cheneaux community high school and received his Bachelor of Science degree from Alma college in 1956. Since completing summer school at Wayne U., he has been visiting his mother, Mrs. Bess McFee, of Hessel. He will depart on Sunday for Pontiac where he will join, for the fourth successive year, the teaching staff of the Will Rogers elementary school, as instructor in sixth grade.

•••

The steamer Carl D. Bradley, which sank in a violent storm in Northern Lake Michigan last November 18, has been definitely identified as lying on her bottom in 300 feet of water 11-1/2 miles west southwest of Gull Island, officials of Bradley Transportation Line of Michigan Limestone, a Division of U.S. Steel Corp., revealed at the conclusion of a ten-day underwater television examination of the object located by the company with sonar last May.

•••

From Mackinac Island: Our tourist season is fast drawing to a close. The Grand Hotel will have the Table Toppers and school administrators and close after lunch on Sept. 23. This has been a banner year for Mackinac, with ideal warm weather which lasted until Tuesday of last week.

•••

Cloverland Electric Co-Operative has applied to the U.S. Army Engineers for permission to lay an electric submarine cable between Coryell Island and Boot Island in Les Cheneaux.

30 YEARS AGO

The St. Ignace News

September 20, 1979

St. Ignace is now forming plans toward obtaining a design for a waterfront development that would protect the shoreline and provide tourist attractions in downtown St. Ignace. St. Ignace Councilman Leonard J. France, Jr., a member of the City Council’s Waterfront Committee, informed fellow Council members at their September 17 meting that a meeting to discuss the design of the waterfront development will be held between committee and United Marine Associates of Cheboygan Thursday, September 20.

Members of the Waterfront Committee are Councilmen France, James Campbell, John “Ollie” Boynton, and City Manager F. Bruce Wood.

The feasibility study completed by UMA proposes a cement or wooddecked promenade with riprap protection from the railroad tracks by the Vide Pouche Marina to Dock 2 on East Moran Bay following the natural contours of the shoreline, approximately 4,600 feet.

•••

A descendent of the Chambers brothers, the first businessmen in St. Ignace, has returned to take up summer residency near where his ancestors started one of the first successful businesses in this Upper Peninsula community.

Robert W. Chambers and his wife Arlene live on their 58 -foot yacht at a recently constructed dock in downtown St. Ignace next to the Favorite Dock where his grandfather, John, with his two brothers, started the Chambers Bros. business in 1870.

•••

After a busy summer on Mackinac Island 17 riding horses and two wagon-puling beauties returned to their winter home at Orr Kabat’s farm in Rudyard.

The horses, from Cindy’s Riding Stable and Jack’s Livery Stable, had volunteer riders, mostly from the Island, who rode the sleek animals from the Arnold Line dock in St. Ignace to Rudyard with a Mackinac County Sheriff’s car escorting them through the city area.

The complete ride was an estimated 8-to-10 hour one, according to Wilferd Thompson, of Cedarville, who has been working at Cindy’s and Jack’s Stable for 10 years. This was the first time that the horses were ridden to their winter home instead of being trucked, he said.

•••

The Playcrafters are now readying up for another entertaining season with their November production of “Night Must Fall,” a mystery full of suspense.

New and familiar faces will fill the character roles. The cast consists of Tom Bridges, as Dan; Pam Larson, as Olivia Grayne; Gail TerAvest, as Nurse Libby; Dick TerAvest, as Hubert Laurie; Shelly Cope, as Dora; George Peterson, as Belize; Shirley Peterson, as Mrs. Terance; Rochelle Nelson, as Mrs. Bramson.

30 YEARS AGO

The Weekly Wave

September 20, 1979

Maintenance dredging of navigation channels in the Les Cheneaux Islands is expected to be underway between July and October, 1980, according to the U S. Army Corps of Engineers, providing remaining timetables for the project are met.

The Crops’ final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the tenyear dredging project was released on September 7 for review by federal, state, and local agencies and persons. Final approval for the document is expected this November.

The project calls for the dredging of about 40,000 feet of boating channel in the Islands to a depth of seven feet and widened to 100 feet to maintain recreational use of the channels. A total of 128,000 cubic yards is expected to be dredged from the channels over a 10-year period. If the project gets underway next summer, actual dredging operations are anticipated during subsequent five-year intervals (1985 and 1990).

The project, estimated to cost less than one million dollars, is being financed by the federal government.

The project requires that a containment facility be constructed at the site of the Clark Township dump.

The dredging activity is expected to cause at least a temporary decline in the fish populations in the immediate vicinity of dredging, due to loss of bottom plant life, decreased oxygen content of the water, and reduced sunlight due to turbidity of the water.

•••

Tony Autore, who has been an active member of the civic and business communities in Les Cheneaux since 1955, has been named Les Cheneaux Citizen of the Year by the Chamber of Commerce. A special “Tony Autore Day” has been designated for Sunday, September 23.