Looking Back
125 YEARS AGO
September 23, 1884
The St. Ignace News
Yesterday afternoon while the steamer Ste. Marie was unloacing a lot of fish cars at Chambers’ dock with a pony and block and tackle, Frederick Colwell, a deck hand, met with a painful accident. He got hold of the wrong line and when the pony started, it was pulled into the block and as he did not let go, his hand went in also, crushing it in a frightful manner. He was immediately taken to Dr. Steinbrecher’s office, where the three last fingers of his left hand were amputated. The steamer laid at the dock about three hours, waiting fo the injured man to get his wounds dressed and he left again on the boat.
•••
Attorney McNamara and Sheriff Paquin went up the shore this morning on the Remora.
•••
Andrew McKay had the good luck to kill two deer at the head of Little Lake, a mile from town, on Sunday morning.
•••
A number of bad boys amused themselves by firing off a revolver at a telegraph pole on the railway track, back of the postoffice, on Sunday afternoon. Next time we notice them desecrating the Sabbath, we shall publish their names.
•••
Ed. E. Mains of the Wakeman (Ohio) Independent Press, paid this office a visit on Saturday Last. He was on his way home after visiting at the Island a few days and thought that we lived in a fine country for wearing out winter clothing in the fall.
•••
Two men took in the city yesterday and left a sample package of B. T. Babbitt’s 1776 washing powder in very house, with printed directions of “an entirely new way of washing clothes in cold water.” There was no kickers, and each housekeeper accepted the gift. Any man can do a big business in this city in almost any line, in the same way.
•••
Henry Comstock wants the public to believe he is insane. Last Saturday he told a prisoner named Stone that he was to be examined by the doctors on Monday and didn’t know how to act to play the insanity dodge. He finally decided that he would hang himself in his cell on Sunday morning at 10 o’clock and made arrangements with Stone to cut him down before he was too far gone. Stone told the jailer of the scheme early on Sunday morning and begged of him to keep away and let the boys have some fun, and he did so. About 10 o’clock the fun took place and all the prisoners (except Stone) were terribly frightened. Comstock had made a rope out of an old dress and hung himself to the side of his cage. A prisoner named Wheeler was the first to lend assistance. He held the suspended body up as well as he could and after Comstock became black in the face, Stone cut him down. We understand he was very much annoyed at Stone for letting him hang so long. Quite a scheme for an insane man to concoct.
125 YEARS AGO
September 26, 1884
The St. Ignace News
Born. – In his city, Thursday, Sept. 26, to the wife of Wm. H. Hombach, a fine boy, 10-1/2 pounds. Congratulations, Will.
•••
Last evening Marshall Ryerse run in “Billy” Smith for being drunk and disorderly on the streets.
•••
Wm. Sullivan, of the Island, returned from a trip to Kansas City on Tuesday. While there he was introduced to the notorious Frank James.
•••
Any person wishing to see a curiosity in the way of a “pure white” black bird, can do so by calling at Charley Londraville’s. J. Vanderzee shot it on the bluff a few days ago.
•••
At the Conference recently held at East Saginaw, Rev. G. C. Squire was transferred to the Marquette District and will be stationed at Negaunee. His place here will be filled by the Rev. O. Whitmore.
•••
The steamer May is laid up for the season at Cheboygan. Engineer N. Ml Bowen returned to the city this week, and after spending a few days hunting in the woods, will settle down and winter here.
•••
Miss Rachael McCarl didn’t go to the Soo this morning, because she missed the boat.
•••
Capt. Ryerse’s hole in the gound is now 350 feet deep. The drill is working in something as hard as flint and dry as a chip.
•••
The schooner Fame ran into the railway lumber dock yesterday about noon and done considerable damage to the same. The boat was not damaged.
•••
At Mackinac Island on Wednesday evening, Ned Cadotte struck a soldier across the forehead with a cordwood stick, and the injured man still lies in an insensible condition. Cadotte was arrested, and as lynch law was threatened, he was brought to the jail here last evening, to await the result of the soldier’s injuries.
•••
A pole raising took place at Mayor Foley’s residence yesterday. When the pole was placed in position, the top of it was ornamented with a 30-foot Cleveland and Hendricks flag. The third warders are never behind in election matters. The pole is 75 feet long.
•••
By the News at the postoffice store. Only three cents a copy.
90 YEARS AGO
September 25, 1919
The St. Ignace Enterprise
That portion of the Dixie highway between St. Ignace, the Snows and the Soo will be completed early next year so that the drive may be enjoyed by motorists throughout the season. With its completion, the matter of driving to the Soo will be but a matter of a couple of hours and it will be possible to live in St. Ignace and take one’s meals at the Snows, if one desires, or vice versa.
Contractor Eugene Brown, who has the contract for the construction of the highway from the St. Ignace town hall to the Feltus cut, informs The Enterprise that the work is coming along fine and he is now covering 200 feet daily. This will be increased shortly to 300 feet a day as he expect to be able to increase his force at once. The loader has been installed and a yard and a half of gravel can be put on a wagon in two minutes. Mr. Brown expects to be able to continue the work the greater part of the winter, until February at least, and will finish up the sand road this year.
Contractors Fogelsonger and Madison have their work on the Meridian well under way, and this portion of the highway also will be completed early next season. They would have finished up this year had they been able to secure the necessary men.
•••
The popular steamer Algoman plying between Mackinac Island and Mackinaw City made her last trip of the season Saturday, going into quarters at Cheboygan Sunday. “It has been a good season with us,” Manager Jas. F. Keightley informed The Enterprise, “equal to 1916, which was our banner year. We expect to have several more good seasons if the strike conditions are more settled and the country gets on a normal basis,” he said.
•••
A Swede came down from the woods, and entering a saloon, asked for a drink of good old squirrel whiskey. The bartender said: “We have no squirrel whiskey, but we have some good Old Crow.” “Oh, Yudas Priest!” said the Swede. “I don’t want to fly; I yust want to hop around a little.”
•••
That Engineer Pulver and Fireman Mercer, driving the big mogal [Mogul] engine 711 ahead of No. 22 freight, arriving in the upper yards at 8:45 Sunday evening, were not crushed into shapeless pulp is one of the miracles talked about in South Shore railroad circles this week.
When the engine, which weighs 110 tons, struck the stub switch in front of the roundhouse she left the tracks and went over on her side, a freight car loaded with flour following suit and the next car with copper leaving the tracks. So quickly did the accident take place that neither the engineer or fireman had time to jump and went over with the engine. The miracle is that neither of them was injured.
The wreck so blocked the main line that it was necessary for the No. 2 passenger to go around by way of the turntable, necessitating a delay of a couple of hours. Passenger trains 1 and 9 also had to take the turntable route Tuesday morning. The accident was either caused by an open switch or a broken rail, the railroad officials being unable to assertion which owing to the track being so badly torn up and the rails twisted out of shape.
Wrecking Master John Bone and Crew arrived on the scene at 7 o’clock Tuesday morning and by 5 in the afternoon had the big engine on the tracks, the wreckage cleared away and the track in shape for the resumption of traffic. It was a quick and thorough job, such as Bone and his crew have a reputation for doing.
•••
Wm. McLeod, for the past several years in charge of the plumbing department of the Hoban hardware, has decided to branch out for himself and has arranged to open a shop at Les Cheneaux. Residents there will build him a shop, furnish a residence and promised him sufficient work to keep him busy. He expects to leave for the Snows the fist of the month, but his family will remain here until spring. Eddie Tromblay will take over the plumbing department at Hoban’s.
•••
At a meeting of Grant Post, No. 62, American Legion, held at the city hall last Friday evening, permanent officers for the ensuring year were eleted, as follows:
Post. Com. - Edward Tomblay.
Vice Post. Com. - Wallace Seward.
Post Adjt. and Fin. Sec. - Alsed Latondress.
Post Hist. - Earl Adams.
•••
The Michigan Public Utilities Commission has established a schedule of rates and charges to apply to all exchanges of the Michigan State Telephone Company temporarily, until the Commission is able to fully investigate the property and services of the company and after such investigation to establish a more permanent rate.
The St. Ignace exchange is listed as “Group 2, Mg,” the group designation being that for cities with population between 3,501 and 10000, and the “Mg.” meaning a magneto type of exchange, which is the more polite way of saying that subscribers have to “crank” to raise central instead of merely lifting the hand phone from the hook and thereby automatically notifying central, as is possible in the more modern type of “common battery” exchanges.
For communities which fall in the “Group 2, Mg.” class, the Public Utilities Commission has established the following temporary schedule of monthly rates, which because of the long-winded process attending any government investigation is likely to continue in effect for a considerable period:
Residence Service – one party line, $1.50 four party, $1.25. Business Service – One party, $2.50; four party, $2.00.
Extension sets (not over 600 feet) Business, $1.00; residence, 50 cents.
•••
The public domain commission has not as yet officially acted on the proposition to close Mackinac county for the hunting of deer for five years. The board of supervisors voted unanimously for a closed season at a recent hearing, and the order putting it into effect is expected soon.
•••
From Mackinac Island:
During the severe electrical storm Saturday evening the steeple on St. Ann’s church was struck by lightning. The steeple was badly damaged but fortunately the loss is covered by insurance. The church was struck by lightning nineteen years ago and damaged in almost the same way.
•••
There were nearly a hundred disappointed people here [Mackinac Island] Saturday. They had purchased D. & C. tickets for Detroit, but on the arrival of the Boat it was found there was accommodations left for but a small percentage of the number. The few at the head of the line were the only ones allowed to board the ship.
50 YEARS AGO The Republican-News and St.
Ignace Enterprise
September 24, 1959
Circuit Judge Edward H. Fenlon, who will face a docket of 32 cases when the September term of Mackinac county circuit court convenes here on Monday, also may seek to appoint a board of commissioners to hear damage issues in respect to condemnation of land in St. Ignace and neighboring townships for the inter-state by-pass highway.
•••
By unanimous resolution Monday night, the city council renamed Front street at Graham’s Pte. in honor of the late Charles J. Mulcrone, former mayor of St. Ignace.
The street will be known as Charles Mulcrone Boulevard. It runs parallel with the Straits waters south of the extension of Graham avenue.
•••
Voters in Les Cheneaux school district on Monday defeated a proposition to raise three mills additional for school operating expenses.
The vote was close, 251 against, 235 in favor.
••• Three Mackinac county young men will leave here October 6 bound for Milwaukee, Wis., where they will be inducted to the armed services to meet the county’s October draft call.
In the group will be Thorvid Strom of Gould City, Patrick H. Wood and Peter J. Alexander of St. Ignace.
According to Mrs. Lydia M. Conlogue, clerk of the local board of selective service, there will be no one sent this month for pre-induction examination.
•••
A single coach replaces the Michigan Central mail train to Detroit. It leaves Mackinaw City at 8:45 a. m. and reaches Detroit at 4:25 p. m. The Beeliner leaves Detroit at 8:05 a. m. and reaches Mackinaw City at 4 p. m. It runs daily including Sundays.
•••
Hope for the sale of the last and mightiest ship of Michigan’s Straits navy is slim, according to Dale Arnold of the U. P. I. news service, quoting highway officials.
The Vacationland, sparkling white and impressive, rests easily in its specially-made slip at Mackinaw City, still the property of the highway department nearly two years after it went out of service.
The other four ships of the Straits fleet are sold or optioned to be sold.
The Cheboygan, a steel-hulled craft, is now a giant potato bin at Washington Island off the tip of Wisconsin between Green Bay and Lake Huron.
It sold for $25,000.
The smallest of the five, the Straits of Mackinac, went to one of two transit lines running ferries from Mackinac Island to St. Ignace and Mackinaw City. That sold for $25,000 also.
The Petoskey and the Munising are berthed at St. Ignace and are on option to a transportation company awaiting government approval for operating a ferry service between Frankfort and Milwaukee. The ships will be bought, at a total of $160,000, and used there if the operation is approved.
•••
The Mackinac Island Chamber of Commerce information booth on Dock No 1 closed for the season on Tuesday evening. Mrs. Frank Cheeseman has been in charge of the booth this season.
•••
Mackinac Island’s post office was moved into its new building on Saturday and officially opened for business September 21 at 8:30 a. m. Looking Back
First stamp sale from the new quarters was made to Alderman C. James Alford. Thus Market street, the original main street here, is again taking strides in that direction.
•••
On Monday morning of this week, Blake J. Small, local real estate broker, received a long distance call from L. C. Stewart, general manager of the Central Greyhound Lines, to inform him that he is to be their agent for the sale of the Greyhound bus depot here and other land.
“Greyhound service will continue from its present location here,” said Small, “at least until after the sale and other plans have been made.
30 YEARS AGO
The St. Ignace News
September 27, 1979
The massive wood-laminated structural beams are in place and workmen are installing the interlocking roof boards on the 6,600 squarefoot museum building in the Father Marquette Memorial Park at St. Ignace.
Excavation work on the $543,847 building began in June, and in addition to work on the museum structure, Omega Construction Company of Grandville, Michigan, has poured most of the cement floor and replaced a wood-chipped path from the memorial structure to the museum with a cement sidewalk. The sidewalk will continue past the museum to the planned 1,000 seat outdoor amphitheater.
•••
The Biscayne Bay, a new 140- foot ice-breaking tug is expected to be commissioned at her future berth, the St. Ignace Coast Guard Station on December 8.
The 2,000 horsepower vessel, which will be used in the Straits of Mackinac area, was accepted for the Commandant of the Coast Guard at a Tacoma, Washington shipyard two weekends ago by Captain Joseph Wubbold, Group Sault Coast Guard Commander.
The old State Dock, by the Coast Guard Station is being readied for the arrival of the tug.
•••
Representatives of Gourdie, Fraser and Associates, of Traverse City, consulting engineers for the City of St. Ignace’s sewage treatment project presented its amended facility plan that recommends construction of a $7.7 million facility to the public at a hearing Monday night, September 24, but surprisingly only three St. Ignace residents attended.
•••
A one-year contract for the 1979 to 1980 school year as been ratified between St. Ignace Area School teachers and the St. Ignace Board of Education ending negotiations which began the first part of May.
Teachers will receive a 49 percent increase over last year’s money sent on instructor’s salaries. This complies with President Carter’s guidelines of staying within a 7 percent wage increase in new monies.
Average teacher increases, including the increment, amounted to 9.9 percent. This is on an individual basis, with some getting more or less, said Jerry Gallagher, superintendent of St. Ignace Area Schools. The whole group percent of new monies is the 4.9, he said, which is what must fall into the President’s guidelines. The amount wasn’t more than 4.9 owing to the fact that there was a reduction in three teacher positions due to the lower enrollment.
30 YEARS AGO
The Weekly Wave
September 27, 1979
Contract negotiations between the board of education and the 20 teachers of the Pickford Public School system remain stalemated this week, with the teachers’ rejection of the latest contract offer from the board.
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Work on the Hill Island - Island Number Eight bridge has been postponed until Monday, October 1, . . . to allow time for the arrival of repair materials and so that work will begin early in the week.
Repair on the bridge has become necessary because of the failure of the eastern approach support beams over the circulation canal. The failure of this portion of the bridge - the remainder of the structure is considered to be in good condition - has caused the restriction of its use to vehicles weighing less than three tons.
