Nostalgia & History > Detroit & Mackinac Alco loads Chief Wawatam

Handsome Detroit & Mackinac Alco C-424 No. 181 shoves idler cars and D&M boxcars onto the aging carferry "Chief Wawatam" at the Mackinaw City, MI ferry slip as fleecy clouds roll inland off Lake Huron on September 20, 1982. The ferry soon will depart to sail across the Straits of Mackinac to St. Ignace on Michigan's Upper Peninsula where Soo Line will pull the cars off and load some of its own for a return voyage back here. In 1983 the State Government of Michigan pulled the funding for this time-honored operation. === === = === Photo by JLH



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/25/15 22:19 by highgreengraphics.

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Love that image!

PQM

So how to freights get from the upper to the lower now or do they not interchange?

What for a pic!!! Thanks for sharing. Nice scene, could'nt re-enact this in the present days.

Phil

Wow!

- Jeff Carlson

Through Wisconsin?

amtrakwolverine Wrote:
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> So how to freights get from the upper to the lower
> now or do they not interchange?

wabash2800 Wrote:
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> Through Wisconsin?
>
> amtrakwolverine Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > So how to freights get from the upper to the
> lower
> > now or do they not interchange?

That is correct no more ferry service.  Funny thing is the original Mackianc Bridge proposal called for a double deck span with Railroad on the lower level.
It would be interesting to see how railroading in Michigan would have changed had this happened.  I've always thought no connection between the two peninsulas
was short sighted by the State. 

I don't have a pic of the dock in Mackinaw but the one attched is of the Soo Line's dock in St Ignance in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. 

For comparison of what could have been, a pic of the Mighty Mac!  Not the best PIC of the bridge but the only one I could find quickly, plus it gives you an idea of size.

If you've never been across the Mighty Mac! it's pretty cool and can be challenging especially in a truck, more so if it's RV or Semi sized.  Nothing quite like going across
and looking out to see straight over the railing.  One car has been blow off the bridge and several trucks have been flipped over although not off the bridge.  One of my
last crossings was in December about 5 minutes before it was closed due to blizzard conditions of heavy snow and 40 MPH winds with gusts upto 60 MPH, fun it was not. 
I drove about 175 miles down the middle of I-75 because you couldn't see a single traffic lane marking. 

All three pictures are mine with the dock pic's taken on July 30, 2010 and the Bridge pic being taken on a August 3, 2007.  This just happened to be the day of the third
largest forest fire to burn in Michigan since 1881.  The Sleeper Lake fire of 2007, which burned 18,000 acres of land which was largely in marsh, bog and hard to get to
areas.  Fire Departments from Ontario, Wisconsin, Minesota, Bureau of Indian Affairs, US Forest Service and National Guard were a few of the out of the departments
who helped fight it.

Kris
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/26/15 01:58 by dcmkris.

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I am not sure exactly what this depot is all about. I understood it to be ex DSS&A at St. ignace and it was near the right of way but I am not sure this was the original location. It's now incorporated into a "Curiousity Shop"

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A view of the Mighty Mac from the Mackinaw City - Mackinac Island Ferry taken May 9, 2015.

This is ONE BIG BRIDGE !!

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I was on the group tha tried to save the "Chief" at the public hearings in Lansing in the 70s. Successful for a few years. When I lived in St. Ignace we loved watching the cars being loaded and unloaded. I will  dig up some slides this summer...

Great shot. I lived in Michigan in the 90's and missed all the ferry operations. I did finally take a trip over to Mackinac Island a few years ago, and made sure to use the "Railroad Dock" embarkation point from St Ignace. My duffle bag still carries the tag from that trip :-)

Great shot.

Ronda Thomas

How many round trips (trips) per day did the ferry make?

train1275 Wrote:
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> I am not sure exactly what this depot is all
> about. I understood it to be ex DSS&A at St.
> ignace and it was near the right of way but I am
> not sure this was the original location. It's now
> incorporated into a "Curiousity Shop"

That place is sort of a gift shop knicknack thing (Tourist Trap) it's been at least 15 years since I've been in there.  It is the oldest surviving Duluth South Shore & Atlantic depot still standing.  It was originally along the waterfront by the docks, it was moved along US-2 west of St Ignance around 1960 and converted into a tourist trap.  The DSS&A depot that is now near the dock and is a reastraunt with good food and reasonable prices was originally in Moran and was moved to it's current location around 1950.  It was moved since it was larger and had a good sized freight house on it, from what I've been told.

KRis

Seems everything from Grand Rapids north, the UP, too, has always been kind of zzzzzzzzzzzz, I am actually surprised they built the Mackinaw Bridge for vehicles even. A railroad-combined bridge would have been a bunch more engineering and expense as it would have had to be built completely different, a lot more supports, many in deep water, giving boats more obstacles to hit, and no suspension bridge. Admittedly, this bridge is a lot more graceful than a rail/highway bridge would have been, a nice symbol as opposed to industrial grittiness like Michigan has too much of southeast of Grand Rapids. May have been a good call, but as a result there is very little industry anywhere north of Grand Rapids until maybe Manistique or Escanaba, it's a sleepy, woodsy vacationland for sure. === === = === JLH

Here is a view near where the original post photo of the D&M loading the Chief was taken. This is an ice breaker on display with what I understand to be Fairbanks-Morse OP engines.

As to industry in that area, indeed there really isn't anything. The U.P. has traditionally always been more economically connected with Wisconsin and Chicago than Detroit as far as transportation and that is evidenced by the remaining rail lines up there.

Still it is amazing the freright that once moved by rail and barge in this area including entire passenger trains. What a ride that must have been !

The Chief Wawatam became some sort of barge if I recall and her sister ferry, was taken off long ago Ste. Marie ?

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The Breaker was the Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw. For a time it was considered to be the most powerful ice breaker in the world. It was used strictly on the Great Lakes, especially considering it was too wide for the St Lawrence Seaway!