ISLAND WATERFRONT - Then and Now - Part IX

Another photo from the Herschberger family album from the 1920s.
A crowd is assembled on Gislason dock in Jensenville,
presumably to greet passengers arriving by ferry.
Do you recognize anyone?
 

Washington Island, Wisconsin -

Before moving on to new territory, I need to make a few additions and corrections.

Thanks to additional information from Ann Young we have more names to add for the photo below, taken by a member of the Herschberger family.  (Most negatives are still in the family's possession, according to Ann.)

More identifications:  Besides Gordon Jepson in pilot house window (son of ferry
owner William Jepson),  from left are:   Charles "Buzz" Gislason, brother
Gene Gislason, unknown man, Ruth Herschberger, Harriet
(Herschberger) Platzman, and unknown lady.

Charles and Gene were sons of Ruth and Lawrence Gislason.   Charles was named, we suppose, for the brother of Lawrence who died and received posthumously the Croix de Guerre from the French government for losing his life in WWI.   The Island's Gislason-Richter American Legion Post 402 was named  in Charles' memory.  (Ludlow Richter was killed in WWII.)

Gene had an illustrious career in the U. S. Coast Guard, and he was decorated for bravery in landing craft operations at Normandy.  He retired with the rank of Captain.  One of Gene's retirement projects was to tabulate information about as many Washington Island working craft as possible.   His tablet of information was edited, and added to, by Hannes Anderson, himself a retired U. S. Navy Captain.

Do you remember the photo of an early ferry or island freighter under sail?  (See the Feb. 17th posting for a photo)    The name on the bow is too small to be read.  Ann Young thought it might be the Wisconsin, but there were a number of small freighters that had a similar look, and most of them had curved lifeboat davits mounted on the wheelhouse.   From Eric Bonow came the suggestion it might be the Marion, also used for a brief time period as a ferry.  He offered the photo below as a comparison, noting the rather "blocky" aft house that was partially enclosed by a weather curtain (which the vessel in the other photo also displays).  In this photo, too, a steadying sail is bent on, ready to be hoisted when away from port and on course with fair winds.   I give the nod to the Marion.

Marion at unidentified pier, year unknown.  

Anyway, this is another interesting photo.   In the foreground, is that a float for working on vessels, or an early channel marker of some sort?  And speaking of channel markers, what is that float with raised structure in our top photo, tucked behind the Gislason pier?   Could it also be a private channel marker set out by the ferry operator or commercial fishermen?

Finally, in a correction, I must withdraw my comments regarding the Goodrich Steamer photo having been submitted in Fred Richter's application for the Elbow Light.  It was not a part of his application. (See blog posted March 3rd)  An error by someone else in combining the two was then compounded by my wrong assumption.  However, I'll stand by my statement that no vessel of that size (length and draft) ever fit itself into Detroit Harbor!

I think we've cleared the decks now and can steam ahead into future blogs.  But keep the comments coming - and photos, if you have any.   Google makes it hard to respond to these blogs, but I also receive occasional comments by private email.  Let me know if its OK to reprint them in the comment section.   I'm not comfortable in reprinting them or using your name without your permission.

-  Dick Purinton

ISLAND WATERFRONT - Then and Now - Part VI

It's sometimes easy to think romantically of the past, and this photo showing
passengers aboard the Wisconsin at their leisure, a few with sun (?) umbrellas
 may feed such an urge.  However, it is doubtful these passengers could have
found shelter if a rainstorm came on suddenly.  And, the chill of the lake was
theirs to deal with until they made land on either side of the passage, for there
was little protection to be had.
Not so much different than aboard the Karfi today, I am reminded!
(photo from Bell Collection, Wm. Jepson the likely
photographer.)

Washington Island, Wisconsin -

When I wrote in the last blog in this series about the Washington Island waterfront over the years, describing early ferry boat efforts, I mistakenly omitted the wooden ferry H. J. Davis that competed, for a very brief time it appears, with the Wisconsin.  I say only the vessel Wisconsin, because I'm not certain for how many years the Marion and Navarre operated as ferries.   One mention in The Door County Advocate, in July 1928, mentioned the Marion had delivered cedar posts to Sheboygan from Cedar River, and in the paragraph that followed, that the H. J. Davis delivered cement to Sturgeon Bay.  It would seem that in the height of the season, the transportation of freight was the main source of income and purpose for those two vessels.  I'm uncertain how the Navarre fared as a ferry once placed in service.

I was advised by none other than Eric Bonow to "hold the presses" (but the blog had already taken flight into the ethernet) and so I'll provide a correction, an addition, actually, here.  With the previous blog I had been using clippings provided me by Eric Greenfeldt, all of which came from The Door County News, one of two newspapers that flourished for a time in Door County.  When I reached the final clipping, I ended my blog.

We have Ann (Herschberger) Young and daughter Carolyn Foss
to thank for this great shot of the Wisconsin departing Gislason's
dock, sometime prior to 1928, the year when Capt. Jepson
began using the new Welcome.  This is from a Herschberger
photo album.

From Eric Bonow, then, I received the following pertinent excerpts on the H. J. Davis mentioned in columns of The Door County Advocate (DCA).  She was referred to in a 1915 report as "the little auxiliary schooner" carrying pulpwood, and in another mention in 1918 as "the gasoline hooker".  In 1920, she was credited as the "auxiliary schooner…bringing a cargo of potatoes…Walter Goodlet is master." By 1923, Mike Anderson was listed as captain of the Davis, and hay was the cargo loaded in Sturgeon Bay for Menominee, Michigan.

So it may be with some surprise that in August 31, 1928, it was announced the J. H. (sic) Davis was purchased by Art Weber from Mike Anderson for the purpose of serving Washington Island as a ferry boat.  The dimensions of the H. J. Davis were given:  20-ft. beam; 75 ft. length; capacity of five autos besides passengers and "considerable freight," and would, through alterations, be capable of carrying seven autos the following year.  Capt. James Sorenson, owner of the West Harbor Hotel, would be "handling the craft," while Milton Hansen, also of the Island, would act as shore captain.   A daily schedule was also announced.

We have no idea how many days the Davis operated to and from the Island, but in the DCA of Sept. 24, 1928 its stint as a ferry appears to have ended:  "The new ferry Davis, which operated a short while as a ferry boat carrying cars and passengers across the Door, has gone into general freighting
for the rest of the fall.  Since the resort season is practically over, the ferry Wisconsin will be able to handle all of the traffic during the rest of the season."

Another wonderful photo from the Herschberger album shows an early,
unidentifiable vessel under sail.   This gaff rig was apparently used for saving
on fuel, and as the means of salvation if the motor quit.  
Hard to say what vessel this is for certain, since these small freighters 
tended to look very much like one another from a distance.   
Does anyone venture a guess?  

The Davis appears to have returned to freighting and "special ops," more or less on a permanent basis.  In November of that year, the Davis retrieved a damaged Cherryland Airways airplane (the first plane in Sturgeon Bay) from Green Island, located six miles or so from Menominee, Michigan.   And in the fall of 1929, the Davis was reported to have taken a load of coal to Sister Bay.  Art Weber of the Weber Dredging Co. was listed as owner, and the newspaper reported that the H. J. Davis was up for sale, "a good carrier and a staunch craft for coastwise trade."

A photo Eric Bonow emailed (but which I don't have permission to reprint here) shows the Davis having similar lines as the vessel Marion, except for being in a very 'tired' looking condition.  My conjecture is that this vessel worked hard over the years as a small freighter, and that its life as a ferry boat amounted to a very brief period before it returned to its familiar role as freighter or small hooker.   Art Weber, listed as owner at least for a period of time, and who also owned a dredge company, was employed by C. H. Thordarson for excavation of the shoreline on the southwest shore of Rock Island late in 1925, where the foundation for Thordarson's Rock Island boathouse began.

In this photo Gordon Jepson appears in the window of the pilot house.
The passenger second from left below him is Gene Gislason, and
it is very likely Gene's brother alongside him.  Others have not been
identified.  Capt. William Jepson operated the North Shore 
beginning in 1933.(the photographer is unknown, but one copy 
is in the Herschberger family album, and it may be the original.)

One more mention came in my book Over and Back (1990) in which Gordy Jepson, son of William P. Jepson, recalled the name H. J. Davis:   "...a 70-75 foot boat, running from Teskies in Gills Rock to Nor Shellswick's on the Island."  Gordon also said in the 1990 interview that, "After Gills Rock replaced the farther port of Ellison Bay, most of the other boats which had made similar runs quit operating.  Dad landed at Gislason's dock, in Jensenville, near the present Shipyard Marina.  He sold the Wisconsin in the spring of '29 to Chris Andersen, who used her as a freighter once again to Green Bay.  Dad had built the Welcome for use as a ferry, and she could carry ten cars.  The Welcome was also built of wood, by Sturgeon Bay Shipbuilding and Dry Dock.  Dad pulled me out of school to become a deckhand.  Other deckhands working for Dad during these years were:  Ralph Wade, my brother-in-law;  Ray Andersen;  Walt Hansen;  and Ernie Lockhart."

Two photos of the Wisconsin moored at the Ida Bo dock (now Findlay's Holiday Inn) appear in Over and Back (pages 29 and 38) , and these could have been taken when the boat was employed as a freighter, possibly before or after the regular tourism season.  The Ida Bo dock, however, didn't have the width necessary for loading autos.

 -  Dick Purinton

ISLAND WATERFRONT - Then and Now - Part V

Charles Hanson's freight boat Marion also served as one of the
early Island ferries.  Photo probably taken around 1919-20.  
Location? 

Washington Island, Wisconsin -

Previous posts in this series on the changing Island waterfront referenced the early days of ferry operation and Captain William Jepson.  Jepson wasn't the only ferry operator, but his operation succeeded in outlasting his competition by providing regularly scheduled service, and, it may be,
by employing a better vessel with superior docking facilities/location.

Once established, Jepson called his ferry operation "The Gills Rock Ferry Line," an attempt to closely associate his service with the peninsula port from which his ferries departed.  Earlier, Ellison Bay and Garrett Bay (across the harbor from Gills Rock) were two other points of departure for early ferry runs.
The facility at Gills Rock (the Voight/Johnson dock, where ferries continued to land for many years afterward) although exposed in W to N winds, was superior to Garret Bay, and to the more distant Ellison Bay.   (Northport was developed later as an alternative to Gills Rock, at times when winds prevented landing there.)

Jepson ferry schedule (year unknown)

Information from old newspapers show that the first efforts were wishful thinking with a fair amount of public support, but without resulting in an actual ferry service.  Columnists promoted  the need for a regular ferry service, repeatedly making the case on behalf of island and mainland citizens.

From the Door County News (DCN) 24 Nov. 1915, it was reported that "The value of such a ferry boat to the people of the island and also to all others concerned would be unestimable, and would work toward the rapid advancement of that place."  Just who the originator of the idea might have been was kept under wraps, described only as "…a gentleman from outside…", a businessman of mystery.    The broad backing needed to start such an enterprise was repeatedly solicited, along with the convincing arguments such improvements would bring, linking the island with the rest of Door County.

The 12 July 1916 The DCN reported efforts that had yet to get off the ground.

The people of Washington Island have been talking ferry so long that now action is going to be taken to see what can be done with the project…a meeting will be called for the purpose of launching a movement.  The people of the island are interested in anything that will bring the island closer to the mainland and their people nearer to the people on the peninsula...  The project has passed the stage when anyone can check it by throwing cold water on it.  The people want a ferry and are ready to listen to any plan that is feasible and not too expensive.

But plan specifics were still lacking, other than that such a ferry must serve the needs of islanders, "…must operate at least during the months of June, July and August and September, and longer if practical;  that some arrangement be made with the local mail carrier to have the mail [transported] in connection with the ferry if possible."  The ferry must transport autos, horses, cattle, etc., and the toll must be "reasonable."

As of July 1916, the newspaper's efforts remained of a cheerleading nature.  No firm commitment to offer such service had as yet surfaced.  The Wednesday, 16 August 1916 issue of The DCN reported that a new association was being formed "for the purpose of promoting or urging the building of a ferry across the Door."  About 170 islanders were reported to have attended at Tom Nelson's hall "together with tourists and people from different townships of the peninsula."

Man at left holding one end of the fish stringer is Judge Herbert,
according to label on reverse.  One or more Herschberger
family members who had a home in Jensenville are
believed to surround him at the Gislason (shipyard)
 dock.   No information is available on the
Caroline moored at left.
(Photo is from the Bell Collection, and Bill Jepson
is believed to have been
the photographer.  (Year unknown)

"Judge Herbert was the principal speaker of the evening and in a very able manner addressed the audience, first calling attention to the remarkable growth of industries on the island through their own work."   Judge Herbert cited the telephone exchange and the difficulties overcome in establishing the island-wide phone service, and the island "creamery" for its prosperity.

The newspaper reported: "At the conclusion of his talk the bell rang with hearty applause and there was no question but what Judge Herbert had sensed the voice of the islanders on the subject.  Other men were called on for remarks, among them Attorney Wagener, A. A. Minor and Frank Graass.  Local men also raised their voice.  George Mann, it was reported, "…hit the nail on the head when he said, 'We want it to come,' and Lawrence Gislason was willing to do anything, 'To see that it gets here'."

A new committee was named "The Island Ferry Company"at Bo L. Anderson's suggestion.  Names for committee leadership were nominated and voted on, with a band playing during deliberations.  The following men were elected:  Will Jess, president;  Geo. O. Mann, vice-president; Lawrence Gislason, treasurer;  Earl M. LaPlant, secretary.   Mr. Laplant appears to have been the only non-islander to join the committee's officers.  With optimism, another meeting was announced two weeks hence, with the expectation that in the meantime they would get a membership of five hundred people, each paying dues of $1.00 per year.

Under the column heading "From HERE AND THERE" in the 29 Nov. 1916 DCN came this report:
   "The ferry project went a step forward when the county board saw the necessity of aiding the movement by a donation of $500."
Bo L. Anderson had made a pitch before the County Board, followed by a successful resolution.  Part of Anderson's reasoning was for the County to find some way to connect the peninsula's northernmost road with the "county highway on the island."  A suggestion was also made - the news story wasn't clear by whom - that ferry rates be set at $2.00 for autos and $0.50 for passengers.

[An unrelated but interesting aside in the same column was another newsworthy item from Washington Island:    "Measles are still in evidence.  Likewise, the itch which is as bad if not worse."]

By the time the 17 Feb.1917 Door County News was published, the County Board's action regarding the earmarked funds to help a fledgling island ferry service was called into question.  An opinion of District Attorney W. E. Gaede stated the county board's action had appropriated the $500  "...beyond its powers and consequently is illegal and void."    But following this announcement, another route was suggested by then assemblyman Frank N. Graass, who offered to introduce a bill that would legalize the action of the county board.  His bill later passed the Wisconsin Assembly and was signed by the Governor.  But these efforts did not immediately, or directly, bring about ferry service.

In November of that same year (DCN 22 Nov. 1917) a headline read:  "People of Washington Island Still Hopeful of Securing Service.  May Be Established Next Spring."   The ferry project was
"…dormant, but not dead by any means."

Meanwhile, it was reported that in Ellison Bay a Mrs. Andrew Nelson offered "the required timber and stone from her holdings…for the construction of a suitable pier for the boats to land, providing it is built at her place.  There are a number of boats owned on the island that could be utilized for the service and the people of Washington Island are confident that the enterprise would be a profitable one."

On 17 Dec. 1917, the DCN reported that the Weborgs of Gills Rock had offered their dock, "for the upkeep," should a ferry service there be established.

It wasn't until the 21 March 1918 issue of The DCN that names of possible ferry operators were first mentioned.  The start of ferry service, it appeared, would be dependent upon entrepreneurs.

There is every indication that the ferry line across the Door to Washington Island will be inaugurated the try first thing this spring.

The gasoline boat Wisconsin has been secured to do the work and Capt. Carl Christianson and Wm Jepsen (sp) who own the craft will handle her in the business.  The promoters consider themselves fortunate in having secured the Wisconsin, she being one of the best boats of her kind on Green Bay.  She is staunch, safe and speedy and capable of carrying 3 autoes (sic) as well as passengers and freight.  She is 59 feet long, 15 feet wide and 7 feet depth of hold and is equipped with a 40 h.p. engine.  She is only a couple of years old, having been built in 1916 in Green Bay.

The landing at the island will be at the Lawrence Gislason dock and it is planned to have the place of landing on the mainland at Garrett Bay.  This part has not been definitely settled upon, however, but it is not anticipated that there will be much trouble in securing a suitable place.  [Garrett Bay had a deep water pier used for loading stone onto ships.]

The owners of the Wisconsin have agreed to take their chances on the amount of business that they will do, feeling confident that there will be plenty of travel during the summer months.  They are both excellent seamen and hustlers from the word go, so that it will be no fault of their's if they do not make a success of the undertaking.

The ferry will be a great drawing card for tourists desiring to make the rounds of the county and should be the means of bringing much trade to hotels on the island.   It is planned to make the fare nominal for the round trip, so that there will be no objection on this score.

The 22 MAY 1919 DCN reported:

Capt. Carl Hanson, owner and master of the gasoline freighter Marion, was in the city the latter part of the week, at which time a reporter asked him concerning the proposed ferry line across the Door to Washington Island.  

Capt. Hanson says that he plans on starting along about June 1st to 10th.  He will make a round trip in the morning and one in the afternoon, and will have time to make a special trip should it be found necessary and desirable.  The schedule he has laid out is to leave Detroit Harbor at 7:30 a.m. and arrive at Garrett Bay at 8:10; leave again at 9 and arrive at Detroit harbor at 9:40.  In the afternoon he will leave Detroit Harbor at 2:15, arriving at Garrett Bay at 2:55; leave again at 4 and arrive at Detroit Harbor at 4:40.

The fare for the round trip will be $5 for an ordinary car and driver, or $3 for one way;  large cars will be charged $7, or $4 for one way.  Passengers will be charged $1 for the round trip.

An ad for the Marion's service appeared in the July 10 DCN, but the mainland location listed was Ellison Bay (beyond Door Bluff and several miles south of Garret Bay).  A paragraph that accompanied the ad stated:

The Washington Island ferry line is now operating on scheduled time between Ellison Bay and Detroit Harbor.  In another column will be found the time table and rates.  The line promises to become a popular mode of travel when brought to the attention of the outside world.  There has been a demand for transporting autos across the Door passage and the ferry Marion is fitting the long felt want.

But Hanson's ferry service, it appears, actually began July 1st, from Gills Rock to the island, as reported in the 20 June 1918 DCN.  The name "Carl" Hanson had been changed to "Hans" Hanson.  (I believe "Carl" was also referred to as "Charles" Hanson.)

 It was noted that:

"The auxiliary schooner Marion, owned and commanded by Capt. Hans Hanson, will be utilized as the ferry.  She is a staunch craft and in charge of an able and experienced seaman.  She is equipped with a 25 h.p. engine and will make the run across the Door in about an hour.  The transportation of autoes from Washington Island to the mainland will be of great convenience to the owners of cars, as it will make it possible for them to leave the island in the morning, come to this city and return home the same evening after transacting business."

Schedule and rates for Hanson ferry Marion,
as it appeared in the 10 July 1919 DCNews.

The fits and starts that seemed to accompany the first island ferry service(s), are confusing to piece together.  They're made even more confusing because of what appears to be mix-ups as reported in the newspaper.

The 26 June 1919 DCN carried the following story, giving the ferry operator's name as William Jepson, but the ferry name Marion, rather than Wisconsin.  Jepson's peninsula location at Gills Rock, which was developed on the eastern shore (where the highway in Gills Rock ends today) would prove considerably shorter and faster than the proposed ferry run of Hanson's to Ellison Bay.  

FERRY STARTS - The first trip of the Washington Island ferry was made on Thursday, June 19th.  This was when the gasoline carrier Marion, Capt. Jepsen (sic) carried the first automobile across the Door to Washington Island from the mainland.

A dock is being built at Gills Rock for the ferry to discharge the autoes (sic) conveniently and expeditiously and the work will be competed by the end of the week.

On the patronage of the public depends the success of the undertaking.  It is confidently anticipated by promoters that it will be a paying proposition as soon as the fact becomes generally known that trips can be made back and forth.  The large increase in the number of autoes during the past and first of the present season augurs well for the ferry line.  The fare is reasonable and service of the best.

Jepson's Wisconsin, on the ways.  Sheets of metal
fastened to the wooden hull to give greater durability.
(Believed to be a Wm. Jepson photo,  from the Bell Collection.)

Finally, we add in one more name of an early ferry operator and his DCN.  The new aspirations were Pete Anderson's, who held the mail contract between the island and the mainland post office in Ellison Bay, which he fulfilled in non-ice months with his vessel named Volunteer.

Passengers aboard the ferry Wisconsin, during teens or early 1920s.
Photo likely taken by Wm. Jepson (from Bell Collection).

FERRY TO WASHINGTON ISLAND - Pete Anderson, the Mail Carrier, Will Carry Cars Across the Door In His New Boat.

Washington Island is to have a ferry service again during the coming summer for the accommodation of the inhabitants of that part of the county as well as the tourists trade.

Pete Anderson, the hustling mail carrier, is the man behind the proposition and he will combine it with his regular business of handling Uncle Sam's mail and carrying passengers back and forth.

During the past winter Pete purchased the gasoline yacht Navarre which formerly belonged to Judge Turner, now deceased, and during the past couple of weeks, he with Thos. Johnson and George Jorgenson have been busily engaged at Two Rivers in converting the craft into a business boat.  She was thoroughly overhauled below the water line and is now as good as new.  

On Monday, Mr. Anderson, accompanied by Messrs. Johnson and Jorgenson, arrived in the city with the boat on their way to Washington Island, stopping only long enough at the yards of the Fuller Goodman company on the west side to take on a load of material with which to finish the craft.  It is the intention to put in exceptionally heavy beams and decks for carrying automobiles.   The upper works and decks will be put in at Detroit Harbor during the ensuing month, it being the intention to have her ready for commission along about the first of June.

The Navarre is 56 feet long and 15 feet wide and will be capable of carrying three cars handily.  She is an exceptionally fine boat.  The owner will also have accommodations for passengers as well.

Mr Anderson has not as yet figured out just what schedule he will run on, but this will be announced at a later date.

There are a large number of autoes owned on the Island, which together with those of people who wish to visit the place should provide a good business for the ferry.

Mail carrier Pete Anderson's Volunteer (nearest shore) and the vessel
he purchased and converted in order to start up a ferry service, Navarre.

This is all the information I currently have on the very first motorized ferries (and all or nearly all of it comes from The Door County News clippings provided me by Eric Greenfeldt) but it is my assessment that these three ferry operations struggled in these first few years. Not only did they compete for customers, but the operators battled against weather elements using piers that were, given their haste to get started, probably somewhat make-shift and exposed.  Of the three announced operators, Jepson appeared to have developed superior landings at the best locations.  With his vessel Wisconsin he seemed to have the best craft, and the combination of boat and landings provided a consistent service.   Successful ferry operations and increasing traffic over the next few years led to Jepson's ferry Welcome, built in 1929 Sturgeon Bay, the first vessel built specifically for island ferry service.  His Wisconsin was then sold to Chris Andersen, who used it as a freight boat.

-  Dick Purinton

EARLY DETROIT HARBOR PASSENGER VESSEL SERVICE

Detroit Harbor, Washington Island -

A light rain is falling, and there is a temporary lull in tourism this afternoon, a good time to consider a new blog.  I've had some of these images on my computer screen for months, waiting for that opportunity to string them together with observations.

What got me started on this was the topic of dredging and dock work, and how one thing builds on another over the years and decades.  The present island ferry dock was formerly the property of Ole Christianson who had a boatyard and marine railway there.  If you're interested in more details on that yard, a letter from Ole to Thordarson is included in the about-to-be-published Thordarson and Rock Island.  Thordarson, it turns out, was interested enough in Ole's boatyard to exchange letters with him and get a price.  Ole, it is assumed, was what we call today a "motivated seller" because when Thordarson didn't bite, William Jepson who operated the ferries from the shipyard location at the far end of the harbor did.  Jepson moved his ferry landing and began to make dock improvements.  (This move would also have entailed the improvement of a road for motorized vehicles to and from the Lobdell Point area.  John W. Cornell recalled walking to work along a footpath when he first expanded his dock, where the current Island Outpost dock is now situated.)

North Shore moored inside the slip.
Barrels are lined up along the Standard Oil
dock to the north.  Chambers house is
in background (right).

In the first photo I think we can safely say the North Shore is backing from the location that is also the current ferry landing, backing "into the channel" so-to-speak.  Since the exact year isn't known, there might not yet have been a dredged channel, only a naturally deep waterway. (It was first dredged in 1937.)  Jepson wasn't the only operator to carry autos.  But he appears to be the first to do so, and the first to operate a regularly scheduled service using two ferries, the Welcome and the North Shore, built expressly for passenger and auto service from the Island to the Door Peninsula.

Earlier passenger service?

Eric Bonow provided the 1909 timetable below that outlines early passenger service options to upper Green Bay ports, including Detroit Harbor.   The larger Bon Ami or Sailor Boy made the main run between Sturgeon Bay and Marinette-Menominee, and then north to Escanaba.  A smaller vessel, Thistle, was used to call on smaller harbors along the Door Peninsula.  If someone from Washington Island wished to go to Escanaba, for instance, they could board the Thistle from Gislason's dock (near present day Shipyard Marina), and then transfer near the harbor's entrance to the northbound Bon Ami, which then continued on its way to Escanaba.  When southbound, the Bon Ami or Sailor Boy would stop in Washington Harbor, but apparently only when there was demand.

The fact that trains could be met at Sturgeon Bay or Marinette/Menominee (also at Escanaba, although it is not stated on the Time Card) made it a convenient means of scheduling travel.   It was with such possibilities that C. H. Thordarson often arrived in Escanaba, Michigan, from Chicago by train in later years.  A smaller boat trip completed his last leg to his Rock Island estate.

 Although it is hard to read the fine print, Eric highlighted the Thistle's name in yellow.  Passengers who wished to disembark in Detroit Harbor would also transfer from the larger Hart Line boat to the smaller Thistle near the harbor's entrance.  Then Thistle and her crew were optimized with an offer of "cheap excursion rates outside of Detroit Harbor every pleasant afternoon" to help fill time before she began her run south.

A promotion ran in the Time Card:  if passengers continued to Escanaba, they would arrive in the evening, "Giving all our passengers a chance to approach the city by night and view the immense ore docks lighted by electricity, which is a beautiful sight."

Other early Detroit Harbor vessel activity

Another Eric, Eric Greenfeldt, sent me a volume of great information in the form of early newspaper article reprints.  These clippings tell of the very first beginnings of  ferry transportation on Washington Island.  Here is a sampling:

The Door County News (DCN) of 22 May 1919 reported Capt. Carl Hanson of Washington Island, owner and master of the gasoline freighter Marion, stated his intention to make twice daily round trips from Detroit Harbor to Garret Bay (west of Gills Rock).

In the next few weeks, Hanson apparently sold (or leased) the Marion to William Jepson.  The June 26, 1919 issue reported the first trip carrying an automobile, the ferry Marion under Jepson's authority.  Success of the undertaking, it was noted, depended upon the "patronage of the public." But a "large increase in the number of autos during the past and first of the present season" was optimistically noted.  Also described was "a dock being built at Gills Rock for the ferry to discharge the autos conveniently and expeditiously, and the work will be completed by the end of the week."

Highways and automobiles led to a decline, then the end, of around-the-bay services such as the Hart Line offered.

The Marion's schedule and rates as advertised in the July 10 DCN:  Trips were twice daily.  Round trip rates were $5.00 for small cars, $7.00 for touring cars.  Passengers were 75 cents each, one way.  An accompanying column noted that "The line promises to become a popular mode of travel when brought to the attention of the outside world."

[We're still working on that...]

Competition was in the wings.  The following account appeared in the April 21, 1920 issue of the DCN:

Pete Anderson, the Mail Carrier, Will Carry Cars Across the Door In His New Boat

Washington Island is to have a ferry service again during the coming summer for the accommodation of the inhabitants of that part of the county as well as the tourists trade.

Pete Anderson, the hustling mail carrier, is the man behind the proposition and he will combine it with his regular business of handling Uncle Sam's mail and carrying passenger s back and forth.

During the past winter Pete purchased the big gasoline yacht Navarre which formerly belonged to Judge Turner, now deceased, and during the past couple of weeks, he with Thos. Johnson and George Jorgenson have been busily engaged at Two Rivers in converting the craft into a business boat.   She was thoroughly overhauled below the waterline and is now as good as new.

On Monday, Mr. Anderson, accompanied by Messr. Johnson and Jorgenson, arrived in the city with the boat on their way to Washington Island, stopping only long enough at the yards of the Fuller Goodman company on the west side to take on a load of material with which to finish the craft.  It is the intention to put in exceptionally heavy beams and decks for carrying automobiles.  The upperworks and decks will be put in at Detroit Harbor during the ensuing month, it being the intention to have her ready for commission along about the first of June.  The Navarre is 56 feet long and 15 feet wide and will be capable of carrying three cars handily.  She is an exceptionably fine boat.  The owners will also have accommodations for passengers as well.

Mr. Anderson has not as yet figured out just what schedule he will run on , but this will be announced at a later date.

There are a large number of autos owned on the Island, which together with those of people who wish to visit the place should provide a good business for the ferry.  
(Note:  In this early newspaper article the word "autos" appears with an "e," similar to "potatoes," a new word then for editors and readers alike.)

Well, enough for one rainy day.

Eric Greenfeldt sent me quite a few column inches reporting discussions leading to that first official auto being carried by Jepson on the ferry Marion in 1919.  When it rains again, and tourism doesn't require my services, we'll continue with this subject.

-  Dick Purinton