Detroit Harbor, Washington Island -
While rummaging through old books on a basement shelf this winter, Mary Jo and I leafed through pages on the chance something of interest might fall out. While many of the books were perhaps summer page-turners of the era, 30, 50 or more years ago, they were not classics and they would be donated to an organization that could resell them. But in one book was a hand written list of vessels that loaded in Rowleys Bay that captured our interest.
Rowleys Bay is located on the Lake Michigan side of the Door Peninsula, about eight miles south of the Door Passage where in present times there is a large resort, boat launch ramps, and a small marina. The Mink River estuary begins several miles to the west, almost in Ellison Bay, and it widens into Rowleys Bay, over a mile in width where it meets the lake.
Without a signature or initials giving authorship to the list, we believed the hand writing was Carl Richter's (which resembled Arni's handwriting to a great degree). Carl (b. 1871 - d. 1963) sailed as a young man on the schooner Madonna from Detroit Harbor, so he may have been familiar with many of the vessel names. But this list was comprehensive, too detailed it seemed, to have been solely from his memory.
How or why Carl Richter might have created such a list for a port not located on Washington Island is unknown, except for his general interest in things nautical and his familiarity with the many vessel names. This list is extensive, around 80 vessels in all, and included are the names of "steam barges" and characteristic loads. This detail makes me think that Carl had access to a port ledger or other documents and may have copied it for his personal record.
What also surprised us was how long the list of vessel names was for a northern Door County port, where not even a town exists today. But Rowleys Bay was a busy place, especially active in the shipment of timber products.
In Leonard Peterson's book Rowleys Bay (1991), he reprinted an entry from the Door County Advocate of 1871 that indicated the volume of activity:
" At Rowleys Bay they are busy shipping the material got out last winter, namely 16,000 telegraph poles, 60,000 cedar posts, 6,000 ties and 15,000 cords of wood."
An account by Robert Noble following his ordeal in Death's Door waters in late December of 1863, as told to the Door County Advocate editor later in his life, indicated that his difficulties occurred during the time he was employed at Rowleys Bay "...helping to get wood out." On his return from Washington Island, Noble survived the icy waters but froze, and later lost, most of his fingers and his lower legs.
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| Robert Noble |
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| Carl G. Richter |
Following is the list recreated as best the handwriting can be interpreted, complete with misspellings:
Boats Loaded At Rowleys Bay
Speed Rover Mary Cowles ...and on the reverse side
Jessie Martin La Petit Norman - 169 cords wood
Caroline C. Harrison Spartan
Bert Barnes Mary Packard C. Grover - 102 cords wood
I.A. Johnson Horace Taber Nancy Dell
Petrel Lillie Ammiot O.R. Johnson - 136 cords bark
R.H. Becker Arrow Potomac - 3900 Ties 1900 Posts
Dawn Vermont Coaster
Linerla Sophia Fournica Wm. Jones - 115 cords wood
Ruby J.A. Stephens Forrest
Fearless Jos. Hull Jennie Bell - 80 cords wood
Mary Collins Mary Cook Myrtle
Challenge Frances Minor Aurena
Boaz J. Green J.V. Taylor
J.A. Travis Otter
Black Hawl Potomac ... and the note that
S.J. Hawley Little Georgia "some boats made many trips."
Belle of Racine Charlotte Raab
Ellen A.B.C.F.M.
Guido A.P. Nichols
Annie Dahl Conquest
Margaret Dahl Bill Brown
O.M. Nelson Orkney Lass
Emma Nelson Mocking Bird
Melitta Annie Tormine
Josephine Dresden Rob Roy
Lucy Graham Ivor Lawson
Idea J.O. Moss
Cuyahoga Nellie Church
Tempest Hunting Boy
E.M. Porch
T.Y. Avery Steam Barges
Mary B. Hale G.T. Burroughs
4. Brothers Hattie Perue
2. Brothers Addie Wade
Smith Side Mary Miller
Cynthia Garden Imperial
City of Baltimore
- Dick Purinton
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