Click photo for larger image & cutline |
ST. IGNACE - Crossing the Straits of Mackinac on a car ferry is unheard of today. But a mere 50 years ago, car ferries were the only mode of transportation that connected the two peninsulas.
In 1923, officials at the Michigan Highway Department made a unique decision on how to deal with the flow of traffic between the Upper and Lower Peninsulas and decided to take steps to be the first state in the country to operate and own a car ferry service. That year a riverboat, "Ariel", which had been constructed in 1881, began carrying cars across the Straits.
The ferry only lasted one season in the Straits, as the rough waters proved to be too much for it too handle, leading the state to relocate it and bring in another ferry. From that point on another seven car ferries would operate for the next 34 years, moving 12 million vehicles and 30 million passengers in that time.
What was life like before the Mighty Mac? A time not to be forgotten according to officials at MDOT. And in an effort to mark that time in history, a ceremony was held on Friday, June 16 at the Bridge View Park in St. Ignace to release a set of commemorative commuter tokens, each acknowledging one of the eight ferries.
In addition to a number of local dignitaries at the ceremony, also on hand was a former employee of the ferry system and former Michigan Attorney General, Frank Kelly. According to Kelly, life was at a much slower pace when the ferry system was in place. He served on various ferries during the summers of 1940 and 1941, working as a deckhand. At the time Kelly was only 14 years old and lied to receive his seaman's papers.
"I told my father that I lied, but that was okay because it was to get a job," he said.
While everyone he worked with thought he was a college student, Kelley was still enrolled in high school.
Kelley said it took about 25 minutes to load all the cars at that time, adding there was a lot of time waiting for the ferry, then waiting to load the ferry and make the journey across to the other side. During hunting season the wait was even longer.
Pay averaged $98 to $115 a month for crewmembers at that time with room and board included. Kelley said he remembers earning his keep.
"We'd get up at 6 a.m. every morning and spend a half-hour scrubbing our ships. They were white."
But when he looks back on his experience he remembers it fondly.
"It's difficult to describe the enjoyment of working on the ferries," said Kelley. "The crew were like a family. It was a degree of brotherhood I've never fully experienced since."
While talk of a bridge across the Straits had been circulating since the late 1800s, the project didn't really get off the ground financially until the 1930s when the Legislature officially created the Mackinac Bridge Authority. In May of 1954 construction began on the five-mile long structure and for the next 42 months upwards of $100 million was spent to complete the project. In the end stood the largest suspension bridge in the world, rising 552 feet above the Straits of Mackinac. The Mackinac Bridge is able to withstand the roughest of weather and seas, and provides a vital link to the state economy.
With the bridge completed and opened on Nov. 1, 1957, the car ferry era ended.
