Ludington, Frankfort, and Mackinaw
Innovative solutions to the natural barriers of transport between the peninsulas and across the Great Lakes included the introduction of car ferries. In 1892, Ann Arbor Railroad transformed transportation in the Great Lakes region by carrying loaded railcars across the 62 miles of open water between Michigan and Wisconsin. Passenger steamship service had been a staple of the region from very early in the 19th century. Freight passing over the lakes was a result of an 1875 endeavor by the Flint and Pere Marquette Railway, who chartered the steamer John Sherman to shuttle grain, packed freight, and passengers between Ludington, MI and Sheboygan, WI. James Ashley's innovatiove cross-lake service pushed the lake freight service into the 20th century proving that car ferries could save time and provide an alternative to loose cargo shipping.
"I feel that if there has ever been a spot so steeped in history, one that has left its imprint so indelibly on the state and that is so deserving a marker," G.J. Villers wrote in 1963, "it is this Kewaunee Green Bay and Western Railroad slip number where this all began." Villers referred to the historical Great Lakes car ferry routes that transported materials between Michigan and Wisconsin starting in the late 19th century. These revolutionary railcar ferries allowed entire train cars to be boarded onto ships and sailed across Lake Michigan, a feat that saved laborers from having to unload materials from the railcars and then reload them after landing across the lake.
As the swiftest and most economical route from Michigan to Wisconsin, Great Lakes railroad car ferries moved materials such as paper, flour, grain, iron ore, lumber, steel, appliances, and auto parts between the American East and West. In 1922, the Manitowoc Herald News wrote that "the car ferry lines across Lake Michigan provide the most important link in the development of the transportation system of the country, and have done more than anything else toward the building up and interchange of traffic between the great manufacturing regions of the eastern territory and central states." The railroad car ferries shaped the nature of transportation in the United States.
Composed of nine ferries that crossed Lake Michigan, these routes transported not only freight cars, but personal automobiles and actual passengers, as well, and represented "the most important and extensive car ferry service in operation in this country" (Committee on Public Relations of the Eastern Railroads). The railcar ferries began with the Ann Arbor No. 1 out of Frankfort, Michigan. Sailing for the first time in November of 1892, she was the product of the dream of businessman, politician, and abolitionist James M. Ashley. Ashley played an instrumental role in the political and cultural landscape of late-19th-century America, helping to draft the 13th Amendment to prohibit slavery in the United States, naming several states including Montana, and eventually founding the Ann Arbor Railroad Co. After founding the railroad company, he proposed a revelatory new idea that was initially met with public ridicule: creating car ferries that could transport entire railcars from one shore of Lake Michigan to another.
Despite the initial pushback to his idea, Ashley persevered to create not only the Ann Arbor No. 1 but several more railcar ferries sailing out of Frankfort, Michigan, inspiring the creation of similar ferries across the coasts of Michigan. Another major port in Michigan's history was in Mackinaw, where car ferries travelled between Mackinaw City and St. Ignace in the Upper Penisula. Mackinaw operated railcar ferries for a century, the largest of which, the Chief Wawatam, could hold up to 26 railcars. The Chief was retired in 1984 and eventually scrapped in 2009, but photos and information about it can still be viewed at the Old Mackinaw Point Lighthouse.
In 1900, the Pere Marquetter Railway formed as an amalgamation of the Flint & Pere Marquette, Chicago & West Michigan, Detroit & Grand Rapids, and Western Railroads to reduce the number of railroads needing a regular ferry service. When the regular ferry service picked up, ferries kept the Ann Arbor line profitable. Between 1892 and 1925, Ann Arbor built eight ferries that used six ports. The car ferries had regular service and transported a myriad of goods. The log books of the car ferry service accounted for journeys and the weather encountered across the lakes.
Log Book, Steamer Ann Arbor No. 5, 1919
This includes Ludingon’s historic S.S. Badger. The Badger followed in the tradition of Ashley's railcar ferries in 1953, transporting freight cars of materials such as coal across Lake Michigan to Manitowoc, Wisconsin and Kewaunee, Wisconsin. The Badger sailed successfully out of Ludington until the 1980s, during which economic challenges began to develop. Around this time, it became both more efficient and less expensive to transport materials from East to West by routing trains through Chicago, putting the car ferry industry—and the Badger—in jeopardy. The economic threats converging on the Badger came to a head in 1991, when the ship had to discontinue her services for a period of about a year. Not only had her company gone bankrupt, but she had also been seized by a U.S. marshal in the spring of 1991, following the issue of a warrant for failing to pay the Island Creek Coal Corp. of Kentucky a payment of $70,400 for coal.
Struggling with bankruptcy and debt, the Badger remained docked and out of use until 1992, when Michigan businessman Charles Conrad purchased her alongside her sister ship, the Spartan. He repurposed components of the Spartan in order to expand the Badger to accommodate cars and passengers in addition to freight cars. The 410-foot and 4,000-ton ship could now hold 600 passengers, 180 automobiles, and 20 rail cars. The Badger was sailing the waters of Lake Michigan once again. The Badger remains the last car ferry running on coal in the Great Lakes. She has since taken her place as a Michigan State Historic Site, a U.S. National Historic Landmark, and a member of the U.S. National Register of Historical Places.
Today, Lake Michigan continues to serve as an avenue for shipping materials across Lake Michigan, although the only coal-burning ferry to continue her voyages across the lake is the S.S. Badger, which received an exemption from environmental acts meant to protect Lake Michigan. While the Badger dumps nearly 4 tons of coal ash into Lake Michigan each day that it sails, its historical value has ensured its continued use and preservation. The S.S. Badger remains the only of the historic railcar ferries available for passage by the public, remaining a testament to the industry and history of Michigan.
The Clarke Historical Library is home to the Captain William C. Bacon Michigan Car Ferries Collection, which contains ship inspection forms for the Badger, Captain Bacon’s personal correspondences, photographs and newspaper articles capturing many of Michigan’s ferries, and financial records and log books for these ferries. Ultimately, this collection features a wide swath of the history of ferries in Michigan, including such ships as the Ann Arbor No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, No. 4, No. 5, No. 6, No. 7, Arthur K. Atkinson, Badger, City of Midland 41, City of Green Bay, City of Milwaukee, Viking, Wabash, and the Grand Haven. Captain Bacon served for seventeen years as Port Captain and Superintendent of Marine Operations at the Ann Arbor Railroad Company. A seaman and lover of history, Captain Bacon also served as the President of the Benzie Area Historical Society and Museum; he gathered historical documents and information about Michigan car ferries for a book prior to his death. While this book was not published, his research helps comprise the Michigan Car Ferries Collection at the Clarke. The Clarke also maintains a digital collection of Michigan newspapers, several of which provide further reading about the S.S. Badger. In addition, the Library of Congress’s “Chronicling America” includes several newspapers which discuss the S.S. Badger.
