News & Fun in Michigan
On June 9, 1909, a mechanical failure at Canada’s Soo Locks led to the sinking of two ships, halting Great Lakes commercial traffic. This disaster exposed infrastructure vulnerabilities, prompting modernization efforts and highlighting potential economic repercussions from similar incidents today.
The waters near Michigan’s Thumb are home to many shipwrecks, including notable incidents like the Philadelphia and Albany collision. This area, once a vital shipping route, is now an underwater preserve safeguarding maritime history and mysteries of the Great Lakes.
In November 1928, the passenger steamer Thousand Islander sank during a fierce gale on Lake Huron while being towed. Despite efforts to rescue its crew, the ship succumbed to the storm, highlighting the inherent dangers of Great Lakes navigation in that era.
An account of the Great Lakes Steamer B.F. Ferris burned to a total loss while at the docks in Caseville in 1891.
The picture post on our sister site about the huge dock in Forrestville gives rise to the question. Why did they name the boathouse the Iron Chief? A little exploring showed that there indeed was a ship with this unusual name but she was not made out of iron. Today, she lays in over a hundred feet of water off the shore of the Grindstone City in the Thumb Area Bottomland Preserve
