Capt. Dority commanded several PM ships, the Ann Arbor 2 and the notorious Eastland

This Great Lakes History Log is presented by Filer Credit Union and the Port of Ludington Maritime Museum.

Masters of the PM Steamers

By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief

Captain Frank A. Dority’s maritime career spanned 56 years, from 1876 until his retirement when he was 72 years old. His portfolio included being the first master of the first three Lake Michigan carferries. He was also skipper of the most notorious ship in Great Lakes maritime history. In all, Dority sailed on 41 steamships and even some schooners.

Frank Dority was born on Feb. 6, 1862 in Chippewa Bay, NY, the son of Capt. Thomas Dority (1833-1883) and Phoebe E. (Boss) Dority (1833-1899).

Captain Thomas Dority

Thomas Dority spent much of his career operating Welland Canal vessels, sailing out of Oswego, NY, for Captain Morgan Wheeler’s shipping line.

Among the most notable vessels mastered by Thomas Dority was the schooner Cheney Ames, a grain vessel that was built by Peter Lamoree in Youngstown, NY. The ship was launched on Oct. 17, 1873 and commanded by Thomas Dority through 1899. The Ames was 135 feet long, 26 feet wide with a depth of 10 feet, 9 inches and was owned by W.H. Doyle, Cheney Ames, and John J. Doyle.

An article in the Nov. 15, 1873 edition of the Oswego (NY) Palladium discussed the ship’s debut.

“One of the handsomest and best finished vessels which has visited our port this season is the new schooner Cheney Ames, which arrived last night with a cargo of grain from Toledo.

“The Ames reflects much credit it upon the skill and workmanship of Mr. Lamoree, for he has not only built a vessel with ‘lean’ ends, graceful sheer, but a good carrier as well.  The new schooner is commanded by Capt Thomas Dority, an able and experienced seaman, who speaks in the highest terms of his new vessel, especially of the readiness which she answers her helm.”

Thomas Dority also skippered the vessel Finns out of Chicago, Lem Ellsworth and his last command was the schooner Oliver Mitchell.

Marriage and family

On Dec. 17, 1892 Frank Dority married Maude E. Lee (1872-1928) in Frankfort, Mich. Maude was the daughter of Levi Lee and Mary Ann Lee, English immigrants who had settled in Frankfort, Mich. Frank and Maude had one daughter, Beatrice Mary (1901-1974).

Career
According to the 1899 book “The History of the Great Lakes, Vol 2,” by J.B. Mansfield, Frank Dority (referred hereafter by his surname), began his sailing career when he was 16 years old, working on the Ames, under the command of his father. An obituary in the June 29, 1953 edition of the Muskegon Chronicle stated Dority began sailing at the age of 14. This is likely more accurate because a later reference in “The History of the Great Lakes” article states he began sailing in 1876 (14 years after his birth).

Dority first worked on the Ames as a mess boy then later manned the mast. After four years he transferred to the T.W. Palmer and served as second mate under the command of Capt. John Duddleson.

After one and one-half seasons, in 1880, he worked on the Lem Ellsworth, also under the command of his father.

In 1881 and 1882 Dority went back to the Palmer, again as second mate. The following year he was on the schooner Reuben Bond. He then served as second mate on the Oscar Townsend under the command of Capt. William Humphrey in 1883.

In the fall of that year, he worked for the Flint & Pere Marquette Railway on the F&PM No. 2, again under the command of Capt. Duddleson. In 1885 he began working for Goodrich Transportation Company of Chicago and served as first mate of the Menominee, under the command of Capt. Charles A.W. Rossman. He then served as first mate on the U.S. Revenue Cutter SS Roanoke until 1889. The Roanoke was chartered by the F&PM in the winter and then operated on Lake Superior in the summer.

The Roanoke was destroyed by fire on Aug. 7, 1894 20 miles off Fourteen Mile Point in Lake Superior. The ship was built in 1867 in Cleveland and rebuilt in 1890, a year after Dority left.

SS Osceola

Dority’s first command was the steamer Osceola, in the spring of 1889. The ship operated under charter the Flint & Pere Marquette Railway in the winter and operated on Lake Superior in the summer.

The Osceola was built as Hull No. 15 by F.W. Wheeler & Co. in West Bay City, Mich. and was launched on June 15, 1882. It was 194 feet long with a beam of 34 feet and a depth of 22 feet. The one deck vessel was operated by a coal-fired boiler that operated a fore and aft compound engine that ran a maximum of 650 hp. It was originally owned by War’d Detroit and Lake Superior Line, which was part of the shipping company started by Eber Brock Ward.

An additional deck was added in 1887.

The same year Dority became skipper, the ship had been purchased by William F. Botsford and Henry McMorran who assigned it to Port Huron as its homeport. According to historian George Hilton, in his 1962 book, “The Great Lakes Carferries,” the ship was owned by the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad during this time.

In 1892, the Osceola was leased to the Toledo Ann Arbor & North Michigan Railway for break-bulk service out of its Lake Michigan terminus in Frankfort (Elberta), Mich. (see below). This is likely how Dority formed his business relationship with that railroad and entered the next chapter of his career.

Dority’s command on the Osceola only lasted a year. In 1890 and 1891, he was in command of the Colorado.

Ann Arbor No. 2

In 1892, Dority entered the history books by becoming the second person to command a Lake Michigan carferry. He was placed in charge of the Toledo Ann Arbor & North Michigan Railway’s newly built Ann Arbor No. 2, the twin of the Ann Arbor No. 1 which had debuted earlier that season.

The Toledo Ann Arbor & North Michigan was formed by James M. Ashley, former Governor of Montana, in 1884. The railroad reached Frankfort in 1892. Predecessor companies had built north from Toledo beginning in 1870. The line reached Copemish, 267.5 miles from Toledo, in 1888. The following year, an independent road promoted by local interests, the Frankfort & South Eastern, reached Copemish from Frankfort — 23.5 miles — completing the line from Toledo to Frankfort.

In 1892, Ashley acquired the Frankfort & South Eastern, bringing the entire line under TAA&NM management. Frankfort had been an important port in the lumber trade for some years, and package freighters called there both in cross lake and coastwise service. Its harbor, Betsie Lake, is connected by a short channel to Lake Michigan. The harbor is extremely snug, offering protection against storms. Since the harbor mouth is quite far out into Lake Michigan, it is not troubled with concentrations of pack ice to an exceptional extent.

Almost immediately upon taking over the Frankfort & South Eastern, Jan. 8, 1892, the Toledo Ann Arbor & North Michigan began to operate break-bulk service across the lake to Kewaunee, Wis., the nearest major port on the Wisconsin shore. At this point in time, the Flint & Pere Marquette Railway had been operating cross lake break-bulk service out of Ludington for 17 years.

The Osceola made the first trip under lease to the TAA&NM. Osceola provided the service for the first season, along with the ships City of Marquette and Alice Stafford. Osceola could handle some 35 to 40 carloads of flour, the principle cargo, but the cost of transshipment amounted to $6 to $12 per car. Ashley, even before completion of the railroad, had envisioned a service that could carry railcars across the lake to reduce the expenditure and to expedite the operation.

The railroad ordered a slip and other facilities built at Elberta, on the south side of Betsie Lake, across from Frankfort and arranged with naval architect Frank E. Kirby to design a pair of wooden car ferries.

The ships were built by Craig Ship Building Co. in Toledo, Ohio as hull nos. 55 and 56.

Both ships had four tracks and could carry up to 24 rail cars.

The coal-powered steamships were operated by three horizontal compound engines, 20-inches plus 40-inches by 36-inches at 1,830 horsepower. The engines were built by S.F. Hodge & Co., Detroit. Their three firebox boilers were built by Lake Erie Boiler Works, Buffalo, NY.

The first boat, the Ann Arbor No. 1 was 260.4 feet in length and 53 feet in width. It was 14.7 feet in height. It made its first trip from Elberta to Kewaunee, Wis. on Nov. 24, 1892.

The AA No. 2 was just a little over four feet longer than its sister ship. It was also a larger by 14 gross tons. It left the Toledo ship yard on Dec. 24, 1892, under the command of Frank A. Dority.

Dority was in command of the AA No. 2 until 1894. He was paid $125 a month, according to a 1947 interview he gave to the Milwaukee Journal, which was summed up in a Feb. 22, 1947 article in the Ludington Daily News.

During that time, he had also commanded the AA No. 1. In 1893, the Toledo Ann Arbor & North Michigan Railway went bankrupt. It was reorganized in 1895 as the Ann Arbor Railroad.

Shenango Nos. 1 and 2

Dority returned to the F&PM in Ludington in 1895 and commanded F&PM No. 5 until July of that year. He then worked for the United States & Ontario Steam Navigation Company and brought out that company’s two new ferries, the Shenango No. 1 and No. 2. until spring of 1897 when he became captain of the new F&PM carferry Pere Marquette, the first steel carferry on the Great Lakes.

The wooden carferries Shenango No. 1 and No. 2, designed by Frank Kirby, were similar but not identical. Both were built in 1895 by Craig Ship Building Co. of Toledo (hull Nos. 68 and 69). They were 282 feet in length with a beam of 53 feet and depth of 19 feet. They each had four tracks and could carry 26 rail cars. Their top speeds were 11 knots (13 mph) and they were expected to make the trip in 5.5 to 6 hours but Shenango No. 1 made its first round trip in 13 hours.

The United States & Ontario Steam Navigation Company was a subsidiary of the Pittsburg Shenango & Lake Erie Railroad, predecessor of the Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad. It was the first railroad to operate carferries on Lake Erie. The ships operated from Conneaut, Ohio to Port Dover, Ontario.

The new route represented saving 82 miles on the haul from the Pennsylvania coal fields to the steel mills at Hamilton. The company anticipated that traffic would require three trips per day in each direction. Accordingly, it planned a pair of ferries, each of which would make one and a half trips per day.

Both ships were plagued with misfortune and turmoil before they were even built.

Designer Kirby was associated with the shipbuilding firm Detroit Dry Dock and had expected the bid for the two ships to go to that company. When the order was given to Craig Ship Building, Kirby underwent a struggle to receive his design fee of $6,000.

The Shenango No. 1, went into service in September, 1895, and Shenango No. 2 followed in January, 1896.

The first mishap of the Shenango No. 2 occurred within a month of it entering service. “Contrary to the intentions of Kirby and Craig the new ships quickly proved themselves poor ice breakers, presumably because of lack of power,” author George Hilton stated in his 1960 book “The Great Lakes Carferries.” They were initially reported to be rated at 2,000 horsepower each, but both showed an inability to work out of ice entrapments.

On Feb. 9, 1896, Shenango No. 2 broke its starboard screw and damaged its port screw in the ice on its regular route. It went to Cleveland for repairs. The dry docks there were too small and the boat sailed for the Craig yard in Toledo on Feb. 12, at 3:35 a.m.

Hilton said the No. 2 made slow progress in the ice until, about five miles west of Pelee Island, it lost its forward screw, making it essentially helpless, being unable to make any progress in the ice. It was shortly totally engulfed in a windrow where it remained for a week.

Craig had retained a financial interest in the ships and wanted the Shenango No. 2 dry docked. Since the ship showed little prospect of reaching Toledo, the ice-breaking passenger ferries Promise and Fortune were dispatched from Windsor, Ontario on Feb. 19, 1896 to extricate it and tow it to Detroit. They reached the Shenango No. 2 on Feb. 20 at 6:15 p.m. and began their efforts to work it free at 7 a.m. on the following day. By 5 p.m. they had it out of the windrow, but they lay off Pelee Island overnight and spent Feb. 22 inching toward the mouth of the Detroit River. They put into Amherstburg, Ontario for coal on the morning of Feb. 23 and by evening arrived at Detroit Dry Dock where the ferry was repaired. A towing bill of $5,000 was added to the repair expenses.

The railroad quickly discovered that there wasn’t enough business on the route to justify two ferries. On Dec. 1, 1897, it leased the No. 2 to the Detroit Grand Rapids & Western Railway for service on Lake Michigan out of Grand Haven. The DGR&W purchased the ship a year later and renamed it Muskegon on Dec. 9, 1898.

In 1900, the DGR&W merged with the Flint & Pere Marquette Railway and the Chicago & West Michigan Railways to form the Pere Marquette Railway. As a result, the Muskegon joined the Pere Marquette fleet and was eventually transferred to operate out of Ludington. It was renamed the Pere Marquette 16 but was often referred to as the Muskegon.

While employed by the Pere Marquette Railway, Dority was temporarily placed in command of the ship again in November 1900, according to a November 15, 1900 article in the Ludington Record.

In 1903, the Pere Marquette Railway and the Bessemer & Lake Erie Railway formed a joint venture called the Marquette & Bessemer Dock & Navigation Company. The new operation took over the franchises and assets of the US&O Steam Navigation Company, which included the Shenango No. 1.

Unfortunately, the Shenango No. 1 didn’t last long. The ship was destroyed by fire at Conneaut, Ohio on March 11, 1904. 

SS Pere Marquette

Designed by naval architect Robert Logan, the Pere Marquette was built by F.W. Wheeler & Co. in West Bay City (now Bay City) as Hull No. 119. It was 337 feet long, 56 feet wide with a depth of 17 feet. The ship operated with two fore and aft compound steam engines powered by four Scotch boilers that were built by Wickes Brothers in Saginaw. The engines operated at 3,500 horsepower with a top speed of 13 mph. The Pere Marquette had cabin accommodations for 20 passengers and had four tracks and could carry 30 rail cars. The Pere Marquette made its debut on Feb. 16, 1897 under the command of Capt. Joseph Russell, who was in charge of the boat for its first four months. Dority then took command until April 1898 when Capt. Peter Kilty became its skipper.

The introduction of the new carferry in Ludington caused quite the commotion with the 400-plus dock workers who made a living transferring freight to and from rail cars and the ships.

“Prior to the arrival of the carferry the F&PM Co. had four grain and package freighters in service and all the freight had to be transferred from cars to the boats or vice versa by hand,” a Jan. 28, 1904 article in the Ludington Record Appeal, on the history of steamships at Ludington, stated.

“It meant an immense amount of work and involved an enormous expense, which by the introduction of carferry service was curtailed several hundred per cent. The men thus thrown out of employment instituted strikes, boycotts, etc. and even threatened to dynamite the infernal carferry. In this manner the company sustained heavy losses for a couple of winters, but they survived the several out-breaks and in the end were entirely victorious, in that they demonstrated conclusively to the men and to the world that the carferry was a distinct and unmistakable mark of progress in the scale of human accomplishment, and moreover, was an institution that had come to stay for all time.”

The unrest was contributed to the death of Capt. J.W. Martin, the F&PM’s steamship line superintendent.

“Overcome by the severe strain incident to his work in connection with the first strike of the freighthandlers, Capt. Martin was taken suddenly ill and died in a Milwaukee hospital March 21, 1897,” the Ludington Record Appeal reported.

In 1898, Dority was transferred to the F&PM No. 3, by his request, which he commanded for the next five years. The F&PM No. 3 operated between Ludington and Milwaukee. It also occasionally ran to Holland, Mich.

“Capt. Frank Dority enjoys the distinction of being one of the pioneer carferry men on the great lakes,” a 1904 article in the Ludington Record Appeal stated. “It is enough to say that his schooling was thorough, his promotions were earned by hard work and real worth, and his experiences were about as severe as usually fall to the lot of men who are reared and raised on board ship.”

In 1900, the Flint & Pere Marquette Railway became part of the newly formed Pere Marquette Railway and began expanding its carferry fleet while phasing out the break-bulk freighters.

Pere Marquette 3

The Flint & Pere Marquette No. 3 was built in 1887 by John Craig of Gibraltar, Mich., under contract from Detroit Dry Dock Co. as Hull No. 77. The wooden boat was 186.6 feet long, 34.5 feet wide with a depth of 12.4 feet. On Oct. 7, 1901, it was renamed the Pere Marquette 3 after the Flint & Pere Marquette Railway merged into the newly-created Pere Marquette Railway.

On Jan. 17, 1902, Dority was in command of the Pere Marquette 3 break-bulk steamer when the ship grounded outside the Ludington channel. The ship was returning from an overnight run from Milwaukee when it was blown by a 75 mph gale.

“When the steamer left Milwaukee Thursday night there was little thought but that the trip would be without mishap,” a Jan. 17, 1902 article in the Ludington Chronicle stated. “The wind was blowing quite a gale from the south and there was some sea running, but the storm was no worse, nor even as bad as on some occasions.

“With the wind on her starboard quarter, the boat was making good headway.”

About 2 a.m., the wind shifted to the southwest and was then blowing directly astern and increasing somewhat in force, the article recalled.

“Everything was running nicely until the boat was about 300 feet southwest of the south piers. When the helm was put over to head her into the channel, she did not come up, but continued on her course. It was then see that something was wrong and the signal was given to back.”

Chief Engineer George Williams reversed the engines and then worked them full speed, but the boat continued directly on its course, passing within a few feet of the north pier. It then struck a sandbar head-on.

“The wind then blew her around, leaving her broadside to the seas. The reverse engines were kept working at full speed until it became apparent that she was hard aground. Then the sea cocks and deadlights were opened and she filled with water. This steadied her somewhat but she continued to roll and weave on the bar for nearly half hour.”

Capt. Dority stated that he believed the ship’s rudder had been twisted in the ice.

Capt. Weckler of the Ludington life saving station heard the distress signals a little after 5 a.m. and began telephoning members of his crew. Within 25 minutes after the PM 3 had struck the beach, the crew had arrived on scene and deployed the breeches buoy.

“It was dark when the gun was fired and the crews were working with three lanterns,” the Chronicle article stated. “The concussion of the gun blew out the lights, leaving the crew for the moment in the darkness. Other lights were quickly procured and the breeches buoy was soon in operation. It was the intention to send the passengers ashore first, but they had scant confidence in the flimsy looking rig that was to carry them over nearly a whole block of angry looking, seething billows.”

The ship had eight passengers and they were listed in the newspaper article. They included: W.W. Archibald of Chicago; E.W. Seymour of Manistee; E.O. Flaherty of Milwaukee; Joseph Morris of Manistee; Anna Johnson of Manistee; Mrs. Bremenstien of Detroit; A.A. Seibert of Manistee; and Ludington lumber baron Warren and Catherine A. Cartier.

“While they were parleying as to whom should go first, the porter, Robert Thielman of this city, was hustled to the buoy and pulled to the shore. Then one of the lady passengers, Mrs. Bremenstein of Delray, Mich., was persuaded to go. Up to this time it had not been possible because of the rolling of the boat to keep the buoy out of the waters, and Mrs. Bremenstein was thoroughly drenched. Just after she came ashore, the boat gave a lurch that parted the hawser. Another line was procured and the work of  rescue proceeded without interruption.”

One of the passengers, Lt. Edward O’Flaherty of Milwaukee, was on his way to Detroit where he was scheduled to give a lecture on the Philippine Islands. He carried with him a case of stereopticon slides along with his lantern (projector) weighing 65 pounds. The items were worth $600 ($22,000 adjusted for modern inflation).

“When the lieutenant got into the buoy this valuable case was lashed in with him. He weighed about 200 pounds and his weight, with the extra weight of the slides, caused the line to sag almost to the water and, when the seas rolled in, they washed completely over him. He reached the shores completely drenched, but pleased to think that his slides were saved.”

Just a few weeks prior, on Dec. 21, 1901, the carferry Pere Marquette 16 (formerly the Muskegon), with a crew of 35, had run aground in nearly the same location. That incident did not have the same outcome, as one member of the engine crew, Michael Taeff of Chicago, died and two others, Frank Leow of Milwaukee and William Webber of Tonawanda, NY, were severely injured. Another unnamed crew member was injured. It was time someone had died accidentally on a Ludington-based railroad vessel.

After three weeks, the PM 3 was finally freed. It was sent to Milwaukee, under its own power, where it was given an entire rebuild. The accident entailed a loss of $60,000 ($2.2 million adjusted for inflation).

Two years later, in 1903, the PM 3, and its sister vessels PM 2 and PM 4, were sold to Gus Kitzinger, secretary-treasurer of the Manistee Salt & Lumber Company. Kitzinger formed the Manistee, Ludington & Milwaukee Transportation Company, which was commonly known, rather confusingly, as the Pere Marquette Line of Steamers.

The SS Eastland

The Sept. 3, 1903 edition of the Manitowoc Pilot newspaper states Dority had been a mate on board the Goodrich Transportation Company’s SS Iowa prior to being offered the job as captain of a new steamer Eastland.

On July 24, 1915, the SS Eastland tipped over while docked on the Chicago River. The incident resulted in 843 deaths, the worst maritime disaster ever to occur in the Great Lakes region. Capt. Dority was the second man to command the vessel after it was built in 1903.

Capt. John C. Pereue and South Haven businessman, Leander Leighton, formed the Michigan Steamship Company in 1902 and ordered a ship to be built. The two wanted to develop passenger and freight steamship service between South Haven and Chicago, in competition to the Dunkley-Williams Company.

They ordered a ship to be built and had planned on naming it the City of South Haven. However, the Dunkley-Williams Transportation Company had also ordered a ship to be built, by Craig Ship Building Co. of Toledo, with the same name. The companies agreed that the first ship built would keep the name. Since the Dunkley-Williams vessel was completed first, Michigan Steamship needed to chose a new name so it held a contest and the winning name was Eastland.

The Eastland was built in 1903 by the Jenks Shipbuilding Company of Port Huron. The steel twin-propellor ship was 265 feet long, 38 feet wide with a draft of 19 feet. It was operated by two triple expansion steam engines powered by four coal-burning Scotch marine boilers.

The Eastland made its debut in South Haven on Saturday, July 18, 1903. Over that weekend the public had an opportunity to tour the ship and it was met with much praise. But, the ship’s bad luck soon began.

On Aug. 14, 1903, just a few weeks after its maiden voyage, during a voyage from Chicago to South Haven, six of the ship’s eight firemen refused to stoke the fires of the ship’s boilers, claiming they were unsatisfied with the food they were being served while onboard.

As a result, Capt. Pereue arrested the men at gunpoint. Two firemen, George Lippen and Benjamin Myers, did not participate in the mutiny and kept working. Upon arriving in South Haven, the captain had the six firemen taken to the town jail and charged with mutiny.

Nine days later, Leighton came aboard the Eastland and ordered Pereue to step down from the bridge. Accompanying Leighton was Capt. Frank Dority, the new master of the ship. Besides the mutiny issue, Leighton had been questioning Pereue’s ability to operate the twin-screw vessel. He had sought out consultation from one of the ship’s investors, Robert Roe Blacker, a lumber baron from Manistee, who agreed that Pereue had to go.

An Aug. 28, 1903 article in the Manistee Daily News recapped the incident.

“One of the greatest shakeups ever made among the crew of a Chicago passenger steamer was started last night on the Eastland when Capt. John Pereue descended from the bridge and was replaced by Captain Frank Dority. Mates Charles Richardson and Stephen Jones were succeeded by Edward Carus and Neil Gallagher. It is predicted that within a week the wave of reform will remove the entire old crew of the ship.

“Captain Pereue’s removal will surprise marine men all over the lakes. The captain is a heavy stockholder in the Michigan Steamship company. The reason for replacing him is said to be a desire to increase the speed in handling the ship in the rivers at Chicago and South Haven, Captain Pereue never handling a twin screw steamer before while Captain Dority is an experienced master of car ferries crossing Lake Michigan, and is declared one of the most skillful handlers of twin screw boats on the lakes. Captain Dority until today was mate of the Goodrich steamer Iowa. His officers are also Goodrich line men, Carus once commanding the Georgia. Gallagher was recently mate on the Chicago.

“None among the Eastland’s crew were aware of the change ordered tonight when Captain Dority took charge of the ship, and there was much excitement among the crew. The resignations of the vessel’s mates were accepted and wheelsmen, watchmen and deckhands are waiting for notices that their services are no longer required.”

During testimony in federal court in 1916, Capt. Dority stated that Capt. Pereue had been relieved of duty due to his inability to operate the Eastland properly.

“Why, the captain was not accustomed to a twin-screw vessel, and in handling his vessel and manipulating her in the Chicago River, about the second or third or fourth trip, he had been in a short time only when he sunk a tug; ran into a tug in the river, and a lot of little minor things that did not amount to much. No trouble with the listing I do not think, or passengers or anything of that sort.”

Dority remained in command until 1906.

As the Eastland was a seasonal vessel, Dority worked on other ships in the winter months. In February 1904, he was in charge of the Pere Marquette 15 (formerly called the Pere Marquette). Among his crew in February 1904 were Edward Carrus, first mate; Albert Jefferson, second mate; Charles Sylvester, chief engineer; A. Cascaden, first assistant engineer; Roy Place, purser, and William Duff, steward.

“Capt. Dority is especially fortunate in enjoying a wide popularity, both with marine men and the traveling public. Every inch a sailor, he is nevertheless a gentleman at all times not a driver of men, but a co-worker with men; quiet but active, courteous but firm, modest almost to a fault yet exercising at all times judgement vigilance and shrewd circumspection. Cordial and unassuming in his manners it is little wonder that the popular master of No. 15 numbers his friends and admirers by the hundreds, that the men who have sailed under him to a man join in voicing the highest compliment known to a sailor, ‘Captain Dority is a gentleman.’

“While not announced officially as of yet, it is understood that upon the opening of navigation in the spring, Capt. Dority will return to the bridge of the Eastland, a high salaried and withall a very desirable position. In the meantime, he is this winter directing the running of No. 15, the invincible carferry which more than any other factor, has conduced to the erection of a great marine railroad across Lake Michigan.”

In 1906, Dority was assigned to the Northern Michigan Transportation Company’s steamer Illinois (built in 1899) during the Eastland’s offseason.

The first hint that the Eastland was a “cranky ship,” meaning it had a tendency to list, was on Sunday, July 17, 1904. The Eastland was leaving South Haven with 2,270 passengers, en-route to Chicago. The South Haven channel mouth was plagued by a sandbar that often caused ships to bottom out. Capt. Dority knew how to navigate through the bar and had done so successfully again. The ship had been picking up speed. About 1.5 miles west of the harbor it titled sharp to port about 15 degrees.

Chief Engineer William Eeles started running water into the starboard ballast tanks to correct the incline. The passengers then began to react by running to the starboard side as well, causing the ship to respond by listing in that direction, about 25 degrees this time.

After about 25 minutes of rolling back and forth, the ship steadied itself and continued safely to Chicago with no further incidents, except for protests from passengers.

The incident would give the Eastland a reputation which caught up on July 24, 1915, seven years after Dority transferred off the boat.

On the morning of Saturday, July 24, 1915, the Eastland was docked on the south bank of the Chicago River between Clark and LaSalle streets. The ship and four other steamers — Theodore Roosevelt, Petoskey, Racine, and Rochester — were chartered to take employees of Western Electric Company’s Hawthorne Works of Cicero, Ill., to a picnic in Michigan City, Ind.

Passengers began boarding the ship at 6:30 a.m. and by 7:30 a.m. the ship had reached its capacity of 2,572 passengers. Many of the passengers were standing on the open upper decks when the ship began to list slightly to the port side away from the wharf. The crew attempted to stabilize the boat by admitting water into its ballast tanks, but that didn’t seem to work. At 7:28 a.m., Eastland lurched sharply to port and then rolled completely onto its port side, coming to rest on the bottom of the river, only 20 feet below the surface. About half of the vessel was submerged.

The weather that morning was cool and damp and many of the passengers had already moved below decks to warm themselves up before departure. As a result, hundreds were trapped inside by the water and the sudden rollover while some were crushed by heavy furniture including pianos, bookcases and tables. The ship was only 20 feet from the wharf.

However, 841 passengers and two crew members died. It was the worst shipping accident to occur on a Great Lakes waterway.

Following the incident hearings were held in federal court in Grand Rapids. Dority was among the witnesses for the defense.

In 1947, Dority, then 82 years old, was interviewed by the Milwaukee Journal about his career. He spoke of the Eastland tragedy. The article was recapped in the Feb. 22, 1947 edition of the Ludington Daily News.

“Dority says this tragedy could have been avoided if she had the proper amount of ballast,” the article stated. “Apparently her ballast tanks were half full and, when the holiday crowd congregated on one side the ballast water followed. If the water ballast tanks had been full, the crowd’s movement could not have turned the ship, he says.

Ironically, when the Eastland capsized, Dority was in command of the steamer City of South Haven, which had been the Eastland’s rival ship when it began service in 1903.

Pacific voyages and World War I

In 1909, Capt. Dority took the Chippewa, a small excursion boat, from Lake Michigan to Seattle, Wash., via the St. Lawrence River, Atlantic, around Cape Horn, and up the Pacific Ocean, an interview with Dority in a 1947 Milwaukee Journal stated he was sent to Seattle in 1920 to pick up the Iroquois, a sister ship of the Chippewa, and bring it to Chicago. During World War I he was skipper of the U.S. maritime service training ship Missouri and he had about 600 men in training.

SS Wisconsin (Naomi, E.G. Crosby, Gen. Robert W. O’Reilly, Pilgrim)

In November 1919, Dority travelled to New York City and took command of the steamer Gen. Robert W. O’Reilly. The ship, originally built for the Goodrich Transportation Company in 1881 to serve the Flint & Pere Marquette Railway out of Ludington. It was among three ships built to serve the railroad. The others were the propeller Michigan, twin to the Wisconsin, and the City of Milwaukee, a sidewheeler.

The Michigan and Wisconsin were rated at 1,183 tons and were 215 feet in length. Their beams were 34 feet wide and their depth were 14 feet. Each cost $159,212. They were especially designed for cross-lake winter service and had heavy ice-breaking qualities incorporated in their construction. Each had the rounded forefoot and full entrance found on the car ferries. This feature permitted the ship to rise up on the ice, crushing it with its sheer weight. The vessels were also equipped with double iron bottoms and their main decks were fashioned of the same material.

The three new ships only ran about two years for the Goodrich line. In 1882 the first two ships owned by the Flint & Pere Marquette Railroad arrived in Ludington, F&PM No. 1 and F&PM No. 2. With the purchase of these two new steamers it was apparent that the railway company intended to go into the lake steamboat business for itself.

Slowly business was taken away from the Goodrich steamers. On April 1, 1883, the F&PM cancelled its contract with Goodrich and ending Goodrich’s Ludington-Milwaukee route.

This was a serious blow to the Goodrich Transportation Co. A huge portion of its capital and funds borrowed from the banks had been invested in the new steamers and the development of the new service. The termination, after really less than two years’ earnings from the new service, meant insufficient return on the investment. To avoid a financial crisis within his company, Capt. Goodrich decided to sell his three new steamers to satisfy his creditors and obligations.

On May 1, 1883, the three ships were sold to the Detroit, Grand Haven & Milwaukee Railway Co. The railroad paid $180,000 for the City of Milwaukee and $160,000 each for the Michigan and Wisconsin, the forerunner of the Grand Trunk Car Ferry Line operated by the Grand Trunk Western Railway.

The Michigan was lost in February 1885 when it became stuck in pack ice on Lake Michigan. After four weeks the ship began to break up and eventually sank. The Wisconsin had also become stuck but managed to get free, but was severely damaged.

In 1896 the Wisconsin was sold to Capt. Edward G. Crosby and his associates of Muskegon whose new steamship company was called the Crosby Line, which took over the Grand Haven to Milwaukee route formerly operated by the Detroit, Grand Haven & Milwaukee Railroad. It also added regular service to Muskegon. Its name was changed in 1898, supposedly after Crosby’s daughter, however, no records indicate that he had a daughter by that name — unless it was a nickname.

Following a fire in May 1907, the ship was completely rebuilt.

On April 15, 1912 Capt. E.G. Crosby lost his life in the sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic on its maiden voyage. Shortly thereafter, Naomi was renamed E.G. Crosby in honor of his memory. It continued the railroad cross-lake traffic until July 1918 when the United States Shipping Board took it over for service during World War I. It ended up in New York harbor, was renamed General Robert M. O’Reilly and served as a convalescent hospital ship. At the end of the war it was declared surplus and put up for sale by the government. It was purchased by the Seymour Line’s Wisconsin Transit Company, which renamed it Pilgrim, and returned to Lake Michigan.

An article published in the Dec. 12, 1919 edition of the Grand Haven Tribute announced the O’Reilly’s arrival in Milwaukee under the command of Capt. Dority. Dority’s crew also consisted of Jim Thorpe, first mate; John Dunlaavey, second mate; Al Crogman, chief engineer; John Chotta, first assistant engineer; and A. Wood, second assistant engineer.

The boat left New York on Nov. 11. It stopped at St. Ignace and took 500 tons of Pocahontas coal, which was brought to Milwaukee.

The Pilgrim sailed the Milwaukee, Racine, and Chicago route. Wisconsin Transit Company failed and became the Chicago, Milwaukee & Racine Steamship Co. until purchased by the Goodrich Transit Co. in 1922.

On March 22, 1922, Harry Thorp, the president of the re-organized Goodrich Transit Co., and a native of Manistee, completed a deal whereby Goodrich purchased the assets and properties of the Chicago, Racine & Milwaukee Steamship Co. The properties of the smaller line included two steamers, the S.S. Illinois and the S.S. Pilgrim. The service was in direct competition with the Goodrich route between the same points.

Two days after purchasing Pilgrim, Goodrich dispatched the ship to the Manitowoc shipyard. It was given another extensive overhaul and its overnight accommodations were further improved. It was then returned to the Chicago to Milwaukee route and ran as the night boat opposite the Illinois. In 1924, Goodrich restored the name Wisconsin.

The Illinois was a heavy steel, combination freight and passenger steamer built at the Chicago Shipbuilding Co. in South Chicago in 1899 for the Northern Michigan Transportation Co. It was 240 feet long, 40 feet wide and had a depth of 26 feet. It was a single screw propulsion with a triple expansion steam engine that could operate up to 1,250 hp at 114 rpm. Its fuel, like most ships at the time, was coal. Dority had also served as master of the Illinois at one point. The steamer was placed on the Chicago to Mackinac Island route with stops in Ludington, Manistee, Frankfort, Traverse City, and Charlevoix.

On Oct. 27, 1929, a ferocious gale struck Lake Michigan. The storm was so bad that the Pere Marquette Railway chose to keep its mighty Ludington-based car ferry fleet tied up for the day. Not every steam line made that choice including Goodrich Transit Co. and the Grand Trunk Milwaukee Car Ferry Co., a subsidiary of the Grand Trunk Western Railway, which operated out of Grand Haven.

While most of the boats traveling on Lake Michigan that day made port — though many took a beating — the 338-foot-long Milwaukee car ferry did not make it, all 55 crew were lost. That evening, the S.S. Wisconsin made its regular trip from Chicago to Milwaukee and took a beating. It passed its normal stop at Racine and arrived in Milwaukee with its cargo shifted and with a bad list to port.

Two days later, on the evening of Oct. 29, 1929, with four passengers and 64 crew members, the Wisconsin departed Chicago on its regular run to Milwaukee. Earlier that day, the stock market crashed, sparking the beginning of the Great Depression.

A northeasterly gale was beginning to make itself felt as it rounded the Chicago harbor pier heads and started north on its regular course. Capt. Dougal H. Morrison was in command.

As the night progressed the winds shifted to east-northeast and increased to gale force. The huge seas began to pound the ship unmercifully and its starboard bow. The ship was taking a terrible beating as it fought its way in the mountainous seas.

About midnight, when it was off Kenosha, Wis., the seas seemed to become even more wild and powerful. All the while the ship had been subjected to ceaseless pounding and its cargo shifted. In its holds were iron castings, automobiles, and a large quantity of boxed freight.

The engine room crew became aware of the presence of large quantities of water in the aft end of the ship. The information was quickly relayed to Capt. Dougal Morrison on the bridge. When the pumps failed to handle the incoming water properly, it was apparent to the captain that the ship was in serious trouble.

At 12:50 a.m. the first message from the ship was sent. The message was received by the Illinois, which ran opposite of the Wisconsin on the Milwaukee to Chicago route, as it lay docked at Racine. Capt. Morrison had inquired about docking conditions at Racine. Upon being told by the Illinois that the harbor was crowded with vessels seeking refuge from the storm, Capt. Morrison sent a terse reply: “In serious trouble. Must make Racine harbor.”

As the water gained on the laboring pumps, Capt. Morrison decided that he would heave to, and in that manner all of the steam from the boilers could be used to supply the pumps. Wisconsin’s head was then brought into the wind and its port anchor was let go.

Loose coal, washed from the bunkers, made its way to the screened intakes for the pumps and began to slow down the intake capacity. As the rate of flow to the pumps began to decrease, the water rose more rapidly in the engine and boiler rooms. It was now evident that the fires would soon have to be pulled to avoid an explosion in the boilers.

At 1:30 p.m. Capt. Morrison sent his first request for assistance: “Position four miles east-northeast of Kenosha. Five holds flooded. Stay with us, we may need help soon.”

Another message was sent at 2:15 a.m.: “SOS.SOS. SOS. In sinking condition. For God’s sake send help.”

With its engines and dynamos down, the ship was plunged into total darkness. In spite of all the action taken, the water continued to rise in the holds. At 2:35 a.m. another message was sent: “Fires out. No Steam. Rush boats for tow before it is too late. We may save her.”

Then a passenger gangway on the starboard side gave way. This gave the seas direct access and the water poured into the foundering ship in torrents.

“Can stay afloat about thirty minutes. Is help coming?”

Shortly thereafter another:

“Can see Coast Guard coming to us. They are about halfway from Kenosha.”

The Coast Guard motor surfboat arrived alongside the Wisconsin about 4 a.m. Because of the tremendous seas, the crew did not approach too close to the side of the Wisconsin.

Other vessels went en route to assist including a Coast Guard lifeboat from Racine and the fishing tug Search.

The Search was manned by the Chambers brothers of Kenosha. They managed to arrive alongside the Wisconsin just about daybreak.

The Illinois, moored at Racine, prepared to assist as well. Steam was raised and efforts were made to secure the services of a tug to assist in turning the ship in the narrow Root River. The large tug Butterfield and its tow had taken refuge in Racine harbor from the gale. Its captain agreed to assist in turning Illinois, although the tug was typically too large for such a task.

Between the high winds and an apparent misunderstanding in signals, the stern of the Illinois was jammed against a bridge abutment and the dock, badly damaging its rudder. This made it impossible to take the Illinois to sea to aid its sister ship.

At 4:30 a.m. Capt. Morrison gave the order to abandon ship.

The crew, aided by some of the passengers, began the perilous task of launching the port lifeboats. Due to the heavy list to port, the starboard lifeboats were rendered useless.

After two and a half hours, two boats pulled away from the sinking steamer with 49 persons aboard. Ten swimmers were plucked from Lake Michigan, making a total of 59 rescued. It was now 7 a.m.

At 7:10 a.m. Wisconsin began its final plunge. As the ship sank beneath the waves its entire superstructure lifted clear of the hull and scattered wreckage over a large area.

Chief Engineer Julius Buschman, 70, from Manitowoc, and three or four others died on the ship.

Capt. Morrison was rescued but died shortly after from shock and exposure. A total of nine lives were lost in the sinking.

Four bodies that were recovered when the storm subsided remained unidentified and were buried in a cemetery in Kenosha, labeled as “Bodies No. One, Two, Three, and Four.”

Body Number One was later identified as Peter Reskus, a deck hand, by his brother from photographs taken by the coroner before burial. The other three remained unidentified.

Efforts were made early on to explore the shipwreck.

The first was in 1932 and 1933 when hardhat driver Frank Hefling made an attempt. The second visit took place in 1963 and 1964 by Richard T. Race.

Hefling’s objective in reaching the sunken ship was one of concerted effort at salvage. He succeeded in locating the Wisconsin and gained admittance to the hull by blasting one of her cargo gangway doors open. His efforts did not produce much of value and when he found he was faced with legal problems over the right of salvage, he gave up the project.

Hefling lost his life in southern Lake Michigan while performing a routine inspection of a pipe line in only 30 feet of water. The vessel from which he was working fouled his lines and the propeller severed the air hose. The accident happened in September of 1963.

Richard T. Race was from Chicago and became interested in the Wisconsin story in 1961. He carefully studied the newspaper accounts and Coast Guard records and talked with many people whom he thought might have information on the subject. Among those was Capt. McGarity, who had commanded the Wisconsin at one time, and was the only surviving Goodrich captain.

Race searched an area of three square miles of lake bottom near Kenosha and located the wreck. He found the vessel was down in about 125 feet of water, 6.49 miles east-southeast of Kenosha. The hull was sitting squarely down in the mud and softer sand almost to her light-load marks. The bow was pointed almost due north. Her port anchor chain was bent around the stem and carried off in an east-northeasterly direction to where her mushroom anchor was still down deep and firmly imbedded in the bottom. The anchor chain was taut.

The steel superstructure was nearly all swept away. The tangle of supporting I-beams were all that remain. Its stack was down on the deck and lying lengthwise of the ship with quite a lot of its bright red paint still showing.

Race found three automobiles in the hull that were in a remarkable state of preservation. One was a Hudson, one an Essex and the third was a Chevrolet touring car with its fabric top still intact. He also found the remains of three persons. Two were in the crew’s quarters area and the third in the wheelhouse area. The remains were left undisturbed.

Wisconsin-Michigan Steamship Company

In 1927, Dority ended his sailing career and became superintendent of Wisconsin and Michigan Steamship Company, a position he held until 1934 when he finally retired, according to his obituary, published on June 29, 1953 in the Muskegon Chronicle and in the Ludington Daily News.

A Nov. 25, 1929 article in the Ludington Daily News confirmed his employment with Wisconsin and Michigan Steamship Company when it announced that Capt. Dority was a special guest onboard the Nov. 24, 1929 maiden voyage of the new Pere Marquette Railway carferry City of Saginaw 31.

“Captain Dority brought out one of the first carferries built, an Ann Arbor vessel, many years ago. He sailed Carferry Pere Marquette 15 for several years,” the article stated.  

“Captain Dority, who lived at Shorewood (Wis.), retired in 1934, and for the preceding seven years was marine superintendent for the Wisconsin-Michigan Steamship Line which operates the Milwaukee Clipper,” Dority’s obituary in the Muskegon Chronicle stated.

It appears that in 1930 Dority also had the responsibility of being the fleet superintendent of the newly formed Goodrich-West Ports Steamship Company, according to an Oct. 30, 1930 article in the Door County News of Sturgeon Bay, Wis.

The Goodrich-West Ports Steamship Company was the result of the Goodrich Transit Company merging its Lake Michigan west shore routes (Illinois and Wisconsin) with the West Ports Steamship Company on Jan. 1, 1930. The West Ports line had previously been the Hill Steamboat Company, which was purchased by the Crosby Transportation Company in 1924. Hill operated routes at Waukegan, Ill., Kenosha, Wis. and Milwaukee, Wis. while Crosby operated cross-lake routes, mainly between Muskegon and Milwaukee.

The Crosby Line, as it was typically called, was founded by Edward Gifford Crosby (1842-1912). Born near Rochester, NY, Crosby’s family moved to Michigan in 1856. A veteran of the Civil War, Crosby married Catherine Elizabeth Halstead (1848-1920) and, in 1871, the couple moved to Muskegon where Crosby served as superintendent for the Muskegon Boom Company. In 1880, he worked in a saw mill.

Crosby eventually purchased a tugboat. In 1881, he established E.G. Crosby and Company with Capt. Robert Rice and Joseph Hitchcock. The firm transferred lumber from the sawmill docks on Muskegon Lake to the G.R. & I. dock using scows.

The company was awarded government contracts for several navigational projects on Lake Michigan including the construction of the Muskegon channel and the Milwaukee breakwater.

In 1893, Crosby took over the McElroy Transportation Co., established in 1887 by R.B. McElroy. The shipping company served as a connection for the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad from Muskegon to Milwaukee.  Crosby added freight from the Chicago & West Michigan Railway using a new dock in Muskegon.

In 1896, Crosby established the Crosby Transportation Company, which was incorporated in 1903.

The Detroit, Grand Rapids & Western Railroad and the Chicago & West Michigan Railroad had been operating the S.S. Muskegon car ferry from Muskegon to Milwaukee from 1897 to 1900. The vessel had originally operated on Lake Erie as the Shenango No. 2. The two railroads would merge with the Flint & Pere Marquette Railway in 1900 and form the Pere Marquette Railway.

In 1903, Crosby formed the Grand Trunk Car Ferry Line, a subsidiary of the Grand Trunk Western Railroad, and ordered a vessel, the Grand Haven. However, in 1905, the company defaulted on its bonds and the ship was put into receiver’s auction. It was bought by the railroad and re-incorporated as the Grand Trunk Milwaukee Car Ferry Company, ending Crosby’s venture into the car ferry business. He continued cross-lake shipping, however, with the steamers Nyack, E. G. Crosby, Conestoga and May Graham.

The Crosbys lived in Muskegon until 1897 when they moved to Milwaukee where they purchased a home near the waterfront at 474 North Marshall Street.

By 1912, E.G. Crosby had been retired from his company. He and Catherine, along with their adult daughter Harriette, were on vacation in Europe. Harriette had spent two years studying music in Paris. They had booked passage onboard a ship to return to New York on March 28. But, Crosby ran into his friend and business associate Charles M. Hays, president of the Grand Trunk Railway, which served Muskegon and Grand Haven. Hays and his wife were on business and vacationing in England and had been invited aboard by J. Bruce Ismay, chairman and manager of the White Star Line, to sail on the maiden voyage of the company’s newest ship, the RMS Titanic. Hays then invited the Crosbys to join them aboard the Titanic.

Both E.G. Crosby and Charles Hays died in the sinking of the ship while their wives and daughters survived and were instrumental in testifying during the hearings that followed the disaster. The death of both men has been well documented in several historical books about the Titanic, including Walter Lord’s 1955 book “A Night to Remember,” and Gareth Russell’s 2020 book “The Ship of Dreams: The Sinking of the Titanic and the End of the Edwardian Era.”

E.G. and Catherine’s son, Frederick, had taken over as president of the Crosby Transportation Company after his father’s retirement. Under Frederick’s leadership, the company expanded its routes and its fleet. However, in 1925, the company faced financial issues with a rival who apparently held the mortgage on three of its ships. In response, the Crosby Transportation Company was reorganized as the Wisconsin & Michigan Transportation Company (W&M), known commonly as the Crosby Line.

During the Great Depression, the W&M merged with the Manistee, Ludington & Milwaukee Transportation Company, formed by Manistee resident Gus Kitzinger and commonly known as the Pere Marquette Line Steamers. The new company was called the Wisconsin & Michigan Steamship Company.

The legacy of E.G. Crosby continues today in Muskegon as Sand Products continues to operate its West Michigan Dock & Market Company (Mart Dock), Port City Marine Services, and Aquastar Lake Cruises.

Retirement

Like many Great Lakes masters, Dority was somewhat of a celebrity. When he was 70 years old, in 1935, a year after he retired, he was quoted in a newspaper story stating his prediction that air travel, “flying boats,” would take over the business of passenger ships on the Great Lakes; a prediction that was correct.

In 1947, the Milwaukee Journal interviewed the then-82 year old captain. In that interview he discussed the Eastland disaster, as referenced earlier in this article.

“Capt. Dority, who has been retired a number of years, prefers to think and talk of the old days and the old ships,” the article stated. “Before locomotives had air brakes the roll and pitch of the ferry would knock the cars off their jacks, causing some to break their mooring lines and topple to the bottom of the lake.

“In those days it took common sense and lots of it to sail a ship,” Dority is quoted saying. “Today, it’s too mechanical.”

The article stated that Dority had become one of the first Great Lakes sailors to learn how to operate a twin screw ship, “enabling him to get command of the carferries when other men were unable to handle them  properly.”

Frank Dority retired in 1934, a year after the merger of Wisconsin and Michigan Transportation Company and the Pere Marquette Line Steamers.

Maude Dority passed away on Feb. 3, 1928 at the age of 55. Frank lived another 25 years. When he died, at the age of 91, on June 28, 1953, the last and largest carferry to sail the Great Lakes had been in operation for three months. The SS Badger had made its maiden voyage on March 21, 1953.

In his obituary, the Muskegon Chronicle stated Dority had commanded around 30 ocean and lake steamers. He and Maude are buried at Graceland Cemetery in Milwaukee.

Author’s Note: In researching Captain Frank A. Dority, I discovered that he was my second great-granduncle, meaning he was my great-grandmother’s uncle. He was married to my great-great-grandmother’s sister.

Maude (Lee) Dority, sister of Mabel (Lee) Davis, mother of Evalyn (Davis) Alway, mother of Tom Alway, father of Richard Alway, father of Rob Alway.

 

Masters of the PM Steamers series to date:

• Capt. John Stewart was first skipper of the Ludington fleet 150 years ago
• Capt. Muir commanded first Ludington ‘black boat’ until his death
• Ludington fleet captain Duddleson skippered the famed L.C. Waldo during the 1913 storm
• The remarkable career of Capt. Joseph Russell
• Capt. John Doyle, first master of the PM 19

Filer Credit Union with offices in Manistee, Ludington, East Lake, and Bear Lake; filercu.com; 800.595.6630

 

The Mason County Historical Society is a non-profit charitable organization that was founded in 1937 that does not receive any governmental funding. It owns and operates the Port of Ludington Maritime Museum in Ludington, Historic White Pine Village in Pere Marquette Township, and The Rose Hawley Archives and the Mason County Emporium and Sweet Shop in downtown Ludington.

For more information about donating to and/or joining the Mason County Historical Society, visit masoncountymihistory.org.

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