The only known image of the City of Ashland | |
History | |
---|---|
Name | City of Ashland |
Namesake | Ashland, Wisconsin |
Owner | Superior Lumber Company, Ashland, Wisconsin |
Port of registry | United States |
Launched | 1883 |
Fate | Burned and sank 8 August 1887 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Paddle steamer |
Tonnage | 84.62 tons |
Length | 90 feet (27 meters) |
Beam | 20 feet (6.1 meters) |
Depth | 7 feet (2.1 meters) |
Depth of hold | 21 feet (6.4 meters) |
Propulsion | Steam engine, sidewheel |
City of Ashland was a sidewheel paddle steamer that sank in Chequamegon Bay, Lake Superior, off Ashland, Wisconsin. [1] The ship was named for Ashland, a port community. The wreckage remains at the bottom of the bay, close to the ship's namesake city.
City of Ashland was built in 1883 and owned by the Superior Lumber Company, located in Ashland. The ship primarily was used for timber rafting. As timber was harvested around the Bad River area of Wisconsin, the logs would collect near the shore, where City of Ashland would pick them up and tow them in rafts to the sawmill in Ashland. [2] The ship was a common sight around the Chequamegon Bay area.
On August 8, 1887, City of Ashland was returning to Ashland while pulling a raft of logs. At a point about three nautical miles (5.5 km) northeast of Washburn, Wisconsin, a fire was discovered at the rear of the pilothouse. The entire ship was engulfed in flames within minutes. Hundreds of people lined the shore to view the emergency. [2] As the flames quickly began to consume almost the entire ship, the crew had no choice but to jump into the cold water of Lake Superior. Several ships came to their rescue, including Cyclone and S. B. Barker. Most of her crew survived, but crewman Fred Ebert drowned. [2]
The origin of the fire remains a mystery. The ship's wreck remains under the waters of Lake Superior.
Ashland is a city in Ashland and Bayfield counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the county seat of Ashland County. The city is a port on Lake Superior, near the head of Chequamegon Bay. The population was 7,908 at the 2020 census, all of whom resided in the Ashland County portion of the city. The unpopulated Bayfield County portion is in the city's southwest, bordered by the easternmost part of the Town of Eileen.
Washburn is a city in Bayfield County, in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 2,051 at the 2020 census. The city is just east of and adjacent to the Town of Washburn. It is in northern Wisconsin, on the shore of Lake Superior's Chequamegon Bay.
The Apostle Islands are a group of 22 islands in Lake Superior, off the Bayfield Peninsula in northern Wisconsin. The majority of the islands are located in Ashland County—only Sand, York, Eagle, and Raspberry Islands are located in Bayfield County. All the islands except for Madeline Island are part of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. The islands in Ashland County are all in the Town of La Pointe, except for Long Island, which is in the Town of Sanborn, while those in Bayfield County are in the Towns of Russell and Bayfield.
The Bad River LaPointe Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians or Bad River Tribe for short are a federally recognized tribe of Ojibwe people. The tribe had 6,945 members as of 2010. The Bad River Reservation is located on the south shore of Lake Superior and has a land area of about 193.11 square miles (500.15 km2) in northern Wisconsin, straddling Ashland and Iron counties. Odanah, the administrative and cultural center, is located five miles (8.0 km) east of the town of Ashland on U.S. Highway 2. The reservation population was 1,545 in 2020. Most of the reservation is managed as undeveloped forest and wetland, providing a habitat for wild rice and other natural resources.
The Chequamegon Point Lighthouse is a lighthouse located on Long Island, one of the Apostle Islands, in Lake Superior in Ashland County, Wisconsin, near the city of Bayfield.
Chequamegon Bay is an inlet of Lake Superior in Ashland and Bayfield counties in the extreme northern part of Wisconsin.
Long Island is an island in Lake Superior in Wisconsin usually identified with the Apostle Islands. It is geologically different from the other islands, though, in that it is actually just an extension of the spit off Chequamegon Point. It is a part of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, and is located in the Town of Sanborn, in Ashland County, Wisconsin.
Madeline Island is an island in Lake Superior. Now part of Ashland County, Wisconsin, it has long been a spiritual center of the Lake Superior Chippewa. Although the largest of the Apostle Islands, it is not included in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. It is the only island in the Apostle Island chain open to commercial development and private ownership.
The Bayfield Peninsula is a peninsula on Lake Superior. It is located in Bayfield County, Wisconsin USA. It is the northernmost region of mainland Wisconsin, with the south shore of Lake Superior to the west and the Chequamegon Bay to the east. The peninsula is part of the Lake Superior Lowland, though the interior southeast of Cornucopia and west of Bayfield has some higher ground including Pratt's Peak, Bayfield County's second-highest point. Highway 13 runs around the peninsula along the Superior shoreline. The communities of Port Wing, Herbster, Cornucopia, Red Cliff, Bayfield, Washburn, and Ashland lie on this stretch of highway. The interior of the peninsula is mostly the northern end of the Chequamegon National Forest, an area of jackpine growth known as the Moquah Barrens. The Apostle Islands surround the end of the peninsula.
KUWS is a public radio station in Superior, Wisconsin, licensed to the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and operated by the University of Wisconsin–Superior since January 21, 1966. KUWS is an affiliate of Wisconsin Public Radio's Ideas Network. It also airs university and student-produced programming weeknights with 91 Jazz St. from 7:00 to 10:00 and College Rock from 10:00 to 1:00 am.* KUWS broadcasts on 91.3 FM with 83,000 watts. KUWS was previously heard on translator station W275AF in the Ashland-Washburn-Bayfield area at 102.5 FM before September 12, 2011, when full-power WUWS (90.9) was launched from Ashland, replacing W275AF. WUWS continues to relay KUWS's schedule and is programmed from WPR's Superior studios.
Chequamegon Point is a peninsula that extends into Chequamegon Bay of Lake Superior in northern Wisconsin, in the Town of Sanborn, in Ashland County, Wisconsin. Long Island is an extension of Chequamegon Point. Most of Chequamegon Point is owned by the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians. There is a lighthouse on the point.
Lucerne was a commercial schooner. In November 1886, she sank due to bad weather in Lake Superior, off Long Island in Chequamegon Bay. The site of the wreck was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.
Noquebay was a wooden schooner barge that sank in Lake Superior in Chequamegon Bay off Stockton Island. The wreck site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.
The Ottawa was a tugboat that sank in Lake Superior off the coast of Red Cliff in Russell, Bayfield County, Wisconsin. The wreckage site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.
Sevona was a steel-hulled lake freighter that sank in Lake Superior off the coast of Sand Island in Bayfield County, Wisconsin, United States. The wreckage site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1993.
The R.G. Stewart was a commercial packet steamer. On June 4, 1899, it caught fire and sank in Lake Superior, off the coast of Michigan Island in Chequamegon Bay. The site of the wreck was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.
D.R. Owen was a schooner, leased by W. R. Sutherland, for hauling lumber. She sank on September 8, 1874, and is generally considered the first shipwreck in the Chequamegon Bay area of Lake Superior.
Antelope was a Great Lakes steamship that later was converted into a schooner barge) and sank in Lake Superior near the Apostle Islands in 1897.
Robert C. Pringle, originally named Chequamegon, was a wooden-hulled American tugboat that sank without loss of life on Lake Michigan, near Sheboygan, Wisconsin, on June 19, 1922, after striking an obstruction.