Vacationland was built in 1952 by Great Lakes Engineering Works in River Rouge, Michigan for the State of Michigan's Department of Highways at a cost of $4,745,000. She was designed by Prof. L. A. Baier of the University of Michigan's Marine Engineering Department, in conjunction with H. M. Varian, superintendent of Great Lakes Engineering Works. The vessel was powered by 4 Nordbergdirect-drivediesel engines, each connected to a propeller through a Westinghouse electro-magnetic coupling, generating a total of nearly 10,000 horsepower. Christened in 1951 by 14-year-old Barbara Ziegler, the daughter of Michigan's Highway Commissioner, Charles M. Ziegler, Vacationland was the last ship built for the Highway Department ferry operation. She was designed to carry 150 automobiles, to relieve heavy traffic congestion at the Straits during the summer season, and also to serve as an icebreaker during winter months to keep the route open all year.
Prior to Vacationland's arrival, starting in 1923, the Highway Department operated a fleet of coal-fired steamers, several of which were former railroad ferries, purchased second hand from Lake Michigan operators. In winter months, to perform the icebreaking, the state had also chartered the railroad ferry, Sainte Marie (II), which had to land at separate docking facilities on each side of the Straits.
A "double-ender" capable of operating equally well in either forward or reverse, Vacationland was 360 feet (110m) long, 75 feet (23m) wide, and had room for 600 passengers in observation lounges at either end of her spar deck. The autos were carried below on a fully enclosed car deck. She operated with a crew of 47 men, who worked three shifts throughout the year. Her captain for most of her Michigan service was Frank U. Nelson.
After the opening of the Mackinac Bridge in 1957, Vacationland was mothballed for three years before being sold. She made the last official Michigan State Ferry crossing of the Straits of Mackinac on November 1, 1957, with a VIP cruise as part of the bridge opening ceremonies. She also made the very last crossing for Michigan State Ferries on November 2, 1957, when a single "deadhead" round-trip run was made to take supplies from Mackinaw City to the state warehouse in St. Ignace. She then was returned for layup in her slip in Mackinaw City. The deadhead run was commanded by her Second Mate, Gerald Cronan, of St. Ignace, as all her other officers had already left to take other employment.
Sunshine Coast Queen in BC Ferries service (1975)
In 1960 she was sold to the Detroit Atlantic Navigation Company of Detroit, and was renamed Jack Dalton. That operation, carrying truck trailers between Detroit and Cleveland, was short-lived, and Michigan took her back for non-payment.
She was sold next to Canadian operators, Compagnie de Navigation Nord-Sud, (North-South Navigation Company) on the St. Lawrence River, where she operated between Pointe-au-Père (Rimouski) and Baie-Comeau from 1961 to 1966 as the Père Nouvel. As such, she was modified to include a cafeteria and bar/lounge in one observation room. The service inaugurated the first crossing of the eastern St. Lawrence River and was very popular.
In 1967 she was sold again to BC Ferries, of Victoria, British Columbia. They sailed the ship through the Panama Canal to Victoria and renamed the ferry as the Sunshine Coast Queen. The Suzy Q, as she was affectionately called, was modified to better fit BC landings, and increase passenger and vehicle capacity. She was lengthened by 20 feet (6.1m) on each end to fit into BC dock wing walls, most crew quarters on her spar deck were removed to expand passenger lounges, and mezzanine decks were installed over the car deck for more vehicle space. A full service cafeteria replaced the snack bar and lounge installed in Quebec. As modified, she was 400 feet (120m) long, and carried 186 autos and 800 passengers. She was assigned to the Horseshoe Bay (West Vancouver) to Langdale route across Howe Sound on the Sunshine Coast. She was BC Ferries first large double ended vessel.
Retired due to increasing traffic and high operating costs in 1977 after the first Arab oil embargo, she was again laid up. Sold to Canaarctic Ventures, the company planned to convert the ferry to an oil-drilling support ship on Alaska's North Slope as the Gulf Kanayak. The oil embargo ended, however, and the ferry remained laid up until 1987. That year, she was sold to Chenco, Inc, and was sent to scrap in Nantong, China.
The ship did not make it; the Gulf Kanayak sank while under tow of the Hoshin #8, in a Pacific storm on December 3, 1987. Today the wreck lies in about 12,000 feet (3,700m) of water, in the Pacific Ocean, nearly 100 miles (160km) off the mouth of the Columbia River.
The Mackinac Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Straits of Mackinac, connecting the Upper and Lower peninsulas of the U.S. state of Michigan. Opened in 1957, the 26,372-foot-long bridge is the world's 27th-longest main span and the longest suspension bridge between anchorages in the Western Hemisphere. The Mackinac Bridge is part of Interstate 75 (I-75) and the Lake Michigan and Huron components of the Great Lakes Circle Tour across the straits; it is also a segment of the U.S. North Country National Scenic Trail. The bridge connects the city of St. Ignace on the north end with the village of Mackinaw City on the south.
St. Ignace is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Mackinac County. The city had a population of 2,452 at the 2010 census. St. Ignace Township is located just to the north of the city, but the two are administered autonomously.
Mackinaw City is a village in Emmet and Cheboygan counties in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 806 at the 2010 census; the population surges during the summer tourist season, including an influx of tourists and seasonal workers who serve in the shops, hotels and other recreational facilities there and in the surrounding region. Mackinaw City is at the northern tip (headland) of Michigan's Lower Peninsula along the southern shore of the Straits of Mackinac. Across the straits lies the state's Upper Peninsula. These two land masses are physically connected by the Mackinac Bridge, which runs from Mackinaw City north to St. Ignace. Mackinaw City is also the primary base for ferry service to Mackinac Island, located to the northeast in the straits.
Mackinac or Mackinaw may refer to:
The Straits of Mackinac are the short waterways between the U.S. state of Michigan's Upper and Lower Peninsulas, traversed by the Mackinac Bridge. The main strait is 3+1⁄2 miles wide with a maximum depth of 295 feet, and connects two of the Great Lakes, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Hydrologically, the two connected lakes are one body of water, known as Lake Michigan–Huron. Historically, the native Odawa people called the region around the Straits Michilimackinac.
M-122 was a state trunkline highway in the US state of Michigan entirely in the city of St. Ignace. The highway connected US Highway 2 (US 2) to the State Highway Ferry Dock used before the Mackinac Bridge was built. It was retired and the road returned to local control in 1957.
Chief Wawatam was a coal-fired steel ship that was based, for most of its 1911–1984 working life, in St. Ignace, Michigan. The vessel was named after a distinguished Ojibwa chief of the 1760s. In initial revenue service, the Chief Wawatam served as a train ferry, passenger ferry and icebreaker that operated year-round at the Straits of Mackinac between St. Ignace and Mackinaw City, Michigan. During the winter months, it sometimes took many hours to cross the five-mile-wide Straits, and Chief Wawatam was fitted with complete passenger hospitality spaces.
Interstate 75 (I-75) is a part of the Interstate Highway System that runs north–south from Miami, Florida, to Sault Ste. Marie in the Upper Peninsula of the US state of Michigan. I-75 enters the state from Ohio in the south, north of Toledo, and runs generally northward through Detroit, Pontiac and Bay City, crosses the Mackinac Bridge, and ends at the Canadian border in Sault Ste. Marie. The freeway runs for approximately 396 miles (637 km) on both of Michigan's major peninsulas. The landscapes traversed by I-75 include Southern Michigan farmland, northern forests, suburban bedroom communities, and the urban core of Detroit. The freeway also uses three of the state's monumental bridges to cross major bodies of water. There are four auxiliary Interstates in the state related to I-75, as well as nine current or former business routes, with either Business Loop I-75 or Business Spur I-75 designations.
Mackinaw Point marks the junction of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Founded in 1889, the Old Mackinac Point Light Station was in operation from 1890 until 1957.
Arnold Transit Company was a ferry boat company serving Mackinac Island in Michigan for 140 years. In late 2016 Arnold Line's Assets including the boats, docks along with its name were purchased by Star Line Mackinac Island Ferry Service, who continues to operate it today.
The history of commercial passenger shipping on the Great Lakes is long but uneven. It reached its zenith between the mid-19th century and the 1950s. As early as 1844, palace steamers carried passengers and cargo around the Great Lakes. By 1900, fleets of relatively luxurious passenger steamers plied the waters of the lower lakes, especially the major industrial centres of Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, and Toronto.
The Detroit, Mackinac and Marquette Railroad was a land grant railroad that was built and operated briefly (1881–1886) in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. Incorporated in 1879, the 151.9-mile (244.5 km)-long railroad began operations in 1881. It was intended to help the economic development of a region of frontier timberland along the shores of Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. Its successor line was the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway.
The Mackinac Transportation Company was a train ferry service that shuttled railroad cars across the Straits of Mackinac from 1881 until 1984. It was best known as the owner and operator, from 1911 until 1984, of the SS Chief Wawatam, an icebreaking train ferry.
The North Central State Trail is a 62-mile (100 km) recreational rail trail serving a section of the northern quarter of the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. Following a route generally parallel to Interstate 75, the trail goes northward from the Michigan town of Gaylord to the top of the Lower Peninsula at Mackinaw City and connects to the North Western State Trail. It serves the towns of Vanderbilt, Indian River, and Cheboygan which connects to the North Eastern State Trail.
Star Line Mackinac Island Ferry Service is a ferry boat company serving Mackinac Island in Michigan. The company has a dock at Mackinaw City and two at St. Ignace.
Shepler's Mackinac Island Ferry is one of two ferry companies serving Mackinac Island, Michigan. The company has docks in Mackinaw City and St. Ignace. Shepler's provides ferry and freight service to Mackinac Island.
Due to its unique geography, being made of two peninsulas surrounded by the Great Lakes, Michigan has depended on many ferries for connections to transport people, vehicles and trade. The most famous modern ferries are those which carry people and goods across the Straits of Mackinac to the car-free Mackinac Island but before the Mackinac Bridge was built, large numbers of ferries carried people and cars between the two peninsulas. Other ferries continue to provide transportation to small islands and across the Detroit River to Canada. Ferries once provided transport to island parks for city dwellers. The state's only national park, Isle Royale cannot be reached by road and is normally accessed by ferry. The largest ferries in Michigan are the car ferries which cross Lake Michigan to Wisconsin. One of these, the SS Badger is one of the last remaining coal steamers on the Great Lakes and serves as a section of US Highway 10 (US 10). The Badger is also the largest ferry in Michigan, capable of carrying 600 passengers and 180 autos.
SS Eber Ward was a package freighter that served ports on the Upper Great Lakes from her launching in 1888 until she sank in the Straits of Mackinac on April 20, 1909, with the loss of five lives. The sunken cargo ship is a feature of the present-day Straits of Mackinac Shipwreck Preserve.
Wawatam Lighthouse is an automated, modern lighthouse that guards the harbor of St. Ignace, Michigan, in the Straits of Mackinac. Originally completely nonfunctional, it was erected in 1998 by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) near Monroe, Michigan as an iconic roadside attraction at a welcome center that greeted northbound drivers on Interstate 75 (I-75). After serving in this capacity for six years, the structure was threatened in 2004 when MDOT decided to rebuild the welcome center and demolish the tower.
East Moran Bay is a small, historic harbor in the Straits of Mackinac adjacent to the city of St. Ignace in the U.S. state of Michigan. The harbor is used as a commercial port for Star Line Ferry and Shepler's Ferry ferry boats from St. Ignace to Mackinac Island, a tourist center of the Straits of Mackinac. The bay and its harbor are guarded by the Wawatam Lighthouse.
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