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| Manitowoc-3.jpg (below, 1221 x 940, 2-man3) | ||||||||
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This photo is out of the Manitowoc Company brochure, looking due north. The ship closest to the camera is a brand-new Coast Guard Cutter, while behind is Ann Arbor carferry WABASH in a floating drydock getting some work. To the left is a portion of Manitowoc Portland Cement complete with the ship unloading gantry. This is the raw material side of their complex, with some C&NW wooden drop-bottom gons unloading to their pile. | ||||||||
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| Manitowoc-4.jpg (below, 1221 x 940, 2-man4) | ||||||||
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Ignore the tow boat on the right, the subject of our affection is PERE MARQUETTE 10, a lake Huron carferry built at Manitowoc, shown just after being launched sideways into the river. The main interest here are the structures above PM 10. To the left, above the Pilot House on PM 10 is the old Manitowoc gasification plant, where they made natural gas by squeezing coal. I have no idea if this was Railroad served or of they received their coal via boat. I've never heard of the Soo serving a Gasification Plant in Manitowoc, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen. Moving to the right, the building in the upper center of the photo is Northern Elevator Company. Along the riverfront next to Northern Elevator is Wadhams Oil Co. They have a tank car unloading to the extreme left near the gas plant. The Soo Line Sand/Coal shed roof pokes up to the lower right of Northern Elevator Co.; freight cars in the Lower Boat Yard (just right of Northern Elevator and Wadham's warehouses)point to the Soo unloading a ferry at the time this was shot. The large structure to the right of upper center is the grain elevator that burned down not long after Dad got to Manitowoc in 1960. | ||||||||
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| Carferry-1.jpg (below, 1629 x 1062, 2-cf1) | ||||||||
| This first shot shows another view of the Soo Line/Wisconsin Central Boat Yard from the vantage point of 10th Street off the drawbridge. The boat in the Soo Line Slip is ANN ARBOR No. 1, a wooden-hulled ferry. Between the AA # 1 and the schooners tied up for the winter is the Wisconsin Central warehouse along the river. Behind the WC Warehouse is Northern Elevator Elevator 'B'. The two lacy metal spires sticking up from what looks like the Warehouse roof are framework for the original Bascule Bridge over the Manitowoc River, the infamous "Jackknife Bridge". Off to the right of AA # 1 you can make out the covered platform that ran alongside the Main Line from the Depot to the switch with the Ferry Slip. The "Upper Boat Yard" is out of sight to the right along with the Depot. | ||||||||
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| Carferry-2.jpg (below, 1511 x 1068, 2-cf2) | ||||||||
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This view, I suspect, was made from the Rahr Malting Co. transloading Tower shown in the photo of C&O Boat CITY OF FLINT 32. This is ANN ARBOR No. 3 scudding through the 8th street drawbridge heading for the Soo Line. In front of AA # 3 is the 10th street drawbridge, not opened for AA # 3 yet. The Grain Elevator that burned in a spectacular conflagration shortly after Dad arrived in Manitowoc, stands to the left of the photo. Far out in the Distance is Wisconsin Malting. Above the parapit wall of the white building to the right of AA # 3, you can JUST make out the tower roof of the Soo Line Depot. You can also see the WC Warehouse, and the Slip next to it where AA # 3 will be berthed and made fast to do business with the Soo. It was common for incoming boats to have their sea gate lifted at this point coming in. Notice inside the car deck on AA # 3, you can see a couple auto's stashed inside. Judging from the style of the Auto's, I'd guess this shot to be sometime after WWII. Not sure when the WC warehouse was pulled down. | ||||||||
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| Carferry-4.jpg (below, 1507 x 1042, 2-cf4) | ||||||||
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This shot actually has nothing to do directly with the Soo Line in Manitowoc, other than the
CITY OF FLINT 32 is leaving Manitowoc after having done her business with the Soo, up river a
mile away to the left in the photo. This is the C&NW Slips at Manitowoc. The boat on the Right is ANN ARBOR No. 6 (Later to become ARTHUR K. ATKINSON, formerly MAITLAND No. 2 before becoming AA # 6), and on the left is C&O Boat CITY OF MIDLAND 41. The dockline to the lower left is the C. Reiss Coal co. dock. I'm thinking this photo was shot from the Unloading Gantry Crane operator's cabin. Behind the Photographer would be the C&NW Ferry Yard, and the Rahr Malting Plant (later Budwieser/Anhaeuser-Busch). To the right on the photo is Lake Michigan; beyond CITY OF FLINT 32 you can see the north Breakwater. This is Manitowoc Harbor. | ||||||||
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| Carferry-5.jpg (below, 1504 x 1154, 2-cf5) | ||||||||
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Here we have another period view at the Soo Line Slip in Manitowoc. The original PERE MARQUETTE,
the first of the PM/C&O Steel Car Ferrys, makes her slow turn to starboard prepatory to backing
in to the Soo Line slip. This boat was later renamed to PERE MARQUETTE 15 in 1924. Off to the right you see a better view of the canopy that followed the Soo Manitowoc main line down to the switch with the ferry slip, the two uprights in the center are for the Soo's "Jackknife Bridge", the original bascule bridge leading the Soo tracks off the penninsula where Manitowoc Shipbuilding resided over the Manitowoc River, and, partly hidden by PERE MARQUETTE is Northern Elevator B. No date when this was made, so I really can't tell you if this is the Wicsonsin Central in Manitowoc or the Soo Line, in other words, pre-1909 or post-1909. Since the boat isn't renumbered, we know it's pre-1924. Investigative Reporting at it's best. Keith | ||||||||
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| Carferry-6.jpg (below, 1498 x 1110, 2-cf6) | ||||||||
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A CLASSIC among Lake Michigan Car Ferries, ANN ARBOR No. 5 steams into Manitowoc. No date given. She's outside the Manitowoc Harbor entrance. Photo was most likely taken from the south breakwater. AA 5 was retired and consigned to the scrapper in 1961. She was considered to be, behind SAINTE MARIE and CHIEF WAWATAM ro be one of the best ice breaker/ice breaking boats on Lake Michigan. Love those clouds of coal smoke!!!!!!!!!! Keith | ||||||||
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| Carferry-7.jpg (below, 1510 x 1123, 2-cf7) | ||||||||
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Chesapeake & Ohio boat CITY OF FLINT 32 steams down the Manitowoc River on her way back to Ludington after doing business with the Soo Line. On the left, the tower with "Rahr Malting Co." on it is the ship loader/unloader for the Malthouse of the same name, which later became Budweiser. A scale model of this terminal exists on Don Manlick's layout (The article to build it appeared in Model Railroader ca. 1969-1970). This tower was (is?) some distance from the actual Malthouse itself, and I believe there is (was) piping underground between the Malthouse and this tower. The 10th Street Drawbridge is behind the boat, already closed and packed with vehicular traffic. Imagine what ANN ARBOR No. 7 looked liked in this same spot in dense fog, a memory I retain to this day. It all looked and felt like it had been liberally lifted from an Alfred Hitchcock movie. Keith | ||||||||
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