The Mackinac Transportation Company was a

train ferry A train ferry is a ship (ferry) designed to carry Railroad car, railway vehicles, as well as their cargoes and passengers. Typically, one level of the ship is fitted with Track (rail transport), railway tracks, and the vessel has a door at the f ...

service that shuttled

railroad car A railroad car, railcar (American English, American and Canadian English), railway wagon, railway carriage, railway truck, railwagon, railcarriage or railtruck (British English and International Union of Railways, UIC), also called a tra ...

s across the

Straits of Mackinac 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 wide with a maximum depth of , and connects the Great Lakes of Lake M ...

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.

History

First decades

The Mackinac Transportation Company (MTC) was a joint venture founded in 1881 by three separate railroads, the

Detroit, Mackinac and Marquette Railroad 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 -long railroad began operations in 1881. It w ...

, the

Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad The Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad at its height provided passenger and freight railroad services between Cincinnati, Ohio, and the Straits of Mackinac in Michigan, USA. The company was formed on January 18, 1854. Beginnings After grapp ...

, and the Michigan Central, to create a twelve-month service to connect their three railheads located in

Mackinaw City, Michigan Mackinaw City ( ) is a village at the northernmost point of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, United States. Divided between Cheboygan and Emmet counties, Mackinaw City is located at the southern end of the Mackinac Bridge, which carries Inter ...

and

St. Ignace, Michigan 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 2,306 at the 2020 census. St. Ignace Township is located just to the north of the city; the two are administered separat ...

.Hilton, p. 53 The company purchased its first vessel, the steamship SS ''Algomah'', and due to heavy copper traffic, which was difficult to transship from train to ship in barrels, shortly thereafter purchased a barge named ''Betsy'' able to carry four railcars when towed by ''Algomah''. However, the open barge had too little capacity, subjected crews to inclement weather, and ''Algomah'' was too light to break ice effectively while towing the barge. There was also the danger that the barge could overtake the ferry if she was suddenly stopped while breaking ice. That led MTC to order a purpose built icebreaking rail ferry named from the

Detroit Dry Dock Company The Dry Dock Complex consists of six interconnected buildings located at 1801–1803 Atwater Street in Detroit, Michigan, as well as the remains of a nearby dry dock at 1900 Atwater Street. The 1801-1803 Atwater complex is also known as the Globe ...

in 1887.Hilton, p.54 ''St. Ignace'' was built with a propeller at her bow to break ice ahead of the hull, and entered service in April 1888. Her capacity of ten railcars proved to still be inadequate for traffic, and a similar, albeit larger, vessel named SS ''Sainte Marie'' with a capacity of eighteen railcars entered service in June 1893.

''Chief Wawatam'' era

In 1895, ''Algomah'' was sold to the Island Transportation Company, which served

Mackinac Island Mackinac Island ( , ; ; ; ) is an island and resort area, covering in land area, in the U.S. state of Michigan. The name of the island in Odawa is Michilimackinac and "Mitchimakinak" in Ojibwemowin, meaning "Great Turtle". It is located in ...

.Hinton, p. 57 In June 1902, ''St. Ignace'' sank at dock in St. Ignace, but was refloated and returned to service. In October 1911, the company's largest and first steel-hulled vessel, the 26-railcar , entered service. She replaced ''Sainte Marie'', which was sold and converted to a barge, in which capacity she operated until 1927. A second ''Sainte Marie'', equipped with her namesake's engines, was delivered in March 1913, whereupon ''St. Ignace'' was sold; after several years of icebreaking service she caught fire and was cut down to a barge until her eventual disposal in 1930.Hilton, p. 59" In 1916, MTC began carrying automobile traffic, with vehicles loaded onto railcars for the passage. This arrangement limited capacity, and combined with high rates led to public dissatisfaction that eventually culminated in 1923 in the introduction of state-run car ferries across the strait. For several decades, the state ferries operated only during the summer months, and beginning in 1936 chartered an MTC vessel to provide winter service; this arrangement lasted until 1952, when the icebreaker ''Vacationland'' entered service in the state's fleet. As rail passenger traffic declined, and eventually ended in August 1955 when the last passenger train departed Mackinaw City, an increasingly important source of revenue for the company was chartering vessels for icebreaking service. Even so, this was insufficient to justify the ownership of two vessels, with ''Saint Marie'' operating only in charter icebreaking, and she was therefore sold for scrap in 1961. Following the opening of the

Mackinac Bridge The Mackinac Bridge ( ; also referred to as the Mighty Mac or Big Mac) is a suspension bridge that connects the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Upper and Lower Peninsula of Michigan, Lower peninsulas of the U.S. state of Michigan. It spans the Str ...

in 1957, MTC was losing at least $100,000 annually by the early 1960s. In 1963, the company applied to terminate ferry service but was denied by the

Interstate Commerce Commission The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was a regulatory agency in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads (and later Trucking industry in the United States, truc ...

(ICC). After repeated attempts, the ICC granted permission to end operations in 1976, but the state of Michigan chose to subsidize the company in order to continue service. ''Chief Wawatam'' continued to operate until August 1984, when a wall collapsed at the St. Ignace dock, making it unusable. The ship was laid up awaiting a decision from the state regarding the future of the service, until in 1986 the

Soo Line Railroad The Soo Line Railroad is one of the primary United States railroad subsidiaries for the CPKC Railway , one of six U.S. Class I railroads, controlled through the Soo Line Corporation. Although it is named for the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Saul ...

abandoned the unused railroad to the St. Ignace docks—shortly thereafter the tracks to the Mackinaw City were also removed and ''Chief Wawatam'' was sold in 1988 for conversion into a barge.

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