Boats And Boating

Written by Anna Mae Maday, Manager, Eddy Historical & Genealogy Collection of Hoyt Public Library in Saginaw, Michigan
September 2000

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Early visitors to the Saginaw Valley arrived by canoe and traveled by waterways and Indians trails. Before plank roads or railroads were built, early Saginaw settlers had to rely on the waterways for transportation. After gaining statehood, Michigan recognized the importance of river transportation in the settlement of the state. They proposed a canal to connect the Saginaw and Grand Rivers, but the project was never completed. Pioneer reminiscences told how settlers came to Saginaw from Genesee County bringing household possessions on log rafts. The early pioneers of Frankenmuth who came in 1845, sailed on the Nelson Smith from Detroit to the Saginaw River. When they arrived at Lower Saginaw (Bay City), they had no wind. With ropes they pulled the sailing vessel in canal boat-fashion upstream to Saginaw City. The Buena Vista was the first steamboat constructed at the Saginaw River. This shipbuilding project attracted much attention. Even the Native Americans were fascinated with the construction of this unusual vessel and in 1848 were invited to participate in the maiden voyage. Before the Civil War the Saginaw River was a busy thoroughfare with tugs, rafts, barges, schooners, packets, and paddle-wheelers. In 1857 a total of 540 vessels came up the river to Saginaw. Among them were 24 barks, 69 brigs, 340 schooners, and 107 steamboats. When the Civil War ended settlers flocked to Saginaw, and the number of river vessels grew. By 1867 the number of vessels passing the Genesee Bridge exceeded 1000 per month. The lumber industry used a flat-bottom barge known as a "lighter" to load lumber and other freight. The "lighter" was useful for transporting cargo to and from river vessels that were not docked at wharves. Also on the river there were fire tugs equipped to extinguish sawmill blazes.

In the late 1870's the side-wheeled steamer Wellington R. Burt, licensed to carry as many as 500 passengers, charged fares of 25 cents to travel the Saginaw River. In the 1860's steamers had charged ten cents for the same trip. The Saginaw River Line that carried freight and passengers between Bay City and East Saginaw made stops at thirteen other places on the river. Their boats ran every two hours from six o'clock in the morning until six-thirty in the evening. Local steamship lines also made trips to Cleveland, Detroit and Alpena, and many places enroute. There was even regular steamship service from Saginaw to Goderich, Ontario. And in the summer months boat excursions went to Point Lookout. Competition developed between lines, and a travel incentive offered by one included a free newspaper or a free drink of whisky. With all the river traffic there were accidents. One shipwreck on the Saginaw River occurred in 1861 when the Little Eastern collided with the Fox near Saginaw City and sank.

The end of the lumbering era brought about a decrease in river traffic. One obstacle to Saginaw River commerce during that time was the lack of return cargo, such as lumber. Vessels coming to Saginaw with merchandise and products returned to their ports empty. The success of railroads also contributed to the demise of Saginaw River commerce. In 1891 lake shipments from the Saginaw River were only moderately profitable for carriers and had been in a slow decline for 12 years. In 1909 the Saginaw Board of Trade hoped that the Saginaw River commerce would improve, pointing out that new products were being manufactured in Saginaw and that coal and farm products could be transported by water. In 1958 the first foreign cargo left Saginaw from the docks of the Saginaw Grain Company, a Division of Wickes Corporation. This cargo was a shipment of beans bound for Norway on the freighter, Thomas Schulte, of Hamburg, Germany. In 1956 a decision to replace the Bristol Street Bridge with a fixed span meant that the products of Frutchey Bean and other companies up river would not have access to lake vessels. Freighters can only come up the river as far as the former General Motors Chevrolet Grey Iron Plant.

Years ago naval and Coast Guard ships would moor at Battery Park, and Saginawians could tour these vessels. One unique vessel that came down the Saginaw River was the British Barkentine Success, which was built in 1790 in Burma. This ship, which was used as a convict ship for Australia, was raised from a watery grave and became a floating museum. In September 1937 this ship was docked at Battery Park when a south wind blew the water from the river and the Success was temporarily aground. Another first for Saginaw River commerce was the arrival of the Russian freighter, Olenegorsk, which in July 1973 came to the Michigan Elevator Exchange for a cargo of beans. At that time a trade agreement had opened additional ports to Soviet ships.

Today Saginawians no longer have to wait for lift bridges to close across the river as their neighbors in Bay City often do, but in this new millenium foreign and domestic cargo ships still make the Saginaw River a port-of-call.

• Baker, Cathy. Shipbuilding on the Saginaw.
• Card Index & Vertical File. SAGINAW RIVER.
• Chapman, Charles C.History of Saginaw County. 1881.
• McDonald, Tom. Looking Back . . . Part 6 & Part 8.
• Mills, James Cooke. History of Saginaw County. 1918.
• Saginaw News. August 15, 1954, September 29, 1958, October 12, 1975, and June 20, 1976.
• Swayze David, et al.Vessels Built on the Saginaw.

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