Reviewing the news: Ships stuck in the straits and speedskaters
Jan. 18, 1924: Car ferry free after being in ice 18 hours
MACKINAW CITY — The car ferry Chief Wawatam, stuck in the ice four miles out on the straits for 18 hours Thursday, became hard and fast in the ice floes in about the same spot when the ship attempted to open the channel again at about 8:30 o’clock this forenoon. The ship was still fast in the ice at 2 p.m. She carried passengers, mail, express and a D. S. S. & A. passenger train.
The big car ferry and ice crusher, Chief Wawatam, the only means of transportation between upper and lower sections of the state in winter, freed itself of the ice floes and made Mackinaw City harbor with a load of freight cars shortly before midnight Thursday. The powerful vessel had been held prisoner in the middle of the Straits of Mackinac for eighteen hours by heavy ice piled in from Lake Michigan by the fierce winter storm.
The Chief Wawatam was being brought south early Thursday with a board of freight cars when the ice filled the channel. All efforts to crush the ice proved fruitless, and it was not until the wind shifted to the south again and started the ice fields opening up and moved about that the great ship was able to break free and proceed to port.
In the meantime the railroad station at Mackinaw City rapidly filled with passengers, northbound to points above the straits, and with mail and express for northern points. Similar conditions existed at St. Ignace, trains carrying passengers being held there awaiting the arrival of the ship. Many passengers, trainmen passing through Petoskey report, found themselves without food and with no place to stay, except the stations.
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Jan. 17, 1974: Skaters at three meets
Petoskey speedskaters will be in two states for three meets over the weekend.
Tomorrow (Friday) Petoskey coach Ed White will be taking Gary Ross to West Allis, Wisconsin for the Great Lakes Championships in pack style racing.
Saturday the rest of the Petoskey Speedskating Club will be in the Detroit Great Lakes Championships … and on Sunday the team will go to Saginaw for the Diamond Derby Open Championships.
White and Ross are being sent to West Allis through the several contributions from skating fans in the city.
Novice races in Petoskey will start Monday with ribbons going to the first through fourth places. The City Speedskating Championships will start Wednesday night with points being given for order of placement. Trophies and medals will be given at the end of the season.
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Reviewing the news: Ships stuck in the straits and speedskaters
