Ferries in Michigan


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. The Badger is also the largest ferry in Michigan, capable of carrying 600 passengers and 180 autos.
As of 2018, there are 18 ferry routes in Michigan, 13 of which have ferries which can carry vehicles. Three ferry routes cross the international border between U.S. and Canada. Ferry trips can be as short as a few minutes crossing a river to as long as seven hours crossing Lake Superior. These routes are all closed in the winter when the rivers and lakes are iced over. Winter closures can be as long as four months a year. Four passenger-only ferry destinations are islands without private vehicles and, in some cases, without even roads. One unique human-powered ferry takes passengers across the Kalamazoo River to a park with a Lake Michigan beach.
In the early days of lake transport, it is difficult or impossible to differentiate between ferries, package freighters carrying passengers, and passenger liners on regular routes. The lakes and rivers often provided an easier route of travel than primitive or non-existent roads. Rail ferries would carry passenger trains and their occupants as well as freight cars, and later sometimes carried automobiles as well. Several of the busiest ferry routes were replaced by bridges or tunnels: Detroit to Windsor, Belle Isle, the Sault Ste. Maries, St. Ignace to Mackinaw City, Port Huron to Sarnia. Boblo ceased to be a destination with the closure of the amusement park. Changes in laws and industry lead to the end of the Lake Michigan railroad ferries.
The first autos crossed the Straits of Mackinac in 1917 on the SS Chief Wawatam. In 1923, the state of Michigan began an auto ferry service that was the first such system to be state-owned. It continued until the day the Mackinac Bridge opened. The law required the ferry service to cease so that the bridge would not have competition and could pay off its construction bonds faster. The passenger ferries and many of the rail ferries across the Detroit and St. Clair rivers had ended after the bridges and tunnels were built.
The ferries pioneered concepts in ship design and icebreaking techniques. Bow propellers and steel spoon-shaped bows made the rail ferries the best icebreakers on the lakes for many years until the dedicated U.S. Coast Guard icebreakers were assigned during World War II. In contrast, the ferries later had some of the most outdated equipment on the Lakes. The Badger, still in service in 2019, is the last coal-fired Great Lakes passenger steamer. The Chief Wawatam was the last hand-fed coal steamer and the Landsdowne was the last paddlewheeler when it was converted to a barge in 1970.
The Detroit-Windsor ferries were popular with small-scale bootleggers during Prohibition, especially as border guards were reluctant to search young Canadian women who worked in Detroit offices.

Automobile ferries

Lake Michigan

Cross-lake

Beaver Island

;Current boatsBeaver Islander,, Charlevoix, Michigan to Beaver Island, 2 hoursEmerald Isle,, Charlevoix to Beaver Island, 2 hours
;Retired boats
  • Emerald Isle, in use 1955–62, then a Mackinac ferry until 1982, now Diamond Jack cruise on the Detroit River
  • South Shore,, for Miller Boat Line, Put-in-Bay, Ohio. Operated to Beaver Island from 1973-1997. Sold in 1999 to Shoreline Sightseeing Cruises, Chicago.

St. Marys River

Ferry service to Sugar Island began in 1928 and to Neebish Island service in 1933, provided by private companies. The Eastern Upper Peninsula Transportation Authority assumed their operations in 1980.

Neebish Island

Sugar Island

Lake Huron

Bois Blanc Island

Kristen D, Cheboygan to Bois Blanc Island

Drummond Island

;Current boats
De Tour Village to Drummond Island, connecting M-134 across the DeTour Passage, since 1975, part of the Eastern Upper Peninsula Transportation Authority
  • Drummond Islander III
  • Drummond Islander IV,
;Retired boats
  • Clyde, in use 1905–08
  • Naida, in use 1915–24
  • Drummond, in use 1922–24 and 1931–32
  • Phillip, in use 1922–30, destroyed by fire
  • Wallan, in use 1933–47, run by Road Commission from 1943 as Sam C. Taylor
  • Drummond Islander I, sold to Arnold Line and renamed Mackinac Islander
  • Drummond Islander II, in use 1961–89, sold to MCM Marine as tugboat

St. Clair River

Detroit River

Former

Internal

Lake Charlevoix

Passenger-only ferries

Lake Superior

Isle Royale

Grand Island

Lake Michigan

Manitou Islands

Little Traverse Bay

Straits of Mackinac

Internal

Defunct ferries

Lake Michigan

Rail ferries to Wisconsin

The Ann Arbor Railroad, Grand Trunk, and Chesapeake and Ohio ran train ferries across Lake Michigan. Several of these also carried passengers in the upper decks.

Passenger and auto ferries

Straits of Mackinac

Before the construction of the Mackinac Bridge connecting the two peninsulas of Michigan, car and train ferries crossed between Mackinaw City, Michigan and St. Ignace. The early transport across the Straits was by private boat. The first large commercial concerns were the railways whose ferries pioneered concepts in ice breaking and ship design. The state took over auto traffic after complaints that the railways service was too expensive and unreliable for motorists.

Early ferries

  • Mary Queen
  • Gazelle
  • ''Lotus''

Straits of Mackinac auto ferries

The state provided auto ferry service between 1923 and 1957. The ferries carried almost 1 million cars a year in the mid-1950s before the bridge opened in 1957. At that time, there were five ferries running with a total capacity of 500 cars; the largest ferry could carry 150. In their last year of service, the state ferries employed 400 people.
  • Michigan State Ferries
  • *Ariel unused after 1923, sold 1925
  • *Sainte Ignace sold 1940
  • *Mackinaw City sold 1940
  • *The Straits of Mackinac
  • *City of Cheboygan, formerly Ann Arbor No.4
  • *City of Munising, formerly Pere Marquette 20
  • *City of Petoskey formerly Pere Marquette 17
  • *Vacationland, largest ferry, made last run of the service in November, 1957.

Rail ferries across the Straits of Mackinac

Mackinac Island

  • Island Transportation Company was part owned by George Arnold and employed Bill Shepler as one of its captains. The service ran from St. Ignace to Mackinac Island. It merged with the Arnold Line in June 1946.
  • *Algoma,, in service from 1895
  • *Algoma II, in service 1936–46, later with Arnold Line until 1960

Sault Ste. Marie (St. Mary's River)

  • *Dime, first steam ferry at Soo, wood-fired
  • American-based company started by Sam Bernier
  • *M.I. Mills, passenger only
  • International Transit Company
  • *Bawating, passenger ferry
  • *Agoming,, auto ferry
  • *James W. Curran,, auto ferry
  • *John A. McPhail, auto ferry
International Transit Company was purchased by Ontario during the building of the Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge; the government operated the ferries until the bridge opened in 1962.

St. Clair River

Many ferries carried passengers, mostly between Sarnia and Port Huron before the Blue Water Bridge opened in 1938. In 1937, ferries had carried 1,174,846 passengers, 220,555 automobiles, 1,222 trucks and 267 motorcycles. Rail transport continued for many years.
  • Early ferries
  • *The first licensed ferry was in 1836, a sailboat owned by Crampton
  • *George Moffat began a ferry service with a craft made of 3 canoes and powered by two ponies in the 1840s
  • *A 4-horse boat and a 4-mule boat were in competition in the later 1840s
  • *United, the first steam powered ferry owned by Moffatt began service in 1850
  • *Sarnia, a paddlewheel steamer was brought into service by Moffatt in 1860, burned in 1877
  • *G.A. Brush, 1860s, competitor to Moffatt's Sarnia
  • *Fanny White, 1860s, competitor to Moffatt's Sarnia
  • *Mystic, in service in 1877
  • *Essex
  • Port Huron Ferry Company formed in 1891 with ferries already in service, Company was bought out by state of Michigan in 1937 to prevent competition with the new bridge.
  • *Grace Dormer, abandoned by 1925 when it was destroyed in a fire at a boneyard in Buffalo
  • *James Beard
  • *Omar D. Conger, on March 26, 1922 exploded at dock in Black River, 4 deaths
  • *J.C. Clark, at Sarnia-Port Huron from late 1880s, burned 1905
  • *Hiawatha, at Sarnia-Port Huron from late 1880s until about 1923
  • *City of Cheboygan, renamed City of Port Huron at Port Huron-Sarnia 1917 to 1937, sank at dock 1939
  • *Ariel, 1920s-1937, sold for scrap 1941
  • *Louis Philippe, 1921 only, first auto ferry at Port Huron-Sarnia
  • *Lawrence, 1921-1934, first auto ferry at Port Huron-Sarnia
  • *City of Sarnia, 1923-1937, sold for scrap 1953, largest ferry could carry 1000 passengers and 42 autos.
  • Blue Water Ferry Company using converted military landing craft as passenger only ferries and reusing the older ship's names.
  • *City of Sarnia
  • *City of Port Huron
  • Rail ferries served Sarnia, Ontario to Port Huron, Michigan from 1859 to 1890.
  • *The earliest ferry was a chain ferry on a 1000-foot chain across the river in the 1860s. The unpowered vessel and its chain became a navigation concern.
  • Grand Trunk/Canadian National
  • *International, hull built in England, assembled in Canada, later in use for Pere Marquette on St. Clair River from 1903–27
  • *Huron,, hull built in England, assembled in Canada
  • Pere Marquette Railroad
  • *International, built for Grand Trunk, later in use for Pere Marquette on St. Clair River from 1903–27
  • *Pere Marquette 10, in use as ferry until 1974, in use as barge until 1995
  • *Pere Marquette 12, sold to Canadian National in 1969, renamed St. Clair, converted to barge 1980s, in use until 1995
  • *Pere Marquette 14, in use until 1957
  • CSX service ended October 7, 1994

Detroit River

Detroit to Windsor

  • Passenger and auto ferries
  • *Early ferries, ordered by date of entering service
  • ***Among the earliest ferry service were the canoes owned by Louis Davenport, which were fitted with runners and pushed across the ice in wintertime
  • **Olive Branch,, a horse-powered sidewheeler, could carry wagons and cattle
  • **Argo,, first steamboat ferry at Detroit
  • **Lady of the Lake
  • **United later called Alliance, then called Undine
  • **Argo No. 2, built in 1848, in use until 1880
  • **Ottawa, mostly used as tow barge due to oversupply of ferry boats in the 1860s
  • **Windsor, steamer, burned with the loss of 30 lives, April 23, 1866
  • **Mohawk, built about 1844 for British Revenue Service, ferry at Detroit mid-1850s, one of the first iron boats on the Great Lakes, later used on Great Lakes as passenger steamer, sank Lake Huron
  • **Gem, sidewheeler
  • **Essex, sold for use as ferry from Port Huron to Sarnia
  • **Detroit, pulled burning Windsor out of dock in 1866, itself burned at Sandwich in September, 1875
  • **Clara, early 1860s, screw steamer, ran Detroit-Windsor in winter, Detroit-Fort Wayne in summer
  • **Favorite, in use 1867, out of service within a few years
  • *Detroit Ferry Company and the Windsor Ferry Company combined in 1877 to form the Detroit and Windsor Ferry Company. In 1883 the company was renamed Detroit, Belle Isle and Windsor Ferry Company. It served Amhurstburg, Detroit, Windsor, Belle Isle, Bois Blanc Island, and owned Peche Island.
  • **Hope
  • **Victoria, the first Great Lakes ferry built with ice-breaking hull
  • **Fortune, later Bawating ferry at Sault Ste. Marie, converted to a tug and sank off Jekyll Island, Georgia, 1920
  • **Excelsior
  • **Garland
  • **Sappho, originally part of Walkerville and Detroit Ferry Company
  • **Promise
  • **Pleasure
  • **Britannia
  • **Lasalle
  • **Cadillac
  • *Walkerville and Detroit Ferry Company formed in 1881 by Hiram Walker and served a route from Detroit to Belle Isle to Walkerville, Ontario. Service ended in 1942.
  • **Essex, converted to tug 1942, ended career in Peru
  • **''Ariel''

Detroit to Belle Isle ferry

Detroit to Boblo Island

Ferry service ran to the island from 1898-1993 by the Bois Blanc Excursion Line

Detroit to Windsor rail ferries

Grosse Ile to Gordon, Ontario rail ferry

Lake Erie

  • Michigan-Ohio Navigation Company
  • *SS Aquarama,, in use 1957–62, Detroit to Cleveland, Ohio, 2,500 passengers and 160 automobiles
  • Detroit-Atlantic Navigation Company of Detroit, MI.
  • *MV Jack Dalton, the former Michigan state ferry Vacationland, was used briefly in the summer of 1960 to ship truck trailers in "fishyback" service between Detroit and Cleveland, OH. The venture quickly proved uneconomical and the service was suspended within 90 days of inauguration. Michigan seized the ferry for non-payment and resold the ship for use off lakes.