Chief Wawatam Elevator Apron Collapsed in St. Ignace

[Doug Taylor]

There will be a new Website for the Chief in a few days. www.ChiefWawatam.com. We have started a group called "Friends of the Chief Wawatam" and are pursuing the restoration of the Loading Elevator Apron for the Soo Line to the Chief Wawatam R.R. Car Ferry.

The city of St. Ignace also own one of the three Triple Expansion Steam Engines built the same year 1911 as the Titanic and are the same type engines of the Titanic, but smaller. At 65 ton they are heavy and produce 15,000 HP each.

Regards, Doug Taylor, Webmaster, Friends of the Chief Wawatam

[SW]

Welcome to the board, Doug. Good luck with your efforts.

Don't know if you saw it, but there is more commentary on this topic in the Historical Q & A section of this board:

admin edit: merged these two threads and moved to MI talk.

[AARR]

Thanks for the updates Doug. August 1984 was the last revenue trip between St ignace and Mackinaw City. They only handled 5 revenue loads that year. 1977-1981 were the peak years for ferry traffic for MIGN.

[Doug Taylor]

I'll be posting in here as I hear of new news of the restoration progress. I'm publishing a website in a day or so. http://www.ChiefWawatam.com for those of you who want to keep track of up to date stories.

We aim is to get as much Public Support as we can from this website. I'm retired but have another very busy website that I have to maintain every day. Plug: http://www.WestMichMusicHystericalSociety.com

Regards,

Doug Taylor, Webmaster, Friends of the Chief Wawatam

[Doug Taylor]

http://www.stignacenews.com/news/2011-0 ... build.html

http://www.stignacenews.com/news/2011-0 ... ition.html

I'll post stories from the St. Ignace News as I find them.

Regards,

Doug Taylor

[wawatam]

The March 29th issue of The St. Ignace News states that removal of the apron and debris will begin this week. Apparently the city's insurance will pay for removal but not restoration.

[SD80MAC]

So wait, are they trying to rebuild it?

[train91]

So that's what I saw, when I drove into St. Ignace Sun morning, Apr 1, 2012. I knew it didn't look normal, but I was not fundamentally aware that she used to berth there. But the Apron was certainly collapsed.

FWIW, one of her triple expansion engines, (not including boilers) sits on the "Mill Dock" of Arnold Line in St. Ignace. It is private property, but if you drive through quietly, you can circle around a take a look. I have many pictures of it, so I should post them. The engine has been there about 3 years now, i.e., since about 2009 or so. Where the other two are, I do not know.

The Mill Dock is where Arnold stores her Cats for the Winter, up on the hard.

[AARR]

So wait, are they trying to rebuild it?

It does not sound like there is restoration money, does it?

[12Bridge]

Remember, Wood is food.

[Doug Taylor]

Well we have the website of the Chief wawatam up and running, but we don't have any SEO working on it yet, so the only way you can get into the website is to type, "chiefwawatam.com directly into your top browser window, without the www. on it. Don't use any search engine as Google Yahoo, etc. it will not find it right away. If you have a problem with getting in, just e-mail us at: WMMusicHystericalSociety@yahoo.com

Enjoy,

Doug Taylor, Webmaster, Co-editor, WMMHS

[Doug Taylor]

For all interested in the Chief Wawatam's progress, besides the website at: www.ChiefWawatam.com we have a Facebook Page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chief-Waw ... 4883298658) which I'm sure is going to generate some public opinion about this Elevator Apron. It seems every other day there is a big turn of events with this project. It seems that just about every week there is something on the Front Page of the St. Ignace News about what's going on. Politics at it's best!!!

RE: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chief-Waw ... 4883298658

Regards,

Doug Taylor