by Guest » April 25, 2017, 8:11 pm
The Niagara hauled sand it dredged from Saginaw Bay up to the GM plant in Saginaw. The sand was used to make cores for casting molds. The ship seemed to constantly be going through drawbridges in Bay City, so locally the ship is not remembered fondly. The I-75 highway bridge in Zilwaukee was also a drawbridge back then... :(
Niagara was built in 1897 at Wheeler's shipyard, in what was then West Bay City. It was constructed for J. Crothswaite to haul pulpwood. It had a chain conveyor, and the bottom of the hull was sheathed with oak. This was reportedly for protection against the rocks in the shallows where Niagara was to operate. It took eleven rail cars of oak to fill that order!
The ship was later operated by American Steamship Company as a crane ship, and for Gravel Products and Erie Sand as a sandsucker. I don't know at what point the oak was removed.
It is interesting that Erie Sand replaced the steam engine with diesel air. Besides providing propulsion, the diesel powered an air compressor to drive auxiliaries, etc. One of the old boilers was kept and used as an air receiver. Niagara made a haunting sighing and chugging sound as it wore a path up and down the Saginaw River. It last run to Saginaw was in 1982.
Efforts to save it as a museum failed both in Bay City and Erie.
The GM plant in Saginaw is still there, but is a shadow of its former days.
The Niagara hauled sand it dredged from Saginaw Bay up to the GM plant in Saginaw. The sand was used to make cores for casting molds. The ship seemed to constantly be going through drawbridges in Bay City, so locally the ship is not remembered fondly. The I-75 highway bridge in Zilwaukee was also a drawbridge back then... :(
Niagara was built in 1897 at Wheeler's shipyard, in what was then West Bay City. It was constructed for J. Crothswaite to haul pulpwood. It had a chain conveyor, and the bottom of the hull was sheathed with oak. This was reportedly for protection against the rocks in the shallows where Niagara was to operate. It took eleven rail cars of oak to fill that order!
The ship was later operated by American Steamship Company as a crane ship, and for Gravel Products and Erie Sand as a sandsucker. I don't know at what point the oak was removed.
It is interesting that Erie Sand replaced the steam engine with diesel air. Besides providing propulsion, the diesel powered an air compressor to drive auxiliaries, etc. One of the old boilers was kept and used as an air receiver. Niagara made a haunting sighing and chugging sound as it wore a path up and down the Saginaw River. It last run to Saginaw was in 1982.
Efforts to save it as a museum failed both in Bay City and Erie.
The GM plant in Saginaw is still there, but is a shadow of its former days.