Boatnerd Discussion Forum

Sorry, I don't know where the photos wound up, but I do remember Schmidt's Corner Bar all to well. Between my junior and senior years at MTU the Houghton County Road Commission re-aligned Canal Road through Schmidt's Corner. The road used to be on the east side of the bar. Now it is on the west side. More than one bar patron wound up in the ditch trying to drive down the old roadbed after a long evening at the bar.

To get back on subject, coal boats frequented the dock at Dollar Bay when I was there in the 1981-86, but unfortunately I didn't take any photos or notes. The only ship notes I have from that time frame are:


Sundew placing buoys in the Portage May 15-16, 1982

Amoco Wisconsin (a tanker) was at Dollar Bay on May 18, 1982

Kinsman Independent (2) went east through the Portage Sept. 22, 1982.

Kinsman and Ford boats frequently used the Portage back then.

In the 1980's the coal unloaded at Dollar Bay was trucked to the powerplant in L'Anse. Here is a photo of the rather colorful trucks they were using back then.

http://www.huskidrive.com/pic-week/pic-week-3-8-10

This is a little off topic, but close. There is a tavern on the western end of the Houghton ship canal called Schmidt's Corner Bar. When I was up there a couple of years as a student (and Tech Bum), this bar was covered with pictures of all the mining operations in the area, as well as life in those days and shipping too. A fantastic collection of pictures (like all the weapons that used to be in the Gay Bar, Gay, MI).
I just spoke with a person that was up there for snowmobiling and he said that those pictures are gone, but the bar is still there.
Does anybody know where those pictures went?

I grew up in Hubbell in the 40's and we were allowed to roam aboard the "coal boats" and play on the large coal piles. Our Uncle Leo Garon operated the overhead crane and another relative was in charge of the C & H police i.e. Pete Cluthier. We were immune to the law as written in those days as we had an in.

As the boat would enter the Torch Lake from out in the "cuts" the whole town would know of its arrival and it was a great day in town, the taxi appeared, the food stores truck appeared, the laundry was shipped out and the taverns in Lake Linden and Hubbell saw their share of guys "up town". At one time I had 5 sisters living at home so mom was always on guard as the ship pulled into port.

In pre OSHA days we had complete access to all areas from the engine room, galley and pilot house and often traded magazines with the sailors in exchange for apples, oranges, Ring Magazine and match books from lower lake ports.

In latter years the dock in Dollar Bay (always used only by self unloaders with no overhead crane) was converted into a small tank farm for liquids that were shipped up the the Keweenaw Air Force Base in Mohawk, Mich area.

Somewhere in my files I have gathered names of some 65 local young men that shipped out on the coal boats from the dock in Hubbell, including Ransom Cunday who lost his life with the sinking of the Fitz some 30 years later.

I have some 20 or so pictures of both these docks that I will be forwarding to this weekend.

In late June 1962, the Edward Y. Townsend delivered a load of coal from Sandusky to Torch lake.

I am trying to find any information pertaining to the coal boats that used to unload in the Lake Linden or Dollar Bay area. My parents used to take me over that way to watch them when I was maybe 4-5 years old. I have been very unsuccessful finding any information and pictures from this. Any help is appreciated.