Mid-20th Century Soo Locks Vantage Point

[Jared]

That's the one Jon Paul. If I get back up there, I'll drag a sidescan through the area and see if I can pick up any of those Chryslers! Here is a 1927 Chevy that was found in a local lake in the late 2000s.

[Jon Paul]

My apologies for the spell errors (spell check)on my last post. The whaleback is the South Park and the last photo is Renvoyle.
These photos here show what happens when things go wrong when carrying a deck load of autos.
The first one is City of Bangor which wrecked just east of Copper Harbor on Dec 1, 1926 under command of Capt W M Mackin. His son Bill was a family friend and my Junior High Counselor and gave the photo to me. Bill spent his summer off time from school as a wheelsman with Ford. On several occasions his boat and the one I was on were in Marquette loading at the same time and we would get to visit again. Life has some interesting synconicity at times, lol
The last 2 didn't have names on back of the photos but the last one was taken in the Portage Canal and said most of the load was lost on Lake Superior.

[Guest]

The whaleback Clifton and straight decker Senator were car haulers. Clifton was converted to a SU (which worked with the structural changes) and the Senator was lost in Lake Michigan in 1929 with a full load of Nash automobiles.

There was a major grounding in Lake Superior in the 20s or 30s. I cannot remember the name though.

CITY OF BANGOR

http://www.exploringthenorth.com/bangor/bangor.html

[Jon Paul]

Here are some photos of various types of lakers transporting autos. My father took the photo of Perseus in Nicholson Transit livery and the Sout Park and Renville are from my collection .
KYS 2020 has a fine colorized photo of the George H Ingalls in it too.

[Jon Paul]

The whaleback Clifton and straight decker Senator were car haulers. Clifton was converted to a SU (which worked with the structural changes) and the Senator was lost in Lake Michigan in 1929 with a full load of Nash automobiles.

There was a major grounding in Lake Superior in the 20s or 30s. I cannot remember the name though.

The City of Bangor was blown ashore and wrecked on Lake Superior east of Copper Harbor on Dec 1, 1926 with a load of 220 Chryslers and Whippets.
As a previous post mentioned, Nicholson - Universal Steamship Co was also involved in carrying new autos from lower lakes ports.
The C-4 Triplets conversions were originally built for Nicholson- Universal. Part of the reason that the hatch crane railings were so high and level with the higher than average hatch combings along with flat hatches with no camber was to facilitate gratings that were to be installed when needed to carry a deck load of autos on a back haul. To my knowledge it was never implemented or were autos carried.

[Jared]

The whaleback Clifton and straight decker Senator were car haulers. Clifton was converted to a SU (which worked with the structural changes) and the Senator was lost in Lake Michigan in 1929 with a full load of Nash automobiles.

There was a major grounding in Lake Superior in the 20s or 30s. I cannot remember the name though.

[Jon Paul]

There were actually several fleets that specialized in the transporting of finished autos, T J Mccarthy Steamship Company being one of them. They converted regular strait deck bulk carriers to specifically haul them. They were equipped with decks in the cargo holds and an elevator to lift them to the spar deck for unloading.
It was also done by other companys as a deck cargo on the back haul from unloading a bulk cargo at lower lakes port as the photo of the Pontiac shows.

[Guest]

It was very common for straight-deckers to carry automobiles on deck for Duluth. Nicholsons had converted a coal dock for the unloading of cars with a ramp and a concrete surface on the dock so they could be stored until they coukd me moved to another location. BTW, that dock is now the home of Azcon Metals - yes, the dock where a number of lakers have been dismantled.

[JMarx]

Interesting picture of the freighter Pontiac with the cars on the deck... Perhaps I'm just too young but have never seen a Laker with cars on it. Was that common in the 'old days'?

[William Lafferty]

These were taken by Andrew E. Young, Sault Ste. Marie photographer 1898-1942. He was born at Erin, Ontario, in 1874 and purchased Allan Fanjoy's studio at the Soo in 1898. He died of a stroke on 16 May 1942 at the Soo.

[Jay Bascom]

Yes, those photos were taken from the railway bridge. Many of them were taken by Frank Patyk, who was son-in-law of A. E. Young and successor proprietor of Young's Studio on Portage Avenue. Many photos also were taken from the same spot by Edwin Wilson of Milwaukee. I have many of the postcards that Frank Patyk sold latterly (made from postcard sized film negatives) as well as many prints of Ed's negatives, which also were postcard sized. Looking at those two prints of yours, I believe the PONTIAC image was taken by Patyk, who used better equipment, and that SHASTA was taken by Ed Wilson.

[Guest]

I have come across several pictures over the years that appear to have come from the 1930s to 1950s time period of ships at upstream end of the Soo Locks. I have attached a few examples. Would this be from the railroad bridge? Does anyone have any idea of who usually photographed ships from that vantage point during this era? Several appear to have the same style and composition which leads me to believe that one person is responsible for many of them.