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The ferry steamer ANN ARBOR No, 1 was successfully launched at Toledo yesterday. Her displacement is 2,800 tons and her speed when loaded, is estimated at 17 miles an hour. She is fitted with machinery for breaking ice and will attain a speed of 5 miles an hour while crushing ice. She will run between Frankfort, Mich., and Kewaunee, Wis., making two trips each day. The cars will be run on the railroad tracks, which extend the entire length of the steamer, and carried without break of bulk between Kewaunee and Frankfort. The ferries will run the year round and are expected to make the passage across Lake Michigan regardless of wind or weather. The boat launched today cost $250,000.
      Buffalo Enquirer, Thursday, September 29, 1892

Wednesday afternoon the car ferry ANN ARBOR No. 1 was successfully launched at Toledo from the Craig Steam Boat Co. She is 261 feet overall, 52 feet beam and 18 feet depth.
      Port Huron Daily Times, Friday, September 30, 1892

      THE ANN ARBOR NO. 1
      THE SCHEME TO CARRY CARS ACROSS LAKE MICHIGAN
The steamer Ann Arbor No. 1, built to carry cars across Lake Michigan for the Toledo, Ann Arbor & North Michigan Railroad, was successfully launched from the yard of John Craig & Sons, Toledo, Wednesday afternoon.
      The Toledo, Ann Arbor & North Michigan has for some time been perfecting its arrangements for a through freight line from the west to the east, and by means of these transfer cars it will endeavor to solve its problem of getting its freight across Lake Michigan without breaking bulk into steamers. If successful, the scheme will result in saving of an immense expenditure. This freight line is to be kept running through summer and winter. Its main western terminus is at Winona, Minn., the end of the Green Bay, Winona & St. Paul Railroad, this company and the Toledo, Ann Arbor and North Michigan being the principal members. The eastern connections are the Grand Trunk and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western, with which the western lines have traffic contracts. The Green Bay, Winona & St. Paul has a connection at Merrillan, Wis., where it can receive St. Paul and Minneapolis traffic from the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha. The distance thence to Green Bay is 148 miles. Thence the route is over the Kewaunee, Green Bay & Western, a leased line, to Kewaunee, thirty-four miles. From there freight is taken across Lake Michigan to Frankfort, sixty miles, and the Toledo, Ann Arbor & North Michigan carries it across Michigan to Durand, whence it is taken eastward by the Grand Trunk and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western. This route is operated by companies in very close relations with each other, and for traffic purposes it is practically one line.
      The boat just launched will go into service October 10, and the other will follow some six weeks later.
      The car transport service of sixty miles at this point is attended with all the difficulties found in taking cars across the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and some difficulties peculiar to the situation. There are deep water and heavy seas, and in winter heavy running ice; consequently it was necessary to make the transfer boat with high and strong bows. The cars are loaded at the stern, and the bow is decked for a distance of fifty feet back and rises twenty-five feet above the load line. The vessel is 267 feet long on deck, 52 feet beam and 18 feet molded depth. It is calculated to draw twelve feet of water and to have a displacement of 2,550 tons at that draft.
      The vessel is built of oak, with a solid frame up to two feet above the loading line, and will have a belt of iron six feet wide to protect the planking from the ice. Extra deck beams are placed at the load line. to prevent crushing in if the vessel is nipped in the heavy ice. She is strengthened longitudinally by a steel cord with diagonal steel ties every four feet running to the keel. The keelson is strengthened with a steel plate two feet wide and three-quarters of an inch thick. The vessel is so molded as to ride over and crush down on ice rather than cut it through.
      There are twin screws in the stern and a single screw in the bow, which are worked by horizontal compound condensing engines of twenty and forty inches diameter, and thirty-six inch stroke. There are three boilers ten feet in diameter and fourteen feet long, calculated for 125 pounds of steam pressure. The vessel will be equipped with the latest appliances, such as steam steering gear, steam windlasses, electric lighting and an electric search light to insure safety in night navigation.
      The cars will be secured by a method different from any heretofore practiced. There are four tracks, and there will be two posts on each side of each car, between which posts the cars will be wedged by keys. These post are connected longitudinally by heavy stringers, and diagonal tie rods will be put in place between each two cars. These tie rods will be provided with turn-buckles to properly adjust their length. By this arrangement any damage at any part of the structure will be largely localized. The cars will be held to the deck by four chains attached to the trucks, each with a turn-buckle.
      The vessel is expected to make a mean speed of twelve and a maximum speed of fifteen miles per hour. The steamers are duplicates.
      Detroit Free Press, Friday, September 30, 1892

Steam screw ANN ARBOR, No. 1. U. S. No. 106974. Of 1,127.76 tons gross; 563.88 tons net. Built Toledo, O., 1892. Home port, Frankfort, Michigan. 260.4 x 53.0 x 14.7 feet of 1,500 Nominal horse-power from three engines.
Merchant Vessel Listing, U. S., 1895 – History:

The "Ann Arbor No. 1" was the first car ferry to cross Lake Michigan. She was built at Toledo, Ohio in 1892 specifically for this purpose. She was 1127 gross tons. James M. Ashley, president of the Ann Arbor Railway Company, convinced coal producers to place several loads on the vessel. He reached Kewaunee from Frankfort, Michigan on November 27, 1892. The vessel became the forerunner of car ferries on Lake Michigan. She carried a crew of 28 men. In later years the wooden vessel was replaced with improved ferries made of steel. She burned at Manitowoc, Wisconsin in 1910.

STARTING OUT BADLY
Big Ferry Steamer Goes Ashore on Her First Trip
KEWAUNEE, Wis., Nov. 29,-- The car ferry steamer Ann Arbor No. 1 is ashore about fifteen miles north of this port, having missed her bearing in a a fog last night. The steamer was on her first return, having taken a train of 22 loaded cars across the lake to Frankfort, Mich., Sunday night. She has six cars loaded with apples on board. The steamer is valued at $200,000.

On Sunday, November 27, 1892, Ann Arbor Railroad car-ferry No. 1 loaded 22 cars of flour which originated at Minneapolis and were destined to England, Scotland and Ireland – the first boatload of box cars to be transported across Lake Michigan – a service later extended to other ports. Erected 1964 a monument by the Wisconsin Historical Society.

In 1896, Peter Kilty became captain of the Ann Arbor No. 1, the first government car ferry to cross the Great Lakes. For two years, Captain Kilty successfully sailed the Ann Arbor No. 1, and then on May 20, 1898, he accepted the position of master of the car ferry steamer Pere Marquette No. 18 , which had been built in Cleveland in 1898 at a cost of $450,000.

On March 8, 1910, the Ann Arbor No.1 caught fire at the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad car ferry slip in Manitowoc loaded with 27 railroad cars loaded with lumber. The crew and Manitowoc Fire Department fought the fire all night, and by noon the next day the vessel had burned to the water line and was a total loss. Vessel was estimated at $147,000 and cargo $34,000. She was towed out of the slip and sunk by the south breakwater in 15 feet of water, where a later unsuccessful attempt to salvage her engines was made.

ANN ARBOR No. 1 DESTROYED AT MANITOWOC

A Total Loss with Twenty Cars Loaded with Lumber

MANITOWOC, Wis., March 9.--Ann Arbor No. 1, a carferry running between Manitowoc and Frankfort, Mich., was burned to the water edge at her dock yesterday afternoon.

In addition to the steamer, which to said to be a total wreck, twenty cars of lumber which were fastened at their places and the speed with which the fire progressed rendered their removal impossible. Although no official figures could be obtained Tuesday night it is said that that the loss will reach close to $150,000. Fire was discovered at 4:20 o'clock Tuesday afternoon and is thought to have been the result of an explosion. Members of the crew were asleep when the fire started and they together with Capt. B. F. Telludge had difficulty to escaping from the burning boat. Two of the crew were forced to jumped overboard into the river.

Ann Arbor No. 1 was the property of the Ann Arbor Railway and Steamship company of Toledo, O., and was the first carferry to be built on the Great Lakes. She was built in 1882 and last year was rebuilt in Milwaukee. She was made made partly of wood and partly of steel and was 260 feet in length with a 53-foot beam.

Capt. Telludge was the first to discover the fire. He is unable to account for it unless it was caused by spontaneous combustion. The fire burned until 10 o'clock this morning,, when the shouldering hulk was taken out to the beach. It was stated by Ann Arbor officials that the company carried no insurance. The loss is estimated at $275,000. Including the cargo.

One member of the crew, name unknown,was injured by striking the Pere Marquette No. 17 when he jumped over overboard from the burning boat. He was recused and taken to the hospital.

In 1911 the Coast Guard considered the vessel to be a menace to navigation and ordered it removed. On June 9, 1911, the Smith Wrecking Company from Muskegon, Michigan raised the badly burned and mangled hull and delivered her to Muskegon, Mich., to become a sand scow for the Love Construction Company.

Alpena County George N. Flecher Public Library

Great Lakes Maritime Collection