Monday, January 30, 2012

St. Clair Excursions on the Tashmoo

American company White Star Lines operated the Tashmoo or "The Glass Hack," a beloved ship that provided passenger service between Detroit, Port Huron and Sarnia. This speedy paddle wheeler took countless Lambton residents on pleasant excursions down the St. Clair River between 1901 and 1936.
The Tashmoo was built at Wyandotte, Michigan in 1899 and classed as a lake and river boat with a capacity for up to 3,500 passengers. During summer months she made daily excursion trips, and in the St. Clair River alone called at Algonac, Port Lambton, Marine City, St. Clair, Stag Island, South Park, Port Huron and twice at Sarnia. Leaving from Sarnia, a trip aboard the Tashmoo including a stop at Stag Island cost just under a dollar, about 80 or 90 cents. Jean Elford provides a charming description of a passenger's experience aboard the Tashmoo in the evening: "Hundreds of electric lights twinkled and were reflected on the great stretches of glass that enclosed the dining room and ballroom on A deck, the sixteen private parlours on B deck, and the aft portion of C deck. With the rest of her in darkness, she gave the illusion of floating above the water, and as she went the music of Finzel's orchestra added all that was needed to make her wonderfully romantic."
In the Sarnia Observer on August 20, 1983, O.N. (Red) Wilson reminisced fondly about the Tashmoo: "There are still those among us who dived into the bubbly wake cast up by the paddle wheels when the big ship left the dock. It took a lot of hard swimming to keep from going under the froth that refused to keep the swimmer afloat... While the ship was docked at Sarnia the 'water rats' dove for the pennies tossed into the water by passengers. The more successful dove, retrieved the slanting coins, tucked them into their mouths and kept right on chasing the money. They did it also with the Northern Navigation boats."
The Tashmoo was also known for her speed. After the ship's first summer of work, an official of the White Star Line bragged that she could outdistance the City of Erie or the City of Buffalo. The boasts were taken seriously and on June 4, 1901 a race was set up between the Tashmoo and the City of Erie. Both ships took the lead at some point during the hour-long race, but the City of Erie edged out the Tashmoo with a speed of 21.76 miles per hour to the Tashmoo's 21.70 miles per hour.
Unfortunately, Lambton residents would not enjoy whimsical summer nights aboard the Tashmoo forever. In the evening of June 19, 1936 while approaching the Livingstone channel below Grosse Ile, a trembling altered Captain McAlpine. The ship had hit a rock and an eight inch hole was quickly bringing in water. The captain wisely zipped the ship to shore and the crowd went ashore to the music of the orchestra, quite unaware that circumstances were more dire than just an engine malfunction. Once damages were assessed it was determined that the $750,000 price tag it would cost to repair the boat was too high, and the Tashmoo was sold for scrap. She had a wonderful 36-year run and created countless fond memories of airy summer nights.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Constructing the St. Clair Tunnel

With Electro-Motive making waves in the media recently, I settled on a locomotive theme to start off the year. In September of 1891, Sarnia made international waves with the opening of the St. Clair Tunnel. The tunnel was a marvel of technology and a symbol of our relationship with our neighbours to the south.

Cutting the tunnel
The Port Huron Daily Times released a special "International Tunnel Opening" edition on September 19, 1891. Here are some of the key excerpts from that lengthy and detailed edition that recreate the excitement and technological pride that seized these communities with the tunnel's opening:

"The greatest sub-marine [sic] tunnel on the North American continent has been completed and is now  in practical use. It extends from Port Huron, in the state of Michigan, to Sarnia, in the Canadian province of Ontario, and connects the Grand Trunk Railway system of Canada with the lines operated under Grand Trunk management west of the St. Clair river, and with the Flint & Pere Marquette and other Michigan railways. The tunnel was built and is owned by the St. Clair Tunnel Company, organized under special act of the Canadian parliament...

Sketches appeared in the newspaper quoted here.
"The idea of the tunnel was conceived, and the work was projected by Sir Henry Tyler, president of the Grand Trunk Railway Company, and through his efforts the money to construct it has been secured... The total actual cost of the whole work will approximate very closely to $2,700,000...

"To an engineer the completed work presents some novel problems. Cast iron has been used before for tunnel lining to a limited extent, and tunnels have been built before through soft material, but no tunnel, under so great a river, through such soft material and located so near to the river bottom, has ever before been built, and no tunnel of such magnitude has been lined with cast iron...

Lowering the shield
"The weather on Saturday, September 19, the day fixed for the formal opening of the tunnel, was warm and pleasant. The inaugural train, consisting of seven coaches, left Point Edward promptly at 12:30 o'clock, Sir Henry Tyler giving the signal for it to start. At the Sarnia station a stop was made to take on guests from that town and Port Huron, and the train then proceeded to Sarnia junction and the tunnel depot. At this point [an address] was presented to Sir Henry Tyler by Mayor Watson... An engine was then coupled to the seven coaches and at 1 o'clock the train started down the grade to the portal of the tunnel. As the train entered the tunnel there was a great cheering by the assembled crowd. it took just three and a half minutes to make the run from portal to portal. As the train pulled out of the tunnel on the Port Huron side whistles began to blow and continued until the train had passed through the arch and on to the new depot at Twenty-second street..."

Specially decorated locomotive for the first tunnel run

Supplement to the Sarnia Observer, celebrating "one of the great engineering feats of the age."

Try the website Electric Lines in Southern Ontario for more information about the St. Clair Tunnel Company, fast facts about the tunnel, and more details about its construction.