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basin was washed out in a flood, permitting the basin to drain. It was never rebuilt. But by this time the white oak was nearly exhausted in the area, and rising costs made it evident that shipbuilding days in Milan were about over. Strangely enough, there was never a marine railway or drydock at Milan, although Frank Kelley - Henry Kelley's adopted son - always told of a dry dock where Village Creek entered the canal, some 600 feet above the upper lock. He said that they would divert the creek, drain the dock, then run the creek along its original channel when they were ready to refloat the vessel. The old creek bed is still visible.102 Some shipbuilding was done on the Huron River, below the junction with the Milan Canal. About three miles north of Milan, on the west bank, was Abbott's Bridge. This is about where the Milan Canal met the river. Today Mason Road crosses the river at this spot, just east from Route 299. In 1828, B. W. Abbott, the son of David Abbott (mentioned in Chapter I), built the schooner Mary Abbott. Directly across the river, on the east bank, was Lockwood's Landing. At the same time the Mary Abbott was being built, H. N. Jenkins, a pioneer resident and businessman, was building the schooner Louisa Jenkins. The Abbott was used largely on the Huron River, but the Jenkins made a trip to salt water via the Erie Canal. She later returned to the lakes. Another half-mile to the north, on the west bank of the Huron River, was Fries Landing where Valentine Fries started a shipyard in 1874. Prior to this time, Fries built several ships at Milan. William Raynor was the foreman at Fries Landing. William Shupe built most of Fries's vessels at Milan. Little is known about Shupe other than that he was born on June 28, 1833, presumably in the vicinity of Milan, and died there on June 24, 1918. He may have had brothers, as Charles and Frank Shupe appear in the ledger of Henry Kelley as working on the Day Spring. Invariably, Lake Underwriters' Marine Registers list Shupe as the builder for the Fries vessels built at Milan. These include the schooners Jasco, Amaranth, Atmosphere, and Hyphen. The Jasco was converted to a tug in the same year she was built (1864) and used to tow schooners and canal boats to Milan after the horses and tow path were abandoned. In an account of the launching of the schooner Marion W. Page, the first vessel built at Fries Landing, there is an excellent description of the facilities: A pleasant drive of an hour from Milan down the river brings us to the scene of action, V. Fries' shipyard, where the work of building an immense "three-master" has been going on 61