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months new brick structures were built. W. S. McKinnon later was Treasurer for the State of Ohio, and was active in Ashtabula politics. The firm went out of business in the 1930's. Between Sandusky and Toledo three rivers enter Lake Erie. The Sandusky River empties into the western end of Sandusky Bay; Port Clinton is at the mouth of the Portage River; and the Toussaint River mouth is at Locust Point. Some shipbuilding was done in the late nineteenth century along all three streams, but never on a large scale. Fremont is located about eight miles from Sandusky Bay on the Sandusky River. A few vessels were built here prior to the period of time covered in this chapter, and should be mentioned simply to keep the shipbuilding record of the area intact. William Totten, who maintained a yard at Sandusky, built the schooners C. Amsden (1863), Daniel Tindall (1858) and scow Ben Flint (1857). Flint is credited with building the schooner Fostoria (1865), but Totten probably also assisted in building her. The last vessel built at Fremont was the schooner N. C. West (1867), by M. A. Skinner. The Portage River enters Lake Erie twenty-six miles southeast of Toledo, at Port Clinton. Nine miles to the southwest is Oak Harbor, also on the Portage River. In the '70's and '80's, small schooners wintered at both places. Port Clinton was the more important of the two and supported a shipyard run by Isaac Gillespie and Sons (George and Isaac, Jr.). The Gillespies were not shipbuilders. Perhaps John Duff, A. Couchie, or a man named Harper was their foreman, The yard was on the west bank of the river, just north of the present highway bridge. This would place it opposite Monroe Street. The small sidewheelers J. V. Lutts (1879) and Ella G. (1882) were built there. John Duff is credited with building the schooner Eliza Bell (1866), C. B. Benson (1873), and Nellie A. Duff (1885). Dave F. Edwards built the tug D. F. Edwards (1871), A. Couchie, the small steamer Clara (1874); Harper, the schooner John L. Green (1875); and R. Bell, the fish tug Active (1892). There were a few other schooners and tugs built at Port Clinton, but nothing of size or consequence. Lewis Jackson, who ran a shipyard at Sandusky, built the sidewheeler Lotta Bernard (1869) at Port Clinton, then turned his attentions to Oak Harbor where he built the sidewheeler Lafayette (1870). The schooners A. W. Luckey (1867) and Emily and Eliza (1874) were also built at Oak Harbor. 84