The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

“WHEN THE AUTOMOBILES CAME ABOARD" by James H. Draucker Editor's Note: Automobiles were carried aboard ships on the lakes from the early years just after World War I to the 1960's. Even in 1981 some were carried aboard the CSL package freighters. This story is about one such early carrier, the RICHLAND QUEEN. The author mentions a few other ships in his article and we include photos of them in this issue. I was a wheelsman on the Str. JACOB T. KOPP. The first mate was Capt. John T. MacNally. The following spring, John called me and said, "A couple of persons who are in the cargo hauling business have purchased a wooden steamer laying up in Tonawanda. They are going to refurbish her and start carrying autos from the manufacturer to the dealers." He was going to be the Captain, and would I be a wheelsman. That intrigued me, as I thought back. As a young person, I was in lumber as a grader. I saw wooden steamers such as the WINNIPEG, FLEETWOOD and AMAZONAS bringing lumber from Minnesota and Canada to the Tonawandas. I thought, "Oh gosh, she is 36 years old!" Then I thought back to when I was 10 and 12 years of age. I had the good fortune in 1911 of taking a trip on the wooden Str. F. R. BUELL, loading coal in North Tonawanda, then delivering it to Kenosha, Wisconsin, then on to Manistique, Michigan. We took on a cargo of lumber, then back to North Tonawanda, a four week trip, chugging along at 5 to 7 miles per hour. Then in 1913 we made another trip again on the Str. BUELL, loaded hard coal for stoves to Superior, Wisconsin. When we arrived at the Soo Locks, our Captain Woodgrift was informed that there was a severe storm developing on Lake Superior and Huron. So we and two other wooden steamers dropped anchor in Whitefish Bay for two days. when we entered Lake Superior we stayed shoreward going through the Hancock- Houghton Channel to avoid the middle of Lake Superior. We arrived at Superior, Wisconsin and unloaded the coal. Even then, From there we went to the "Wagon Dock" at Duluth, loaded lumber, came back down into Lake Huron and over into Georgian Bay, Canada, picked up the schooner ELEANOR, loaded with lumber, then on to the Tonawandas. That was a five-week trip. FLEETWOOD Young Photo Wooden bulk freighter (US. 81145) built in 1887 at W. Bay City, Michigan by F. W. Wheeler (Hull #30) as a) WILLIAM H. GRATWICK (2): 265.5 x 40.5 x 19.4; 1,687 Abandoned in 1926. gross tons. Renamed b) FLEETWOOD (1) in 1900. Sp rT)