Lake Superior played the pivotal role in the development of the entire Upper Great Lakes region. Every major activity - fur trading, lumbering and mining, used the lake as the highway to success. The Pictured Rocks, comprising some of the most treacherous coastline on the lake, were central to much of this navigation, while Grand Island and its natural harbor offered the only shelter from the lake's fury for miles around. Thus it is not surprising that the area was the scene of numerous shipwrecks though the years.
The first commercial use of the lake was in the late 1600's by the early French voyageurs when they sought the region's rich furs. Initially the voyageurs used frail birch bark canoes until an increase in trade required the use of larger bateaux and later small schooners. Year after year, this hardy breed of intrepid men ventured north and west from the Soo, their destinations the scattered trading posts along the Superior shore. Principal posts were at La Pointe, Wisconsin, and Grand Portage, Minnesota. Minor posts were in the Pictured Rocks area at Grand Marais and Grand Island.
The first vessel constructed on Lake Superior was built in 1735 at Point Aux Pins, north of the Soo, for Louis Denis, Sieur de La Ronde. Only 25 tons burden, she was rigged with two sails. La Ronde used her extensively in the Apostle Islands area and in various copper mining and fur trading activities. The vessel made frequent trips from the Apostles to the Soo and it is likely she often passed, stopped or sheltered in the Grand Island or Grand Marais areas.
Point Aux Pins also saw two other vessels built, a 40 ton sloop launched some time after 1763 and another sloop built in 1771. In 1785 another unnamed schooner was hauled over the St. Marys rapids. The North West Company built four schooners at Fort William between 1809 - 1821 and in 1817 dragged the schooner EXMOUTH around the Soo. The Lake Superior fleet grew steadily but slowly. The eventual disposition of these vessels is unknown.
In 1763 the French lost the Lake Superior region to the English. Now it was the English traders who roamed the wild lake and reaped the rich harvest of fur.
Vessel traffic on the lake was light at best. Before the War of 1812, there were only a few small vessels above the St. Marys rapids. One was the 40-ton sloop FUR TRADER, which was later wrecked in an attempt to "shoot" the rapids while running down to the lower lakes. With the 1816 loss of the INVINCIBLE on Whitefish Point and the 1828 departure of the RECOVERY for the lower lakes, there were no vessels left on the lake larger than a Mackinaw boat. This depressed state of navigation remained for seven years.
The year 1835 saw the launching of one of the most famous vessels in Lake Superior history, the schooner JOHN JACOB ASTOR, named for the owner of the powerful American Fur Company. Owned by the company, the 78-foot, 112-ton vessel was built of white oak from the Black River area of Ohio. The ASTOR, under the command of either of the legendary Stannard brothers, Benjamin or Charles, was used to carry passengers and freight between the scattered Lake Superior posts of the Astors' fur trading empire. In 1844 she was lost in a gale at Copper Harbor.
After the ASTOR, the number of vessels on Lake Superior began to grow steadily. In 1837 another American Fur Company vessel, the MADELINE, was on the lake and engaged in fishing activities. The following year the 73-ton WILLIAM BREWSTER, 60-ton ALGONQUIN and 40-ton SISKAWIT were all hauled past the St. Marys rapids into Lake Superior and were actively engaged in either trading or fishing.
The lake vessel count increased dramatically in 1845, with ten new vessels being brought over the rapids. Unique among the fleet was the propeller INDEPENDENCE, the first steamer on the lake. This historic craft was lost in 1853 when her boilers exploded in the St. Marys River. Other new vessels included the SWALLOW, CHIPPEWA, FLORENCE, UNCLE TOM, OCEAN, FUR TRADER (different from the earlier vessel), WHITE FISH, NAPOLEON, and MERCHANT. Some of the early steamers were incredibly inefficient. For example in 1847 the sidewheeler JULIA PALMER once took 16 days to run the 200 miles from Copper Harbor to the Soo. Fuel grew so short, they burned everything aboard, including furniture and cargo!
The sudden increase in shipping was caused by the twin discoveries of the vast iron deposits of the Marquette Range and of copper on the Keweenaw Peninsula in 1844. Eagerly the new ships carried the men and supplies that would pioneer the new mines and open the riches to development. Quickly the small settlements at Eagle Harbor, Eagle River, Marquette, L'Anse and Ontonagon assumed major importance as ports for the expanding mining industry. From 1850-1875 the Keweenaw mines provided more than 75 per cent of all the copper mined in the U.S.
With the opening of the St. Marys Fall Ship Canal (Soo Locks) in 1855, lake commerce truly burgeoned. Now ships could sail directly between Lake Superior and Lake Huron. Previously, cargos had to be transshipped overland around the St. Marys rapids, an expensive and time consuming proposition. If a vessel was to move from lake to lake, it was hauled out of the water and teams of oxen literally pulled it past the mile-long cataracts on large rollers. Over the years new, bigger locks were built as vessel traffic and the size of the ships increased. Today 1,000-foot freighters navigate the lakes.
Since the Soo Locks provided the means for cheap transportation of ore from the mines to the lower lakes mills, the iron mines stepped into high gear. Soon a veritable river of the red ore was flowing from the Ishpeming and Negaunee shafts to the docks at Marquette and on down the lakes to the mills. Vessel traffic to the iron port quickly increased from one or two a week to that number in a day. At first the ore was laboriously loaded into the schooners by the basketful. Later, when larger and stronger vessels were used, it was loaded directly into the holds by chutes from the new "pocket" docks.
The ready availability of large amounts of ore, charcoal made from local hardwoods, and nearby deposits of limestone led many area businessmen to the conclusion that a major iron making industry could be established in the Lake Superior region. Between 1848 and 1922, 33 different iron forges and furnaces operated in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The furnaces produced iron blooms or "pigs" that would be shipped to manufacturing centers in Chicago, Milwaukee or Detroit. Old sailors recalled that by night, ships approaching Marquette harbor could see the deep red glow of the city's forges brightening the dark sky.
Two iron furnaces were located in the Munising area. Near the present site of Christmas, then known as Onota, the Bay Furnace operated between 1870 and 1877. Today the site is a Forest Service campground. To facilitate loading and unloading, a 1,400 foot dock stretched out into deep water. Part of the furnace is still standing and is a local tourist attraction. The second furnace, the Schoolcraft or Munising Furnace, was on the shore of the east channel, now within the boundaries of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. It operated from 1868 to 1877, producing 15-20 tons of pig iron daily. Today little of the furnace is visible. Both furnaces relied on local shipping to bring in the supplies of raw ore and limestone, as well as to carry out the cast iron pigs. The remains of pier structures can be found near each of the furnace sites. The entire iron industry failed due to simple economics. It proved far cheaper to transport large cargos of ore to the lower lakes and make iron there, than to make it locally. Also, a shift from charcoal iron to a coke-based variety required the transport of large amounts of coke north to the Superior furnaces, an uneconomical proposition. Iron ore was a nearly indestructible cargo; rain, heat, and cold had no effect on it. By contrast, coke was far more sensitive and did not travel as well.
During the period following the 1855 opening of the Soo Canal, schooners were the predominant means of lake transportation, although the numbers of huffing, puffing, smoke belching steamboats were growing steadily. Abraham Williams, the earliest Grand Island pioneer, operated a fueling station for wood burning steamers for many years. Until coal supplanted wood as a fuel for steamers, the island was a popular stopping point to replenish cordwood stocks. An early steamer had to stop for wood every eight to ten hours.
The high point for sail on the Great Lakes was 1868, when there were 1,856 vessels totaling some 294,000 tons. In 1873 the number had decreased to 1,663 vessels, but the replacement of older, smaller craft with newer, larger ones raised the tonnage total to 298,000! In comparison, during the same year there were 2,642 hulls of all types on the lakes, totaling 521,000 tons. At the time, sail had 63 percent of the hulls and 57 percent of the tonnage! A fast, well-built schooner was a good investment. With good management and a little luck, she could pay for herself in a mere two years!
The decline of the graceful sailing vessel was rapid. By 1880 there were only 1400 left on the lakes and by 1900 only 800! Many of those left had been converted to humble schooner-barges. Sail craft declined for numerous reasons. They depended on favorable winds and were difficult to maneuver in narrow and winding channels or rivers. Usually tugs were needed to pull them through these difficult stretches as well as in and out of harbors, all of which added to operating expense. As the lake traffic increased, the schooner cargo holds proved too small to be efficient.
Long since supplanted by the steamers in the passenger and general freight trade, the sailing vessels for a time found work hauling bulk cargos of iron ore, stone, coal and lumber. Gradually, however, these cargos also became uneconomical. Many of the schooners were relegated to the roles of schooner-barges. These vessels were often nothing more than normal schooners with their topmasts removed and all sails and hamper removed except for the mainsails, fore and aft. Since a small crew of four or five was carried, a schooner-barge could make some sail in an emergency, perhaps just enough to hold her head to the sea or haul off a rock coast if her tow line parted. "Strings" of up to six schooner-barges were towed behind a steamer or tug. This proved to be a very efficient arrangement, except for the large number of parted tow lines which added constantly to the toll of wrecks.
The change from sail to steam also spelled the end to an era of another kind, the time when a captain could own or be a part owner of his vessel and manage her affairs. The new steamers were too large an investment for a mere seaman. Instead large shipping concerns owned and managed the vessels. The captain was reduced to nothing more than a employee. No longer was he truly the master of his ship.
Along with the change of ownership came a change in names. Imaginative and graceful names like ANTELOPE, ISLE ROYALE, LADY ELGIN, MOONLIGHT and SUNBEAM were gone. In their place the newer steamers carried the names of captains of industry. The JOHN B. TREVOR, CHESTER A. CONGDON, HENRY B. SMITH, and JOHN B. COWLE are prime examples. This practice continues to the present day with the ships of the inland seas often named for their corporate sponsors.
New innovations were constantly occurring that revolutionized Great Lakes shipping. In 1869, the first bulk freighter, the 211-foot steamer R.J. HACKETT, was launched at Cleveland. With a capacity of 1,200 tons she was the prototype for an entire class of vessels.
In 1882 the first iron hulled steamer, the 287-foot ONOKO, was built. Although she was lost in 1915 on Lake Superior, it wasn't due to her iron construction but rather as the result of storm stress. 1886 saw the launching of the first steel steamer, the 310 foot SPOKANE. In a short 17 years the quantum leap from wooden schooner to steel bulk freighter had been made. Technology marched on. The nation's growing need for Lake Superior iron ore for the lower lake steel mills demanded still more efficient vessels. And the ship builders complied with longer, wider and deeper hulls.
In 1906, a mere eighteen years after the SPOKANE set the standard for new vessels, thirty-four freighters with a capacity to 12,000 tons and lengths to 550 feet were launched. The modern bulk freighters grew so rapidly that their capacity was nearly double those of only three years earlier.
Along with the increase in size, cargo handling efficiency was also improved. In the 1870's it
took a week to unload 1,000 tons of ore with picks, shovels, wheel barrows and human backs.
Later monstrous mechanical Hulett unloaders did the job in mere hours.
Traffic on Lake Superior grew as dramatically as vessel size. In 1889 only 25 percent of
Great Lakes commerce was on Lake Superior. In 1906 she carried nearly half! More traffic in
tonnage passed through the Soo Canal than the world famous Suez Canal.
In 1865 Michigan's Upper Peninsula mines were a significant producer of America's iron ore.
By 1890 the Michigan mines were producing 45 percent of all the U.S. iron ore. When the great
Minnesota mines also stepped into high gear at the turn of the century, the Lake Superior iron
district was supplying the vast majority of America's needs. Ship after ship heavily loaded with
cargos of rich iron ore steamed down from Superior to the great steel mills of Cleveland, Buffalo
and Chicago. Despite competition from cheaply mined imported ore, in 1995 Lake Superior
mines supplied over 78 percent of the United States steel industry's requirements for iron ore.
The number of shipwrecks increased in direct proportion to the amount of traffic on the lake.
In the wake of every major storm, area newspapers were filled with reports of numerous wrecked
and missing vessels. The worst year for Superior was 1905, when 38 major wrecks were
recorded. To date there have been approximately 550 major losses on Lake Superior. In the
twenty year period between 1878 and 1898, nearly 6,000 vessels were wrecked on the Great
Lakes. An estimated 1,090 were total losses. By contrast, Lake Superior losses during the same
period totaled approximately 137, with 80 being total losses. Since overall vessel traffic was
lighter on Superior, the number of losses was less. But if a vessel was wrecked on the big lake,
the likelihood of the loss being total was much greater.
Traditionally, the navigation season on Lake Superior ran from the end of April to the middle
of December. During the harsh winter the Soo Locks would close, effectively sealing off Lake
Superior. As an examination of the vessel loss section will show, by far the most dangerous time
for vessels was during the early spring and late fall. It was then that the lake could be expected to
lash out with storms of incredible fury. Of the two periods, though, it was the fall that was the
most vicious. Vessel after vessel succumbed to the "gales of November."
The Michigan shoreline of Lake Superior from Au Sable Point west to Au Train was an area
of particular danger. The reasons are many and interrelated such that the total danger equals
more than the sum of the individual parts. The long coastline is irregular and presents a variety of
features: high sand mountains at Grand Sable Dunes, towering rock cliffs of the Pictured Rocks,
the long projection of Grand Island and the twisting, sweeping shore near Au Train. All are
natural death traps for unwary vessels. The prevailing north winds (which have an alarming
propensity for turning into roaring north gales) could easily drive a vessel into destruction on any
of the dangerous coastal features. Au Sable Reef, stretching north from Au Sable Point, is a
hazard to be avoided at all costs. The entire coastline, but especially Au Sable Point, is notorious
for thick fogs. Together all of these features spelled trouble for numerous vessels and total
destruction for many others. Since a common navigational method was to "coast" along the
shore, the special dangers described became obvious.
The appalling loss of life due to shipwreck on the Atlantic coast as well as on the Great Lakes
eventually forced the government to construct lighthouses and other aids to navigation and later
to establish life-saving stations in areas of highest danger. The first such stations were on the
Atlantic coast and were manned strictly by volunteers, although the government did provide the
equipment. After a series of disastrous shipwrecks it became evident that the system of volunteer
stations would not work and a professional U.S. Life-Saving Service was formed under the
auspices of the Treasury Department.
The first Life-Saving stations on Lake Superior were established in 1877 at Vermilion Point,
Big Two-Hearted River, Crisp's Point, and Muskallonge Lake. These early stations were thinly
spread over the dangerous strip of shore known as the "shipwreck coast" running from the
Whitefish Point west to Grand Marais. Additional Life-Saving stations were later built at Portage
Ship Canal in 1885, Marquette in 1891, Duluth in 1896, Grand Marais, Michigan in 1901, and
Eagle Harbor in 1912. Eventually Coast Guard lifeboat stations were also opened at Grand
Marais, Minnesota, Ashland-Bayfield, Wisconsin, and Whitefish Point, Michigan.
By 1893 there were a total of forty-seven Life-Saving stations on the Great Lakes. Each was
manned by a keeper and usually a minimum of eight surfmen, numbered one through eight based
on ability and experience. In the absence of the keeper, the number one surfman assumed charge.
Although the crews were paid, they were only paid during the season. When the stations shut
down in the winter, the men were forced to find other employment.
Quickly the rugged men of the Life-Saving Service built an incredible reputation for ability
and courage. Time and time again these men performed the impossible, challenging monstrous
seas and screaming winds to accomplish desperate rescues. Referred to as "storm warriors" in
contemporary news accounts, their reputation was untarnished. They were the heroes of the
public. In between the moments of incredible bravery, though, were long periods of monotonous
inactivity and drill. Again and again, under the critical eyes of the keeper, the crew rehearsed
every skill necessary to their trade. When the time for action came, they were ready.
In a 1915 government-inspired reorganization, the Life-Saving Service was combined with
the Revenue Marine to form the present United States Coast Guard, thus ending a glorious
chapter in American history. Although the traditions of the old Life-Saving Service continued for
a short period in the fledgling Coast Guard, the eventual retirement of the original Life-Savers,
increasing mechanization and a larger burden of official red tape slowly ended the legendary
tradition of the "storm warriors." They now live only in history.
The Grand Marais Life-Saving Station, opened in 1901, was built on a site donated by the
Grand Marais Lumber Company. The rescue exploits performed by the Grand Marais crew were
among the most spectacular in the Great Lakes. The Coast Guard station that replaced it is long
gone and the facility is now a Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore maritime museum. The local
Coast Guard Auxiliary however, continues to perform a vital role in maritime safety and carries
on the rich traditions of the old crews.
In the calm bays of Grand Marais, Munising and Grand Island early Indians found fine
camping grounds well sheltered from the north gales. The Indians who inhabited the area were the
Ojibway or Chippewa. They existed primarily on hunting and fishing with a little agriculture. The
Pictured Rocks area however, was never a major center of Indian activities. The rugged and
inhospitable coast prevented easy access by water and a lack of ready food sources inland
precluded permanent settlement.
The Pictured Rocks did have some minor religious significance to the Indians. As was
common in aboriginal cultures, they attached religious significance to inanimate objects. Thus the
rocks and caves of the cliffs were personified as devils, ghosts, etc. Certainly many of the stories
grew as the newly arriving Europeans embellished the original Indian legends. Many of these tales
are retold in Beatrice Castle's book Grand Island Story.
It isn't certain who the first Europeans to see the Pictured Rocks were but it could have been
the French explorers Etienne Brule and a man known to history only as Grenoble. Some time
around 1622 the intrepid pair reached a previously unknown lake above Huron, (Lake Superior)
but what they saw was ill-recorded. The first Europeans definitely known to have explored the
Pictured Rocks area were the legendary French voyager Pierre Esprit Radisson with his brother-in-law Medard Chouart, Sieur des Groseilliers in 1659. The pair were searching for new sources
of fur, an effort that would reap tremendous reward. Strangely, the French would reject the
discovery of the seemingly limitless bounty of Superior, leading Radisson to join the British and
help to found the famous Hudson's Bay Company. It's not unlikely that the pair of intrepid
travellers camped somewhere along the coast between Grand Marais and Au Train. The great
fleets of voyageurs that later followed certainly did. By 1668 the French were well familiar with
Superior's south shore and considered all of it part of New France. With the Peace of Paris in
1763 the area was ceded to the British, and in 1783 the region became part of the fledgling United
States.
Other famous men also coasted the area. In 1660 Jesuit priest Rene Menard passed with
Jesuit Claude Allouez following in 1664. Jacques Marquette, another old Jesuit, passed in 1669 en
route to his La Pointe mission.
Grand Island was known to the native Chippewa as Kitchi Miniss, meaning "great island."
The island's Murray Bay is named for John Murray, one of the earliest settlers. The story goes
that he was born in Ireland in the early 1800's and educated for the priesthood. Unfortunately, he
fell in love with a girl who was evidently betrothed to his cousin. The two men fought a bloody
duel over the Irish lass resulting in the death of his cousin and Murray running off to America.
After working as a clerk and accountant in New York, he migrated west, eventually reaching
Grand Island. There he built a small house on the point of today's Murray Bay and made use of his
education by working as a teacher for the children of Grand Island pioneer Abraham Williams and
later his grandchildren. By all accounts he was an excellent teacher. Perhaps morose over love
long lost, Murray became addicted to drink and as he aged, gradually evolved into a near hermit,
staying close to his small home. It was said he often spoke to imaginary visitors as well as
unidentified "spirits." He died in 1884.
The village of Onota, established in 1869, was the original major settlement in the Grand
Island area. It was located approximately six miles west of the present town of Munising and was
owned by the Bay Furnace Company, which built two blast furnaces there, as well as 80 houses
and a long dock into the bay. In 1871 Onota became the first county seat of Schoolcraft County,
the present Alger County not being formed until 1885. The village was completely destroyed by
fire in 1877 and was never rebuilt. In 1940 the village of Christmas was started near the old Onota
site. The name was selected to help promote a local toy factory, which was also later destroyed by
fire.
West of Onota, the mouth of the Au Train River was a landmark for the local Indians, being
the northern end of a portage trail between Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. The village of Au
Train was founded in 1881 when the Detroit, Mackinac and Marquette Railroad was being built
through the area on its way east. In 1885, when Alger County was formed out of a portion of the
earlier Schoolcraft County, the village was chosen as the county seat, an honor soon usurped by
the growing village of Munising. In 1887 Au Train had a population of 300 souls.
Grand Marais was named by early French explorers who passed through and occasionally
camped along its sheltering bay. The original name was Grand Mare, meaning "great pond". This
was later transcribed as Grand Marais, a similar pronunciation meaning "great marsh". The
harbor was a welcome refuge for later explorers, missionaries, traders and tourists travelling
Superior's south shore. The 1860's saw the first permanent settlement at Grand Marais with the
establishment of commercial fishing and lumbering. By the turn of the century the village was a
boom town, due primarily to the local sawmills. During its heyday approximately 400 vessels
arrived annually. By 1910 the lumber was gone and the town fell into deep decline.
The original settlement at Munising was in the 1850's in the area now known as East
Munising. The present site was developed in the 1890's. The town's name comes from the
Chippewa name Kitchi Minissing, meaning "place of the great island." With the exception of the
small charcoal iron industry, Munising was primarily a lumber town. The first mills were built near
the Anna River in 1896. Included was a 350-foot tramway into the bay with a 75-foot long dock
running parallel to the shore. Between 1880-1910 Munising flourished as a lumber and
commercial fishing town, but afterwards declined in importance other than as a harbor of refugee.
As a port it never ranked with the major ones on the lake. As is evident in the shipwreck listing
however, many vessels sought shelter from storms behind Grand Island or in Munising Harbor.
This tradition still continues.
On January 11, 1980 the 730-foot, 21,500 ton Canadian ore carrier ALGOBAY departed
Marquette with a cargo of iron ore pellets bound for the Canadian Soo. In the open lake she was
pounded by high waves and lashed by 55 mile an hour northwest winds, causing her captain,
Alexander Nazar, to seek protection in Munising's South Bay. Being unfamiliar with the channel,
he first brought the vessel into shelter behind Grand Island, north of Trout Bay, on the east side of
the Island. It was there that Joe Brey, a Munising commercial fisherman, sighted the vessel at 5
p.m. Friday and inquired by radio if all was well. The Captain replied that as long as the wind was
from the west, he thought he would be all right. When Brey radioed the ALGOBAY again at 3
a.m. Saturday, the Captain said he was now worried since the swells were running at 15 feet and
the wind had shifted more northerly. He was concerned the vessel could be forced aground.
When Brey offered to guide the big vessel to safety in the bay, the ALGOBAY's master agreed.
At daybreak Joe with his father Henry Brey and Gordon Snyder used his small fishing boat to
guide the ALGOBAY into the harbor where she safely weathered the storm. After the weather
moderated on Sunday, she departed to continue her trip to the Soo.
And so the long tradition of sheltering at Grand island continues. Three hundred years ago it
was a hardy French voyageur with his frail birch bark canoe pulled safely ashore; today it is a
modern ore carrier. Regardless of the vast difference in technology, their need was the same!
There is another important facet to the ALGOBAY incident, namely that it very effectively
illustrates the generous and efficient services rendered to those in need by the lakes commercial
fishermen. When the men went out into the wild lake to guide the ALGOBAY to safety, there
was no thought of reward, only that a vessel was in trouble and needed help. Without the
assistance given by the commercial fishermen, the large ALGOBAY could have been in serious
trouble and the consequences fatal. Helping others has long been a tradition of the commercial
fishermen.
It had been a saying of the old Life-Saving Service (and later the early Coast Guard) that
when a vessel was in trouble, no matter how wild the lake, regulations said you had to go out.
Nothing, however was said about having to coming back! The commercial fishermen didn't have
any dramatic sayings, nor did they share in the public praise given to the colorful "heroes of the
surf". But they did go out, regardless of the weather; the lake was their livelihood, nets needed to
be set and lifted, the weather was only one more variable. They knew the lake and its many
moods as well as the hunter the forest, or the farmer his fields!
The commercial fishermen's rescue work was very important, especially in an area like
Munising, too far from the Life-Saving stations at Grand Marais and Marquette to be able to rely
on their services. The short-lived Munising Coast Guard Station was of little help. Although it
isn't always documented in the following shipwreck accounts, in many instances it was the
fishermen who actually rescued the helpless crews.
As it was in the past, so it still is now. Munising should be glad she still has an active
commercial fishing fleet.
The Pictured Rocks comprise a series of sandstone cliffs extending nearly 15 miles northeast
from Grand Island Harbor. The Indians called the area Ishpabecca, meaning "high rocks." Early
English-speaking explorers named the cliffs the Pictured Rocks for the multitude of colors and
patterns on their facades. The sandstone of the cliffs was laid down at the bottom of a shallow
sea, sometimes referred to as the Munising Sea, which covered the area some 500 million years
ago during the Late Cambrian Period. Over the millennia, Lake Superior has carved the cliffs into
fantastic columns, spires, caves and bays. The colors in the cliffs come from minerals such as iron
and copper which have leached out of the sandstone layers and become oxidized when they were
exposed to the air.
The need to preserve the unique natural beauty of the Pictured Rocks has been recognized for
years. The National Park Service in 1958 singled out the area as one of five shoreline areas of
national significance on the Great Lakes. In 1966 Congress passed Public Law 89-668, which
authorized the formation of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. The Park Service set about
acquiring the entire lakeshore from Munising to Grand Marais, obtaining the required property
from its government, corporate, and private owners.
The Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore encompasses about 38 miles of coastline and is three
miles wide at its widest point. Starting just northeast of Munising, it includes Sand Point, with the
Lakeshore headquarters in the old Munising Coast Guard Station. Beyond Sand Point, the
Pictured Rocks begin to rise along the shoreline, climbing to where Miners Castle's sandstone
buttresses stand 90 feet above the lake. Miners Castle and the adjacent Miners River take their
name from the miners of the 1769-1773 Alexander Henry expeditions who camped here and
attempted to find mineral riches in the Pictured Rocks. East of the point, the white sand of
Miners Beach stretches nearly a mile before the colorful sandstone cliffs again dominate the
shoreline. Here the sheer cliffs rise more than 150 feet above the lake's surface for over five
miles, giving way briefly to a rocky beach near the mouth of Mosquito River, only to rise again to
Grand Portal Point. The natural arch through the point is only a small remnant of the original
Grand Portal, an enormous sea cave that once penetrated the west side of the point. The vast
domed cave, known to the voyageurs as La Portail, was some 400 feet wide, 180 feet deep, and
over 150 feet high. It collapsed years ago, leaving only its outline on the cliff face. Past Grand
Portal Point, the cliffs are again interrupted by a small sand beach and the mouth of Chapel River
at Chapel Rock. A mile and a half east of the Chapel, Spray Falls marks the site of the 1856
shipwreck of the SUPERIOR. From here on the rock cliffs slowly decline until they meet the
sandy shore of Twelvemile Beach. At the eastern end of the beach stands Au Sable Point with its
lighthouse, east of which rise the 300 foot high Grand Sable Dunes which stretch to the end of the
National Lakeshore at Grand Marais.
Recognizing the historical value of shipwrecks and their vulnerability to salvagers and
souvenir hunters, the Michigan Legislature in 1980 enacted Public Act 184 which authorized the
formation of underwater preserves to protect such cultural resources on state-owned
bottomlands. A citizens' committee in Alger County proposed a preserve for the Munising area
and on June 24, 1981, the Alger Underwater Preserve became the first member of the Michigan
bottomland preserve system. The Alger preserve extends from Au Train Point to Au Sable Point,
including Grand Island, and out to a depth of 150 feet. Within the preserve, it is illegal to remove
or disturb any artifacts without a permit jointly issued by the Secretary of State and the
Department of Natural Resources; such permits are only issued for historical or scientific
purposes. Violators are subject to a prison term of up to two years and a $5000 fine. Many of
the popular shipwrecks in the Alger Underwater Preserve are marked with white and blue
mooring buoys maintained by volunteers from the Alger Underwater Preserve Committee in an
effort to minimize damage to the wrecks from vessels' anchors. Hopefully, these protective
measures will help to ensure that these sunken time capsules will be preserved for generations to
come.
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