1926 - Part 3: Elto Light Twin Powers 600 Miles to Georgian Bay

Oops... I had no idea there was so little story to go!! 

The matter of traveling down a rope ladder from a deck load of lumber was a novel experience for the crew but she made it safely.  With a salute the Usona turned about and steamed away.  We answered with our own whistle and began to wonder how long it would take to get home, 90 miles away (from Harbor Beach) over the shallow and dangerous east shore of Saginaw Bay.

While I can't find any photos of the Usona, the Nessen gives an idea of how the lumber ship may have looked.
The Nessen sank in 1929.

The sea was breaking over the wall in places and finally at 4:30, tired of inaction, we reported to the Life Saving Station and asking them to phone up the shore to Pt. Aux Barques to keep an eye out for us.  We put to sea, to take a terrific rolling for 26 miles, where we ran ashore at dark, erected our tent, and turned in well contented to rest.

Away at 5:30 in the morning we ran to Oak Point and were again forced to go ashore.  Fishing tugs had scurried for shelter as heavy clouds moving up from the west promised wind and rain.  At noon it cleared a bit though the sea was still pounding on the rocks and we ran to Caseville.  As we approached the fishery the dock was lined with fishermen who seemed surprised and relieved when we finally shut off the motor and tossed them a line.

About 7:00 the seas dropped off and we decided to try and gain a few more miles, so with one eye on the clouds we slid around East Sand Point and reached the fishery on North Island just before dark and just ahead of a heavy thunder squall.  Here we took possession of a house, which though smelling of a bit of tarred line was clean, and slept soundly through a night of wind and rain.

Thursday came bright and clear with only a bit of a wind stirring in the east.  After a hurried breakfast we were away at 7:20 and cut straight across for Saginaw River 30 miles away.  This took us off shore a distance of 8 to 10 miles but the weather was beautiful.  At noon we were tied to the dock and home.

Inez Mae had covered approximately 630 miles and burned 42 gallons of gasoline and never faltered a second nor skipped a beat.

Our sail had never been unrolled and the mast had carried only a pair of little silk flags and a small pennant.  The one sheered drive pin had been the total list of repairs and it had not been necessary to even remove a spark plug.  The engine was purring along smoother at the finish than at the start.  In sunshine and rain and fog for hours at a stretch we had pushed steadily along, with never a thought of motor trouble, halting only when the weather began to get to rough with us.

The trip was voted a wonderful success and in spite of some who still shake their heads we would start it again tomorrow if we could spare the time to repeat.  At any rate another year will bring vacation time and the crowded dust road, with its sharp curves and deep ditches, its clouds of dust and reckless drivers will never hold its old appeal.  Clean, pure air, sparkling waters, wooded shores and tall sharp rocky headlands, all these appeal and after the shaking up we received seemed to be beneficial.  The crew gained in weight and the navigator is still on the heavy side of 200 and feeling fine.

Perhaps it may be more of a trip than most readers may care to take, but whether you head across one of the Great Lakes or sit out up stream for an hour's ride,  the feeling of security and dependability and the ability to reach the beauty spots nature affords with such an outfit is surely well worth while.

The End

WHERE was the magazines proofreader??!!!!!!  This dude has such awful run-on sentences I occasionally couldn't stop myself from breaking them in two.  His closing paragraph/sentence even gets lost in itself without clearly making its plug for Elto again.   sheesh

Sounds like they had a good time though.  Wish he could have shared the details.