~ VARIOUS VEHICLES AROUND WALLOON LAKE ~
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Please do not copy the photos on this site, many of which have been submitted by private individuals...
just come back and visit the site often to view the photos.
The design and compilation of the text and photos on this site are copyrighted 2014.
just come back and visit the site often to view the photos.
The design and compilation of the text and photos on this site are copyrighted 2014.
The vehicles in the photos below were all submitted from the collection of Ross Renwick, along with other photos definitely related to Walloon Lake, so it is assumed that these unidentified photos are connected somehow with Walloon Lake, as well. If anyone can identify any vehicles or properties in the photos, or identify the surroundings in the photos, please refer to the photo, and let me know. I would like to give proper descriptions with additional information about the photos. ~ Karla Howard Buckmaster
AIRPLANES
Photo Above Left: The boat house on the left looks like that pictures in a photo with the boathouse labeled as that with the Fern Cottage.
Photo Above Right: This airplane labeled "Saladin on Walloon Lake" appears to be the same one as in the photo above left,
except the photo was taken from the front so the name of the airplane can be read.
Does anyone know for sure?
Photo Above Right: This airplane labeled "Saladin on Walloon Lake" appears to be the same one as in the photo above left,
except the photo was taken from the front so the name of the airplane can be read.
Does anyone know for sure?
The 1970 Navigation Charts of Lake Charlevoix Walloon Lake and Little Traverse Bay stated about "The Foot": "The village is small, but there are three marinas: Master's Boat Works, Si's Marine Service, and the Vilage Resort. All of these marinas have gas on sale at their docks, and there are boat ramps available. In addition, the Village Resort functions as a seaplane base, selling aviation gas to amphibious planes that 'land' on the lake.
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Dr. Hatch was killed in June 2011 after his single-engine plane smashed into a garage in Michigan, as this family returned home to Indiana. His wife was also killed and his son Austin survived. Tragically, in 2003, after a vacation at their summer home on Walloon Lake, Dr. Hatch was involved in another plane crash which had killed Austin's mother and Austin's two siblings.
CARS
Lovely Walloon Lake… Remain or Return
Even after the Hemingway Family’s earlier days of trips by luxury steamship, several trains lines, and a lake steamer ride to their cottage, travel to reach Walloon Lake, still remained challenging.
In 1917, for one of their annual trips, the Hemingways came by their car “Tin Lizzie” from Illinois to Windemere Cottage on the Pre-West Arm of Walloon Lake, but it was impossible to fit parents, and six children in “Tin Lizzie.” So the four daughters rode the train from Chicago to Walloon Lake while parents and sons, Ernest and two years old Leiceister, ventured a four day car trip to Walloon Lake. On one trip night, a stay-over near a stream allowed Ernest to fry and early morning trout and egg breakfast on an open fire, while “Lessie” watched.
After arrival at Windemere, the Hemingways had a family boat, with oars, providing limited lake transportation, fishing, or recreation.
Even in 1921 when son Ernest Hemingway married Hadley Richardson in the Horton Bay church, the newlyweds were driven by Model T owner and friend, John Koteskey, from Horton Bay down Sumner Road, to row a boat across Walloon Lake to cottage Windemere for their honeymoon.
The Hemingway Family presence has continued on Walloon Lake since 1898. While Windemere cottage does remain as their private residence, in 1968 it was designated as a Registered National Historic Landmark; honoring prize winning author Ernest Hemingway who often used his Walloon Lake experiences in his stories of Northern Michigan.
Walloon Lake visitors and families, over the years have adapted to transportation acessabilty, like the Hemingway Family to either “remain or return” to lovely Walloon Lake through the years.
~ Karla Buckmaster
Click HERE to access photos (on another web site by this same web master) of the Hemingways on the very trip noted in the story above.
In 1917, for one of their annual trips, the Hemingways came by their car “Tin Lizzie” from Illinois to Windemere Cottage on the Pre-West Arm of Walloon Lake, but it was impossible to fit parents, and six children in “Tin Lizzie.” So the four daughters rode the train from Chicago to Walloon Lake while parents and sons, Ernest and two years old Leiceister, ventured a four day car trip to Walloon Lake. On one trip night, a stay-over near a stream allowed Ernest to fry and early morning trout and egg breakfast on an open fire, while “Lessie” watched.
After arrival at Windemere, the Hemingways had a family boat, with oars, providing limited lake transportation, fishing, or recreation.
Even in 1921 when son Ernest Hemingway married Hadley Richardson in the Horton Bay church, the newlyweds were driven by Model T owner and friend, John Koteskey, from Horton Bay down Sumner Road, to row a boat across Walloon Lake to cottage Windemere for their honeymoon.
The Hemingway Family presence has continued on Walloon Lake since 1898. While Windemere cottage does remain as their private residence, in 1968 it was designated as a Registered National Historic Landmark; honoring prize winning author Ernest Hemingway who often used his Walloon Lake experiences in his stories of Northern Michigan.
Walloon Lake visitors and families, over the years have adapted to transportation acessabilty, like the Hemingway Family to either “remain or return” to lovely Walloon Lake through the years.
~ Karla Buckmaster
Click HERE to access photos (on another web site by this same web master) of the Hemingways on the very trip noted in the story above.
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Photo Below: The first time my folks drove to Walloon, I think in the late 1920s, it took them four days [from Indiana]. In those days there were only terrible dirt or sand roads. You needed a shovel in the car. Most people took the train to Petoskey. ~ Barbara (Ice) Smith (Lake Grove Road, West Arm)
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Nearby to Walloon Lake, Petoskey's first car was a 1904 "Thomas" model owned by Dan Lovelace, father of Fred Lovelace of the Petoskey newspaper. The photo below was taken in front of Petoskey Iron Works at 315 State Street Petoskey MI. The men in the photo below left L>R: Dan Lovelace, Ollie Reid, Phillip Middleditch and W.P. Hoffman. By about 1909 Phillip Middleditch had purchased the steamer Tourist which plied the waters of Walloon Lake.
Obituary Below Right: Dr. Sarah H. Brackett, 94, had been the wife of Phillip Middleditch.
Obituary Below Right: Dr. Sarah H. Brackett, 94, had been the wife of Phillip Middleditch.
Article Below: Mr. Middleditch owned the Petoskey Iron Works as seen in the photo above.
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Article Below: "Automobile is a nuisance" thought Petoskey's Dr. Reycraft...
The advertisement below from a 1913 local area Petoskey MI newspaper described the second hand cars available with prices at the time.
Automobile tires brought new industry to nearby Petoskey in 1913
according to The Petoskey Record article below.
Michigan Car Licenses Not Cheap in 1913
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3,860 Mile Trip From Seattle Washington to Walloon Lake Michigan
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Big Day in Nearby Petoskey with Largest Number of Autos in Town.
Also, the trains reported heavy travel to Petoskey with more than twenty-six hundred people on the railroad. |
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The below advertisement from Walloon Lake's nearby Petoskey's REO Motor Car Company shows the styles of the day's 1916 cars.
[The advertisement can be scrolled, and enlarged.]
[The advertisement can be scrolled, and enlarged.]
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"Dad, are we there yet?" offers the reader a glimpse in the trip by car, of Ernest Hemingway's family trip
from Oak Park, Illinois to their summer cottage on Walloon Lake MI.
from Oak Park, Illinois to their summer cottage on Walloon Lake MI.
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"A brief history of Walloon Lake" in the 4 July 1979 Walloon Lake News included the following statements.
"Around 1920 when the paved road was completed to Boyne City, autos showed a big increase and the railroad lost out.
The passenger ferry business became an enterprise of the past."
"Around 1920 when the paved road was completed to Boyne City, autos showed a big increase and the railroad lost out.
The passenger ferry business became an enterprise of the past."
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The Advent of Automobiles Brings Changes
(Articles Below)
(Articles Below)
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"On another winter evening we were just finishing dinner when the phone rang and I answered. It was Roscoe Pitman, the local Jeep dealer who lived about a mile down the road. He said, ' I wondered if you'd like to take a little ride." I said I would, so presently he drove up. I had read and seen several ads telling about the 'Jeep' and how wonderful it was in snow, and I was anxious to see for myself if all that was true. Here was my chance!! Very shortly he came driving in and I went out and climbed in. This was one of those more modern vehicles, with a body and was longer, more like a car. I climbed in and off we went with Roscoe driving toward the village (Walloon Lake). On the first hill from our house the grade was such that I always had gritted my teeth until I got our car up to the top, and I was holding my breath while Roscoe made that part of the road, but instead of putting on more power he actually stopped the Jeep in the middle of the hill and asked me, 'Which way should I go now'. As I thought surely we were STUCK it would be a good test of the car, so I said, 'Let's go forward' and after putting it in a lower gear that is just what he did. I just couldn't believe what I was seeing. Certainly we were in for a tough lot of pushing and possibly shoveling, but I was fortunately mistaken. Just a little further on we came to a wider spot in the road where the snow-plows had crowded a big pile of the white stuff onto the side, and here my friend deliberately drove into the middle of the pile and again, stopped, 'Now, which way do you want me to go?' Again I said, 'Let's go forward', and as before he merely put the car into a lower gear and gave it a little gas, and the miracle happened once more, we came out of that snow-bank as if it wasn't there at all. That Jeep just wouldn't get stuck and if I had been better fixed financially just then I would have had one of those cars. As it so happened later when running the canning factory I had not ONE, but TWO Jeeps and they gave us very good service for years. They were wonderful trucks, too and they were fine for our work there mostly hauling refuse to the dump. They also gave us quite a few headaches, mostly when they got stuck in impossible places at the dump and broke an axle. Then we'd have to send the one we weren't using to pull the stranded one out. Lots of WORK!!!"
~ James C. Whitfield, Sr.
~ James C. Whitfield, Sr.
TRAILS, ROADWAYS AND HIGHWAYS
Photo Below: Walloon in 1888 ~ looking up M-75 toward 131 where Lappins is
Photo Below: Walloon in 2014 ~ aerial view looking up M-75 toward 131
Photo Credit: Odalaigh
Some of the very earliest trails near Walloon Lake were those of the Indians,
especially near Indian Gardens, perhaps preceded by French Fur Traders.
especially near Indian Gardens, perhaps preceded by French Fur Traders.
Photo Below: The accompanying text stated "'STUCK' on Bear Lake Road 1874.
A homesteader's family must help push while the horse pulls the wagon out of a pothole."
A homesteader's family must help push while the horse pulls the wagon out of a pothole."
Photo Below: Does anyone know, for sure, the location of this roadway near Walloon Lake?
Clarion and Petoskey State Road Muddle
~ 1883 ~
~ 1883 ~
Petoskey Needs To Buy A Horse Road Roller For Repairs
~ 1896 ~
~ 1896 ~
Photo Below: "My Wilhout grandparents first came to Petoskey on the train from Indiana for their honeymoon in August-September 1896. My grandfather had been to Petoskey during the previous summer. They stayed at a big hotel just on the other side of the now old train station and Perry Hotel. They loved Petoskey; it was good for my granddad’s asthma and hay fever. They took side trips to Harbor Springs, Mackinaw City, and out to some lakes. They soon bought property on the West Arm of Walloon Lake, and in 1900 they built their first cottage at what is now on 5232 Lake Grove Road." ~ Barbara (Ice) Smith (Lake Grove Road, West Arm)
Very Early 1900s:
"There were two churches in town then, one the United Brethren in what is the Community Church and one, the United Methodist situated at the corner near where the Fire Hall now stands. The former usually had a regularly assigned minister, but he other had none. The UB minister was a Mr. Humphry who had a horse and surrey, so we sometimes got him to drive us to Boyne City or Petoskey. The roads were all sand, so much so that the men in the surrey (including me) usually had to get out and walk up a hill or even push. It would take us half a day to get to either Boyne or Petoskey, We’d buy our spool of thread after having lunch at Jesperson’s, then buy a bag of popcorn at the ‘Popcorn King’s’ and drive home. Sometimes we’d drive up to Blackbird’s Farm, owned by an Indian Chief, where we’d buy some of the old squaw’s sweetgrass baskets she had made during the winter. I always went along on those excursions as I didn’t weigh very much and also didn’t take up very much space in the surrey."
Little later on...
"For several years while I was growing up I didn’t get a chance to spend much time at the lake, although I never seemed to lose the urge to build things or to improve on objects I saw. About that time Dad (with a little urging from me) decided we ought to have a car, not a new one as neither of us knew how to drive, but a good, substantial Ford Model T. Mother, Auntie Mame and Uncle Bert, Dad’s brother had gone up to the cottage and opened it up and Dad and I were left in Chicago. So one Sunday afternoon we took the streetcar over to Cottage Grove Avenue, after some searching in the want ads in the paper. We finally located and settled on a Model T touring car. Inspecting it thoroughly and after kicking the tires and arranging with the salesman about giving me some driving lessons Dad bought it for $265!!! We didn’t notice a few dents in one side and one wheel which didn’t match the others. The bumps had been bumped out and the wheel was new. The car had been in a wreck, but that didn’t matter as it drove quite well after the salesman had given me a few lessons. Altogether that car was a tough old bird. A few weeks later we decide to drive up to the lake in our new possession. Incidentally it was a 1919 or 1920 model, came with side curtains, tool kit and jack (cheapies) and crank. Dad and I started out one fine morning for Walloon and got as far as South Haven where Dad thought we should stop off and look up his lawyer who had a summer home there. It was a very lovely home and we sat around talking for a half an hour, then Mrs. Irwin invited us to stay for lunch which Dad accepted, so it must have been around two o’clock when we got started again. I know neither Dad nor I had any idea how long it would take us to drive from Chicago to Walloon. Anyway we were bowling along at the phenomenal speed of thirty five miles an hour when suddenly we heard the engine start making some awful knocking noises. I stopped it and tried to think what might be the trouble. After a few moments of deep cogitation I started the engine again and listened to the noise which seemed to be coming from two plates on the side of it. I took them off but that didn’t stop the knocking. We sat there on the side of the road for perhaps half an hour, then started off slowly and drove all the way to Coloma where we found a Ford garage. There I told the mechanic what had happened and when it had cooled down enough he took off the pan and drained what oil was in it and asked me when was the last time I had added oil. I had to admit I didn’t know I was supposed to put oil into it, as I’d never seen anyone put oil into boat motors. I found out later that oil was mixed with the gas when it was put into those old one-lungers. The mechanic tried all the connecting rod bearings and said I had stopped in the nick of time to prevent burned out bearings. He put in some heavy oil and said that if I drove slowly for a few miles we might reach Walloon without further trouble. That only held us up an hour and we were thankful to have gotten away from there with just an oil change. I drove all of twenty miles an hour until we got to Muskegon where we stayed at the Occidental Hotel (nothing but the best for Dad).
The next day we got as far as Traverse City where we stayed overnight in a much more modest hotel. In those days the roads were all gravel and only occasionally did they divert from the section-lines on the map. Consequently they hardly ever cut across farmers’ fields diagonally as our modern roads do. The roads through Michigan were one long straight stretch of a mile or so, then a sharp turn, usually well banked, but with all that zig-zagging you couldn’t make much time, especially if our top speed was some thirty five miles an hour. We had hardly left the environs of Traverse City and were out in the boondocks without a filling station in sight when we had our first flat. I had never changed a tire before, but I had seen it done, so I got out the jack, jacked the wheel up and pulled the tire off using brute force. I patched the inner tube, stuffed it back inside the tire and coaxed the tire back onto the wheel. Then I had to get out the pump and pump away for a half hour in the broiling sun and finally let the car down off the jack. This indicates how serious was a flat in ‘them days’. It was a far cry from the days of demountable rims and even from the modern demountable wheel. No one carried a spare in ‘them days’ as tires were very expensive even for the rich witch. With the tire changed we reached the lake a little after noon, tired but full of our accounts of our adventure.
Then we began to really see the country, taking trips to Petoskey, Boyne City, even Charlevoix and Ellsworth. We could stop whenever we chose, look at the scenery or pick some wild flowers. We did the lot. Many of the neighbors had by that time brought up their own cars, so we joined them in gadding about. About a month after our arrival with the car the folks had had enough of gadding, they had seen about all the local area afforded and it was getting near school time, so I had no trouble convincing the folks that what I would need for getting to school would be a roadster instead of an old touring car. I intended converting the whole car in our back yard. I started in by taking off the body, with the help of friends to help with the lifting. Then I made a two by six frame, bolting it on to the chassis. The steering wheel was lowered and I got some sheets of 20 gauge galvanized iron which I laboriously cut out for the body, itself, complete with windows one in the door, one of the driver’s side and one in the back. There was to be only one door, that on the passenger’s side. All this I cut out using a little old pair of hedge trimmers as I had no regular tin shears. They would have made the job so much easier. The top I made out of some top material I had ordered from Sears, which I tacked around the top. The seat I made out of the front cushions of the car, set on planks. For paint I used battleship grey with black trim. It turned out to be a rather crude affair, but was pretty spiffy in my eyes and handled much better than when it was a touring car. It really was a fine job and I had it for two years.
One disturbing feature I had noticed in lowering the steering wheel was that in making a sharp left hand turn the mechanism would become locked and it would take a sharp pull to the right to get it straightened out. Another feature, while not disturbing was important to know and that was that with the Model T if you were to jam your foot down on the low range pedal very hard that band would slip a few revolutions then it would catch and something would have to turn and it would always be the rear wheels. In trying to tow something that was a handy thing to know. One day after I had finished the renovation of the car I was on my way to Petoskey on the old road through Clarion and the swamp just north of it. I got as far as the railroad crossing where I saw another Model T which had been coming from Petoskey. It was in the ditch on the right had side of the road. I knew immediately what had happened. The old farmer driving it had made a sharp turn left, his steering mechanism had locked, the car had crossed the tracks and the center of the road before he had been able to straighten it out, so here he was with this left side in the ditch, and on the wrong side of the road. I looked the situation over and figured I could pull him out if he had rope, which it seemed he didn’t. I cut a 10 foot piece of barbed wire off a nearby, broken down fence. I turned my car around and wrapped the wire around my rear axle and around the front axle of his car. Then with him pushing I started my engine and jammed my foot on that low range pedal. Sure enough we pulled the car a couple of feet. Then with another pull I could feel it coming out, but suddenly my car stopped with a jerk as the farmer’s car tore up alongside mine and the wire drew tight. At that instant I saw that blue-jeaned farmer sailing through the air making a futile attempt to reach his brake lever. He was a good ten feet ahead of his car when he lit in the grass in the side of the road which broke his fall, so I knew he wasn’t hurt. That was the funniest sight, that long, lanky farmer flying through the air grabbing for his brake which was ten feet behind him.
~ James C. Whitfield, Sr.
"There were two churches in town then, one the United Brethren in what is the Community Church and one, the United Methodist situated at the corner near where the Fire Hall now stands. The former usually had a regularly assigned minister, but he other had none. The UB minister was a Mr. Humphry who had a horse and surrey, so we sometimes got him to drive us to Boyne City or Petoskey. The roads were all sand, so much so that the men in the surrey (including me) usually had to get out and walk up a hill or even push. It would take us half a day to get to either Boyne or Petoskey, We’d buy our spool of thread after having lunch at Jesperson’s, then buy a bag of popcorn at the ‘Popcorn King’s’ and drive home. Sometimes we’d drive up to Blackbird’s Farm, owned by an Indian Chief, where we’d buy some of the old squaw’s sweetgrass baskets she had made during the winter. I always went along on those excursions as I didn’t weigh very much and also didn’t take up very much space in the surrey."
Little later on...
"For several years while I was growing up I didn’t get a chance to spend much time at the lake, although I never seemed to lose the urge to build things or to improve on objects I saw. About that time Dad (with a little urging from me) decided we ought to have a car, not a new one as neither of us knew how to drive, but a good, substantial Ford Model T. Mother, Auntie Mame and Uncle Bert, Dad’s brother had gone up to the cottage and opened it up and Dad and I were left in Chicago. So one Sunday afternoon we took the streetcar over to Cottage Grove Avenue, after some searching in the want ads in the paper. We finally located and settled on a Model T touring car. Inspecting it thoroughly and after kicking the tires and arranging with the salesman about giving me some driving lessons Dad bought it for $265!!! We didn’t notice a few dents in one side and one wheel which didn’t match the others. The bumps had been bumped out and the wheel was new. The car had been in a wreck, but that didn’t matter as it drove quite well after the salesman had given me a few lessons. Altogether that car was a tough old bird. A few weeks later we decide to drive up to the lake in our new possession. Incidentally it was a 1919 or 1920 model, came with side curtains, tool kit and jack (cheapies) and crank. Dad and I started out one fine morning for Walloon and got as far as South Haven where Dad thought we should stop off and look up his lawyer who had a summer home there. It was a very lovely home and we sat around talking for a half an hour, then Mrs. Irwin invited us to stay for lunch which Dad accepted, so it must have been around two o’clock when we got started again. I know neither Dad nor I had any idea how long it would take us to drive from Chicago to Walloon. Anyway we were bowling along at the phenomenal speed of thirty five miles an hour when suddenly we heard the engine start making some awful knocking noises. I stopped it and tried to think what might be the trouble. After a few moments of deep cogitation I started the engine again and listened to the noise which seemed to be coming from two plates on the side of it. I took them off but that didn’t stop the knocking. We sat there on the side of the road for perhaps half an hour, then started off slowly and drove all the way to Coloma where we found a Ford garage. There I told the mechanic what had happened and when it had cooled down enough he took off the pan and drained what oil was in it and asked me when was the last time I had added oil. I had to admit I didn’t know I was supposed to put oil into it, as I’d never seen anyone put oil into boat motors. I found out later that oil was mixed with the gas when it was put into those old one-lungers. The mechanic tried all the connecting rod bearings and said I had stopped in the nick of time to prevent burned out bearings. He put in some heavy oil and said that if I drove slowly for a few miles we might reach Walloon without further trouble. That only held us up an hour and we were thankful to have gotten away from there with just an oil change. I drove all of twenty miles an hour until we got to Muskegon where we stayed at the Occidental Hotel (nothing but the best for Dad).
The next day we got as far as Traverse City where we stayed overnight in a much more modest hotel. In those days the roads were all gravel and only occasionally did they divert from the section-lines on the map. Consequently they hardly ever cut across farmers’ fields diagonally as our modern roads do. The roads through Michigan were one long straight stretch of a mile or so, then a sharp turn, usually well banked, but with all that zig-zagging you couldn’t make much time, especially if our top speed was some thirty five miles an hour. We had hardly left the environs of Traverse City and were out in the boondocks without a filling station in sight when we had our first flat. I had never changed a tire before, but I had seen it done, so I got out the jack, jacked the wheel up and pulled the tire off using brute force. I patched the inner tube, stuffed it back inside the tire and coaxed the tire back onto the wheel. Then I had to get out the pump and pump away for a half hour in the broiling sun and finally let the car down off the jack. This indicates how serious was a flat in ‘them days’. It was a far cry from the days of demountable rims and even from the modern demountable wheel. No one carried a spare in ‘them days’ as tires were very expensive even for the rich witch. With the tire changed we reached the lake a little after noon, tired but full of our accounts of our adventure.
Then we began to really see the country, taking trips to Petoskey, Boyne City, even Charlevoix and Ellsworth. We could stop whenever we chose, look at the scenery or pick some wild flowers. We did the lot. Many of the neighbors had by that time brought up their own cars, so we joined them in gadding about. About a month after our arrival with the car the folks had had enough of gadding, they had seen about all the local area afforded and it was getting near school time, so I had no trouble convincing the folks that what I would need for getting to school would be a roadster instead of an old touring car. I intended converting the whole car in our back yard. I started in by taking off the body, with the help of friends to help with the lifting. Then I made a two by six frame, bolting it on to the chassis. The steering wheel was lowered and I got some sheets of 20 gauge galvanized iron which I laboriously cut out for the body, itself, complete with windows one in the door, one of the driver’s side and one in the back. There was to be only one door, that on the passenger’s side. All this I cut out using a little old pair of hedge trimmers as I had no regular tin shears. They would have made the job so much easier. The top I made out of some top material I had ordered from Sears, which I tacked around the top. The seat I made out of the front cushions of the car, set on planks. For paint I used battleship grey with black trim. It turned out to be a rather crude affair, but was pretty spiffy in my eyes and handled much better than when it was a touring car. It really was a fine job and I had it for two years.
One disturbing feature I had noticed in lowering the steering wheel was that in making a sharp left hand turn the mechanism would become locked and it would take a sharp pull to the right to get it straightened out. Another feature, while not disturbing was important to know and that was that with the Model T if you were to jam your foot down on the low range pedal very hard that band would slip a few revolutions then it would catch and something would have to turn and it would always be the rear wheels. In trying to tow something that was a handy thing to know. One day after I had finished the renovation of the car I was on my way to Petoskey on the old road through Clarion and the swamp just north of it. I got as far as the railroad crossing where I saw another Model T which had been coming from Petoskey. It was in the ditch on the right had side of the road. I knew immediately what had happened. The old farmer driving it had made a sharp turn left, his steering mechanism had locked, the car had crossed the tracks and the center of the road before he had been able to straighten it out, so here he was with this left side in the ditch, and on the wrong side of the road. I looked the situation over and figured I could pull him out if he had rope, which it seemed he didn’t. I cut a 10 foot piece of barbed wire off a nearby, broken down fence. I turned my car around and wrapped the wire around my rear axle and around the front axle of his car. Then with him pushing I started my engine and jammed my foot on that low range pedal. Sure enough we pulled the car a couple of feet. Then with another pull I could feel it coming out, but suddenly my car stopped with a jerk as the farmer’s car tore up alongside mine and the wire drew tight. At that instant I saw that blue-jeaned farmer sailing through the air making a futile attempt to reach his brake lever. He was a good ten feet ahead of his car when he lit in the grass in the side of the road which broke his fall, so I knew he wasn’t hurt. That was the funniest sight, that long, lanky farmer flying through the air grabbing for his brake which was ten feet behind him.
~ James C. Whitfield, Sr.
Date unknown ~ The photo above was taken right at "The Foot" of Walloon Lake with extremely high snowbanks beside the roadway,
and the big Hass House on the corner in the background.
and the big Hass House on the corner in the background.
~ Walloon Lake Roadway Names ~
2013 - M-75 runs through the Village of Walloon Lake, but in 1920 and 1925 the roadway was not known as M-75 as the Michigan Highways website points out below:
"c.1920 - M-57 is a 12-mile long highway running along present-day M-75, beginning at M-13 (present-day US-131) in Boyne Falls, running northwesterly to Boyne City, then northeasterly back to M-13 in downtown Walloon Lake.
1925 - M-57 is extended by less than one mile when M-13 (soon to be US-131) is realigned out of Walloon Lake to bypass town and M-57 is extended to meet the new highway."
"c.1920 - M-57 is a 12-mile long highway running along present-day M-75, beginning at M-13 (present-day US-131) in Boyne Falls, running northwesterly to Boyne City, then northeasterly back to M-13 in downtown Walloon Lake.
1925 - M-57 is extended by less than one mile when M-13 (soon to be US-131) is realigned out of Walloon Lake to bypass town and M-57 is extended to meet the new highway."
1926 - "To inject some logic into the expanding system as more motorists traveled across the state, in 1918 Michigan ceased authorization of named auto trails and instituted a systematic numbering of state trunk lines. The road leading to Boyne City from the east was initially numbered State Route M-57. The M-57 designation was originally used by 1919 in Charlevoix County from Boyne Falls at M-13 (now US 131) through Boyne City and back to M-13 at Walloon Lake. That highway's number was changed to M-75 in 1926 and by that time the road was completely hard-surfaced." Stated by the National Register of Historic Places Section 8 Page 11.
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1904 ~ No road through the swamp between Boyne Falls and Walloon Lake
12 Mile Drive Around
12 Mile Drive Around
1911 ~ Walloon Lake to Petoskey Roads in Bad Condition
Nearby Petoskey Needs Stop Light On Busy Intersection
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Traffic Problems at The Foot???
SNOWMOBILE TRAIL
HOMEMADE VEHICLE
"For several years after the house was completed and we had moved in we were faced in the winter time with the problem of being able to get out and to go to town or even to ‘the foot’ for mail. That was long before the introduction of four-wheeled drive vehicles and we just couldn’t imagine that having four wheels to do the driving would make such a difference and would be the answer it has since proven. I imagined all sorts of solutions, even starting to build a vehicle something like a snowmobile. I never got to finish it, there were too many interruptions. Then I heard about some treads owned by a rural mail carrier over in Clarion, so those I must see. Einer Hull was a short, stocky individual who had acquired these some years before but had never used them. There were two sets, one for each side of the car and they were made out of very heavy steel stampings about 4”X6” which were linked together on their 6” sides by short loops making a continuous tread about 8 feet long. They were supposed to go over a rear wheel and also an idler wheel running on an axle just in front of the rear ones. I could see their advantage but didn’t see how I could make use of them, but Einer wouldn’t sell them to me. However, he offered to LEND them to me with the understanding that he could have them back any time he was to use them. I didn’t know how long that might be and I hadn’t known him before. Still he didn’t indicate that he was in a position to build himself a conveyance on which to use them, so I agreed and took the treads home. A few days later I loaded them into the old Dodge truck and took it all over to the machine shop of Boli Hoffman’s in Petoskey where I talked Boli into letting me remodel the old truck so that I could use the treads. There was quite a bit of hacking and chiseling to be done, the rear fenders had to be removed and part of the running boards and a new axel for two new (junk) wheels made to go under the truck for the front idlers to run on. Bob Greenwell, Sr. did most of the work while I did the engineering and we finally got it all done and I drove it home. The changeover necessitated putting on a different set of wheels on the rear as the treads would only fit on 3 1/2” tires but I had found some other junked wheels that would fit. It was also necessary to put chains on the rear wheels but they fit into some openings stamped on the 4”X6” plates. So there I had a real snow-goer which would go just about everywhere through six or eight inches of snow, up and down our hills with no trouble. It was great and I was well pleased with all that work.
I did find, however, that using the treads put quite a bit of extra strain on the engine so that it had a tendency to heat up and use more antifreeze. ‘OZONE’ then cost $3.50 a gallon and the old boat was so old and its hoses and fittings so leaky that whatever you put in would soon leak out. I never had enough money to keep buying Ozone to add. I spent many sleepless nights trying to come up with some cheap substance to take its place. Finally I thought of using ordinary Fuel oil as that only cost 9¢ a gallon then. It worked fine only I had to carry a gallon can of fuel oil in the back to replenish what leaked out. The use of that fuel oil as an anti-freeze was an experiment I had never heard of before and its only drawback was its STINK and that it sure did but in that open truck the smell wasn’t objectionable.
One other thing about that old Dodge truck that was amusing was the means I had of starting it in very cold weather. It had 12 volt ignition, a much superior system than the ordinary 6 volts of other cars then. The truck I always parked on a slope so that with a short push I could jump in quickly, shift into high and then let out the clutch. Sometimes that was sufficient to get it started, but often I had to resort to more drastic methods. I’d crumple up a newspaper I always carried in back. This I’d put under the pan of the engine and light it and before long the oil the pan would heat up so that I could turn the engine over with the crank. Once in a while that one ‘bonfire’ wouldn’t be enough and I’d have to start another. Once in a great while that oil would get so hot that the accumulated gas in the crankcase would catch fire and explode with an earsplitting BANG!!! and the hinged cover on the oil fill pipe would fly open. However I was always able to get the Dodge started. At one time I elected to grind the valves myself and when I got the head off I was amazed to see the tremendous size of the pistons, they looked almost as large as bushel baskets. That accounted for the fact that that engine as a ‘lugger’. When under an unusually difficult strain it would slow down until you could count every revolution. It was a four cylinder engine and was one of the best Dodge ever put out."
~James C. Whitfield, Sr.
I did find, however, that using the treads put quite a bit of extra strain on the engine so that it had a tendency to heat up and use more antifreeze. ‘OZONE’ then cost $3.50 a gallon and the old boat was so old and its hoses and fittings so leaky that whatever you put in would soon leak out. I never had enough money to keep buying Ozone to add. I spent many sleepless nights trying to come up with some cheap substance to take its place. Finally I thought of using ordinary Fuel oil as that only cost 9¢ a gallon then. It worked fine only I had to carry a gallon can of fuel oil in the back to replenish what leaked out. The use of that fuel oil as an anti-freeze was an experiment I had never heard of before and its only drawback was its STINK and that it sure did but in that open truck the smell wasn’t objectionable.
One other thing about that old Dodge truck that was amusing was the means I had of starting it in very cold weather. It had 12 volt ignition, a much superior system than the ordinary 6 volts of other cars then. The truck I always parked on a slope so that with a short push I could jump in quickly, shift into high and then let out the clutch. Sometimes that was sufficient to get it started, but often I had to resort to more drastic methods. I’d crumple up a newspaper I always carried in back. This I’d put under the pan of the engine and light it and before long the oil the pan would heat up so that I could turn the engine over with the crank. Once in a while that one ‘bonfire’ wouldn’t be enough and I’d have to start another. Once in a great while that oil would get so hot that the accumulated gas in the crankcase would catch fire and explode with an earsplitting BANG!!! and the hinged cover on the oil fill pipe would fly open. However I was always able to get the Dodge started. At one time I elected to grind the valves myself and when I got the head off I was amazed to see the tremendous size of the pistons, they looked almost as large as bushel baskets. That accounted for the fact that that engine as a ‘lugger’. When under an unusually difficult strain it would slow down until you could count every revolution. It was a four cylinder engine and was one of the best Dodge ever put out."
~James C. Whitfield, Sr.
RENWICK FAMILY CAR
Photo below left: Rosemary Renwick stood in front of their car parked beside their home at the foot which had previously been "Sunset Lodge". On the other side of the road behind Rosemary was the Starr Gas Station, and Ted McCutcheon's Boat works in the quonset building which was built in 1946. Photo below right: Lucille Renwick stood in the center between her son Varn, and her daughter Rosemary. On the other side of the road behind them was Brower's General Store, and Masters Boat Works.
RURAL POSTAL DELIVERY
SNOWPLOW
STEAM TRACTOR
The caption underneath the photo below read: "A Steam Tractor was used to power the saw at the mill in 1900."
The name of the mill was not identified but, several mills existed in the Walloon Lake area at the turn of the century.
The name of the mill was not identified but, several mills existed in the Walloon Lake area at the turn of the century.
WELL DRILLING VEHICLE