"Little Island Helps The Big 'Island'" from the October 25, 1960 Door County Advocate
MONDAY NIGHT started with high hopes of getting the draw down but this was as far as it would go. A small crowd of people stood on the edge to "help" the men cranking the draw by hand. Some people jumped across, including the Advocate photographer. —Advocate
THE BRIDGE WALK will be the first part back into service. Plans are to bridge this gap with a stairway and station a man to help people up the incline. —Advocate
Little Island Helps The Big 'Island'
The little island came to the rescue of the big "island" when a ship put the Sturgeon Bay bridge out of commission Friday morning. Little Washington Island sent two of her three ferries, the Voyageur and the Carl Richter, to provide transportation across Sturgeon Bay. City and state officials were quick to agree that we could not get along without them.
Faced with the problem of providing a replacement for the damaged highway bridge, State Highway Commission Chairman Harvey Grasse immediately okayed the idea of using the island ferries, saying that the state, would pay all charges.
Capt. Arni Richter and his crews left the island early Friday afternoon and arrived in Sturgeon Bay at about 7 o'clock in the evening. Since that time they have been providing ferry service across Sturgeon Ray 24 hours per day.
Capt. Richter met with Sturgeon Bay and state officials upon arriving in Sturgeon Bay and said that his usual charge for a boat was $35 per hour. Everyone agreed that this was a reasonable price, in fact probably too low, considering the extra expense this type of service would entail.
Vernon Bushman, president of the Ahnapee and Western Railway, was contacted for permission to use the company's dock on the west side for a ferry landing. Bushman finally agreed to allow use of the dock for $10 per hour.
Temporary loading ramps of gravel were constructed by city crews on the Bushman property on the west side and at the city's Nebraska street dock on the east side. Utility crews put up lights at both sites.
At about 8 p.m. Friday the ferry boats began shuttling across the bay, carrying trucks, cars and passengers. The huge backlog of vehicles, many driven by persons coming to Door county to enjoy an autumn weekend, made it seem impossible for the ferries ever to catch up. Vehicles were lined up for six or seven blocks waiting to cross the bay. It was not unusual for a motorist to wait four or five hours.
But before the ferries could get into operation, Sturgeon Bay folks faced many transportation problems. It was impossible to get vehicles across the bay.
Several boat owners rushed boats into service late Friday morning to carry passengers. Lollipop excursions carried most of the passengers, at a price of 50 cents each. Several other boat owners also carried passengers for a fee.
School children were transported on the Lollipop Friday after school, at no cost to the students. School officials hoped that the state would pay the cost.
The combination of the home-coming bonfire and shopping night resulted in a great deal of boat passenger traffic.
At first many motorists no doubt wanted to cross the bay on a ferry just for the novelty but the long wait has by now discouraged everybody but those who must get across. Only essential traffic is moving.
Courtesy of the Door County Library Newspaper Archive
[There has been a plea for a ferry service to fill in for the Francis Scott Key bridge: https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/03/30/launch-ferry-service/.
The Chesapeake Bay area is in the early stages of setting up an electric passenger-only ferry service oriented to tourists, https://www.chesapeakebaymagazine.com/proposed-chesapeake-bay-ferry-locations-revealed-in-feasibility-study/, but the Swedish shipbuilding firm which makes the electric ferries states that the Jones Act is an obstacle for them: https://www.eenews.net/articles/hate-the-bay-bridge-these-electric-ferries-might-help/.
The Jones Act is mentioned in an earlier post, https://doorcounty.substack.com/p/bay-ship-gets-mentioned-in-a-government; it prohibits the domestic use of foreign commercial ships, including ferries. Ferries which are operational already have places where they are being used. There is no sitting inventory of usable, Jones Act-compliant ferries.
Will ferries be found somewhere which could be used replace the bridge? Time will tell.]
Articles relating to the Sturgeon Bay Bridge
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