Ferries in Michigan


Due to its unique geography, being made of two peninsulas surrounded by the Great Lakes, Michigan has depended on many ferries for connections to transport people, vehicles and trade. The most famous modern ferries are those which carry people and goods across the Straits of Mackinac to the car-free Mackinac Island but before the Mackinac Bridge was built, large numbers of ferries carried people and cars between the two peninsulas. Other ferries continue to provide transportation to small islands and across the Detroit River to Canada. Ferries once provided transport to island parks for city dwellers. The state's only national park, Isle Royale cannot be reached by road and is normally accessed by ferry. The largest ferries in Michigan are the car ferries which cross Lake Michigan to Wisconsin. One of these, the SS Badger is one of the last remaining coal steamers on the Great Lakes and serves as a section of US Highway 10. The Badger is also the largest ferry in Michigan, capable of carrying 600 passengers and 180 autos.
As of 2018, there are 18 ferry routes in Michigan, 13 of which have ferries which can carry vehicles. Three ferry routes cross the international border between U.S. and Canada. Ferry trips can be as short as a few minutes crossing a river to as long as seven hours crossing Lake Superior. Several of the busiest ferry routes were replaced by bridges or tunnels: Detroit to Windsor, Belle Isle, the Sault Ste. Maries, St. Ignace to Mackinaw City, Port Huron to Sarnia. Boblo ceased to be a destination with the closure of the amusement park. Changes in laws and industry lead to the end of the Lake Michigan railroad ferries. Four passenger-only ferry destinations are islands without private vehicles and, in some cases, without even roads. One unique human-powered ferry takes passengers across the Kalamazoo River to a park with a Lake Michigan beach.
In the early days of lake transport, it is difficult or impossible to differentiate between ferries, package freighters carrying passengers, and passenger liners on regular routes. The lakes and rivers often provided an easier route of travel than primitive or non-existent roads. Rail ferries would carry passenger trains and their occupants and later sometimes carried automobiles as well.
The first autos crossed the Straits of Mackinac in 1917 on the SS Chief Wawatam. In 1923, the state of Michigan began an auto ferry service that was the first such system to be state-owned. It continued until the day the Mackinac Bridge opened. The law required the ferry service to cease so that the bridge would not have competition and could pay off its construction bonds faster. The passenger ferries and many of the rail ferries across the Detroit and St. Clair rivers had ended after the bridges and tunnels were built.
The ferries pioneered concepts in ship design and icebreaking techniques. Bow propellers and steel spoon-shaped bows made the rail ferries the best icebreakers on the lakes for many years until the dedicated U.S. Coast Guard icebreakers were assigned during World War II. In contrast, the ferries later had some of the most outdated equipment on the Lakes. The Badger, still in service in 2019, is the last coal-fired Great Lakes passenger steamer. The Chief Wawatam was the last hand-fed coal steamer and the Landsdowne was the last paddlewheeler when it was converted to a barge in 1970.
The Detroit-Windsor ferries were popular with small-scale bootleggers during Prohibition, especially as border guards were reluctant to search young Canadian women who worked in Detroit offices.

Car ferries

Lake Michigan

Cross-lake

Beaver Island

;Current boats
;Retired boats
Ferry service to Sugar Island began in 1928 and to Neebish Island service in 1933, provided by private companies. The Eastern Upper Peninsula Transportation Authority assumed their operations in 1980.

Neebish Island

Bois Blanc Island

;Current boats
De Tour Village to Drummond Island, connecting M-134 across the DeTour Passage, since 1975, part of the Eastern Upper Peninsula Transportation Authority
;Retired boats

St. Clair River

Lake Superior

Isle Royale

Internal

Lake Michigan

Rail ferries to Wisconsin

The Ann Arbor Railroad, Grand Trunk, and Chesapeake and Ohio ran train ferries across Lake Michigan. Several of these also carried passengers in the upper decks.
Before the construction of the Mackinac Bridge connecting the two peninsulas of Michigan, car and train ferries crossed between Mackinaw City, Michigan and St. Ignace. The early transport across the Straits was by private boat. The first large commercial concerns were the railways whose ferries pioneered concepts in ice breaking and ship design. The state took over auto traffic after complaints that the railways service was too expensive and unreliable for motorists.

Early ferries

The state provided auto ferry service between 1923 and 1957. The ferries carried almost 1 million cars a year in the mid-1950s before the bridge opened in 1957. At that time, there were five ferries running with a total capacity of 500 cars; the largest ferry could carry 150. In their last year of service, the state ferries employed 400 people.
International Transit Company was purchased by Ontario during the building of the Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge; the government operated the ferries until the bridge opened in 1962.

St. Clair River

Many ferries carried passengers, mostly between Sarnia and Port Huron before the Blue Water Bridge opened in 1938. In 1937, ferries had carried 1,174,846 passengers, 220,555 automobiles, 1,222 trucks and 267 motorcycles. Rail transport continued for many years.

Detroit to Windsor

Ferry service ran to the island from 1898-1993 by the Bois Blanc Excursion Line