The Oldest Settlement in the Midwest

By Naomi Rawlings

Whether it was settled 100 years ago or 1000, every town has its own, unique history. But in the United States, only a handful of towns can claim to be 350 years old. Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan (pronounced soo saint marie) is one of those places. Settled only 40 years after the arrival of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, it became an important fur-trading settlement.

Why trade fur at Sault Ste. Marie, of all places? Because Sault Ste. Marie is located at the rapids of the Saint Mary's River, effectively connecting Lake Superior to Lake Huron. The rapids fall 21 feet from Lake Superior to the lower Lake Huron and necessitate a portage to cross. This afforded a natural gathering place for Native Americans to trade furs collected along the shores of Lake Superior, and the rapids also provided an abundance of fish.

The Native Americans established a village there possibly as long as 2,000 years ago. The first Europeans traveled to Sault Ste. Marie in 1668. This was Father Jaques Marquette, a Jesuit priest who would go on to become the first explorer of the upper Mississippi River and its tributaries. Father Marquette had heard of the Native American village went there to found a Catholic mission.

Sault Ste. Marie grew in prominence as more and more trappers and fur traders flooded the northern Great Lakes. Sitting right on the border between Canada and the United States, it was often fought over between French and British trappers until the area was finally ceded to the United States in the early 1800s.

Shipping remained an important part of the local economy as natural resources were harvested from the wilds of Lake Superior and shipped to more populated areas. In 1855, the first lock in America was built so that ships no longer needed to portage the rapids.

Today, the city of Sault Ste. Marie still exists. There are four locks, operated by the Army Corps of Engineers, and they are the busiest locks in the world, transferring more freight each year than the Panama and Suez Canals combined.

Have any of you ever heard of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan before? Are you surprised to learn that this little northern city has been around for 350 years? Were you aware that the locks connecting Lake Superior and Lake Huron are the busiest in the world?

*****

A mother of two young boys, Naomi Rawlings spends her days picking up, cleaning, playing and, of course, writing. Her husband pastors a small church in Michigan’s rugged Upper Peninsula, where her family shares its ten wooded acres with black bears, wolves, coyotes, deer and bald eagles. Naomi and her family live only three miles from Lake Superior, where the scenery is beautiful and they average 200 inches of snow per winter. She is looking forward to the release of her fourth novel, Falling for the Enemy, in January 2015. For more information about Naomi, please visit her website at www.NaomiRawlings.com.

Before the Coast Guard: An Introduction to the United States Life-Saving Service

Note: This post was originally published in 2013.

At one time in United States history, the US Live-Saving Service was a government agency designed to rescue people (both sailors and passengers) from wrecked vessels. This agency was started in 1848 and lasted until 1915, when it was merged with another agency to form our current US Coast Guard.

While talking about an antiquated government agency might sound old and boring, it's really not. I mean, think of all those cool water rescues on TV that the Coast Guard preforms. They look something like this:

Now imagine those same rescues taking place 150 years ago. No radios. No helicopters. No high-powered speed boats. Just a crew of seven men in either a surfboat or lifeboat, sent to save a whole vessel full of people. It rather looked something like this:

And this:

And this:

No, the men in these old photographs and paintings were not suicidal, or crazy, or inebriated. They were United States Life-Savers and they were actually paid to go out into rough wild seas, sea so dangerous ships were wrecking and people were drowning. Of course, with a team of United States Life-Savers at work, considerably fewer people were drowning on wrecked vessels.

Life-Savers trained every day to go out into stormy seas. They swam. They practiced rowing and sailing. They even practiced capsizing their boat in the water and then righting it again so that they would be prepared were that situation ever to occur during a rescue.

They also had special equipment. The larger of the two boats used by the Life-Saving Service (called a lifeboat), was self-righting and self-bailing. So if the boat capsized or took on water, it would uncapsize and bail itself out. The suits life-savers wore were rubber and rather similar to modern day wet-suits in that they provided mobility and allowed exposure to cold water without endangering the wearer. And for close-to-shore rescues, life-savers even had equipment that allowed them to pull people from wrecked vessels without the life-savers ever leaving the beach.

I'll have more information for you about the Life-Saving Service next month, but I wanted to introduce everyone to this little-known, yet very important agency of the past. Have a blessed day, and thanks for stopping by the Christian Fiction Historical Society!

*****

A mother of two young boys, Naomi Rawlings spends her days picking up, cleaning, playing and, of course, writing. Her husband pastors a small church in Michigan’s rugged Upper Peninsula, where her family shares its ten wooded acres with black bears, wolves, coyotes, deer and bald eagles. Naomi and her family live only three miles from Lake Superior, where the scenery is beautiful and they average 200 inches of snow per winter, and she is looking forward to the release of her next book, in January 2014. For more information about Naomi, please visit her website at www.NaomiRawlings.com.

The 1913 Life-Saving Rescue of the L.C. Waldo

Hi Everyone,

It's great to be back with you all today. For the past several months, I've been telling you about the United

States Life-Saving Service, which ran from 1848 until 1915 for the purpose of rescuing sailors and passengers stranded on wrecked vessels. Modern technology and conveniences like radios and helicopters and speed boats that are used by the current Coast Guard were not available in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, so the Life-Savers relied on special equipment, rigorous training, and manual labor to preform their duties.

Today I want to tell you about the real life rescue of the L.C. Waldo, which occurred only a hundred miles from where I live.

In November of 1913, the Great Lakes Region experienced the strongest storm (or series of storms) ever on record. This "Freshwater Hurricane" blew winds of about 70 mph coupled with temperatures of about 24 degrees Fahrenheit across Lake Superior. The L.C. Waldo was a 450 foot freighter loaded with ore and bound for Lake Erie when the storm hit.

The Waldo faced  winds and seas so harsh that the pilot house and was torn away and the steering damaged. The master of the Waldo attempted to steer the mammoth steamer to shelter by slipping into the large bay behind Lake Superior's Keweenaw Peninsula. But in attempting to reach L'anse Bay, the vessel ran aground on Gull Rock, a little patch of rock and reef two miles off the coast of Michigan. The Waldo then broke in two, and the crew took shelter in the forward part of the steamer, where the freezing waves and spray soon formed a wall of ice that sealed them inside. The 22 men crew, two women, and dog aboard then endured almost four days being stuck inside the hull of the steamer without food as they waited for rescue.

The Eagle Harbor Life-Saving Station, 30 miles away, learned of the wreck the next day. Their larger boat (the lifeboat) was under repair, so the crew set out in the smaller surfboat. They made it only 8 miles before the ice buildup on the boat forced them to turn around. Rumor says that some of these men were actually frozen to the ropes on the boat when they returned and had to be cut out by townsfolk. For the next day, the Eagle Harbor Lifesavers worked furiously to repair the lifeboat so that they could head back out to rescue the crew of the Waldo.

The Portage Life-Saving Station, located 60 miles from the Waldo, didn't learn of the the steamer's wreck until the following day. With their lifeboat in tact, the Portage Keeper left for Gull Rock, opting to take the longer route through L'anse Bay, which afforded more protection from the elements by going around the back side of the Keweenaw Peninsula. The keeper also arranged for a tugboat to meet them at the mouth of the Portage Waterway and pull the lifeboat the rest of the way to the wreck.

Both the Portage Lifesavers and the Eagle Harbor Lifesavers arrived at the Waldo in the early morning on November 11, reaching the wrecked steamer within minutes of each other. The lifesavers used axes to cut away at the built up ice sealing that sealed the crew inside the hull and saved everyone aboard, even the dog.

For their bravery, the lifesavers from both stations were awarded Gold Lifesaving Medals for their heroism.

So there you have it, a real life story of true lifesavers, and hopefully a good example of why the United States Life-Saving Service was so important.

If you missed some of the previous posts on the United States Life-Saving Service and are interested in reading more, here's a list:

• Introduction
• Stations
• Beach Rescues
• Water Rescues

*****

Naomi Rawlings is mom to two young boys, a wife to her wonderful husband, an author for Love Inspired Historical, and an avid reader. She and her family live in Michigan’s rugged Upper Peninsula, where they get over 200 inches of snow per winter and share their ten wooded acres with black bears, wolves, coyotes, deer, and bald eagles. Because of her romance novel addiction (and the alarmingly high number of books she devours per week) she started a website for inspirational romance lovers like herself:  www.inspirationalromanceratings.com. Naomi is looking forward to the release of her next book, The Wyoming Heir, in January 2014. For more information about Naomi or her books, please visit her website at www.naomirawlings.com.

The United States Life-Saving Service: Water Rescues

Hi Everyone,

I'm glad to be back with you today, talking some more about the United States Life-Saving Service. For a brief review before we delve back in, the United States Life-Saving Service ran from 1848 until 1915 for the purpose of rescuing sailors and passengers stranded on wrecked vessels. If you've missed posts the past three months, I have discussed:

• An Introduction
• Stations
• Beach Rescues

Today we're talking about one of perhaps the most fascinating aspects of the United States Life-Saving Service: Water Rescues.

Remember that the daring men who sacrificed both their time and safety to dart into storm-ravaged waves and save others were not as well equipped as the modern day Coast Guard with its helicopters and radios. But they did have some specially designed items that helped them brave dangerous storms.

The USLSS used two different boats to perform water rescues. When a ship foundered at sea, too far away to be reached with the aid of a Lyle Gun and Beach Apparatus, either a surfboat or lifeboat would be taken out to the spot of the wrecked ship during dangerous storms.  

The Surfboat:
The surfboat was the smallest of the two boats used. It extended 26 feet in length with a shallow

bottom designed to skim effortlessly over the tops of angry waves. The life-savers used oars to propel it. These boats would have been used for wrecks within rowing distance and were sometimes pulled on a cart over stormy beaches to a shipwreck sight.

Though 26 feet may seem small when you consider this boat would pull alongside a vessel up to eight times larger, the surfboat's size and light weight allowed it to be easily steered and maneuvered  A larger boat couldn't get close enough to a wrecked ship to rescue stranded sailors and passengers without forcing them to swim (a death sentence for most women). These small surfboats, however, could pull alongside a foundering ship with ease, as illustrated below.

The earlier versions of surfboats would be similar to any normal rowboat or dingy, but as the United States Life-Saving Service grew in importance, new developments were made until these boats were actually self-bailing and self-righting. (Meaning they would drain water on their own and flip back over if capsized).

The Lifeboat:

The lifeboat was the larger of the two vessels used by life-savers and could be fitted with sails, allowing the men to make rescues for as far as 50 miles. The design originated in England, and most life-savers were skeptical of the boat at first, saying it was too big and heavy to be of any use in a storm. 

However, the lifeboat soon proved itself valuable. It would zip out of the harbor in seas so violent that steam-powered vessels and tugs couldn't leave shelter. It was also self-righting and self-bailing from the very beginning, allowing the men manning it to focus solely on sailing through rough seas and rescuing stranded men and women, rather than spending time and effort to bail water or fretting it might capsize. 

Can you imagine heading out into stormy seas in a little 26 foot boat propelled by nothing but your oar and the oars of the other six men in the boat? I certainly can't. (Probably a good thing I'm not a life-saver living 120 years ago, right?) But many brave men did, and they saved countless lives because of their daring. 

This post wraps up most of my knowledge about the historic United States Life-Saving Service, but next month, on August 21, I have a very dramatic, real life rescue to share with you. It took place only a few hours from where I live and involves a blizzard so bad and with such thick ice that the life-savers had to be cut out of their surfboat after their first failed rescue attempt. 

Have no fear, though. Everything turns out well in the end. 

*****

A mother of two young boys, Naomi Rawlings spends her days picking up, cleaning, playing and, of course, writing. Her husband pastors a small church in Michigan’s rugged Upper Peninsula, where her family shares its ten wooded acres with black bears, wolves, coyotes, deer and bald eagles. Naomi and her family live only three miles from Lake Superior, where the scenery is beautiful and they average 200 inches of snow per winter, and she is looking forward to the release of her next book, The Wyoming Heir, in January 2014. For more information about Naomi, please visit her website at www.NaomiRawlings.com.

The United States Life-Saving Service: Beach Rescues

by Naomi Rawlings

Hi Everyone,

I'm glad to be back with you today, talking some more about the United States Life-Saving Service. For a brief review before we delve back in, the United States Life-Saving Service ran from 1848 until 1915 for the purpose of rescuing sailors and passengers stranded on wrecked vessels. If you've missed posts the past two months, I have discussed:

• An introduction to the United States Life-Saving Service
• Information about the life-saving stations and how they were funded

Today we're talking about one of my absolute favorite parts of the Unite States Life-Saving Service: The Beach Rescues.

Now remember, the daring men who sacrificed both their time and safety to dart into storm-ravaged waves and save others were not as well equipped as the modern day Coast Guard with its helicopters and radios. But the did have some specially designed items that helped them brave dangerous storms.

The Beach Apparatus: The beach apparatus refers to the cart and equipment life-savers would use for a shore to ship rescue. In instances where a wreck occurred close to shore, the life-savers would not use a lifeboat or surfboat to rescue stranded sailors and passengers. Instead they would pull a cart that carried their rescue equipment along desolate, storm swept beaches to the sight of the wreck. Keep in mind that most life-saving stations didn't have horses, so the cart was pulled by the surfmen, and in very wet, dangerous conditions.

Sketch of beach apparatus being pulled during a storm

Beech apparatus being used for routine weekly drills

The Lyle Gun: Once the life-savers reached the site of the wreck, they needed a way to get a lifeline to the sinking ship. Fortunately they didn't have to personally go into the waves for this. Instead they used a Lyle gun (think of a small cannon no longer than a man's forearm), which could shoot a rope nearly 700 feet to the floundering ship. Once the sailors on the ship secured the rope, a pulley system was set up, which allowed the life-savers to transport people well above the waves and to the safety of the beach.

Lyle gun

Lyle gun being fired from shore

The Breeches Buoy: The most common item used to transport sailors over the stormy sea was the breeches buoy. I'm sure you've seen similar the buoyant life rings still in use today. Breeches buoys were life rings with shortpants to hold a person's legs and ropes that connected the buoy to the lifeline and allowed a person to be pulled to shore.

British painting of rescue using breeches buoy

Sketch of man in breeches buoy

Breeches buoy being sent from shore to ship

The Life Car: The other piece of equipment used for beach rescues was called a life car. This little car wasn't nearly as common as the breeches buoy, and it looked something like a mini submersible capsule or possibly even a submarine. The top of it sealed so that the passengers were kept away from the water, and it was designed to carry 4-5 people at once. However, some stories exist of eleven people cramming themselves into the tiny life car.

Sketch of life car

Okay, I think I've about exhausted our topic for today, but goodness, can you imagine clinging to a breeches buoy as you're pulled over a churning sea? Its not an experience I hope to ever have myself. But I'm glad these brave life-savers were able to rescue others. Equally amazing to me is the Lyle gun. I've seen one of these personally (along with a life car, breeches buoy, and beach cart) and that little Lyle gun is SMALL. Not any bigger than the length of my forearm. It's amazing something so small can be so powerful.

All right. I'll be back again in July to talk about the water rescues the life-savers would preform. And then in August I hope tell you about a really astounding water rescue that took place not to far from where I live.

*****

A mother of two young boys, Naomi Rawlings spends her days picking up, cleaning, playing and, of course, writing. Her husband pastors a small church in Michigan’s rugged Upper Peninsula, where her family shares its ten wooded acres with black bears, wolves, coyotes, deer and bald eagles. Naomi and her family live only three miles from Lake Superior, where the scenery is beautiful and they average 200 inches of snow per winter, and she is looking forward to the release of her next book, The Wyoming Heir, in January 2014. For more information about Naomi, please visit her website at www.NaomiRawlings.com.

The United States Life-Saving Service: Stations

by Naomi Rawlings

Hi Everyone,

I'm back again, and when I did my post last month about the United States Life-Saving Service, I didn't know how many people would be interested in the topic. I mean, the USLSS (abbreviation) isn't something you hear about too often. But I had such an overwhelming response--and so much more information to share--that I wanted to do another post.

For a brief review before we delve back in, the United States Life-Saving Service ran from 1848 until 1915 for the purpose of rescuing sailors and passengers stranded on wrecked vessels. Modern technology and conveniences like radios and helicopters and speed boats that are used by the current Coast Guard were not available in the late nineteenth century, so the Life-Savers relied on special equipment, rigorous training, and manual labor to preform their duties. Visit last month's post for a more in depth introduction to the United States Life-Saving Service.

About the Stations:

When it was first created, the United States Life-Saving Service established stations on the Atlantic Ocean in places with a high incidence of ship wrecks, mainly from Massachusetts in the north to New Jersey in the south.

But even though the USLSS was started in 1848, it was vastly ignored and underfunded until after the Civil War. Actually it was ignored until 1870, when strong Atlantic storms wrecked many vessels and hundreds of lives were lost. Newspapers then started calling for better equipped life-saving stations. Take a look at this illustration by the cartoonist Thomas Nast.

Caption: Death on Economy--"I suppose I must spend a little on life-saving service, life-boat stations, life-boats, surf-boats, etc.; but it 

is too bad to be obliged to waste so much money".

So before long, a new head of the USLSS was appointed in Washington DC. His name was Sumner I Kimball, and he fought rigorously for more funding and is credited for the success that the Life-Saving Service saw until 1915, when it merged with the Coast Guard.

By the end of the 1870's, stations had been established not just in New England, but on the southern coast of the Atlantic, down into the Carolinas, Georgia, and even Florida. Stations were also established on the Great Lakes, which was at the zenith of it's shipping days.

The number of life-savers employed by each station varied according to local needs, but most stations had 6 surfmen and a keeper. Here's some pictures of historic Life-Saving Stations and their crews.

Michigan Station

Massachusetts Station

California Station

Thanks for joining me today! Next month I'll tell you more about the Life-Savers, specifically equipment the surfmen used on their rather dramatic rescues.

*****

A mother of two young boys, Naomi Rawlings spends her days picking up, cleaning, playing and, of course, writing. Her husband pastors a small church in Michigan’s rugged Upper Peninsula, where her family shares its ten wooded acres with black bears, wolves, coyotes, deer and bald eagles. Naomi and her family live only three miles from Lake Superior, where the scenery is beautiful and they average 200 inches of snow per winter, and she is looking forward to the release of her next book, in January 2014. For more information about Naomi, please visit her website at www.NaomiRawlings.com.