The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1900-04-19
MANITOWOC AND THE GOOD
RICH LINE.
PERSONAL RECOLLECTicNS.

COIL w o. At tHht oiIiic hC "oo Sioi
on the Ward steamer Traveller running
between Milwaukee and New Buffalo
In 1855 he purchased from E. B. Ward
the steamer Huron and commenced op
Grating the Goodrich Line between Mil
waukee, Manitowoc and Two Rivers
| He sailed her himself and was his owl
clerk In the spring of 1857 he advised
Jas. A. Hodges and myself to come tC
Manitowoc and we did so. We acquired
the North Pier from K. K. Jones under
the firm name OF Johnston & Hodges
The North Pier was the busiest place in
town in those days, nearly all of the
shipping business of the port passing
over it, have seen fleet of twenty
vessels alongside loading and waiting tc
load. On the 4th of March, 1857, navi-
CATION opened by the arrival from Mil
waukee of the Goodrich steamer Huron,
Captain Sanford Morgan. The same
spring Capt Goodrich bought from E.
B. Ward the Steamer Comet and as
soon as the straits opened she came on
the line. She was commanded by Capt.
Fred Pabst with G. Hurson, clerk.
As business increased each year Capt.
Goodrich extended the line to Chicago
and either purchased or chartered from
L. b. Ward other steamers, notably the
Traveller, Arctic, Cleveland, Sam Ward,
Forester, Alpena, May Queen and Ga
zelle. The name of the line at that
time was the Clement Steamboat Co.,
Captain Stephen Clement President and
A. +. Goodrich manager and part own
er. They also had boats running to
Green Bay and all intermediate ports,
viz: the steamer Arctic, propellers,
Ogontz, ST. Joseph, Ottawa, Wabash
Valley, Truesdel, Oconto and Depero,
and the steamer Planet was on the Lake
Superior route. About 1865 Capt. Glenn
ent retired and the Goodrich Transpor-
tation Co. was formed, Capt T. G. But
lin, Superintendent. They continued to
run the boats to the North Pier till 1869
when the harbor being opened they
changed to the present dock in the river.
About 1860 Capt. Goodrich built his
first boats in Manitowoc They were
the propeller Union and the steamer
Sunbeam. The latter was intended to
be the sidewheel screw propeller Victor,
but proved failure and was changed
to the sidewheel steamer Sunbeam He
next built the steamer Northwest, a
large boat for the Lake Superior trade.
Then came in succession the side wheel
ers Corona, Manitowoc, Orion, Sheboy-
gan, Muskegon and Chicago also the
propellers Navarino, Menominee, and
City of Ludington. The Navarino was
burned at her dock in Chicago in the
great fire in 1871. Since the death of Capt.
Goodrich in 1886 there have been built at
Manitowoc by the present company the
propellers Racine and Indiana and the
City of Ludington and Men pminee have
been rebuilt and their names changed to
the Georgia and Iowa. There are other
fine boats on the line but they were not
built here. But Manitowoc has been
and still is the headquarters for the
boats, and all repairs, painting and out
fitting are done here.
Disasters occur on sea as well as ON
land and the Goodrich Line had some in
early years. Three of them were sad
on account of the loss of life. On the
9th Of April 1868, the steamer Sea Bird
was burned off Kenosha and Capt. John
Morrison, Clerk JAS A. Hodges, and
about thirty-five citizens Of Manitowoc
and some from other towns were lost.
Only two men We're saved from her.
About 1864 the steamer Sunbeam was
lost in storm on Lake Superior and
Captain VIM. Dougall, Clerk VIM Gard
ner, the crew and the passengers were
all lost, except one wheelsman, a half
breed India who fioated ashore on the
wheel house but he could not tell how
the boat was lost. On Oct. l6, 1880. the
steamer Alpena was lost on Lake Michi-
gan in a severe southwest storm and
Capt, Nelson Napier, Clerk Arthur
Haines, Steward Will Shepard and all
on board We're lost, tHaines and Shepard
We're Manitowoc boys Other steamers
were lost but no lives were lost on them.
The Orion was wrecked at Grand Haven.
the May Queen was burned ut Milwau-
kce and the Navarino at Chicago.
Up to 1870 all the boats used wood for
fuel and the farmers around Manitowoc
had Il cash market ut fair prices for all
the wood they could deliver ana each
year thousands Of dollars were paid to
them.
The Goodrich Line has been a great
benefit to Manitowoc | venture the
estimate (and do not think it too largel
that from 1870 10 present date. thirty
years, they have paid ont in this city
three millions Of dollars for labor and
materials used in building boats and in