Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1914-01-14
Two Brothers Brave Innum.
cradle PeflIs During
Winter

S%andusky, O., Jan. 13.-The com
bination freight and passenger steam
er Alcctt, the only boat in commits
scion since the navigation season on
the Great Lakes closed on Dec. /,
has now gone into winter quarters
here, and the 5000 residents Of the
Lake Erie islands section have settled
upon their annual four-mcnth period
Of isolation from the world.
Carriers Only Visitors.
The only human beings they will
e who are not of their own set are
the mail carriers Edward and Albert
Erney of Marblehead, known through.
out the archipelago as "the island
mail carriers"
Daily. Trips Made.
Under q contract with the govern
ment the Erney brothers made daily
trips with the mail between the main
land in the morning and returning in
the evening. AS long as the Olcott
is in commission their task is CON-
paratively easy but when the newt
able period Of isolation arrives they
are compelled to overcome great OBJ
stacles in order to carry out their
contract, upon the contamination OF
which depends the payment Of $1,000
annually, the compensation they are
allowed by Uncle Sam.
Some Of the island residents think
that $3.50 a month for the two men
is plenty for the work that is done,
but the department efforts to find
persons who will d. it for less have
been In vain.
When the last boat is laid up for
the winter the Erney brothers must
get across as best they can. Winter
In the islands section is Of the genu-
inc kind.
Some of the island residents think
yond a field of ice extending out
frcm Marblehead for a distance of
about five miles.
They keep within the South Pass
age, the most ~treacherous in the
Great Lakes region. Belond them is
another field of ice extending to the
Kelleys island shore, from which
travel to Middle Bass. Put-in-Bay,
North Bass and a number of other
smaller islands is not SO hazardous.
One day the brothers employ their
cail-carrying iceboat, Cold Wave, and
q lifeboat provided by the government
l~ife-saying station at Marblehead. The
next. perhaps they must depend up
on liferafts, which, like their life
beats, they tow on runners behind
their iceboat.
Faee Death Dozen Times.
Not q winter goes by but that the
Erneys face death half a dozen times.
Last February a lifegoat in which they
were returning to Marblehead from
kelleys Passage current and carried a
distance Of 10 miles to the Cedar
Point light, where it was dashed to
pieces. The two men managed to pull
themselves upon the lighthouse crib,
to be rescued by the Marblehead life
savers.
Occasionally the carriers take a
passenger or two with them, but ney-
er unless weather conditions are ia
vorable. Now and then an islander
is forced to travel to the mainland,
or some one is compelled TO travel to
the islands. Then they place their
lives in the hands CT the Erney broth
ers and trust to Providence.
There has been talk of transmitting
the mails to and from the islands in
an airship, but no aviator has been
found who is willing to undertake the
trip. Harry N. Atwood, the Boston
aviator, who located in Sandusky
some months ago, thought f~avorably
Of the plan at first, but the first days
Of December weather decided him
against it..
Not a few New Workers, in the en-
ploy Of J. H. Robinson, the New York
who is erecting the $1,000
300 Perry memorial at Put-in-Bay. are
on the island mail carriers
letters and newspapers.
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nor INV nrTnnNC s