Evening star., 1950-07-23
By Jessie Font Evons

feet to the level of Lake Superior.
Macarthur Lock is the newest
Of the four American locks. 1t
was built during World War II in
IA months at cost of $14 million,
and was dedicated and named for.
Gen. Douglas Macarthur on July
II, 1943. Other locks are the Poe,
Davis and Sabin. the. latter two
being the longest in the world.
Most of the passenger boats use
the Canadian lock.
Rainbow Division Reunion.
An extra service on the Royal
Blue. B. g. o. train overnight
from Washington to Detroit, is the
small cup Of coffee ION the COM
pany," served to dining car pas
sengers before they give their Or
derS.
In Detroit at the Book Cadillac
where met Mrs. C. Herndon
Robinson, of 1765 N street NV,
who is my fellow guest at Crag-
mere, summer home Of Mr.. and
Mrs. Henry Parsons Erwin on
Mackinac Island, the hotel was
surging with groups of the famous
Rainbow Division of World War
who had gathered for a reunion.
Their coming together was not
marked by the usual convention
fun, but rather by grave serious
ness.
We made the water leg of our
trip aboard the SIS. North Amer
ican. This vessel and her sister
ship, the South American, are the
queens" of the Georgian Bay
Line. There were $50 passengers
under Capt. George Durham.
The line hires college girls as
mattresses and college boys as
porters. bus boys and deck hands.
Our courteous deck attendant and
polisher of brass was David Braun
of the University of Illinois. His
CT brother, Richard. was top man
in the graduating class at Wharton
School of Finance, University of
Pennsylvania, last June. Now in
his sophomore year. David said
he hopes he will be able to get
farther along than his brother
did before my draft number
comes up." Meantime. he con-
siders himself lucky to hold a
summer Job. where he meets in
teresting people and gets exhila-
rating lake air and swell food"
Shore Line Is Impressive.
A memorable sight is Detroit's
shore line. It is not unlike New
York City's with its skyscrapers,
but here there are innumerable
grain elevators. Long, low craft
filled with ore, grain and pulp
wood make Detroit's port busy
one. They emphasize for me our
country's vast material resources
and industry's capacity to organ
ize them.
The st. Clair Flats extend near
ly IS miles along the St. Clair
Lake front and Is miles along the
st. Clair River and these we
passed before proceeding into
Lake Huron. They are more
significantly termed Detroit's
Venice of the North"
Here. upon made ground for
the most part, with intersecting
lagoons traversed by motor craft,
many of the city's wealthy fam
lilies have had summer homes for
over half century. The houses
range from elaborate, turreted,
mid-Victorian palaces to homes
of the more modern and func-
tional designs of today. Buzzing
along on motor road above the
shore line are Detroit's pride and
joy and her great source of in
dustrial wealth; namely, a count
less and endless procession of
automobiles. They look like sour
rying ants from the steamers
decks.
Bridge of Friendship.
Under the great Blue Water
Bridge even so big a ship as ours
passes with ease. Sometimes re-
ferred to as a Bridge of Inter-
national Friendship" it spans the
blue water from Point Huron to
Canada.
After a night-long cruise from
Detroit to Mackinac Island we
went ashore but our fellow pas
sengers proceeded to Munising,
Houghton and Duluth. We were
met by our host and hostess and
their son Hal, just back from a
western motor trip with several
Princeton classmates and pro-
fessor. Then, behind the Erwins'
thoroughbred, a mare named
Halcyon, we logged along in a
surrey with fringe on top up the
incline to Cragmere. We passed
tree-high lilac trees, which had
just dropped their wealth of
blooms, and snowy white birches
cleaning from the darker foliage
Of the pine woods. Automobiles
are not allowed upon the island,
so one walks, bicycles, rides
horseback or drives a horse.
The summer capital of Michigan
is here and Gov. Williams and Mrs.
Williams are in residence at the
large white-gabled frame house
overlooking the waterfront. They
attended the informal Sunday
night supper at the Mackinac
Island Yacht Club. Mrs. Williams
had previously headed a group
that prepared sandwiches and cof-
fee for the yachtsmen and crews