page_title: SS Western Reserve
hierarchical_section_title: SS Western Reserve
caption_attribution_description: English: Commemoration of the Western Reserve on Muskallonge Lake State Park sign
context_page_description: The SS Western Reserve was a propeller lake freighter that was constructed in 1890 by the Cleveland Shipbuilding Company for Peter G. Minch, a ship's captain and operator who was pioneering the industrialization of bulk carrier freight service on the Great Lakes. She had a length of 301 feet, a beam of 41 feet and drew 21 feet of water. She and a ship of similar dimensions and building history, the SS W.H. Gilcher, were two of the first lake freighters to be constructed out of steel plate. Her steel construction made it possible for the vessel to carry heavier loads of freight than her wooden rival steamships.
  The Western Reserve foundered on August 30, 1892, in Lake Superior. She had been traveling upbound in ballast to Two Harbors, a port serving the Minnesota iron ranges, for a load of iron ore. Of the 32 officers, men, and passengers aboard, 31 were lost and there was but one survivor, wheelsman Harry Stewart. Stewart made land on a desolate stretch of shoreline between Grand Marais and Deer Park on the Upper Peninsula of far northern Michigan, and lived. The list of those lost included the ship's owner, Peter Minch.
context_section_description: The SS Western Reserve was a propeller lake freighter that was constructed in 1890 by the Cleveland Shipbuilding Company for Peter G. Minch, a ship's captain and operator who was pioneering the industrialization of bulk carrier freight service on the Great Lakes.  She had a length of 301 feet, a beam of 41 feet and drew 21 feet of water.  She and a ship of similar dimensions and building history, the SS W.H. Gilcher, were two of the first lake freighters to be constructed out of steel plate.  Her steel construction made it possible for the vessel to carry heavier loads of freight than her wooden rival steamships.    
  The Western Reserve foundered on August 30, 1892, in Lake Superior.  She had been traveling upbound in ballast to Two Harbors, a port serving the Minnesota iron ranges, for a load of iron ore.  Of the 32 officers, men, and passengers aboard, 31 were lost and there was but one survivor, wheelsman Harry Stewart.  Stewart made land on a desolate stretch of shoreline between Grand Marais and Deer Park on the Upper Peninsula of far northern Michigan, and lived.  The list of those lost included the ship's owner, Peter Minch.  Upon being debriefed, Stewart's description of the metal fatigue and structural failure of the 1.5-year-old lake vessel created almost conclusive evidence that the shipbuilders had improperly used brittle steel contaminated with sulfur and phosphorus.  Coverage by The New York Times of the disaster was headlined: "The Steamer Broke in Two."  Eight weeks after the Western Reserve disaster, the W.H. Gilcher - which had been built at the same time with similar mill runs of steel plate - disappeared on northern Lake Michigan.  The disasters, loss of life of seamen and a well-known shipowner, and ensuing scandal led to permanent changes in the types of steel approved for use in U.S. and Canadian shipbuilding. Despite several searches, the wreck of the Western Reserve has never been located.
caption: A commemorative plaque of the Western Reserve in  Muskallonge Lake State Park
exif: {"Image Make": "PENTAX Corporation", "Image Model": "PENTAX Optio WPi", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Microsoft Windows Photo Gallery 6.0.6001.18000", "Image DateTime": "2009:10:01 11:22:56", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "2352", "Image XPKeywords": "[66, 0, 105, 0, 114, 0, 100, 0, 115, 0, 44, 0, 32, 0, 115, 0, 104, 0, 105, 0, ... ]", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 33, 0, 1, 0, 22, 0, ... ]", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "1/96", "Thumbnail YResolution": "1/96", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "7422", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5714", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/160", "EXIF FNumber": "33/10", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:05:12 23:10:45", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:05:12 23:10:45", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "17/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "63/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2112", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2816", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "6872", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "38", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Landscape", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "2", "EXIF Padding": "[]", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "28"}