The Chief

Railroad carferry Chief Wawatam at St. Ignace in either 1977 or 1978. The Chief was the last and greatest of the Mackinac Straits railroad ferries. By 1978, cross-strait rail traffic had been reduced to a trickle, and this ship's crossings were relatively rare. She'd retire in 1984, be cut down a few years later, and is now in service as a barge.

Since I didn't know our family had ever photographed her, discovering this snapshot was a bit of a shock.

I scanned a carousel of slides this afternoon. Except for this picture and a couple fine Marquette photographs, the set is pretty much a generic northern Michigan set. The box believes the photographs were taken by my brother, but there's some internal evidence that at least half, including this one, were likely taken by my sister. Regardless, this photograph was developed and made into a slide in May of 1978.

Debbie, Dick: Do either of you remember taking this? My best guess is that Debbie took the shot, from Sandy Kimbrough's car, just days before the set was developed.