Badger turns 72 today

The Badger in the 1950s. Photo from Mason County Historical Society.

By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief

LUDINGTON — The SS Badger turns 72 years ago today. On March 21, 1953, the 410-foot Badger made its maiden voyage from Ludington to Milwaukee. It was the last of the great cross-lake ferries built for service on Lake Michigan, a tradition that began in Ludington 150 years ago this year.

In 1951, the C&O Railroad asked for bids on a pair of ferries similar to the City of Midland 41, but slightly larger and equipped for larger passenger loads. The 406-foot long “41” had entered service for the Pere Marquette Railway in 1941. Six years later the PM RR was absorbed into the C&O.

The Christy Corporation of Sturgeon Bay, Wis. was awarded the contract for a low bid of about $5 million for each of the two ships. It was estimated that the C&O saved about $1 million by ordering two ferries. The price of each ship was about double of what the City of Midland had cost and almost four times what the City of Saginaw and City of Flint had cost.

  Specifics of the ships were prepared by L.H. Kent of the C&O with naval architect R.A. Steam designing them. Like the City of Midland, the ships were to carry 34 railroad cars each and were designed with very passenger accommodations, each with 44 outside and 16 inside cabins and a lounge seating 200 on the main passenger deck. On the boat deck was to be a dining room which could be set up as a cafeteria or as a normal restaurant. Both ships were designed with Skinner four-cylinder compound Unaflow engines, giving each boat a horsepower of about 7,650, the first steeple compounds of the Unaflow design ever built.

The Badger during its launching in September 1952. Photo from Mason County Historical Society.

The first of the two ferries, the SS Spartan, was launched without fanfare on Jan. 4, 1952.. The C&O preferred to hold a double ceremony when both ships were completed. For this reason, a ceremony was held for both ships when the Badger was launched on Sept. 6, 1952.

The Spartan was named in honor of the athletic teams of Michigan State College (Michigan State became a university in 1955 and its name did not change officially until 1964).

Sarah Hannah, wife of Michigan State President John Hannah, acted as ship’s sponsor and christened the Spartan.

The Badger was named in honor of the athletic teams of the University of Wisconsin. Charlotte Kohler, wife of Wisconsin Gov. Walter J. Kohler, Jr., acted as ship’s sponsor.

The Spartan and Badger were the largest and best equipped car ferries in the world. They were also the last coal-burning, passenger-carrying steamers ever built in the United States.

The Spartan and Badger marked the end of a 65-year tradition, which began with the Flint & Pere Marquette Railway break-bulk freighters, of numbering the ships. The crews of the ships, however, unofficially numbered the Spartan as “42” and the Badger as “43.” The linen on the ships was even marked with the numbers.

On March 16, 1953, a week before the SS Badger’s maiden voyage, its crew posed for a photograph on its bow. Seated centered, in front, is Capt. Bernard Robertson, the Badger’s first captain. Other officers included John Turner, first mate; J.E. Halden, second mate; Willis Cross, Jr., third mate; Sylvester Larsen, chief engineer; Raymond Hall, second assistant; and Kenneth Cartier, third assistant. Photo from Mason County Historical Society

The Spartan completed its sea trials on September 27, 1952 and was delivered to C&O on Oct. 23, 1952. It was the first car ferry to enter Ludington’s harbor since a strike idled C&O boats on July 4, 1952. The strike ended at noon on Oct. 25, 1952. Six hours later, the Spartan entered service when it departed Ludington for Kewaunee, Wisconsin, under the command of Capt. Harold Altschwager. Chief Engineeer was Anton Nielson. Capt. Harold Altschwager was accompanied by his father, Capt. Arthur Altschwager, who retired in 1949 after 30 years of service to the Ludington car ferries.

The Badger made its maiden voyage on March 21, 1953 under the command of Capt. Bernard Robertson. Other officers included John Turner, first mate; J.E. Halden, second mate; Willis Cross, Jr., third mate; Sylvester Larsen, chief engineer; Raymond Hall, second assistant; and Kenneth Cartier, third assistant.

In the 1960s, railroad traffic around Chicago became more efficient. The completion of the interstate freeway system also meant a significant reduction in automobile traffic. In the late 1960s, the effort began to eliminate cross-lake ferry services in all three of the Lake Michigan services, the Grand Trunk in Muskegon, Ann Arbor Railroad in Frankfort and C&O in Ludington.

In the mid-1970s, the C&O decided that the car ferries were no longer profitable to operate and petitioned the Interstate Commerce Commission to allow it to abandon the ferry routes. There were only three ferries left in service by this point: the City of Midland 41, the Badger, and the Spartan. In 1978, C&O (Chessie System) was granted permission to systematically eliminate its ferry routes. There was no longer a need for three ferries, and on Sept. 10, 1979 the Spartan was laid up in Ludington. In spring 1980, it was steamed up again to run as part of a lease agreement with the Ann Arbor Railroad, then operated by the Michigan Interstate Railway, out of Frankfort, but was abandoned after it was discovered Frankfort harbor was too shallow for the Spartan. The ship was tied up at Ludington’s number 3 1/2 slip and then moved to Number 2 1/2 slip.

The City of Midland and Badger remained in operation.

Railcars being loaded onto the Badger.

On July 1, 1983, the Chessie System ended its car ferry service. It sold the three remaining ships to Ludington businessmen Glen Bowden and George Towns, who formed the Michigan-Wisconsin Transportation Co. with an effort to continue cross-lake rail ferry service. M-WT’s flagship was the City of Midland at that time, which operated regular routes to Kewaunee. The service attempted to continue a route to Milwaukee, emphasizing passenger and automobile service, but that effort only lasted one summer season.

In 1987, a U.S. Coast Guard inspection discovered that the City of Midland’s boiler mounts had deteriorated and needed replacement. Rather than repairing the City of Midland, M-WT chose to instead refurbish the Badger. In November 1988 the 41 made its last voyage and the Badger re-entered regular service.

Unfortunately, the rail ferry service was not sustainable and on Nov. 16, 1990, M-WT laid up the Badger, ending 93 years of railway car ferry service out of Ludington and 115 years of cross-lake service. It also meant the end of cross lake service on all of Lake Michigan as service had already ended for the Ann Arbor Railroad fleet based out of Frankfort and the Grand Trunk Railroad fleet based out of Muskegon.

M-WT filed for bankruptcy.

On July 9, 1991, Charles F. Conrad, a Ludington native and Holland, Mich. entrepreneur purchased the three ferries for $500,000. Conrad, who worked on the Ludington ferries when he was younger, had a dream of continuing the tradition focusing on passenger and automobile/commercial vehicle traffic. He also chose to return service to Manitowoc, Wisconsin, which had been abandoned when the C&O sold the fleet.

The chosen ship was the Badger, as it had already undergone refurbishment.

In May 1993 the Badger returned to service as part of Lake Michigan Carferry Service, operating between May and October between Ludington and Manitowoc (the train ferries operated year-round to Kewaunee, Milwaukee and Manitowoc). In addition to Conrad, Lake Michigan Carferry was owned by Ludington businessmen Jim Anderson and Don Clingan. Conrad retired in 1993 and his son-in-law, Robert Manglitz, became the third partner. Conrad passed away on Feb. 9, 1995.

In 1997, the City of Midland was converted to the barge, Pere Marquette 41. Along with the tugboat MT Undaunted, the two vessels formed Pere Marquette Shipping. The Spartan remained idle and has been used as a parts vessel for the Badger, since their engines are identical and unique.

In 2020, LMC and Pere Marquette Shipping were purchased by Interlake Maritime Services, based out of Middleburg Heights, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. Interlake owns one of the largest freighter fleets on the Great Lakes, along with the Original Soo Locks Boat Tours in Sault Sainte Marie, Mich.

The Badger is the largest Great Lakes car ferry ever built. It is the official cross-lake extension of US 10 and has received several historic accolades including being listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009 and being designated a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service in 2016. In 1996, its propulsion system was designated a mechanical landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and in 2002 it was named Ship of the Year by the Steamship Historical Society of America.

The Badger’s 2025 sailing season begins Friday, May 16. It is scheduled to go into dry-dock in Sturgeon Bay the end of April to undergo a propeller shaft bearing repair.

The Badger in 2024. Photo by Rob Alway.

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