J. L. HIGGIE

The tug J. L. HIGGIE in the late Eighties.

VIOLET

The same tug, renamed the VIOLET, undergoing repairs after being converted to a FISH TUG. The larger ship along side was the CUMMINGS.

VENEZUELA

The "VENEZUELA," in Round Lake, said to be the largest all-wooden ship ever to enter Lake Charlevoix.

THE HORSELESS CARRIAGE COMES TO CHARLEVOIX

The first automobile to make an appearance on the streets of Charlevoix was a CADILLAC, purchased by Dr. Robert Bruce Armstrong in 1905. He used it for several years to speed his many house calls, both in town and in rural areas. The farmers could hear the good doctor coming long before they could see him.

Driving then was not the comparatively east and simple thing it is today. Most drivers of that day were chicken-wire mechanics, woefully lacking in the finer technical knowledge, but great on ingenuity and improvisation. Tires were not the toughest things in the world, as they are today, and the most frustrating experience was the fixing of a flat. This happened with almost clock-like regularity, and usually entailed the patching of the inner tube.

Horses were spooked by the noisy monster, which caused many a run-a-way. Some said the horses were frightened by the spirits of unseen horses under the hood of the car. Others said they were only showing horse sense, that they could figuratively see the handwriting on the wall.

Dr. Armstrong and his CADILLAC pioneered every foot of road in the entire Charlevoix area, roads that the driver of todays skims over speedily and worry free.

In the above picture Dr. Armstrong, at the wheel of his CADILLAC, is about to take his four children for a ride. Beside the doctor is Phila, the youngest; Bruce, who later became a doctor; Helen, the oldest; and Dorothy.

PORTER

Having sought shelter from a Lake Michigan storm the schooner PORTER, tied up at a dock near Clinton Street, dries her sails.