Great Lakes History Log
Journalist, writer, photographer, historian Rob Alway tells the stories of the history of the Great Lakes region, from water and land. Great Lakes History Log is presented by Sable Points Media, a 501(c)(3) non-profit news and information organization, in partnership with Media Group 31, publisher of Mason County Press, Oceana County Press, and Great Lakes Boat Blog.
Episodes
12 episodes
Ida Anderson - Ludington's Titanic Connection
A small and shiny marker sits at the corner of a family plot at Lakeview Cemetery in Ludington, Michigan. There actually is no grave for this person, instead the marker serves as a memorial for a woman who lost her life in what is the most famo...
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13:21
Murder on Crystal Lake
A bizarre murder took place along the shores of Crystal Lake near Scottville, Michigan, in 1934. The victim was 62-year-old Bertha Bean, also known as Bertha Comley. The sole suspect was Bean’s commonwealth husband, 68-year-old Charles Comley,....
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Season 1
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Episode 11
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12:08
The Sinking of the Pere Marquette 18, Sept. 9, 1910
On Sept. 9, 1910, the worst disaster to strike the Pere Marquette Railway's carferry fleet occurred. The Pere Marquette 18, the company's flagship while under way between Ludington, Michigan and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was the first carferry s...
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Season 1
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Episode 10
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31:59
The Communists of Mason County, Michigan and the 1934 Custer Farmers' Riot
The Great Depression was especially harsh on the farming community. In Mason County, Michigan, George Casper latched on the communist cause by first running for state representative and then later trying to get farmers to join his political mov...
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Season 1
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Episode 9
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12:37
The Rescue of the Rutter After It Lost Its Rudder
In 1879, Capt. Frederick Kendrick was awarded the United States Gold Lifesaving Medal for his heroic act of saving 44 men from the schooner J.H. Rutter off the shore of Ludington, Michigan near what is now the north end of Stearns Park.
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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10:49
The 1993 Unsolved Murder of Melissa Simmons
In 1993, 15-year-old Melissa Simmons was found, murdered, in the Pere Marquette River in Mason County, Michigan. Since that time, the unsolved murder has haunted the small town of Scottville and the surrounding area.
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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12:41
Audrey Robertson Boals - First Daughter of the S.S. Badger
Audrey Robertson Boals comes from Great Lakes shipping royalty. Her father, Bernard "Bunny" Robertson was the first captain of the carferry S.S. Badger, commanding the ship from 1953 until he retired in 1969. Her grandfather, Charles Robertson,...
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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42:56
Did Ernest Hemingway Spend the Night in Scottville?
In 1917, the Hemingway took the family Ford Model T north from their home in Oak Park, Illinois to their family cottage on Walloon Lake near Petoskey, Michigan. The road trip took four nights. One of those stops was in my hometown, Scottville, ...
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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11:15
The Killing of Ludington Lumber Baron Luther Foster
The 1876 killing of Luther Foster is Mason County, Michigan's oldest unsolved murder.
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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8:31
The 1898 Free Soil, Michigan Triple Murder/Suicide
In 1898, the most vicious crime in the history of Mason County, Michigan took place in Free Soil Township. A man killed his his sister, brother-in-law, and a teenaged boy, then killed himself. But, he spared a sleeping baby.
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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24:11
The Pere Marquette 16, the PM Railway's Only Wooden Car Ferry
The service of the SS Pere Marquette 16, the only wooden car ferry to operate in the Pere Marquette Railway's fleet, based in Ludington, Michigan, was a mixture of historical significance -- both good and bad.
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Season 1
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Episode 2
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19:18
Goodrich Transportation Company's SS City of Ludington
In 1874, the Flint & Pere Marquette Railway reached Ludington on the shores of Lake Michigan. In anticipation of a lucrative contract the railroad, which had plans to transport freight across the Lake, the Goodrich Transportation Company of...
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Season 1
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Episode 1
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12:11
