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Yup. That coal smoke line could be seen for miles. That fall ‘74, one afternoon the JB and EM ford were downbound Lake Huron n met the unbound Crapo just north of PT Huron. Had to close pilot house window so we could breathe😂. I lost sight of the bridge for a moment from all the near vicinity smoke. Wheeling the JB ford was a treat.held course very well. Can still smell that acrid smoke.

Growing up during the 60's I spent most weekends during the shipping season in Port Huron boatwatching and taking photos under the Blue Water Bridge. It was not uncommon to see 30+ boats a day pass by. Barges like the Swederope and Delkote were still in service as were the Canadian package freighters in and out of the CN dock at Point Edward.
I started sailing in 1974 and it was a rare day on the open lake when at least a half dozen or more Lakers weren't always in view and coal smoke painted the horizon.

There were vessel reporting stations at various points around the lakes in the days before radio and AIS. One of them was at the Straits. Each steamer and consort barge was assigned a specific whistle signal that identified it, and that signal would be blown when passing the reporting station. The Lake Carriers' Association regularly published a list of the assigned whistle signals - which included signals indicating fleet and specific ship. In the case of the large Pittsburgh Steamship Company which operated so very many ships, each ship would blow the fleet signal, a "class" signal and then the specific ship signal. I wish recordings of some of the beautiful steam whistles blowing those signals existed...

I often think the same thing about here in St. Clair and how neat it would have been here in the 60's - 70's. Didn't get real interested till the 80's, I would take those days back now too! Miss the old ships, amount of ships, and the normal one whistle as they pass. Even in the middle of the night.

I heard back in the day there were ship spotters at the Straits to track vessel passages. Did the ships have specific whistle patterns to aid in identification? Would say the Richard V Lindabury have it's own unique signature? Trying to tell the difference between the Irwin, Gov Miller at five miles might be tough. If so does anyone know what the Horace Johnson used. Oh to be at Mission Point for a day in the fifties...