Exit78 Photo of the Day #221 |
We came across this 1880s ship propeller in 2008 while exploring Door County, Wisconsin. It’s in a county park on the north side of Lake Michigan’s Sturgeon Bay, where Sturgeon Bay opens up into Green Bay. When we visited, the park was named Olde Stone Quarry County Park, but has since been renamed George K. Pinney County Park.
Screw (propeller), stern frame and shaft of wooden steamship Mueller, her hulk burned and scuttled in Sturgeon Bay at the Leathem and Smith Quarry dock; photo September 17, 2008 (Pentax K10D)
“This stern frame cast iron propeller and steel shaft is believed to be from the lumber steamer Mueller which was built as Edwin S. Tice in 1887 at the Burger yards in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. She measured 159.9 x 32.1 x 12.5; 728 gross tons. The vessel had many owners. In 1901, she was sold to William Mueller & Company of Chicago at which time she was rechristened Mueller. Until the time she was laid up at Sturgeon Bay in 1932, she towed barges in the pulpwood trade on the Great Lakes under four additional owners. In 1933, she was dismantled in the “boneyard.” The hull was burned and scuttled about four miles north of the city of Sturgeon Bay in 1935.”2
The Mueller, a Great Lakes screw propelled wooden steamship, carrying a load of timber.
In 1900, the Edwin S. Tice “was purchased by the Mueller Cedar Company of Chicago, rebuilt and lengthened to 172 feet.and rechristened the Mueller. She was bought and sold numerous times and spent the majority of her time in the lumber trade and often carried other cargos such as coal. She was converted into a stone barge after 1930. In 1933 she was taken to Sturgeon Bay where she was dismantled and her machinery sold. The hull was burned and scuttled at the Leathem and Smith Quarry dock.”3
- Each photo in this series is an “original work” – a copyright term – of Michael Goad.
- Propeller and Shaft – HMdb.org, The Historical Marker Database
- Mueller (1887) – Wisconsin Shipwrecks
