The Three Sisters

 As with many good stories, no two accounts of the sinking of the Rouse Simmons are exactly the same.  I had a little diving experience a long time ago and have been interested in Great Lakes shipwrecks ever since.  One of Old Dog's sources contains a good photo of the wreck, and I noticed that the hull is largely intact and is sitting upright on the bottom.  This leads me to believe that the ship basically filled up with water and sank.  If the bow had been crushed or the hull had been broken in two, it would indicate that the ship might have fallen victim to The Three Sisters.  Legend has it that a storm sometimes produces three huge waves in a row, each one taller than the last.  The doomed ship rides up to the crest of each wave and then plunges down to the trough.  By the time it plunges down the last wave, it just keeps going until it hits bottom.  Modern Great Lakes freighters can be up to a thousand feet long, while the depth of the water seldom exceeds a few hundred feet.  I say it's a legend because I have never heard of an eyewitness account by a survivor. 

Cheboygan's paper mill has a long history dating back to the 1860s.  It has had a number of owners since then, some of whom went broke and abandoned their investment.  It had been closed for years when Charmin bought it in the late 1950s, shortly before Procter & Gamble bought Charmin.  I worked there from 1967 till they closed in 1990.  Three years later a former P&G manager bought the mill and restarted it.  This guy used to be my boss at a time when I was the department union steward.  We had some disputes, but I figured I was just doing my job as he was doing his.  I never held a grudge, but he apparently did and was reluctant to hire me back.  Some of my former colleagues eventually persuaded him to bring me in, at least temporarily, to help with the start-up.  I worked there a couple months and then was "laid off for lack of work", coincidently, about the same time some of the guys, unbeknown to me, were trying to bring the union back.  The union initiative failed, and the mill is still being run by that same guy, who now has been there longer than I was.

Waterfront property is prime real estate in these parts.  I don't know the proportion of seasonal homeowners to permanent residents, but many of the seasonal people become permanent upon their retirement.  Cheboygan is a nice place to live, but a poor place to make a living.  It used to be said that our biggest export was high school graduates.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.