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ran along the water to the black horizon, but on either side of this point the sky was brighter. The Northern Lights flickered far away over the wilderness, virgin and beautiful, and lying dark in the moonlight.

The following morning, Tuesday, we awakened to find the SOUTH AMERICAN near the Straits of Mackinac and heading for her stop at Mackinac Island. The weather continued beautiful although warm ashore. We were impressed with the vast reaches of water in the Straits, which had many forested islands looking quite untouched. We docked at Mackinac Island and went ashore to inspect this quaint and historic spot. We took a carriage ride around the island, much of it covered with pine forest through which we'd get an occasional glimpse of the blue water of the Straits. On our return, we inspected the magnificent Grand Hotel, one of the northland's classiest places, with its famed veranda stretching the full width and overlooking the water. The doormen wore scarlet-and-gold livery. The island had no automobiles on it and was an ideal place to bicycle. Bab and Willie took a bike ride along the shore while Rog and I inspected the old fort. Mackinac Island was one of the great French frontier outposts for a century prior to Wolfe's great victory on the Plains of Abraham in 1759. Then it was known as Michilmackinac, Mackinac being a shortened version of the Indian name. It was one of the most popular places for the "coureurs de bois" to use as a hopping-off place for their trading jaunts far out into the deep Indian country. The British took it over after Montcalm's defeat in 1759. Also, it figured in the career of Major Robert Rogers, who, as I recall it, was its commandant for a while--the man who turned traitor in the American Revolution and had been noted for his "Roger's Rangers." This is all the subject of Kenneth Roberts' great historical novel "Northwest Passage." There are several photos included here taken at Mackinac Island, one of them showing both the South American and North American docked there together, which is okay, but this same picture shows automobiles on the dock and this I cannot understand because they were supposedly banned on the island at that time as I recall it. This is also Willie's recollection. The NORTH AMERICAN was evidently returning to Buffalo from Duluth, as I believe she had a mid-week departure from Buffalo. We were conscious of the fact she had come down through the St. Mary's River from Lake Superior, through the Soo Locks into Lake Nicolet, and thence through the various waterways connecting with Lake Huron. We'd had a glimpse of some of these that morning and I think we may have decided right then that some day we'd take the cruise to Duluth, which we did in 1941 just a few months before Pearl Harbor. After leaving Mackinac Island, we passed the OCTARORA in the Straits, deciding that it didn't begin to come up to the SOUTH AMERICAN in looks, anyhow, its single funnel way aft and belching a curl of back smoke.

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