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Courtesy Isle Royale Ferry Line
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The sleek, speedy Isle Royale Queen IV represents the evolution of several generations providing ferries from Copper Harbor, Michigan, to Isle Royale.
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Courtesy Isle Royale Ferry Line
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Ferryman and entrepreneur Charles Kauppi carried passengers in the 40-foot Water Lily between Copper Harbor, Michigan, and Isle Royale.
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Courtesy Isle Royale Ferry Line
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American Freedom became the Isle Royale Queen IV. At her arrival in Escanaba in 2004 were, from left, Miranda Davis (the author’s granddaughter who works in the business), his sons Don Jr. and Ben, Ben’s brother-in-law Tom Valli and the author.
by Donald Kilpela Sr.
I first sailed to Isle Royale in 1945 at age 15, aboard a small, elegant passenger ferry named the Copper Queen, owned and operated by Charles Kauppi of Copper Harbor, Michigan.
We intended to take a large family party to Isle Royale: my Dad, my two sisters and me (on vacation from Detroit), my uncles Jack and Bill Kilpela of the Keweenaw Peninsula and one or two of Jack’s kids.
We arrived at the Kauppi dock only to discover that Copper Queen was already filled to capacity. Speaking in Finnish, Kauppi’s native tongue, Uncle Jack pleaded with the fisherman-captain, whom he knew well, whom everyone seemed to know well.
Uncle Jack lived in Calumet, 35 miles south of Copper Harbor. Jack used every argument he could to get on that boat. He even tried, “We go to the same church.” (I later learned that Kauppi didn’t attend any church, which explains why that appeal failed.)
But Uncle Jack finally found Kauppi’s soft spot: “My brother drove 600 miles for this trip.”
Kind as he was, Kauppi relented and stuffed us aboard.
Since then I’ve made hundreds of trips between Copper Harbor and the island - 56 statute miles. I came to own the ferry service. But that first trip still stands out in my memory as one of the roughest trips I ever endured.
The passenger area of Copper Queen was low in the boat; they sat at a level half under water, and there were no seats in the cabin. The wind blew and the waves increased. It looked like it might be a long ride.
During the trip, Uncle Bill took me to the galley, forward and a few steps below the main cabin deck. He coaxed me into eating sandwiches and crackers to keep me from becoming seasick. It worked; I never felt ill. Later I discovered that I don’t have any propensity to seasickness, even during rough crossings as captain of the Isle Royale Queen II and Queen III.
After that overnight trip in 1945, I knew I would return to Isle Royale. But I waited for 23 years to take my own family there. My wife, Elizabeth, and I brought our children in 1968. We returned every year thereafter, until we bought the ferry that sailed from Copper Harbor, the Isle Royale Queen II, in 1971.
A lot had changed for the island.
The process of making Isle Royale a national park began in 1922 when several Michigan citizens promoted the idea. By March 1931, President Herbert Hoover signed legislation authorizing Isle Royale National Park, but it was officially established in 1940 by the signature of another president, Franklin Roosevelt.
Ferry service from Copper Harbor to Isle Royale began well before the island was fully established as a park. Charlie Kauppi started the first charter ferry in summer 1930; six boats have served since then. Kauppi, a commercial fisherman from Gay, brought his fishing boat, Water Lily, to Copper Harbor to run resort guests, campers and fishermen to the island.
There were several small but ruggedly beautiful lodges on Isle Royale at the time, but Kauppi faced the daunting task of establishing a new business in a remote town at the beginning of the Great Depression in a county that would soon reach 30 percent unemployment.
In short, Kauppi’s new business would be a normal man’s nightmare.
But Charlie Kauppi was not normal. Besides being a risk-taker, he was extraordinarily brave. Sailors have testified that he was one of the most courageous captains to sail Lake Superior, a man who would venture out on the open lake during treacherous storms to rescue a vessel in dire distress - often at the request of the U.S. Coast Guard Lifesaving Station in Eagle Harbor.
Kauppi was short and powerfully built. Taciturn in the way of Finns, he had a wonderful sense of humor. Halfway through a 6-1/2-hour crossing, he would go below to crank up the kerosene stove for his coffee. Before heading to the galley, he’d select a passenger, usually an elderly woman or man, to hold course while he got the coffee going. The results were always amusing, as the new wheelsman wove back and forth, leaving a long snaky wake behind the ferry.
Water Lily was not entirely suitable as a ferry. She was a converted gill-net fishing boat, 40 feet long with a wood hull. Kauppi operated her as a charter, though somewhat regularly. But Kauppi planned something new and better - a ferry to catch the eye and do the job.
Publicity surrounding the 1931 park authorization and efforts by The Detroit News and others to promote Isle Royale made business brisk for Kauppi. After sailing the cramped Water Lily for several years, he contracted with a local Keweenaw boatbuilder to fabricate the wood-hulled, 48-foot Copper Queen, a handsome yacht-like craft with a straight stem, a slightly rounded transom and a 48-passenger capacity.
But his charming Copper Queen, lacking watertight compartments below the waterline, could not be certified by the U.S. Coast Guard for a regular passenger schedule. Kauppi continued running charters, stopping at the lodge at Rock Harbor, at the lodges on Belle Isle and Tobin Harbor and at places with campgrounds. The price round trip to Isle Royale: $5; today, more than $100.
Kauppi wanted to run regular service. In 1938, he commissioned the 40-foot, wood-hull passenger Isle Royale Queen from Wiinikka Boat Works of Portage Entry. With watertight compartments, she was certified to operate a set schedule.
With his son, Willard (“Sully”), Kauppi operated Copper Queen and Isle Royale Queen, until his death in 1955. His family sold Copper Queen to the Grand Portage-Isle Royale Transportation Service running from Grand Portage, Minnesota, to Isle Royale. Re-christened Voyageur, she served another 15 years. The Kauppis sold Isle Royale Queen and the Copper Harbor business to Ward Grosnick.
Expansion at Rock Harbor Lodge increased the need for ferry service, so he contracted with the T.D. Vinette Boat Company of Escanaba to build the 57-foot Isle Royale Queen II, put into service in 1960. Designed by naval architect Walter Haertel of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, she had an unusually wide 18-foot beam. Her three Gray Marine engines cut two hours off the 6-1/2-hour crossing time.
Grosnick and his sons ran the Isle Royale Queen II until he retired in May 1971. He sold the boat and business to my family.
We were living in Livonia, a suburb of Detroit. I had relatives and friends in the Keweenaw Peninsula and had spent vacations in the Copper Country for decades. It was an easy decision to move north to take over the ferry, though I had no experience running such an operation.
My wife, Elizabeth, and I ran the business; our six children contributed from the start. Big changes came to Isle Royale soon after we arrived. In 1976, the park was designated as a National Wilderness Preservation System. More than 98 percent of the island was to be kept as wilderness. In 1981, the United Nations designated the park as an International Biosphere Reserve, giving it global significance in scientific and educational research.
More people began coming to Isle Royale; our business needed to grow. We added gift shops and we sought to replace the Queen II. Unsuccessful in finding the right boat to cross Lake Superior, we hired naval architect Timothy Graul of Sturgeon Bay to design a 24-foot lengthening of the Queen II. Vinette Boat Company added a back cabin and raised passenger capacity from 57 to 100.
In spring 1989, the boat was re-christened Isle Royale Queen III. The lengthening improved her ability to sail in high seas without diving and corkscrewing - that plunging motion that brings on seasickness. Thus the amusing nicknames of Barf Barge or Chuck Wagon became less common.
In 2004, the family replaced the Queen III with a larger, faster boat. We bought a sleek vessel named the American Freedom in Cape Canaveral, Florida, and sailed to Copper Harbor via the Mississippi River, Illinois River and Lakes Michigan and Superior. Rechristened Isle Royale Queen IV, her maiden voyage to the island was June 20, 2005. Her length of 100 feet and beam of 20 feet gives a comfortable ride in all but the severest seas. Powered by three 12v71 turbo-charged Detroit diesels, she crosses in a little more than three hours.
I had retired from sailing a few years before we bought this beauty. My sons - Captains Don Jr., Bennett and John - now pilot her. So we continue the legacy started by that brave Finnish fisherman who, with a kind heart, once squeezed on one more family for a ride to Isle Royale.