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St. Clair Freighter Walk Starting Point

You are vieweing item 20 of 23 in this tour.

This is a contributing entry for St. Clair Freighter Walk Starting Point and only appears as part of that tour.Learn More.

Welcome Built – 1894 80 ft. x 21 ft. x 9 ft. This propeller ferry was built at the Langell Shipyard for Baby and Dale (pronounced Bau-bee). She was a ferry from St. Clair, Michigan to Courtright, Ontario, and also carried salt from the Diamond Crystal Salt Company to Canadian trains for shipping east.


The ferry boat Welcome, built in St. Clair, carried passengers and cargo across the St. Clair River.

Boat, Water, Watercraft, Naval architecture

Boardwalk plaque for the Welcome showing its year built and length.

Font, Gas, Signage, Paint

You are now standing on the Boardwalk plaque for the Welcome. This point represents the bow of the Welcome. Looking back to the starting point plaque near the statue of the waving lady, you can envision the length of this Great Lakes ferry vessel.

St. Clair, by Charles Homberg, St. Clair Historical Commission, 2007; St. Clair Historical Museum and Research Center archives; Great Lakes Ships data base, Alpena County George N. Fletcher Public Library, Alpena, Michigan; Great Lakes Freighters by Rand Shackleton, Thunder Bay Press, 2003.