Pere Marquette Ferry Dock in Port Huron, MI

(Satellite, 20 photos)

There are more photos and location information in PM and GTW Ferries.

Friends of the Pere Marquette Railroad Bridge, Inc. posted

This photo is older than 1931 because that is when the swing bridge was replaced with an Abt trunnion bridge.

Satellite

While trying to figure out if photo's view is looking north or south, I noticed on Google Maps that there still exists a carferry apron. Taking a closer look at the photo, you can see two aprons in the left background.

Upper-left corner of the above photo at photo resolution

Global Earth

I figured that this yard would have been abandoned by the time of the oldest satellite image, 1999, on Google Earth. But to my surprise, the yard was not only still used, there was a ferry docked at the remaining apron. Looking at Historic Aerials, the 1951 image shows both aprons are intact.  The 1964 aerial shows the northern one is no longer used and the apron has been removed. By 1973, they have filled in the shoreline to today's configuration.

These aprons and their tracks is another opportunity to check the accuracy of the USGS topo maps. Below is an excerpt from a map labeled as 1940 at 24,000 scale. It shows the two indents, but not accurately. The northern indent has the profile of 1973, not 1951. Furthermore, there is a track heading to the southern apron, but not to the northern apron.

USGS

Peggy Lindquist, 2016, cropped

Craig Brenton posted four photos with the comment: "Port Huron US to Canada carferry."

seung won lee, 2017

Marcie T, 2017

Peter Michael Photography Studio, 2017

Street View

I'm preserving some current images because a street view indicates they are doing construction in the vicinity. If they do develop the land, I hope they preserve this history.

Street View

Satellite