The Keystone State
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Steamer Key Stone State off Point aux Barques Light, Michigan. Robert McGreevy
Oil on canvas 20 x 30 inches, private collection. NOTE: Various spelling can be found in historic records showing two different spellings of this vessel: Key Stone State & Keystone State. They are used interchangeably on this website.
Steamer Key Stone State, November 1861 - From Robert McGreevy's Lost Legends of the Lakes
"Among the many vessels lost along the shores of Huron County, perhaps none were more majestic or left less evidence of their passing than the wooden sidewheel steamers of the 1850s. Originating with the need to transport large numbers of passengers west, they continued to expand in size until they were ultimately displaced by competing westward bound railroads.
The Key Stone State, built by Bidwell & Banta of Buffalo in 1849, will always be linked to the history of Huron County because of her tragic loss off Pointe aux Barques in 1861. At one time the second largest passenger vessel on the lakes at 1,460 tons, nearly 300' long, and a width of 63', she was powered by massive sidewheels and a 500 h.p. walking beam engine. When new, she featured 70 large state rooms, a 36 berth ladies cabin, and two large steerage cabins for immigrants. Her freight deck had capacity for 6,000 barrels of cargo and was noted to be roomy and accessible.
Predictably, after only six seasons, the need for such large ships began to wane and, like many of her contemporaries, she became far too costly to operate and was taken out of service in 1855. In lay up for the next six years, with only minimum maintenance, it seemed likely that her career on the lakes was over.
But all this abruptly changed with the outbreak of hostilities between the Northern States and the Confederacy. Persuaded by the immediate need for shipping brought on by the Civil War, the Key Stone State was pulled out of layup, refurbished by her original builders, and made ready for a trip to Milwaukee. Departing Detroit November 8, 1861, under Captain Wilkes Traverse with a "pick up" crew, she headed north into a dangerous late fall storm.
The Key Stone State was last seen off Port Austin November 9, noticeably laboring in heavy seas, and is suspected of having broken up and foundered shortly after. In the following days wreckage front a large steamer began to wash ashore from Pointe aux Barques along the shoreline as far south as Forestville. No evidence was ever found of her hull, or the thirty-three passengers and crew known to be aboard.
The loss of life has been ascribed to her long years in layup, Her hasty departure without adequate preparation, and it was noted by the newspapers of the day that she carried no lifeboats.
Even though one source lists gold as part of her cargo, she has eluded historians and shipwreck divers alike. Since there are no known images of the Key Stone State, the painting is a reconstruction based on information found in her enrollment documents and newspaper accounts of the period.
UPDATE: The Key Stone State was discovered by URA in 2013
The Key Stone State, built by Bidwell & Banta of Buffalo in 1849, will always be linked to the history of Huron County because of her tragic loss off Pointe aux Barques in 1861. At one time the second largest passenger vessel on the lakes at 1,460 tons, nearly 300' long, and a width of 63', she was powered by massive sidewheels and a 500 h.p. walking beam engine. When new, she featured 70 large state rooms, a 36 berth ladies cabin, and two large steerage cabins for immigrants. Her freight deck had capacity for 6,000 barrels of cargo and was noted to be roomy and accessible.
Predictably, after only six seasons, the need for such large ships began to wane and, like many of her contemporaries, she became far too costly to operate and was taken out of service in 1855. In lay up for the next six years, with only minimum maintenance, it seemed likely that her career on the lakes was over.
But all this abruptly changed with the outbreak of hostilities between the Northern States and the Confederacy. Persuaded by the immediate need for shipping brought on by the Civil War, the Key Stone State was pulled out of layup, refurbished by her original builders, and made ready for a trip to Milwaukee. Departing Detroit November 8, 1861, under Captain Wilkes Traverse with a "pick up" crew, she headed north into a dangerous late fall storm.
The Key Stone State was last seen off Port Austin November 9, noticeably laboring in heavy seas, and is suspected of having broken up and foundered shortly after. In the following days wreckage front a large steamer began to wash ashore from Pointe aux Barques along the shoreline as far south as Forestville. No evidence was ever found of her hull, or the thirty-three passengers and crew known to be aboard.
The loss of life has been ascribed to her long years in layup, Her hasty departure without adequate preparation, and it was noted by the newspapers of the day that she carried no lifeboats.
Even though one source lists gold as part of her cargo, she has eluded historians and shipwreck divers alike. Since there are no known images of the Key Stone State, the painting is a reconstruction based on information found in her enrollment documents and newspaper accounts of the period.
UPDATE: The Key Stone State was discovered by URA in 2013
Steamer Key Stone State
Steamer KEY STONE STATE, foundered with all hands on Lake Huron, in a gale. (23 lives) Buffalo Commercial Advertiser January 22, 1862. (Casualty List, 1861) . . . . . The steamer KEY STONE STATE, which took her departure from this port for milwaukee on Friday the 8th. of the present month, has not, since that period, been heard, or known anything of, having been seen but once since that time, and then she was off Port Austin experiencing some very heavy weather, and to all appearances was in a disabled condition, rolling heavily in the troughs of a tremendous sea. It has been proved to a certainty that she has not arrived at any of the upper lake ports, not at Mackinac, Saginaw, Tawas, Thunder Bay, nor yet at Goderich on the Canada shore. The only conclusion we can arrive at for the present is that she has gone down with all on board, and that the fragments seen by the steamer CITY OF CLEVELAND on Lake Huron were from the ill-fated steamer. The report that she had passed this port in our last issue we have since ascertained was incorrect. Detroit Free Press November 23, 1861 ………. We think there no longer remains any doubt as to the fate of the missing steamer KEYSTONE STATE. A person who came down as a passenger on the steamer SEABIRD and a resident of White Rock, on Lake Huron shore, not far from Lexington, states that guard and wheelhouse of some steamer had drifted ashore at that point. This statement, taken in connection with the pieces of floating wreck seen off Point au Barque, as already reported, we think is conclusive evidence that the ill-fated steamer, together with her entire crew have been lost. The KEYSTONE STATE came out in 1849 and was first commanded by Captain Thomas F. Richards, who died with cholera the same season on board at Milwaukee. The past 5 years she has been out of commission. Her late Captain was Travers, a resident of Buffalo. Detroit Free Press November 24, 1861 ……….. THE KEYSTONE STATE. -- The following is an extract from a letter received by Capt. Dorr from Detroit: "I fear the KEYSTONE STATE is gone with all on board. A man was here this morning, (Nov. 23.) who lives at White Rock, ten miles above Forestville, who said a part of a guard rail, part of a wheel and a portion of a paddle box of a large steamer floated ashore at that place a few days since. The propeller CLEVELAND reported having passed through large quantities of what they took to be the upper works of some wrecked steamer near the above named locality." The following is a list of persons on board so far as they are known here. -- Captain --- William Traverse, of Buffalo. First Steersman --- Hugh Rankin, Buffalo. Second Steersman --- Jay Williams, Buffalo. Clerk --- Louis Handel, Buffalo. Asst. Clerk --- George Kleitz, Buffalo First Engineer --- Alex Kout, Galt, C. W. Fireman --- Partick Kane, Buffalo. Fireman --- James O'Neill, Buffalo. Cook --- James Smith, Buffalo. Waiter --- George Parker, Buffalo. Three Engineers, two stokers, four wheel-men, one watchman, and twelve deck hands and a boy, all of whose names are unknown, make up the crew of thirty-three persons. Mr. Frank Handel, one of the owners of the ill-starred steamer, left last evening for Detroit in order to make all possible inquiry as to its fate. Buffalo Daily Courier Tuesday, November 26, 1861 |
KEY STONE STATE (1849, Steamer)
Year of Build: 1849 Construction and Ownership
Power
Dimensions
Lake Huron.
Notes From the Collection of: C. Patrick Labadie |