t Thursday February 7 1957
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Fifteen
A Tr*ibut.:e to t ne State
The 'Michigan' Has Played Significant Parts in an Assassination,
Training of Troops and Peacetime Work
By RICIlERD SNYDER monious boundary attlements., being negotiated, the Pritish pro
Daily staff Wrtr 1 several strains involving disarm- tested against the Michigan's arm-
1TH Michigan anxiously anti- aments arose during its infancy, ament fittings. The Secretary of
cipating the St. Lawrence One of strains produced the the Navy replied that the two
Seaway completion, residents of eight-inch guns and the four 32-
the state are again taking ai Michigan. Overt rebellion in 1830 s Sth e uent ao
interest in the Great Lakes. Canada prompted the British to the United States' consequent vio-
There is something intangibly send armed vessels into the Lakes, lation of the Rush-Bagot Agree-
fascinating about the history of violating the Rush-Dagot ruling ment, had been justified on the
naval power-a wealth of human of a single vessel of 100 tons basis of the British violation of the
associations anl some of the sihn- same agreement. The armament
nificant episodes of this country's lmit, armed with one 18-pound was ultimately reduced to several
eveiopment are revealed in such gun small guns, though no battle shots
slogans as "Remember the Maine" The Royal Government contin- were fired from the Michigan be-
and "Damn the torpedoes, full ued to send heavy troop enforce- fore or after the British protest.
.peed ahead!" ments into the area, and Ameri-
The Nina, the Pinta, and the can public opinion finally pro- tIGHTEEN-fifty-six saw the re-
Santa Maria brought Columbus to voked Congress into passing the cording of a wierd adventur
his "mistaken discovery" of Amer- Fortification Act of 1841, giving coryin as-nepisadenmyse
ica, the country which has wit- the 'President authority to cot- teriusly ignored by Hollywood. To
nessed the spectacular battle be- struct and fit out war vessels on this date the Navy has not yet
tweenthis date therNavy hashnoteyet
ts-ecn the onitor an the Merri- the Lakes. cleared itself of the passibility
mac, the tragic first run of the - that several of its officers were
Titantic, the launchit.. of the At- wl rvdu h ht- vrlo t fieswr
anic e ing te S well as providing the British part of a plot ending in the mur-
tStates, the initia1ekst of the picturesque demonstration of der of an American citizen.
Stats, he itil tst f te .American interest in Great Lakes
Nautilus, and all the drama in the naval armament, the USS Michi- Nine years before the melodra-
sinking of the Andrea Doria. nav aramenthe SS isi -n matic episode, James J. Strang
c an bccame the Navy's first iron had sects the revelation of "a land
Few Michiganders know, how- ship and the first iron vessel ofmdst -ie 'a atrn'oand ld
ever, the Stage's contribution-if any kind in the Upper Lakes amidst wide ol aers and led the
only by lending its name-to the movement of a Mormon colony
development of United States Since the inevitability of iron from outside Burlington, Vermont,
Naval power. A side-wheel steamer ships had not yet been generally to Big Beaver Island on the north-
and a lake steamer bearing the accepted in the world, the man- ern end of Lake Michigan. St.
namesake of the Wolverine State 'o-war was referred to for a gen- James, as Strang came to be
have played significant parts in oration as the "Iron Ship" or the known, had convinced hundreds of
events from the assassination of "Iron Steamer." gullible "saints" he was the right--
Mormon King Strang to the train- At the time the Michigan was ful successor to Prophet Joseph
ing of more than 10,000 Navy pilots launched, adventuresome pioneer, Smiti, who had been killed by a
who saw action in World War II. from this country and Canada seething Illinois mob.
While modern seagoing vessals were disputing each other's land By 1949, enough Mormons had
make Michigan's namesakes ap- claims in utopia-like Oregon ter- migrated to Big Beaver to found
pear like rowboats, few ships befaire ritory. The War of 1812 had ended the town of St. James around the
or since have been involved in with no definite solution to the shores of the Island s Paradise
evnts as intriguing and impor- problem of ownership of this large Bay. Here St. James was later
tant. area in the Northwest. And when crowned "King of the Earth" be-
Russia withdrew her discovery fore 400 stunned spectators. Here
THE waters of the Great Lakes claims in 1824, the United States also he pronounced his famous
rose a little higher in 1843 with and Great Britain were left as revelation of God's will command-
christening of the Navy's first sole protagonists in the fight to tug the establishment of poly-
iron man-'o-war-the start of a grab additional land on the grow- gamy; and, with dash and flour-
new and glorious future for Navy ing American continent. ish, proclaimed himself the first
pioneers and initial appearance of Though war appeared on the beneficiary of the new order,
the State's name on a Navy ship. horizon in 1844 with chants of
After a series of diplomatic 'Fifty-four forty or fight," the s the community grew, hostility
charges and countercharges, the launching of the Michigan was also grew between the King-
USS Michigan was launched into one of the factors involved in the dom and residents of such main-
a enerally peaceful career, only , eventual easing of tensions which land towns as Pine River, now
interrupted by two dramatic inci- resulted in the bountary compro- known as the resort city of Char-
denta, but two of the most exciting mise on the 49-dc 'ree parallel. levoix. Other citizens began to
incidnts in Navy history. In July, 1844, hue tte boun- wonder how long the United States
Th Geage Lakes ad long bet-ndaries of the Oregon territory were See THE RECORD, Page 17
acknsawledged by both Britain and -- --- -
Americans as crucial in controling
the western region of the North!
American continent Great Britain -i.sat uns
used the War of 1812 to press for
naval domination of the Lakes 8:15
and succeeded in seizing many 2-5915
strategic positions around them.
including Detroit.
Following Commodore Perry's
successful challenge to the British, tt
peace was restored with the Treaty
of Ghent on the basis of the pre-
War geographical status.
Hoping to prevent any future
contests for Great Lakes military clifford odet's broadway and
supremacy, James Monroe began hollywood success
negotiations between the United
States and Great Britain leading
to the Rush-Bat Agreement of ti &M4 vC -t
1817. a
187.ann arbor's professional arena theatre
1ESPITE the agreement's re- masonic temple 327 s. 4th ave,
maining a pattern for bar-
ORIGINAL 'USS MICHIGAN'
... a link between Roman galleys, luxury liners
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