Mackinac City

We got up early and walked down to the water to watch the sunrise.  We weren't disappointed.  

We visited Historic Mill Creek Discovery Park

We arrived about ten minutes before opening time so we watched this little guy scurry around gathering food and storing it in his burrow.  He wasn't afraid of us at all. 

We toured a replica of a working saw mill run by water power.

This man's  name is Tom, the Sawyer who gave us a demonstration and was very informative on the workings of the mill. 

This is some of the workings of the mill.  When you think of the technology of the period and the materials they had to work with, wood and iron, the ingenuity that went into this is impressive.   

This is a view of the dam and pond that was built to provide the water power for the mill.  There was only a short period of time every summer when there was enough water in the stream to fill the pond. 

He then had us go outside so we could watch the water and how it was controlled to propel the mill machinery.  

He then gave us a demonstration of how boards were cut before the mill was built.  The top man made two cents a board and the bottom man made one cent.  They could cut one board an hour and worked a twelve hour day.  The mill increased production to twelve boards an hour.  

Pat, Vicki and Vickie went zip lining.

We all stopped at The Keyhole Bar & Grill for lunch.

We then toured the USCG icebreaker Mackinac which is now a museum.   

This is one of the propellers from the ship.

It could cut a channel in the ice 150 feet wide.

This is one of the ten-cylinder diesel engines that ran powerful electric motors which, in turn, powered the propellers.  There were two props in the stern and one in the bow.  The front prop would suck water from under the ice as the ship rose up on it to break it.  

  

Here are some pictures of the bridge.

Another view of the "Mighty Mac".

This is close as we got to the northern lights.

Tomorrow we're off to our next stop.