The Great Lakes Car Ferries

There was a time in the United States when railroad tunnels and bridges were only dreams in the minds of designers, when the best way to move railroad cars across bodies of water was to load them on specialized ships designed specifically for this purpose.

With this utilitarian principle in mind, shipbuilders around the Great Lakes and elsewhere built an amazing variety of vessels to get the job done quickly, efficiently, and safely.

George W. Hilton's classic book tells the story of these boats and of the hardworking, heroic men who day after day, year after year, battled mechanical problems, ice, and bad weather to get the cars safely across the water.