This is Bob Myers from the Historical Society of Michigan with a Michigan history moment. It was October 13, 1893, out on Lake Michigan near Arcadia. The schooner Minnehaha was in trouble. The Minnehaha was built in 1880 in Gibraltar, Michigan, south of Detroit. She was one of the largest schooners on the Great Lakes. A four master measuring 199ft long with a 35 foot beam. October 1893 found the Minnehaha in tow of the steam barge Henry J. Johnson out of Chicago. With a cargo of 58,000 bushels of corn. She was bound for Point Edward in Ontario, Canada. At the south end of Lake Huron, a terrific storm blew up and that evening the Henry Johnson and Minnehaha were off Point Betsy in northeast Lake Michigan. Battling 90 mile per hour winds. The Johnson's captain sought refuge behind the Manitou Islands. But dawn found the pair south of Sleeping Bear Point just trying to stay afloat. The Johnson skipper tried to make port in Frankfort, but waves smashed in two of the schooner's hatch covers. Her hold began to flood. The Minnehaha's captain, William Parker, signaled to the Johnson to release the towline. He set a distress signal and headed for shore, hoping to beach the schooner and save the lives of his crew of six. The Minnehaha slammed into the bottom a quarter mile from shore. One crewman tried to swim for shore but drowned. Others climbed into the rigging. As the Minnehaha started to break up in the pounding waves, Captain Parker called for the surviving crew to abandon ship. Local residents and the US Life Saving Service crews from Frankfort and Manistee came to the rescue, but too late. Captain Parker was the sole survivor. In the weeks afterward, wreckage and the cargo of corn washed up along the beach. A local resident, William Irwin, used some of the ship's timbers to build his blacksmith shop. The wreckage of at least 6,000 ships littered the bottom of the Great Lakes. That wreckage includes a big section of the Minnehaha's hull, measuring about 169ft long and lying on the beach at Arcadia. Depending on weather conditions, lake levels and the capricious sand, beachcombers can still view the Minnehaha's timbers and reflect on the disaster that took the lives of her crew. This Michigan history moment was brought to you by michiganhistorymagazine.org Sam.