The Tashmoo

by Derek Smith1 month agoFebruary 20, 2023

Print 🖨 PDF 📄 eBook 📱

By Derek Smith

Pictured here is a wonderful photo of the Tashmoo,(circa 1935) its decks are crowded with excited passengers, as it readies for departure from the Harsen’s Island pier, outward bound for the White Star dock in Port Huron. It appears everyone has on their Sunday finery, having spent a relaxing, sun-filled day with the family at Tashmoo Park.

During the summer months, approximately 250,000 people would travel to the island to enjoy the amenities offered by the island and its park. Of course, there was a baseball diamond, picnic tables, swings, and rides(merry-go-round) as well as a dance pavilion and casino. The park was operated between 1897 and 1951. There are still remnants of the Tashmoo Park on the island today. A part of the pavilion still stands and is employed as a boat storage facility.

The Tashmoo would make twice-daily stops traveling from Detroit and Port Huron. The steamer adopted its name from Tashmoo Park, the park supposedly named after Tashmoo Lake on Martha’s Vineyard. The 306-foot Tashmoo made its maiden voyage on June 6, 1900, her paddle was powered by a triple expansion steam engine, which provided plenty of speed when needed.

Advertisements - Click the Speaker Icon for Audio

On June 18th, 1936, she made her final voyage, she was carrying 1400 passengers to Detroit from Sugar Island when she struck a rock and began to drink water. Her crew managed to nurse the Tashmoo into the Brunner-Mood dock in Amherstburg, Ontario, where the passengers were able to disembark safely.

There she would find a resting place in 18 feet of water. It was thought she could be saved but her damages were too severe, She would eventually be towed by tugs to Boblo Island for removal of those powerful engines. Her final voyage was to a River Rouge dry dock where she was cut up for scrap, its steel more than likely finding its way into a motor car.

Hope Blooms 2023

Derek Smith

Derek Smith was born in Sarnia, Ontario, a proud Canadian and now a proud citizen of the United States; having moved to Port Huron in 1987, he was granted his naturalization papers in July 2010. He grew up in Brights Grove, Ontario, which lies 10 miles east of Port Huron on the shores of Lake Huron, that beautiful body of water so many of us enjoy right here in the “Maritime Capital of the Great Lakes.” He graduated from Lambton College in 1971 with a three-year associate's degree in liberal arts. Following that, Derek continued his education at the University of Waterloo, graduating in 1975 with a Bachelor of Science in chemistry with a minor in biology. In 1976 he was employed at Dow Chemical as a process operator making ethylene and other hydrocarbon by-products. Derek joined Tricil Corporation in Watford, Ontario, in 1977 as a technical specialist and was responsible for coordinating the safe and permanent disposal of toxic waste from the “chemical valley” in Sarnia, Ontario, and from other parts of Southern Ontario. Having seen a need for the recycling of plastic scrap, Derek left Tricil and in 1978 and founded Entropex Corporation, one of Canada’s first plastic recycling operations. He and three other partners sold the Sarnia operation in 1983. Derek stayed on as president of that company until 1993. Today Entropex employs 100 people and is owned by the same corporate group that controls Emterra, Port Huron’s current waste management company. Derek incorporated Paradigm Polymers Inc. in 1996 and has been president of that company for the last 24 years. Paradigm is involved in the procurement and sale of scrap and off-spec thermo polymers in Canada and the United States. His hobbies include photography, film production, cooking, golf, history, genealogy, and website management. He holds a private pilot license but is not active in aviation at this time. He comes from a long line of historians as his Dad and Grandfather were both writers and publishers of several books and periodicals dealing with the history of Lambton County in S W. Ontario. Derek has been married to his wonderful wife, Kathy, for the past 24 years. They love spending time together in their home here in Port Huron. They have a blended family of four amazing children, and they thoroughly enjoy their seven loving grandchildren and their Goldendoodle Scout.