Miller Ferry

History of The Miller Ferry

In 1901, the turn of the century Put-In-Bay was at the center of Lake Erie’s “Wine Islands,” covered in lush vineyards, orchards, and wineries. People flocked by the thousands, traveling to the island via steamship every year. In comparison, the steamships would make today’s island ferries look small, each boat averaging 400 hundred feet in length. At the time, Put-In-Bay was home to one of the largest resorts & hotels in the county, the Hotel Victory.

Several other unique wooden hotels covered the island, and some included a massive water slide, utilized a trolley, and the nearby two schoolhouses. Just as tourists today enjoy the Put-in-Bay bars and restaurants, most attractions were for the enjoyment of summer tourists. At one time, there was even an opera house on the island.

In 1905 two island residents, Harry Jones and William M. Miller started a business harvesting and selling Ice. During the frigid winter, the crew would saw and collect tons of block ice from Lake Erie. It was a dangerous business, but the location was ideal. The ice was stored in an insulated house called an ice house.

Sawdust provided the necessary insulation to keep the ice from melting and as yachts and their sailors arrived at Put-in-Bay, they were able to sell the ice to them using their first boat, an eighteen-foot wooden delivery boat named Iceman. With Lake Erie and Put-in-Bay fishing becoming a vital part of the island destination, Miller expanded his Put-in-Bay Charter Fishing service to six charter boats, headed up by the largest vessel, Avon.

William’s son, William Lee, skippered the Avon throughout the islands and Catawba. To serve as “ferry,” they began attaching a scow. This served as an easy way to carry up to about eight vehicles at a time. The island residents began relying on the service, and soon upgraded and became an almost year-round service, bringing cars, passengers, livestock, freight, and mail to Put-In-Bay. For a short period, the Miller even operated as a water taxi, particularly during the Regatta week. You could often hear people hailing the boat to come to pick them up, yelling out, “MMMILLLLLL-EEERRR.”

William Lee was contracted for the delivery of the year around mail service from the mainland to the islands. The contract to begin bringing mail to the island by airplane did not start until 1929 when regular service to and from the Bass Islands by the Ford Tri-Motor began. Bringing the mail across the 3-mile stretch of open water from Catawba to Put-in-Bay was a difficult and often dangerous job.

Lake Erie is well known for her rapidly building storms and rough water conditions. in the winter months, when ice formed and covered the lake, the wooden boats were covered with metal panels and nailed to the points to withstand the jagged brutal ice. Named “ironclads” these durable boats transversed the 3 miles distance between the Lime Kiln dock at Put-in-Bay and the Catawba Dock on the mainland side on a daily basis. The men would float the boat across the potions of Lake Erie that had open water or break through the weakened ice.  When the ice was thick, the men and oftentimes their passengers would help push the ice across the frozen mass.

During the 1940s, the Catawba Dock was purchased from mainland owners by William, wife Mary, son Lee, and island resident Mick Arndt. They Bought the Catawba Dock Company stock from several mainland residents. Circa 1945, Lee had assumed the leadership role from his father as well as the day-to-day operations of the business. His foresight realized there was an opportunity to grow the company if they were to have a safer and more efficient ferry boat system.

The South Shore was the first ferry boat built by the family. The 65 foot long enclosed ferry boat was constructed by the Cleveland-based Stadium Boat Works Company. Made entirely from steel, the ship was designed to withstand the rough and uneven waves of the Lake Erie Western Basin. The vessel was enclosed, and an average trip to Put-in-Bay took just over 40 minutes. Twelve cars would fit onboard the ship, and its superior construction allowed the ferry to operate earlier in the year as well as later.

Three round trips per day took an average of 40 minutes, and in 1946 service to Middle Bass Island began. Several side loading ferries were soon after contractured, including the West Shore, the second of the 65-foot ferry boats followed by the William M. Miller in 1954 and the MV Put-in-Bay in 1959. All of the ferries, as mentioned earlier, were constructed in Sturgeon Bay Wisconsin.

In the early days, crew members drove the cars on and off the ferry boats and at peak loading periods the cars were loaded so closely together that the crew had to climb out of the car windows. Soon thereafter, the Miller Boat Line became the principal connection from the mainland to Put-in-Bay until the intror=duction of the Jet Express High-Speed Downtown Ferry. The ice harvesting business continued through the 1950s; however, ice was no longer harvested from the lake but transported from the mainland being loaded into trucks and taking the ferry to the Lake Erie Islands.

Bill, who was Lee’s son, was the Captain of the Wm. M. Miller, from the very first day the ferry arrived at the islands. He also skippered the Mervine II, which was a Navy Mechanical Landing Craft that was constructed during World War II and was used to deliver fuel to the islands. The fuel transport vessel is now known as Cantankerous and is used to this day to provide fuel to the Lake Erie Islands. The ferry company fleet still included five fishing boats and two 26-foot Lyman’s, which were used for speedy (or medical emergency) taxi services to the mainland.

In 1959 the family and island residents were devastated after the accidental drowning of then 28-year-old Bill. The loss was a tragedy that had lasting effects on those who knew and loved him in the Lake Erie Islands. In 1966 Miller Boat Livery became incorporated and was renamed Miller Boat Line, which it still carries today. Break walls, and a concrete and steel dock was added to the Lime Kiln Dock on the southeast tip of Put-In-Bay, making for a more sturdy and user-friendly dock.

The Lime Kiln dock offered the most efficient and direct way to the mainland from Put-in-Bay. This shorter passage could be covered in under 2o minutes. This improved shorter route allowed the Miller Ferry to increase the schedule to up to 12 trips per day when needed. The West Shre ferry continued to service Middle Bass Island.

In 1971 Lee Miller named William (Bill) Market as manager of the ferry boat line. Mr. Market was a fourth-generation island resident and had been employed by the Miller’s as a purser and deckhand since 1954. With the family’s loss of young Bill, who was also Bill Market’s best friend, Market became the captain of the William M. Miller. In 1973, when Lee passed away, Mary Miller asked Market to take over operations of the Miller Boat Line Ferry company.

Today’s modern Miller Ferry Boats are United States Coast Guard Inspected and approved on an annual basis. For anyone who lives on South Bass Island, the ferry has become a way of life in every aspect from a trip to the mall, mainland night out, or a visit to the Doctor. As local Put-in-Bay Hotels & Resorts have thrived and grown additional ferry boats both by the Miller Ferry and The Jet Express, have been added to the fleet to meet the rising demand for passage to Put-in-Bay.