The Little Engine that Could

Back in the mid-50's I used to spend quite a bit of time riding my bicycle out to Grand Island landing. This site was located at the narrows of the West Channel that allowed Lake Superior to come into Munising Bay between the mainland and Grand Island. The landing was a place where a barge was kept that took loggers over to the island in the summer to log timber. It also had a dock for people who lived on the island to moor when they ran errands or just visited the mainland. It was a great place to fish for the famous Lake Superior Yellow Perch. I fished there a lot.

One day while fishing from the barge pier I could hear this motor running at a very high rate of speed. I couldn't imagine what it was, but I'd been around boats quite a bit and new it sounded like and outboard rev'd up to its highest limit. I also saw just north of me in the channel what appeared to be a 24' + cabin cruiser with fishing outriggers down. It appeared to be tolling in the channel probably hoping to land a Lake Trout or two. The noise came from this fairly large boat. As the boat swung by me I saw false transom suspended off the back of the boat. Attached to that transom was a Mighty Mite engine just going for all it was worth pushing that big boat. The Mighty Mite was an engine used for trolling on inland lakes and was rated at only 1 1/2 to 2 horsepower. It could run at 4000 rpm, but make a noise like a runaway Sunbeam egg beater. I couldn't help but laugh at the spectacle of this very large boat being pushed slowly up and down the channel by this crazed motor. It still makes me chuckle to this day as I recall the scene.

Some people will try anything.