Most people are familiar with the S.S. Badger car ferry that traverses Lake Michigan from Ludington to Wisconsin. few know that she has a twin sister the S.S. Spartan that is tied up in Ludington near where the Badger loads and unloads vehicles in Ludington. It was built in 1950 along with its sister ship. C&O Railroad that owned the ferries usually named them after cities such as The City of Milwaukee but they decided that fewer feelings would be hurt if the twin ferries were named Spartan and Badger, after the mascots of Michigan State University and the University of Wisconsin.
by the late 1970s ferry service was declining and C&O was going to lease the Spartan to the Ann Arbor Railroad to sail out of Frankfort but the harbor was too shallow for the large ship. Since 1980 she has been tied up to the slip in Ludington and used for parts to keep the old steam-powered Badger running.
If you are in Ludington and the badger is sailing across Lake Michigan you can always see her twin who is faithfully waiting for her sister to return.
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