NELLIE LYON

H.C. SPRAGUE, RELIANCE

The barge H.C. SPRAGUE was built in 1880 in South Rockwood, Michigan, by Captain Peter Smith. It was initially owned by Milan & Sprague of Toledo, Ohio. The barge had a wooden hull with a single deck.

The SPRAGUE had a length of 145.4 feet, a beam of 29.9 feet, and a depth of 9 feet. It had a gross tonnage of 316 and a net tonnage of 300.

In 1892, the SPRAGUE was converted into a two-masted schooner-barge at Toledo, Ohio, by Bailey Brothers. Ownership of the barge transferred to H.D. Clow of Duluth, Minnesota, in 1905. Later that year, it underwent further reconstruction and was transformed into a screw-propelled sand dredge by William Nicholson of Duluth. The dredge had a length of 146 feet, a beam of 30 feet, and a depth of 9.3 feet. Its gross tonnage increased to 480.

On May 5, 1906, the barge was renamed RELIANCE. It operated under this name until it was damaged by ice and sank in the St. Clair River on December 10, 1909. The SPRAGUE/RELIANCE was salvaged by Oscar E. Fleming of Windsor, Ontario, and taken to S. Jenkins Shipyard in Windsor for repairs. It was registered under the Canadian flag with the registration number C126229 and given the new name LYON, NELLIE. The dimensions of the barge remained the same, with a length of 146 feet, a beam of 29 feet, and a depth of 9.3 feet. The gross tonnage was reduced to 384.

Unfortunately, on April 9, 1911, the LYON, NELLIE caught fire in Algonac, Michigan, and was completely destroyed. The remains of the barge can still be seen today near Algonac in the North Channel of the St. Clair River. It is positioned sideways across the channel, and the top half of the propeller and rudder are visible. The discovery of the wreckage was made in 2005 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) during a search for lake sturgeon habitat.