Shorpy Two'fer - Woodward 1905 & Livigstone Channel construction 1910

[Mikeg]

Wow...good work on that! If you do find the time, I'm very interested in the results now that it's a bit of a mystery!

Here's what I've found in the various Detroit Directories:
1901 - First listings appear for "Avenue Theatre" at 80 Woodward and the occupants of the "Avenue Theatre Block"; includes a listing under "Cafe" for "Thomas Swan" at 87 Woodward
1904 and 1905 - Listings for both "Avenue Theatre" [[80 Woodward) and "Swan's Restaurant" [[87 Woodward)
1906 - Listings for "Avenue Theatre" [[80 Woodward), "Swan's Restaurant" [[87 Woodward) and the first listing appears for the "Socialist Labor Reading Room" [["Avenue Theatre Block").

The Socialist Labor Reading Room was also listed in the 1907 Directory but not in the 1908 edition.

My conclusion is that the earliest this photo could have been taken was in 1905 while the 1906 Directory was being prepared for publication. The latest it could have been taken was in 1906.

I also noticed that the 1905 Detroit Directory printed the ordinance that went into effect on Dec. 1, 1903 regarding the operation of automobiles within the city limits. The speed limit was set at 8 miles per hour "inside the 3/4 mile circle" and 12 mph "outside the 3/4 mile circle". It was also 8 mph on all boulevards and on any roadway within a park. Violators were subject to a fine not to exceed $100 and if they could not pay, they could be sentenced to a maximum of 3 months in the Detroit House of Corrections.

I doubt that 1906 Packard was going more than 8 mph on that Belle Isle roadway!.

[kryptonite]

I always find it interesting that they could wall off a whole section of the river like that and pump it dry to do this work back then. I can't quite decide what shoreline we're looking at n the background though. I'm leaning toward Amherstburg, at the north end of the channel because of how close it is...and the island that forms Crystal Bay would not have been around back then, since IIRC it's only made of the excavated materials from the channel itself. I see power lines on the shore, which I'll assume are from the SW&A streetcar lines. I think the line reach A'Burg by then........

Magneto - they may have built a cofferdam in that section of the river, I know that is one method of doing work on a river/lake/sea floor. But I would have no idea how a cofferdam would be dismantled after the work was complete.

[MikeM]

Not a geology expert by any means but there is that much rock in such a shallow sprt of the river?

There was a discussion of another Shorpy photo of the Livingstone Channel back in the spring:

http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthr...e-Channel-1910


Here's a link to a pre-channel Detroit River chart:

http://historicalcharts.noaa.gov/his...0Em_03_1906_LS

[Packman41]

There was a discussion of another Shorpy photo of the Livingstone Channel back in the spring:

http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthr...e-Channel-1910


Here's a link to a pre-channel Detroit River chart:

http://historicalcharts.noaa.gov/his...0Em_03_1906_LS

So first click onto MikeM's 1906 Historical Chart [[see above). Now click onto a 1975 version of the same chart here: http://historicalcharts.noaa.gov/his...e/14848-5-1975

Now you can zoom in both maps to make a 1906 to now [[1975) comparison.

[MikeM]

More history and references on the Livingstone Channel:

http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2011/5122/pdf/sir2011-5122.pdf

Starting on p. 288: http://books.google.com/books?id=64g_AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA292&dq="The+Livingstone +Channel+Project"&hl=en&ei=yM6mTqnWD6Hd0QGTgcHBDg& sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CEAQ6A EwBA#v=onepage&q&f=false

http://pub.iugls.org/en/St_Clair_Rep...ediment-05.pdf

[Magnatomicflux]

Nice job Mikeg! Good job everyone! Now we just need to figure out who this dude is,

[gnome]

MikeG, Packman, MikeM ... impressive stuff. Thank you.

That stuff about the speed limit being 8 mph sounds funny to us now, but at the time it must have been pretty serious business. I mean a $100 dollar fine? That's some pretty heavy coin when a yearly salary was $900!

Back to the Belle Isle driver. To me it looks like a staged photo in contrast to the usual candid streetscapes. Usually we see a scene where the subject is something else: a building, a city square, a vista, etc. In the Belle Isle/Packard pic the camera isn't looking at anything other than the car. Not the bridge, not the shoreline, nothing but the car. So I'm guessing M-flux is on to something with wondering who is that guy.

By my eye, he looks north of 50, prosperous and grabbing that wheel in a death grip. Safe to say he didn't grow up around autos and therefore might be scared of the metal beast he is piloting.

[Magnatomicflux]

Magneto - they may have built a cofferdam in that section of the river, I know that is one method of doing work on a river/lake/sea floor. But I would have no idea how a cofferdam would be dismantled after the work was complete.

You're right indeed kryptonite!
Here's a photo I just found on a site called "encore-editions" showing the east wall of the coffer dam.
Maybe they didn't take it apart. Maybe they just shored up the walls of the dam, opened up the ends and called it good?

[MikeM]

A few more Livingstone Channel construction pics here: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/d/dpa1ic?r...ne&select1=all

Looks like it was enlarged or deepen during the 1930s: http://dlxs.lib.wayne.edu/cgi/i/imag...view=thumbnail

Take a quick ride through the channel starting at 7:00 in this video: http://www.youtube.com/user/FarAway4...11/AoY8OxuvvXc

[Funaho]

You're right indeed kryptonite!
Here's a photo I just found on a site called "encore-editions" showing the east wall of the coffer dam.
Maybe they didn't take it apart. Maybe they just shored up the walls of the dam, opened up the ends and called it good?

Yep in the corps of engineers report posted on the previous page it mentions that that's exactly what they did.

[Magnatomicflux]

Yep in the corps of engineers report posted on the previous page it mentions that that's exactly what they did.

........I didn't read it lol

[mikefmich]

My hat's off again to the fine saavy detectives we have on DYes. Never ceases to amaze.