E.C. Miller

E.C. Miller, under whose watchful care the big engines and the auxiliary equipment of the steamer Kalkaska were placed during the year 1896, has been a lake engineer since 1873. He was born in Lockport, N.Y., in 1854, the son of George and Jane M. (Johnson) Miller, and he has four brothers, all of whom are engineers. Stephen is in the Castalia; George lives in Port Huron; Thomas and James, the last named a locomotive engineer, are living in Valparaiso, Indiana. Mr. Miller went on the lakes in 1872 as oiler on the steamer Dean Richmond, previous to which he had had considerable experience running stationary engines in the oil fields of Pennsylvania and Ohio. The following season he was second engineer of the tug Tawas; in 1874 he was in the engine room of the steam barge Henry Howard until June, then served on the A.A. Packer three weeks, closing the season in the George E. Brockway. He spent all the next season in the Brockway and then for two years was employed in the branch house of the Lake Erie Iron Company, in Detroit. In 1878 he was engineer of the tug William Goodnow; in 1879 he was with the propeller St. Joseph, and in 1880 he went one trip in the old steambarge Mayflower; was in the steambarge Iron Age until August, and finished the season in the side-wheel steamer Kewanee. The following season he was on the tug Brockway until she was sold, after which he was chief of the tug Gladiator to the close of navigation. In 1881 he was chief of the Bob Anderson and the steam tug Iron Age until fall, when he accepted the position of engineer with the East India Brewing Company, in Detroit. In 1884 he was chief of the tug J.W. Bennett, going to the Brush Electric Company's works in Detroit on February 4, 1885, and remaining there as night engineer until February 8, 1887. That season and next he was chief engineer of the Champion, in 1889 running the Edward D. Pease, and in 1890 the Spokane. During the season of 1891 Mr. Miller was connected in turn with the Weston, the C. A. Baldwin, and the John B. Owen, in 1892 with the Kalkaska; in 1893 with the Canisteo and the Mark Hopkins; in 1894 with the Huron City, in 1895 with the Albert P. Wright, and in 1896 with the Kalkaska.

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Volume I

This version of Volume II is based, with permission, on the work of the great volunteers at the Marine Captains Biographies site. To them goes the credit for reorganizing the content into some coherent order. The biographies in the original volume are in essentially random order.

Some of the transcription work was also done by Brendon Baillod, who maintains an excellent guide to Great Lakes Shipwreck Research.