The Old Times: Lost in a Storm

 This story is from a bit north in the state and is from the Charlevoix County Herald. It was March 5th, 1904, and Frank Sherman was about to prove that he was either a complete badass or a complete dumbass. Here's the story:

Lost in a Storm.

Frank Sherman, a cobbler of St. James, started Sunday morning from Hog island to go to Charlevoix to buy leather. He began his journey, afoot, toward Cross Village, the nearest mainland point but finding the weather fair, decided to walk straight across the lake to Charlevoix, a distance of thirty odd miles. Early in the evening when within five miles of his destination he was over- taken by a blizzard.

The blinding and dense snow made a definite course impossible, and the darkness rendered his pocket compass of little use. He traveled the entire night. having been on the lake for twenty-four hours without food or rest. Daylight found him on the north shore of the bay near Emmet. Beach. Sherman was resuscitated by farmers and continued his journey to Charlevoix by rail.

Frank needs leather to make shoes. Understandable. Frank is going to walk across a frozen inland sea to get that leather. Frank is insane. Here's a picture of an approximate journey that Frank made in red and his goal in green. 



He was going to to walk the equivalent distance between the Renaissance Center and the Palace of Auburn Hills over ice on the lake. He was incredibly lucky to have been found alive. Especially by farmers who apparently were trained in medical skills. Was this traversal common, or is Frank a fool and looking to walk across a lake and save himself a 5 cent train ride? Either way this story is absolutely mind-blowing. 

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