[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 96 (Thursday, June 14, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1297]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO PLAUNT TRANSPORTATION

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                            HON. BART STUPAK

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 14, 2007

  Mr. STUPAK. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a family 
business in my district. For 75 years, Plaunt Transportation has 
ferried people and goods to Bois Blanc Island in Lake Huron, just a few 
miles north of Cheboygan, Michigan. For those 75 years, through four 
generations of Plaunts, the company has remained in one family.
  Bois Blanc Island sits about 2\1/2\ miles east of Mackinac Island in 
Lake Huron. While the island is home to only about 25 to 30 year-round 
residents, during the summer, the population swells to 1,500.
  Plaunt Transportation traces its roots to 1932, when Charles Plaunt 
began transporting supplies and eight passengers to this remote island 
on his ferry, the Margaret. It was that same year, 1932, that Charles 
Plaunt took over the contract to deliver mail from mainland Cheboygan 
to Bois Blanc Island. In 1934, the Adventure was put into service, 
carrying up to 20 passengers. In 1937, the Adventure was replaced by 
the Ada M, which was named for Charles' wife.
  From its earliest days, Plaunt Transportation has been a family 
business in every sense of the word. Charles' son, Ray, began helping 
his father on the boat in 1937. At that time, there were only two bags 
of mail to deliver. Charles would deliver one bag of mail to the post 
office and Ray would drive the Model T to the Coast Guard Station on 
Bois Blanc and deliver the second bag.
  During World War II, Charles' four sons were away defending our 
Nation in the war. During this 4-year period, Charles' teenage 
daughter, Ethelyn, helped out on the boat, first as a deckhand and, 
eventually, steering the boat. Together, Ethelyn and her father braved 
storms and the freezing lake to ferry passengers and U.S. mail from the 
mainland to the island.
  Ray Plaunt took over the business from his father in 1948, a year 
before Charles passed away. In 1954, Ray had the Char-Leann II built in 
Holland, Michigan. The boat, named for his daughters, could carry 28 
passengers or 1 vehicle and 6 passengers. To accommodate the changing 
needs of the island, a barge was used to carry additional vehicles and 
equipment.
  Plaunt Transportation incorporated in 1979, and put into service the 
Chee-Maun-Nes, which carried 2 vehicles and 49 passengers.
  Ray's son, Curt, bought the business from his father in 1987. Curt 
had a boat designed and built in Warren, Rhode Island in 1987. He named 
it the Kristen D after his daughter. The Kristen D could carry 8 
vehicles and 49 passengers.
  In 1998, the Kristen D was lengthened by 30 feet in Escanaba, 
Michigan, making it easier to carry heavy equipment, as well as semi, 
cement and garbage trucks. The vessel can accommodate 17 vehicles and 
149 passengers. Ray's son, Curt, bought the business from his father in 
1987. Ray's grandsons, Ryan McLaren and Jason Plaunt, are both fourth 
generation licensed boat captains. Another captain, Brente Sharpe, is 
not a Plaunt, but has worked with the Plaunt family for so long he is 
considered a member of the family.
  While they cannot put an exact figure on it, Curt and Ray estimate 
that together they have made over 50,000 trips across Lake Huron Bois 
Blanc Island. Today, customers continue each day to board the Kristen D 
and take the 40 minute ride from the tip of Michigan's Lower Peninsula 
to Bois Blanc Island. It appears the Plaunt family legacy will 
continue: Charles Plaunt's great-great grandson has already decided at 
the age of 4 that when he grows up he, too, would like to be a boat 
captain.
  Madam Speaker, family businesses are, in many ways, the core of the 
American system of enterprise. Since our country's inception, in the 
biggest American cities and the smallest towns, businesses run by 
families have built and maintained the infrastructure of our economy. 
No better example can be found of a family driven entrepreneurial 
spirit than the Plaunts. Their four generations of dedicated service to 
Cheboygan and to Bois Blanc Island are to be admired. In frozen lakes, 
through blinding rain, in good weather and in bad, for three-quarters 
of a century, the Plaunts have kept Bois Blanc Island in touch with the 
mainland. As Plaunt Transportation celebrates their 75th year of 
service, I would ask that you, Madam Speaker, and the entire U.S. House 
of Representatives join me in saluting them.

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