The UNITED EMPIRE, built in 1882,  upbound on the St. Mary’s River. MPL / WMHS Great Lakes Marine Collection

Soundings : quarterly newsletter of
the Wisconsin Marine Historical Society

A quarterly publication of the Wisconsin Marine Historical Society, Soundings began its life under the inauspicious generic name of “Newsletter” in October 1959. Six months later its flag was changed to Soundings.

Its purpose is to promote the interests of the Society – to discover, collect, record, disseminate and preserve material related to the history of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway with a special emphasis on Lake Michigan and Lake Superior, the Upper Mississippi River System, as well as the rivers and lakes within Wisconsin.

Included within the pages of Soundings are records of shipwrecks, nautical charts, diving discoveries, lighthouses, and vessels.

Over the years many members of the Society have published articles on interesting facets of maritime history they researched using the organization’s extensive archives.

MPL/WMHS Marine Collection
Coal yards along Milwaukee river north of Holton St. (ca. 1930).