Eagles Once Again Soar Over the Detroit River
by Kathy Warnes
The story of eagles along the Detroit River parallels the story of the Island View Hotel, now called Abars Island View. In 1893, Henri Hebert, a local French fisherman, registered the name of his hotel as “Abars” because he believed the anglicized spelling of his name would be more familiar.
Henri Hebert built his Island View Hotel to accommodate guests from stagecoach lines and the hitching rail for horses at the inn’s front entrance survived far into the age of the automobile. By 1900, Abars Island View had established a solid clientele and the hotel stayed in the Hebert family for three generations.
Captain Frank West and the Eagles
A July 10, 1902, story appearing in the Brooklyn Eagle narrates the story of Captain Frank West and the two eagle residents at the Island View Hotel perched on the Canadian side of the Detroit River. The summer boarders at the hotel considered the captain their hero for his actions during a July 4, 1902, windstorm that roared its way up the Detroit River.
The two eagles, one a bald eagle and the other a large gray eagle, were one of the star attractions for the Island View Hotel guests, but their feisty dispositions made it necessary for the landlord to keep them in a large cage. The eagles didn’t reciprocate the hotel guests regard for them, and they showed their feelings so forcefully that landlord felt compelled to hang a “Danger” sign on their cage.
When the fierce winds of the fourth of July storm swept up the Detroit River, the human guests at the Island View Hotel ran inside to escape the rain and wind. No one thought to bring in the eagles and they screeched and flailed against the bars of the cage while the wind whistled and blew sand on them and the rain fell in sheets. Eventually the wind grew strong enough to upset the cage which sat close to the bank of the Detroit River and it looked like the wind would sweep the eagles, cage and all, into the water.
Captain West saw the wind blow over the eagle cage from the hotel window, and since he had grown fond of the eagles he disregarded the warnings of the other guests and rushed out in the wind and the rain to save them. He couldn’t lift the heavy cage from the water and none of the other guests ventured out to help so, so Captain West acted on his own. He unlocked the cage door, caught one of the eagles by the legs and dragged it through the open door. He slammed the door on the other bird and struggled to hold on to the eagle he held by the legs.
The Eagles Didn’t Appreciate Being Rescued
The eagle misinterpreted the captain’s intentions and it used its considerable strength, agility, and powerful hooked beak against Captain West. The captain spent minutes sidestepping and countering the eagle’s desperate defenses, and finally maneuvered the eagle into a headlock so that the eagle couldn’t bite him with its beak. The eagle continued to beat its wings trying to fly away and the wind caught them powerfully enough so that Captain West had hang on to the eagle’s legs with a dead grip. The eagle had such strength that it dragged Captain West across the beach and only a fence kept it from flying away.
Captain West sagged against the fence, exhausted, but he kept fighting the eagle and finally managed to carry it back to his hotel room. Closing the door firmly behind him, Captain West returned to the overturned cage and removed the other eagle. This eagle fought more viciously than its companion and managed to put its talons in Captain West’s hand and strike him in the arm with its beak. Bleeding but undaunted, Captain West deposited the second bird in his room.
The inn keeper gave Captain West another room for the night and the next morning he returned to his old room holding the cage and a small gill net to capture them. He captured them without any more injury to the eagles or to himself. According to the Detroit Free Press, Captain West said that he didn’t want to repeat his eagle experience, not even for the admiration of summer boarders!
Abars Island View Hotel and Eagles after Captain West’s Rescue
During Prohibition, Abars Island View Hotel attracted high society patrons from Detroit who appeared in formal dress, much to the disadvantage of local customers who often had to wait to be seated.
Mrs. Henri Hebert frequently sat at the entrance to Abars resplendent in her jewels and furs, greeting Detroit social register guests like the Fishers, the Dodges, the Fords, and sports celebrities like the Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees and Jack Dempsey. The Tigers and the Yankees came to Abars Island View by launch and docked at the Abars docks at the mouth of the Detroit River because it was against the rules for them to frequent Detroit speakeasies.
The Prohibition Years -1902-1933 on both sides of the Detroit River marked the beginning of the decline of bald eagle habitat along its shores. In the early years of the Nineteenth Century conservation records indicated that bald eagles were “evenly distributed” across the state of Michigan, but then the rise of the automobile and chemical industries destroyed habitat and increased pollution. After World War II, the widespread use of DDT and PCBs disrupted eagle breeding cycles and poisoned fish. Oil, chemicals and sewage on the river killed fish and birds, including thousands of ducks in 1948, according to the Michigan United Conservation Clubs whose members transported the duck carcasses to Lansing and dumped them on the walkway to the Capitol.
The decline of Downriver eagles accelerated in the 1950s and by the 1970s they were on the brink of extinction. According to a report from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Detroit River-Western Lake Erie Basin Indicator Project there were no bald eagles born in Michigan from 1961 to 1987 because there were few if any breeding pairs, but because of grass roots and governmental efforts to clean up the Detroit River there has been a steady increase in the number of fledgling bald eagles since the mid-1980s.
Eagles are Recovering on the Canadian Side of Detroit River Too!
Bald eagle populations on the Canadian side of the Detroit River suffered from the same ills as their American counterparts, including farming, loss of habitat, pesticides, and polluted water. The Canadian Government introduced protective legislation in 1890 and the Bald Eagle Act in 1940 helped to pave the way for their population recovery.
In 1973, the Canadian Government declared the bald eagle a Provincially Endangered Species in Ontario and it still remains on the endangered list. Since 1973, Canadians have implemented active protection and conservation measures and eagle populations have begun to steadily increase.
By 2004 four bald eagle nests were found on the Canadian side of the Detroit River and there were six occupied breeding areas in the geographic area of Ontario with an additional two nests along the north shore of Lake Erie. Two of the nests have been active since the early 1980s and two others since the early 1990s.
The Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge Preserves Eagles, Wildlife, and Habitat
The first International Wildlife Refuge in North America, the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge was established in 2001 and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the Canadian Wildlife Service jointly manage it. Located along most of the southern part of the Detroit River and the western coast of Lake Erie, the Refuge includes coastal wetlands, and several Downriver Detroit River Islands and waterfront parks. It also includes Humbug Marsh, a wetland in Gibraltar and Trenton. The Act that established the Refuge, signed by President George W. Bush, replaced the Wyandotte National Wildlife Refuge that consisted of islands including Grassy Island and Mamajuda Shoal and made them part of the new international refuge.
John Hartig and Eagles
A Twenty-First Century man, John Hartig, manager of the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge, continues the tradition of protecting eagles that Captain West made news for in the early Twentieth Century-with a different kind of protection. He has worked for three decades bringing diverse groups together to clean up the Detroit River and preserve its wildlife.
As part of his own story John Hartig notes that for the past 25 years bald eagles experienced reproductive failure throughout the region. “Today there are seven active bald eagle nests in the watershed that produce young and over 50 bald eagles overwinter near the Monroe Power Plant feeding off fish in the hot water discharge.”
His wish for the people who live Downriver is that they reconnect with the Detroit River and bequeath an appreciation of it to their children so it will continue to be a healthy habitat for wildlife and a place where eagles soar.
The story of eagles along the Detroit River parallels the story of the Island View Hotel, now called Abars Island View. In 1893, Henri Hebert, a local French fisherman, registered the name of his hotel as “Abars” because he believed the anglicized spelling of his name would be more familiar.
Henri Hebert built his Island View Hotel to accommodate guests from stagecoach lines and the hitching rail for horses at the inn’s front entrance survived far into the age of the automobile. By 1900, Abars Island View had established a solid clientele and the hotel stayed in the Hebert family for three generations.
Captain Frank West and the Eagles
A July 10, 1902, story appearing in the Brooklyn Eagle narrates the story of Captain Frank West and the two eagle residents at the Island View Hotel perched on the Canadian side of the Detroit River. The summer boarders at the hotel considered the captain their hero for his actions during a July 4, 1902, windstorm that roared its way up the Detroit River.
The two eagles, one a bald eagle and the other a large gray eagle, were one of the star attractions for the Island View Hotel guests, but their feisty dispositions made it necessary for the landlord to keep them in a large cage. The eagles didn’t reciprocate the hotel guests regard for them, and they showed their feelings so forcefully that landlord felt compelled to hang a “Danger” sign on their cage.
When the fierce winds of the fourth of July storm swept up the Detroit River, the human guests at the Island View Hotel ran inside to escape the rain and wind. No one thought to bring in the eagles and they screeched and flailed against the bars of the cage while the wind whistled and blew sand on them and the rain fell in sheets. Eventually the wind grew strong enough to upset the cage which sat close to the bank of the Detroit River and it looked like the wind would sweep the eagles, cage and all, into the water.
Captain West saw the wind blow over the eagle cage from the hotel window, and since he had grown fond of the eagles he disregarded the warnings of the other guests and rushed out in the wind and the rain to save them. He couldn’t lift the heavy cage from the water and none of the other guests ventured out to help so, so Captain West acted on his own. He unlocked the cage door, caught one of the eagles by the legs and dragged it through the open door. He slammed the door on the other bird and struggled to hold on to the eagle he held by the legs.
The Eagles Didn’t Appreciate Being Rescued
The eagle misinterpreted the captain’s intentions and it used its considerable strength, agility, and powerful hooked beak against Captain West. The captain spent minutes sidestepping and countering the eagle’s desperate defenses, and finally maneuvered the eagle into a headlock so that the eagle couldn’t bite him with its beak. The eagle continued to beat its wings trying to fly away and the wind caught them powerfully enough so that Captain West had hang on to the eagle’s legs with a dead grip. The eagle had such strength that it dragged Captain West across the beach and only a fence kept it from flying away.
Captain West sagged against the fence, exhausted, but he kept fighting the eagle and finally managed to carry it back to his hotel room. Closing the door firmly behind him, Captain West returned to the overturned cage and removed the other eagle. This eagle fought more viciously than its companion and managed to put its talons in Captain West’s hand and strike him in the arm with its beak. Bleeding but undaunted, Captain West deposited the second bird in his room.
The inn keeper gave Captain West another room for the night and the next morning he returned to his old room holding the cage and a small gill net to capture them. He captured them without any more injury to the eagles or to himself. According to the Detroit Free Press, Captain West said that he didn’t want to repeat his eagle experience, not even for the admiration of summer boarders!
Abars Island View Hotel and Eagles after Captain West’s Rescue
During Prohibition, Abars Island View Hotel attracted high society patrons from Detroit who appeared in formal dress, much to the disadvantage of local customers who often had to wait to be seated.
Mrs. Henri Hebert frequently sat at the entrance to Abars resplendent in her jewels and furs, greeting Detroit social register guests like the Fishers, the Dodges, the Fords, and sports celebrities like the Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees and Jack Dempsey. The Tigers and the Yankees came to Abars Island View by launch and docked at the Abars docks at the mouth of the Detroit River because it was against the rules for them to frequent Detroit speakeasies.
The Prohibition Years -1902-1933 on both sides of the Detroit River marked the beginning of the decline of bald eagle habitat along its shores. In the early years of the Nineteenth Century conservation records indicated that bald eagles were “evenly distributed” across the state of Michigan, but then the rise of the automobile and chemical industries destroyed habitat and increased pollution. After World War II, the widespread use of DDT and PCBs disrupted eagle breeding cycles and poisoned fish. Oil, chemicals and sewage on the river killed fish and birds, including thousands of ducks in 1948, according to the Michigan United Conservation Clubs whose members transported the duck carcasses to Lansing and dumped them on the walkway to the Capitol.
The decline of Downriver eagles accelerated in the 1950s and by the 1970s they were on the brink of extinction. According to a report from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Detroit River-Western Lake Erie Basin Indicator Project there were no bald eagles born in Michigan from 1961 to 1987 because there were few if any breeding pairs, but because of grass roots and governmental efforts to clean up the Detroit River there has been a steady increase in the number of fledgling bald eagles since the mid-1980s.
Eagles are Recovering on the Canadian Side of Detroit River Too!
Bald eagle populations on the Canadian side of the Detroit River suffered from the same ills as their American counterparts, including farming, loss of habitat, pesticides, and polluted water. The Canadian Government introduced protective legislation in 1890 and the Bald Eagle Act in 1940 helped to pave the way for their population recovery.
In 1973, the Canadian Government declared the bald eagle a Provincially Endangered Species in Ontario and it still remains on the endangered list. Since 1973, Canadians have implemented active protection and conservation measures and eagle populations have begun to steadily increase.
By 2004 four bald eagle nests were found on the Canadian side of the Detroit River and there were six occupied breeding areas in the geographic area of Ontario with an additional two nests along the north shore of Lake Erie. Two of the nests have been active since the early 1980s and two others since the early 1990s.
The Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge Preserves Eagles, Wildlife, and Habitat
The first International Wildlife Refuge in North America, the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge was established in 2001 and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the Canadian Wildlife Service jointly manage it. Located along most of the southern part of the Detroit River and the western coast of Lake Erie, the Refuge includes coastal wetlands, and several Downriver Detroit River Islands and waterfront parks. It also includes Humbug Marsh, a wetland in Gibraltar and Trenton. The Act that established the Refuge, signed by President George W. Bush, replaced the Wyandotte National Wildlife Refuge that consisted of islands including Grassy Island and Mamajuda Shoal and made them part of the new international refuge.
John Hartig and Eagles
A Twenty-First Century man, John Hartig, manager of the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge, continues the tradition of protecting eagles that Captain West made news for in the early Twentieth Century-with a different kind of protection. He has worked for three decades bringing diverse groups together to clean up the Detroit River and preserve its wildlife.
As part of his own story John Hartig notes that for the past 25 years bald eagles experienced reproductive failure throughout the region. “Today there are seven active bald eagle nests in the watershed that produce young and over 50 bald eagles overwinter near the Monroe Power Plant feeding off fish in the hot water discharge.”
His wish for the people who live Downriver is that they reconnect with the Detroit River and bequeath an appreciation of it to their children so it will continue to be a healthy habitat for wildlife and a place where eagles soar.