Temporary Trailers Restricted to 3,000 lbs.
By Karen Gould

Concerned about the health of horses pulling heavy loads, the Mackinac Island Service Company has restricted temporary trailers to a maximum weight of 3,000 pounds, including the trailer and contents. The company sought and received the city council's support and the restriction was announced Monday, March 26.

Council agreed to provide a weight restriction notice to all those seeking a temporary trailer permit, and the city will require that applications include the weight of the trailer and contents.

"It's all for the horses," Jim Roe of the Service Company told the Mackinac Island Town Crier Wednesday, April 11.

Using a trailer and obtaining a temporary vehicle permit to have it pulled behind a dray is a popular form of hauling construction materials, tools, and personal items, because it doesn't require such contents be offloaded onto carts on the mainland and then reloaded onto drays on the Island. Boy Scout troops staying at the Scout Barracks at Fort Mackinac often use a trailer to transport their supplies and personal belongings, as do cottagers. Musicians playing at Island venues, and contractors also use trailers.

Mr. Roe and his teamsters will have the final say if a trailer is too heavy.

In recent years, he said, people have been overloading the trailers to save money on the number of dray loads they need.

Arnold Transit can weigh the trailers on its scale in St. Ignace, but Mr. Roe and the dray driver will also be able to tell if the trailer is too heavy by the way the horses respond.

"If I think it's too heavy, or my driver thinks it's too heavy," he said, "we just won't pull it."

The owner always has the option of unloading the trailer onto a dray.

Trailers are hitched to the back of the drays, and, Mr. Roe said, the farther back the weight, the harder it is for the horses to pull the load.

When loading drays, he noted, the heavier materials are placed to the front, because it is easier for the horses to pull. The maximum weight for a standard dray load is 4,000 pounds.

In the off-season, Council can allow trailers to be pulled by a tractor, said City Clerk Karen Lennard. In those cases, the person must receive a temporary trailer permit and a temporary motor vehicle permit.

"The preference is that a trailer be pulled by a dray," she said.

All trailer permit applications are deliberated by the city council, and copies of approved applications are forwarded to Mr. Roe, who has the final say in the matter.