Christopher Columbus Smith / Garfield A. "Gar" Wood

Christopher Columbus Smith, also, Garfield A. "Gar" Wood. . , Christopher Columbus Smith 1861 - 1939 , created the sport of motor-boating in 1893 by installing a motor in a wooden boat and launching it in the St. Clair River at Algonac , three years before Henry Ford installed one in the first motor-car. Chris and Anna raised a large family, all of whom went on to help him create the World's largest boat-building industry, with factories in four countries. They built the first of friend Gar Wood's champion race-boats, with Chris's sons sharing the cockpit of Gar's boats. , , Christopher Columbus Smith , Christopher Smith, a true motor-boat entrepreneur, who introduced to the World a new leisure-time sport and, with his family, made Algonac the new center of the World's foremost and largest boat-building enterprise. , , Garfield Arthur "Gar" Wood , Gar Wood, renown World motorboat racing champion was also an ingenious inventor, famous industrialist, and boatbuilder known for racing with two little teddy bears on board, a good luck Christmas gift from Mrs. Wood. , , Garfield A. "Gar" Wood 1880-1971, , inventive genius and daring competitor, combined airplane and marine technology to build and race the World's fastest boats; then built a fleet of top quality mahogany boats for other sportsmen, classic boats still in action around the World. Gar earned his fame and fortune as inventor and builder of practical applications for hydraulics. He sired a son, Gar Jr., another racing champion. Gar and his mentor Chris Smith are now resting for eternity in Algonac's cemetery.