American Inland Waterways

As previously mentioned and demonstrated through my posts on Jackson Michigan, my hometown, I’ve accumulated a sizable collection of old postcards.

I like ships and boats as well as lakes, rivers, streams and the ocean.  So I thought that I’d copy a few of my old postcards featuring ships and large boats on North American waterways… There was a lot of history that is shown via this old form of ‘snail mail’ communications.

This first postcard features the Pere Marquette on the Milwaukee River in Milwaukee Wisconsin.  It is postmarked 9/5/1907 in Wisconsin and then again on 9/24/19 just before delivery to an address in Cuba. 

Although the Pere Marquette is labeled as an excursion vessel on the postcard, she was actually a steel cross-lake railcar ferry that also carried passengers.  This ship, (and several others with the same name), was designed to carry up to 30 railcars from Ludington Michigan across Lake Michigan to Kewaunee, Manitowoc and Milwaukee Wisconsin.  She had 4 railroad tracks on the main deck and there were 50 staterooms for passengers.  The various Pere Marquette ships were all built for the Pere Marquette Railway and they were all numbered in order to differentiate them from each other.

Using a magnifying glass, it appears to me that this is Pere Marquette 18.  She was built in 1902 and she sank near Ludington Michigan on 9/15/1910.  At the time, she was carrying 29 railroad freight cars and 62 persons including the crew.  Fortunately, the Pere Marquette 17 was nearby and she picked up the distress signal.  Despite the best efforts, 28 lives were lost.  The captain did go down with his ship…

If you’ve ever been to Niagara Falls, on either Canadian or American side, you’ve seen the “Maid of the Mist” tourist boats in action.  This postcard is dated 8/11/1910 and based on the bridge location, it shows the boat departing from its dock on the American side of the Niagara River.

Back in the 1830s and early 1840s the only way to cross the Niagara River was via small boats.  The Maid of the Mist I, a ferry boat, was launched in May of 1846.  The first international bridge was completed over the Niagara Gorge ca. 1850 and the Maid of the Mist became a tourist sightseeing boat out of necessity. 

Several Maid of the Mist Boats have been built over the years.  I believe that when I was about 10 years old, I rode on either the third or fourth vessel of this name.  One of the boats in use at that time…the early 1950s…was built in 1855 and the other had been launched in 1892.  My voyage may well have been on the boat shown on the postcard.  Both of these boats were lost in a fire on 4/22/55 while being prepared for a new tourist season. 

Today the two Maid of the Mist boats in service are much larger…carrying up to 600 passengers up to the base of Niagara Falls.  FYI, passengers on the Maid of the Mist are given a transparent plastic poncho as protection from the mist during the ride.  When I had my Maid of the Mist adventure, they provided old style slickers and separate hoods to cover your head.  I managed to lose my hood overboard!

Niagara Falls, on the border of the United States (New York State) and Canada (Province of Ontario) has over 30,000,000 visitors per year!  To see a short video of the awe inspiring American and Canadian sides of the falls, just go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wB6gHz8XHDI.  To learn about Maid of the Mist boat rides, go to https://www.maidofthemist.com/.

The Hudson River has been a major inland waterway ever since Henry Hudson sailed the Half Moon up the river in 1609 looking for a northwest passage to China.  He sailed all the way up to where New York’s Capital, Albany is now located.  The river is navigable for 135 miles for ocean going vessel bound for the Port of Albany.

It was only natural that the Hudson River serve as a ‘superhighway’ for the movement of people and commerce in the early days of the United States.  Traffic on the river greatly increased after the opening of the Erie Canal in 1835.  The passenger side wheeler New York, as shown on the postcard above, was one of the ships that plied the river under the ownership of the Hudson River Day Line.  This postcard is dated 8/23/1905.

While I was unable to find out any information on the New York, there was plenty of history available regarding the Hudson River Day Line.  The beginnings of the Hudson River Day Line were in 1855.  There was regular Day Line Service between Albany and New York City.  Six days a week, one boat left Albany every morning and another left New York City.  Traveling along the river was far more pleasant than taking the railroad, especially in the summer.  A ‘Night Line’ with sleeping accommodations also plied the Hudson River.   Some of these river boats were more than 300 feet long!

Note:

·       In 1876, the Hudson River Day Line alone carried 173,000 passengers.

There were plenty of passenger steamers on the Great Lakes as well.  This postcard dated 6/8/1909 shows the Goodrich Line Steamer the S.S. Christopher Columbus en-route from Chicago Illinois to Milwaukee Wisconsin.

The S.S. Christopher Columbus was in service on the Great Lakes between 1893 and 1933.  This was the only whaleback design ship ever built for passenger service.  Her first mission was to carry passengers to and from Chicago’s World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893.  She is reported to have transported between 1,700,000 and 2,000,000 visitors to and from the Exposition! 

After the Exposition the Christopher Columbus provided general transportation and excursions to various great lake ports… At 362 feet, this was the longest whaleback ship ever built and she was the largest vessel on the Great Lakes when she was launched.  She could carry 5,000 passengers!  The S.S. Christopher Columbus was retired during the Great Depression in 1933 and she was scrapped in 1936. 

Technically, “American” inland waterways include Canada as well…given that we are all in North America.  This postcard dated 9/5/1910 shows ships waiting to ‘lock down’ from Lake Superior to Lake Huron via the locks at Sault Ste. Marie Ontario Canada.  The ships aren’t identified…

The “Soo” Locks are built on the Saint Mary River which connects the two aforementioned Great Lakes.  On the Canadian side, the Sault Ste. Marie Canal is now a National Historic Site managed by Parks Canada.  It includes a lock suitable for smaller boats and pleasure craft.  However, the first canal opened here in 1798 but it was destroyed during the War of 1812.  Rebuilt in 1895, it formed part of the shipping route from the Atlantic Ocean to Lake Superior.  One of the walls of this lock collapsed in 1987 and a smaller lock was opened within this canal in 1998.

There are 4 locks along the 1.6 miles of canal on the U.S. side of the river. (The official name of the canal is the St. Mary’s Falls Canal) The longest lock is the Poe Lock.  It was completed in 1896.  It was rebuilt in 1968 in order to accommodate larger ships after the Saint Lawrence Seaway opened and large ocean going ships began plying the Great Lakes.  This 1,200 foot long lock is the only one that can handle the long lake freighters that are used on the upper lakes.

About 7,000 vessels pass through the locks each year…and the locks are closed for repair every year from January 15 until March 25.  That works out to be over 23 ships per day for about 300 days of operation.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave