http://bnwordpress.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2015/07/226802_chautauqua_belle_w_6.jpg
Man, that's too cool for words! Boy am I jealous!
Gorgeous!
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
A better taste:
You know, the only thing missing is Kathryn Grayson and Howard Keel standing next to the wheelhouse singing "Make Believe."
Firelock76You know, the only thing missing...
Not any more
Ahhhh, just lovely! No steamboat should be without 'em!
Thanks RME!
They don't make 'em like that anymore. World's changed. Too bad.
So is this an excursion boat or truly a common carrier?
One of the former bolo boats, laid up since 1991 is in Buffalo under going refurbishment. The plan is to bring her to NYC for excursion service on the Hudson river
BuslistSo is this an excursion boat or truly a common carrier?
The FAQs repeatedly refer to 'cruises', and I see neither a mention of any franchise requirement or minimum service requirements. I would suspect that the OP may think 'common carrier' means something like 'handles anyone who shows up wanting to ride' rather than being required by law to provide service in return for the opportunity to provide transport 'for hire'.
If what gardendance said was accurate, our Raymond might be concerned about the note at the end of the FAQs:
Any passengers that refuse to cooperate with the Captain will be asked to disembark the vessel at the Captain’s convenience without refund and/or return transportation to port of origin.
Just curious, but does anyone know what Chautauqua Belle uses for fuel? I suspect it's oil-fired but it might even be propane given the lack of smoke.
#2 diesel, and apparently the firing controls are fully automatic. (The Belle was built new for the Bicentennial in 1976). Apparently the current owner bought her... when he was 18!
At one point they were using a Troy-Skinner-powered genset for the electrical power, but the boiler couldn't comfortably source enough steam to drive it and the main engine simultaneously under some conditions; as they now use a 30kW diesel generator, I surmise it was not feasible to provide the additional steam generation (cost-effectively or otherwise!)
Oh good, I was hoping it wasn't coal, or the EPA would go after them too like they went after the Badger.
A diesel generator for electrical power doesn't surprise me, looking at the size of Chatauqua Belle I wouldn't think there'd be enough boiler capacity to run the engines and an electrical powerplant as well, it's not a very big vessel. You can't get ten pounds of (ahem) into a five pound bag after all.
Say, what are the "bolo boats" Mr. Willison spoke of? I did an on-line search out of curiosity and the only thing I could find were basically sport fishing charters in Florida.
I didn't watch it and just skimmed the thread, but perhaps you mean Boblo boats? There's an ongoing restoration of both of them, with one slated the last I heard for excursion service on the Hudson River.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ste._Claire_(passenger_steamboat)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Columbia
common carrier- You can take the Boat from Mayville NY (County Seat) Landing and go to Bemus Point NY (Villege in the Town of Ellery NY) and Stay overnight and possibly catch a boat back the next day or ride your bike down to Jamestown NY. I define CC as open to all passengers who pay the fare and have a origin and destination.------Up until the 1950s there was steamboats that met PRR passenger trains at the Union Station(Still Standing) Mayville NY and a Interurban went around Lake Chatauqua. The PRR Railroad is now a hiking/ATV trainC.A.R.T buses and Coach USA provide local and commuter buses. The Closest Train Station is Erie PA and Barons Bus runs to and from Dunkirk/Fredonia (http://baronsbus.com/barons-bus-stops-routes/) in which you have to get a CARTS bus from there
Boblo boats. Now that makes sense. I followed the links and sure enough they do look like classic Hudson River steamers, minus the sidewheels.
Wow, the memories. When I was a kid I was able to ride on both Alexander Hamilton and Peter Stuyvesant as well as the hand fired steam ferries between Newburgh and Beacon. So glad to hear there may be some steam returning to the Hudson - where it all started with Robert Fulton.
My wife remembers the "Crystal Beach Boat" from Buffalo to Cystal Beach park on the Canadian side.
TAKE ME BACK TO MY WILD YOUTH! -
Much of my summertime youth was spent happily on the SS Columbia riding the famous Bob Lo Boat Company steamships. The SS St. Clair and the SS Columbia both harked from the turn of the last century - 1899/1900 and regularly plied their trade in Detroit for 80 years making 10 or so summertime trips daily from downtown Detroit to Bob Lo Island, Canada in the lower Detroit River.
Now Bob Lo Island was a major tourist attraction for the City of Detroit because it was an amusement park like Cedar Point, Ohio or Kings Island, Ohio. The roller coaster, the Tilt Awirl, the Shooting Gallary, the Round UP, the Dodge Um Cars, the miniture railroad that ran around the island! The Casino!
Yes! The two steamships were the ONLY way to get there to the park, so everyone rode the famous ships - I mean EVERYONE. Full of excitement in the morning and looking forward to the 80 min river cruise, and dead tired in the evening hoping it would take longer or go faster!
Also, everyone crossed the International Border into Canada for the day! Canada had its own small ferryboat from the Canadian shore to Bob Lo Island - so you could meet and date the Canadian girls or guys. This would give U.S. Customs fits! today and Homeland Security would go nuts!! but in the years between 1909 and 1990 America and Canada had a very officially relaxed border crossing procedure and no one cared.
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Bob Lo Island was fortified by the British in the War of 1812 and had a remaining original wooden blockhouse fortress on the other end of the island from the amusement park. My trips into this historic facility with several girlfriends found it to be haunted by ghosts of Revolutionary soldiers! - Yah! at least it was a good excuse for a long walk to go "check out" the blockhouse! Across the river remained historic Fort Wayne last used extensively in the American Civil War. The United States invaded Canada and conquered southern Ontario and the British returned the favor invading and conquering and occupying Detroit and Michigan. Unfortunately we were never able to ascertain if the Fort Wayne site in southern Detroit was similarly haunted?
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Aside from the usual amenities, each of the steamships was equipped with the standard steam power of the time - the "tripple compound 'A' frame engine." These power plants were open to view to the public on the lower decks of the SS Columbia and SS St. Clair. The two steam ships were almost exactily alike - the Columbia was the older and the St. Clair was the larger.
One would go on board 19th Century style - gangplank on the lower deck which was entirely an open air experience. The public could run the whole ship except for the "focsle" lower forward, and the boat deck where the pilot house was. There were two large grand internal staircases front and rear and "salon cabins" on each three decks in the center of the boats that surounded the staircases. All of this marine construction was done in the grand walnut paneling style woodwork common to the 19th century.
In the center of the ship lower deck, as I said, was the engine room - open to the air and to the public to view. And I spent many happy hours warmed from the cold and leaning over the rail looking into those engine rooms watching the large two story steam engines run - "small high pressure cylinder" in the rear exhausting into the "middle cylinder" and then into the "large low pressure cylinder" in the front. All three cylinders had the same size piston rods connected to the large crankshaft laid along the floor above the keel and running - back - to front - to the propellor itself.
NO TRANSMISSION - It was direct drive - and the Captain would ring the engine telegraph and the bells would sound - then the Walscharts valve gear would go into forward or reverse - and then another bell and the engine would start - or stop - or go to reverse - then run in reverse. It would run fast or run slow - whatever, it was all direct drive.
The engine room was painted orange color, the floor was bare steel treadway, the engine had a black frame and all the rods and valve gear were polished steel had the ornate brass grease cups. As the old operating tradition was, the enginemen would slap the rods with their hands when the big steam engine running - just to check on the temperature of the bearings - there seemed to be water down in the crankshaft well that was available to cool the crankshaft which ran in the bottom of the engine room. Or else the water was from the leaking drive shaft packing.
And the public was always only 6 feet away from the large beating steam engine cylinders which projected up into the open air of the first deck - the hot oil and the noise - yah! when she really got going it was "huff - huff - huff" at a muffled and quickening beat which was very hypnotic to listen to. Yes the engine was as much a show as the passing Detroit River and the amusement park was.
Of course when you tired of looking at the engine room you just walked back past the pursers office to the lunch counter and ordered up a couple of hotdogs and a Coke, laid on the mustard and then walked further back to the fantail of the ship to watch the receding river and have lunch!
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The Bob Lo boats were fast - many was the fisherman or pleasure boater that learned the hard way about keeping out of the way of SS Columbia - her wake was fearsome. Many were the 16 and 20 foot Thompsons and Lymans that ventured too close and would be swamped by the SS Columbia. And more than one that cut across the bows of Columbia was cut in two by the steamship. The Detroit River Police had a regular policy of handling the incidents that did not encumber the regular timely travel of the two boats.
THE ROY MARTIN STORY! - he was one of the YMCA lifeguards from Northwestern YMCA Detroit - my friend. He, I and a couple other of us "20 year olds" decided to take the trip on one hot July day. We were standing on the third deck waiting for SS Columbia to leave the dock - which was taking a while to load - suddenly Roy looking at the cool river decided that a it was necessary to stand on the rail and dive into the water for a cool dip. Well that put the fat in the fire! The SS Columbia crew went into MAN OVERBOARD routine and hauled him out - to say the Captain was not consternated was an understatement. The paperwork alone probably killed him! - poor Roy got kicked off the Bob Lo Line - FOREVER! - I think he's still kicked off even though the park closed and the boats retired 20 years ago!
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THE MOONLIGHT CRUISE - The two boats had a great dance floor on the rear of the second deck, and a band usually accompanied the daily trips - many were the lingers of late day trips and tired lovers that danced the night away to the soft Michgan breezes, the sounds of the band. and the Detroit skyline passing along the shore. I remember one summer evening reading F Scott Fitzgerald's novel "Diamond as Big as the Ritz" - just some casual reading for wayward Bob Lo boat riders! as we traveled the famous Prohabition Battleground between the US and Canada waters of many famous booze smugglers and Treasury Revenue Agents - yah the 1920's were remembered all over again.
Michigan AAA Auto Club finally bought the Bob Lo Line from failing managment and operated it the last ten years or so. What killed the wonderful amusement park? Two black Detroit Highschools both booked summer cruises the same day. The rival gangs had open warfare on that cruise - the bad press and the increasing urban gang violence kept spilling onto the boats packed with ethnic juviniles and drove the Michigan holladay seekers from the whole experiece. As ridership fell, so did the park experiece.
We are all the less for this part of modern Detroit heritage. Many Detroiters grieve the loss of the whole city and its many delights like the Bob Lo Boat Company.
SS St Clair and SS Columbia have been docked at the Nicholson Dry Dock near Wyandotte MI for the past 20 years or so where the two steamships have deteroriated to shambles. SS Columbia was vandalized and the fine historic pilot house, binacle, wheel, lights , whistle, and other equipment stolen. SS St Clair is minus its entire pilot house which was purchased by some nautical marine collector - but the rest of the ship is still there moldering.
NEW DAY COMING - Yes, SS Columbia has a new lease on life - in New York City to cruise the west Manhattan shoreline where it will hopefull be more appreciated. God Speed you SS Columbia - you take all our stories and adventures with you!
Doc
Yes dr d, god speed the SS Columbia. Her return to service may be as epic as the return of the 4014. Not many steamship have been saved. Very few with the exception of a couple of the liberty ships and the badger still steam today. Unlike steam locomotives very few have been brought back from the dead.
I wish them well and again god speed.
Robert Willison,
Here is a bit more history on the SS Columbia taken from Michigan Natural Resources Magazine - Michigan Heritage Series Volume III - "Ladies of the Lakes" by R Clay.
Detroit radio station from the - Golden Tower of the Fisher Building - WJR 760 "Great Voice of the Great Lakes" radio commercial from 1960-1970.
"Toooot......tooooot.........."It's ten o'clock and there goes the Bob-Lo boat leaving from the foot of Woodward Ave."
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Between 1900 and 1930 Detroit's population went from 286,000 to 1,570,000 people. The city went from steam boat and rail travel to the automobile lifestyle. Both tunnel and bridge were built across the heavily traveled Detroit River slowing the extensive rail passenger and freight marine ferry service. New York Central built a new train station moving from the waterfront to the on line tunnel trackage and changing from a "terminal" to a "station" in Detroit. Grand Trunk, Wabash, however, still shipped cars by ferry boat.
Extensive steam boat ferry service was available on the Great Lakes. SS South American was a cruise ship that plied the great lakes every summer. SS City of Detroit III, ran regular daily passenger service between Detroit and Buffalo, NY. SS Tashmoo ran the entire Lake Erie, Detroit river Lake St. Clair and St. Clair River commuter service carrying passengers between Port Huron, Detroit and Toledo. SS Put-In-Bay was the party boat for dance bands and evening cruises. All these ships docked along the Detroit waterfront in the glamor end of a busy marine shipping industry.
As late as the 1960's I traveled on the new steamship car ferry SS Aquarama to Cleveland. SS Aquarama had been converted from WW II troop ship to luxury liner for the Great Lakes excursion trade. She looked for all the world like a Great Lakes miniture of the trans Atlantic RMS Queen Mary!
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More about SS Columbia,
Bob Lo Line traces its linage to the Detroit, Belle Isle and Windsor Ferry Company. In 1898 the company ferried all day passenger excursions to Bois Blanc Island in Canada which was given its name by the French founders of Michigan who named the island for the extensive forests of White Birch trees that grew there. In manor of speach Bois Blanc Island was corrupted to Bob Lo Island. The response by church groups and businesses for annual picnics and cruises to Bob Lo Island had been tremendous.
In 1901 the company commissioned Frank Kirby to design the SS Columbia which was built by Detroit Shipbuilding Company at its Wyandotte Yard. SS Columbia was launched in May, 1902 and towed to the Orleans Street dock where it was completed. SS Columbia measured 216 feet in length with breadth of 60 feet and had a draft of 12.5 feet with a gross weight of 968 tons. Her passenger capacity at her building was 4,500 persons which was changed by modern marine requirements to 2,500.
SS Columbia made her trial run to Bob Lo Island on July 7, 1902 making the 20 mile trip in 80 minutes instead of the former 125 minutes.
Detroit, Belle Isle and Winsor Ferry Company retained ownership of the boat for 51 years but sold out in 1949 to the Browning Brothers who ran an improved the service for another 30 years. The Michigan Automobile Club became the eventual owners after 1979 and who eventually closed out the service.
SS Columbia had a fairly unremarkable career. In 1905 when only 3 years old she was run aground at Peche Island, Canada in the Detroit river at the mouth of Lake St. Clair while on a Moonlight Cruise. The ship and passengers were stuck aground at the uninhabited island for the entire night requiring the passengers to "make the best of it." The on board band kept up the spirit and many danced the night away under the stars until they were rescued the following morning.
Twenty years later one birth was recorded aboard SS Columbia in 1923 when a baby girl was born to one of the Bob Lo Island excursion passengers.
From 1944 until her retirement she was Captained by Linwood R. Beattie a veteran U.S. Navy deep sea tug boat Captain who had served in WW II.
SS Columbia and SS St. Clair her sister ship spent their entire career of over 80 years plying the Detroit river some 20 miles between the US city and the Canadian island. Starting in the 1960s they began Port Huron to Detroit - Memorial Day and Labor Day end of season all day cruises. I can tell you there were limits to those ships because they were equipped with nothing but wooden deck chairs and open air decks to shelter - And "that gets old" quickly on an all day excursion trip.
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Oddly, in their retirement SS Columbia and SS St. Clair spent the last 20 years tied up at the Nicholson Dry Dock in Wyandotte, likely not far from where they were built in 1902.
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The SS Columbia this year in her restoration voyage to Buffalo, New York and her eventual operation in Manhattan, likely took her longest voyage - and she is 114 years old to commemorate the trip.
And Yah! Roy your still kicked off the ship even when she is running in Manhattan - I don't care if you are a good lookin' 65 year old YMCA life guard - you can't jump over board whenever you feel like it! - you can't jump overboard unless Cap'n Beattie says so!
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"And the queen is dead - long live the queen!"
Any Idea where the steamboat docks were in Albany before the I-787 freeway wiped out the waterfront? and Images would be great as well.
Jennings landings, also known as steam boat square. Across from the Albany yacht Club.
Doesn't the sternwheeler the Minnehaha still run on Lake George?
https://www.steamboatminnehaha.org/ Right STEAM boat but wrong lake. It runs outside of Minnie MN.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_George_Steamboat_Company
Not sure if these are true steamboats anymore or they use Deisal as there primary power and steam to operate the whistles
CandOforprogress2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_George_Steamboat_Company Not sure if these are true steamboats anymore or they use Deisal as there primary power and steam to operate the whistles
I looked at the Wiki article and followed the links, and sure enough Lake George's Minne-Ha-Ha is steam-powered, although it does have a diesel back-up engine with a propellor "just in case." The other two vessels are diesel powered.
Just so you know, if you see "SS" in front of a ship's name, it means "Steam Ship." Diesel powered ships have "MV" for "Motor Vessel" in front of their names.
I saw the Lake George Minnehaha about 25 years ago. The other thing is, that lake is infested with Chris-Craft barrelbacks and other fine craft. The person we stayed with said that they were a status symbol and from what I heard, taking care of a boat like that is like taking care of a living thing in that the care never stops. Here in Ontario there's the antique boat show at Gravenhurst and there are some amazing boats to see. Ditchburns, Greavettes, Correct-Crafts and many others.Some have retractable propellors for some reason. There was a replica rum-runner powered by a Liberty aircraft engine. Painted navy gray with a totally open cockpit. There was an original rum-runner on a trailer that was a work in progress that was powered by a huge Packard engine also.
There was one, I forget the make that was from 1913. Built of mahogany, I suppose and about 40 feet long. The open cockpit behind a vertical windshield was the entire stern half of the boat with oriental rugs and rattan furniture. The forward engine bay was opened up and it had a four cylinder gasoline engine that looked like it was powered by steam with exposed connecting rods and so forth. Every bit of the engine, including the tool box on a bulkhead was polished brass and nickel. Magnificent! Also from Gravenhurst on Lake Muskoka is the SS Segwun, (a coal burner) built in 1880 or so that has daily excursions. There are other steam powered boats on the lake, most are privately owned.
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