The steamer in the background of the Lansdowne photo is indeed one of the Bob-Lo boats, but whether the Ste. Claire or the Columbia I can't tell. It is sheathed in canvas for the winter, giving it the appearance of an overnight boat instead of the open-decked excursion steamer that it is.According to the Detroit papers, the Ste. Claire was recently returned to the Detroit River where it will be opened as a museum ship, having gotten $500,000' worth of cosmetic repairs in Ohio by a private foundation. Probably there is still a lot to be done with the boat's wooden superstructure.Although museums and historic sites in Detroit are not all faring well, this one just might make it. There is still a lot of sentiment in the whole Detroit area regarding these boats. (The Columbia is still afloat, but with no clear future.) These must be some of the last steam reciprocating excursion steamers in existance - I don't know if any of the Hudson River boats survive.They ran until 1991, connecting Detroit with an island amusement park that went condo at that time. As is usual with these things, they passed through a variety of underfinanced hands. One owner proposed keeping them in service. The Detroit boiler firm who assisted in making 1225's thermic syphons told us how the owner importuned them to bring the boats' boilers back up to date on the cuff. They didn't extend the credit.I view these boats as part of the mass-transportation and mass-entertainment period that included trolleys and passenger trains. Also downtown department stores and movie theaters. All these institutions were obsoleted when people were put in charge of their own destinations and schedules by the automobile.
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