Well, this seems to confirm what I've been hearing both here and on Boatnerd.com about the old girl. Geez, is there NO ONE that cares about the rail-marine connection on the Great Lakes enough to save one of the river ferries?????????? Well, at least the City Of Milwaukee has been saved in Manistee, and the Badger still makes the run out of Ludington.Picture of Lansdowne's sister Huron in better days.....[/img]http://cgi.ebay.com/ANTIQUE-SHIPS-BELLOW-USS-LANDSDOWNE-GREAT-LAKES-SHIP_W0QQitemZ6555760167QQcategoryZ95156QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Nice picture. Did you notice the ship lurking in the background? Is that the South American or North American?The Huron was actually older than the Lansdowne, and a twin screw boat. She had single cylinder engines, circa 1870.

What is a "bellow"?

Well, after scratching my head trying to figure out where in God's green Earth the photo of the Huron was taken at in Port Huron... I realized that nowhere did it actually SAY it was taken in Port Huron!! Boy, lack of sleep will do crazy things to ya! TJ, that's an interesting photo, do you have any info on where it was taken by chance? Wonder if any of what's in the photo is still around...Dave J

Dave- Sorry, should have given a bit more description. This was taken in Detroit; the Boblo boats can be seen in the background, and the elevator was there until a few years ago. To give you a better idea, your a couple blocks off of Woodward here. With even the NS/N&W/ Wabash car ferries gone, there is little evidence of the Rail-Marine operations in Detroit anymore, and sadly, Port Huron is quickly following suit, although our aprons are hanging on.TJ

That's the Bob-Lo boat Ste. Claire. Presumably her running mate Columbia is behind her there, giving her the illusion of having two stacks in this photo.

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.

She'd make a good light ship tender for you TJ.dave

She'd make a good light ship tender for you TJ.dave