1904 Ferry

I took this photo back in 2008, and it seemed I never got back to it.  At the time, I didn’t realize it was built in 1904 and had once done the Buffalo–Duluth passenger run with first-class staterooms.  Buffalo–Duluth passenger ferry  SS Juniata . . . doesn’t even seem reasonable a century later.

Between 1937 and 1941, she was thoroughly upgraded and  “returned to work  as the Milwaukee Clipper and carried passengers and their cars between Muskegon and Milwaukee until 1970 when the interstate highways and air travel rendered her obsolete.”    I’m told volunteers are working to preserve her.  I’d love to hear a progress report.

In contrast, the rest of the photos I took on the Arthur Kill in 2010, and what you see here is no longer there.  I’m going out on a limb here, and guessing it’s the Astoria aka William T. Collins, built in 1925 and out of documentation in 1966.

I recall reading that it was removed –as an eyesore–since then, but can’t find any newspaper record of such.  Anyone help out?   My co-explorer here is none other than frogma . . . .

Click here for a post I did on a re-purposed 1929 NYC ferry still operational as a double-ended construction vessel,  click here for a post I did on a NYC-NJ ferry that operated as such between 1905 and 1970 before being repurposed as a restaurant until neglect and a certain Irene came along, and here for a post on what might be the oldest in service ferry in the US.

Below is P/S Majesteit, a 1926 steam ferry still operating in Rotterdam as a floating restaurant steam side paddle wheeler;

here’s their site with photos of the steam machinery.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.