For you history fans, check out this paddle wheeler.

[Buzzard]

http://www.shorpy.com/node/23610?size=_original#caption

[t walgamuth]

Is that for real? What and where is it? What year?

[Robert Crandall]

Very nice!

Thank you.

[Skip Lackie]

Is that for real? What and where is it? What year?

It is (was) a railroad ferry between Detroit and Windsor.

[wittsend]

Wonder how the wheel paddles survived all that ice?

My grandfather captained the "Charles W. Galloway" side wheel ferry between Perth Amboy, N.J. and Tottenville, Staten Island, N.Y. until he passed away in 1924. I believe it was one of the last side wheel wheel ferries.

[skyway]

The Deco styled Admiral which day cruised out of St. Louis from 1939? until 1977, was original built at the turn of the century as a side wheeled coaler.
After its Deco conversion, it remained a (concealed) sidewheeler until it was converted to modern rotating power units, just prior to the Coast Guard taking it out of service due to a failing hull.
As the Admiral the operating arms for the sidewheels (which were visible on the Arcade level) and were named "Popeye" & "Brutus"!
The arms were staggered so that one was always trying to "catch" the other.

[t walgamuth]

I rode on that boat, the Admiral in about 1963. I had won a trip to st louis by selling subscriptions to the Indianapolis Star. I dropped a quarter down a crack on the deck around a capstan and could see it but it was out of reach. I assumed it was very modern, never suspecting it was built in 1939 (same year as my CE), but from the big exposed rods I assumed it was sort of remodeled.

There was a casino on it too.

[Skip Lackie]

Wonder how the wheel paddles survived all that ice?

Ice gets stronger with colder temperatures, but ice on a large river like the Detroit River is continuously warmed by the moving water below. As a result, it doesn't usually get so strong that a steel hull won't break it up into small enough pieces for the paddles to push them aside. Not saying that the Detroit River never froze so solidly that it impeded navigation, but it probably was a rare occurrence.

[t walgamuth]

If it was that cold you probably could just drive across.

I remember that Henry Ford drive the old 999 race car to speed records on the ice of the Detroit river so it must have frozen thicker back then.

[wittsend]

... I remember that Henry Ford drive the old 999 race car to speed records on the ice of the Detroit river so it must have frozen thicker back then.

Watch out! You might get accused of bring up "The Subject," the words of which begin with the 7th and 23rd letters of the alphabet.

Seriously thought, back then a frozen river was probably the smoothest, uninterupted surface available.

[rbruner]

My wife's Uncle Joe Vitale told us how he was a getaway driver with a carload of Canadian whiskey during prohibition. He said it was from Walkerville Ont. He was driving across the frozen Detroit River when some one started shooting at his car. He quit the "business" immediately.
Didn't Studebaker have a Walkerville connection too?

[Bob Bryant]

My wife's Uncle Joe Vitale told us how he was a getaway driver with a carload of Canadian whiskey during prohibition. He said it was from Walkerville Ont. He was driving across the frozen Detroit River when some one started shooting at his car. He quit the "business" immediately.
Didn't Studebaker have a Walkerville connection too?

Today, Andy Beckman of the SNM gave a great presentation on the history of Studebaker manufacturing facilities. Walkerville and Hamilton were mentioned. Studebaker had a presence in several cities and countries. Some locales such as Israel were probably for assembly, only.

[Skip Lackie]

I should have added to my earlier post that in winter, ferries tend to try to follow exactly the same route across frozen waters to take advantage of the more navigable ice broken up by previous trips. In the photo, the Landsdowne is doing exactly that. BTW, someone did a nice coloring job on that B&W photo.