The Great Lakes Towing Company this week moved the 113-year-old, 216’x60’ excursion steamer SS Columbia from Toledo, Ohio, to Buffalo, N.Y., where a non-profit group plans to restore the vessel for service as a “cultural flagship” on the Hudson River.
The 75’x24’x8’6”, 2,400 hp tug Michigan, with assistance from the 81’x20’x12’6” harbor tug New Jersey, eased the Columbia under tow from the Ironhead Shipyard in Toledo on Sept. 1. It then towed the steamer 235 miles to Buffalo where it will undergo final stages of restoration.
After being stabilized and readied for the move, the ship was moved from Detroit to Toledo for restoration work in September 2014. After work is completed at Buffalo, the steamer will make a long passage east on the St. Lawrence and down the Atlantic coast.
Built by the Detroit Dry Dock Company in 1902, the Columbia and sister ship SS Ste. Claire for decades ferried passengers from Detroit to the Boblo Island Amusement Park, located on Bois Blanc Island, Ontario, about 18 miles from the Motor City.
Opened in 1898, the park and its steamers enjoyed an extraordinary run for nearly a century. The ships were finally laid up in 1991 and the park closed a few years later. The New York-based non-profit SS Columbia Project, founded by the late preservationist Richard Anderson, plans to restore the steamer as a traveling museum and education center that will connect Hudson Valley communities and New York City.
