1819.

Walk-in-the-Water Visits Green Bay. -- The Walk-in-the-Water this year made a trip to Mackinaw and Green Bay, and was thus the first steamboat on the waters of Lake Michigan.

The New York Mercantile Advertiser, of May -- , 1819, contained the following notice:

"The swift steamboat Walk-in-the-Water is intended to make a voyage early in the summer from Buffalo, on Lake Erie, to Michilimackinac, on Lake Huron, for the conveyance of company. The trip has so near a resemblance to the famous Argonautic expedition in the heroic ages of Greece that expectation is quite alive on the subject. Many of our most distinguished citizens are said to have already engaged their passage for this splendid adventure.

"Her speed may be judged from the fact that it took her ten days to make the trip from Buffalo to Detroit and back, and the charge was eighteen dollars. The Walk-in-the-Water made this trip to carry up the American Fur Company's goods."

This advertisement appeared in the Buffalo papers in 1819: "Notice -- Sealed proposals will be received by Harry Thompson for supplying 600 cords of basswood for the steamboat Walk-in-the-Water, the wood to be delivered on the river bank adjoining the steamboat wharf. Payment will be made one-fourth on the delivery of the wood, the remainder on the first day of May next. Dated Black Rock, October 19, 1819." To make steam for a modern lake steamer, basswood would be considered rather thin. With such fuel it is doubtful if one of them could maintain a speed of seven and a half miles per hour, the boasted achievement of the Walk-in-the-Water.

An advertisement in the Kingston, Ont., Chronicle of April 30, 1819, reads as follows: "The steamboat Frontenac, James McKenzie, master, will in future leave the different ports on the following days: Kingston, for York, on the 1st, 11th and 21st of each month; York, for Queenston, on the 3rd, 13th and 23rd days of each month; Niagara, for Kingston, on the 5th, 15th and 25th of each month. Rates of passage, from Kingston to York and Niagara, L.3; from York to Niagara, L1; children under three years of age, half price, above three and under ten years of age, two-thirds price. Passengers are allowed 60 pounds of baggage. Gentlemen's servants can not eat or sleep in the cabin. Deck passengers will pay 15 shillings, and may either bring their own provisions or be furnished by the steward. For each dog brought on board, 5 shillings."

Other Events of 1819. -- February 1: Ice leaves several Lake Erie harbors. October 24: Snow at Buffalo obstructs navigation to and from that harbor. November 6: Schooner Kingbird, with a cargo of salt for Portland, ashore near Buffalo creek. Sloop General Huntington sustains losses on Lake Erie during a storm. British schooner Elizabeth in command of Captain Fellows, with a cargo for Malden, ashore near Point Albino. December 8: Navigation closed at most lake ports. Ninety-six arrivals and departures at Buffalo during the season. The Dalhousie, built in 1819, was the third steamer built on the Canada side of Lake Ontario, at Kingston, by Henry Gildersleeve. She plied on the same route as the steamer Charlotte.

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Volume II

Some of the transcription work was also done by Brendon Baillod, who maintains an excellent guide to Great Lakes Shipwreck Research.