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N'ORTH ÂM
ICA
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33
NORTH AMERICAN
Built Ecorse, Mich., 1913 Length, 259 ft. 2,317 tons
About 1939 a change began to come over Great Lakes travel, and indeed over water
travel generally. "Transit companies” and “lines” gradually shifted emphasis from
one-way trips to cruises. Long voyages on the Lakes had always been enjoyable
(weather permitting): but now the pleasure of water travel became an end in iiself.
Ideally adaptable to this shift were the white North American and South American of
the Chicago, Duluth & Georgian Bay Transit Co. Built as businesslike one-stack
propellers to transport passengers between lake ports, they were glamorized by the
twinning of their funnels and other modifications. By 1945, they were among the
few passenger ships left on the Lakes. Today, their weekly round trips from Buffalo
to Chicago or Duluth are the only overnight passenger cruises on those waters
under the United States flag.
CHICAGO, DULUTH & GEORGIAN BAY TRANSIT COMPANY
