The ship docked at the Detroit pier for passengers to embark or disembark. Sam was interviewed by a reporter from the Detroit Journal who wrote:

James. J. Hill, railroad magnate of the Great Northern Railroad, developed the Northern Steamship Company to connect his freight shipments between Buffalo and Duluth. After constructing six lake freighters, he decided to capture passenger traffic on the Great Lakes and in 1892 began construction on the first of two luxury liners at the Globe Iron Works in Cleveland. His intention was to build the largest and most modern ships on the Great Lakes, equal in every way to the 'ocean greyhounds' in speed and luxury.

July 18 Thursday - The Clemens party arrived in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and checked into the Hotel Iroquois. Sam gave his talk at the Soo Opera House. J.B. Pond did not make a diary entry on this stop, nor did Sam mention it in any letters extant. Gaw writes,"I found only one ad previewing the arrival of Twain in the July 13 edition of the Sault Ste.

" Friday, July 19th, Grand Hotel, Mackinac.

We came by steamer T. S. Faxton, of the Arnold Line. It was an ideal excursion among the islands. Although it was cold, none of our party would leave the deck until the dinner bell rang. 'Mark' said: 'That sounds like an old-fashioned summons to dinner. It means a good, old-fashioned, unpretentious dinner, too. I'm going to try it.' We all sat down to a table the whole length of the cabin. We naturally fell in with the rush, and all got seats. It was a good dinner, too ; the best ever I heard of for 25 cents.

The Northern Arrow was one of the named passenger trains of the Pennsylvania Railroad serving St. Louis, Missouri, Cincinnati, Ohio, Chicago, Illinois, and Mackinaw City, Michigan. It used the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad, a leased subsidiary of the Pennsylvania system. The train was frequented by northbound travelers to popular Northern Michigan destinations north of Grand Rapids, Michigan, such as Petoskey, Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island.

Petoskey was the location of the extermination of the last huge breeding colony of passenger pigeon. A state historical marker commemorates the events, including the last great nesting in 1878. That summer, the breeding colony of Pigeons arrived near Crooked Lake. The flock covered 40 square miles and for three months yielded over 50,000 birds a day to hunters. One hunter reportedly killed 3,000,000 of the birds and according to one account earned $60,000. Records estimate between 10-15 million slaughtered.

A PACKED HOUSE. AND MANY TURNED AWAY. Mark Twain's Entertainment at the Grand Opera House Last Night. An audience which packed the Grand opera house from the orchestra railing to the top row of the rear gallery greeted Mark Twain when the curtain rose last night. Every seat was sold and over a hundred chairs were brought in to try to accommodate those who wished to see America's great humorist, and even then many were turned away. It was the largest, the most cultured, and the best audience ever seen in Petoskey, the receipts being $524.

Before the arrival of the white man... On and around the Apostle Islands, Lake Superior, Ojibwa people discovered and innovated agricultural advancements, including excavating Copper deposits and creating specialized tools for agriculture, hunting and fishing, the use of canoes in rice harvesting, conjugal collaborative farming, and the Three Sisters Crop Complex, enabling the Ojibwa to greatly expand their population, territory and power outward in all directions creating an enormous nation.

Mark Twain's course took him through the Copper Country of the Keweenaw Peninsula and a stop at Houghton, Michigan. When Horace Greeley said "Go west, yuoung man" he was referring to the copper rush in Michigan's western upper peninsula. Houghton gained importance with the opening of the Keweenaw Waterway in 1873. The waterway was created by dredging out Portage Lake, Portage Shipping Canal and Lily Pond. This created the new island of Copper Island, the northern tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula. In 1854 Houghton was said to be occupied by thieves, crooks, murderers and indians.

On Lake Superior; S. S. Northwest. Major Pond was on deck early and found the smoke all gone. In its place was bright sunshine, but so cold all day that few of the other passengers were on deck. The ship was running eight hours late. They landed in Duluth at just 9 p.m. Mr. Briggs, the correspondent, met them at the wharf with a carriage.

As the boat neared land Briggs shouted:

"Hello, Major Pond!"

"Hello, Briggs!"

"Is Mark Twain all right?"

"Yes; he is ready to go to the hall; he will be the first passenger off the ship."