Steamboat: Southern Michigan

Day 4: Monday, 22 August 1853. 8:00 a.m., from Monroe across Lake Erie to Buffalo, New York, by the steamer Southern Michigan. Southern Michigan 1852 - 1863: Wooden sidewheel Great Lakes passenger and package freight vessel. Built at Buffalo NY by Bidwell & Banta. 1 deck, coal-fired boilers, vertical beam engine, Enrolled at Buffalo NY May 19, 1852 (Temp #B) 300’9” x 36’11” x 13’7”, 1470 54/95 tons to: Michigan Southern Rail Road Co., In service with sister vessel Northern Indiana between Buffalo NY and Monroe MI Permanent enrollment at Buffalo NY June 1, 1853 (#89) Home port to Michigan (sic) 1855. Laid up late in the 1857 season at Monroe MI because of the Panic of 1857. By the time the economy recovered, the railroad lines around Lake Erie had been completed and the large vessels of her type were no longer needed.