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Aug 9, 2009 10:50 pm US/Central
Finding Minnesota: Gliding Over Waves Of History
EXCELSIOR, Minn. (WCCO) ―
There are certainly more elegant ways to get around Lake Minnetonka than the century-old Steamboat Minnehaha. It offers no air conditioning and no food or drink service.
But no other boat on the lake can match its character, history or stories.
The Minnehaha is a boat that spent more than 50 years at the bottom of Lake Minnetonka. Now it's back, gliding along the surface again and giving glimpses of how folks got around before they had cars.
One of the steamboat captains, George Kissinger, was drawn in by the nostalgia.
"Boarding this vessel and watching this operate and watching our skilled engineers operate this is like stepping back in time," he said.
The Minnehaha first hit the water in 1906, back when the Twin Cities had an extensive streetcar system stretching from Stillwater in the east to Excelsior in the west. It was one of the boats that picked up where the streetcar line left off.
"There was no other way to get around the lake," explained Kissinger. "The road system hadn't been developed yet."
The Twin City Rapid Transit Company set up steamboat stops at nearly every section of the lake, where homes and businesses were starting to pop up.
Steamboat captain Brad Buxton said the boats had a familiar design.
"When the boat was built, it was built like a streetcar. And that's streetcar windows, streetcar seats, streetcar paint. You know, the whole thing," he said.
But the streetcars and the steamboats saw business plummet in the "Roaring 20s," when car sales boomed and drivers took to the new roads. The transit system decided to just sink many of its boats. Three boats, in fact, are still down beneath the water north of Big Island.
But supporters got the Minnehaha back up and it's been cruising again since 1996.
Another ship captain, Jim Ogland, has been volunteering for years.
"To sit there and listen to that steam engine so silently pounding away and getting a wonderful look on a beautiful lake," he said. "It's really thrilling for me."
It's now a living, functioning museum on water -- refinished and repainted each year. They charge just $10 for a 1-hour cruise of the lake, which doesn't actually cover the operating costs. That's why they depend on donations and the work of volunteers.
"It's been completely, lovingly restored," said Ogland. "It took 6 years to bring it back to this shape again."
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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