A paddle steamer which underwent many vicissitudes is depicted on the 1 cent stamp of the United States. She was the City of Alpena, built by the Detroit Dry Dock Company in 1893 at Wyandotte, Michi¬gan, for the Detroit and Cleveland Navigation Company. Her official number was 126974 and she was listed in the official U. S. archives as a "steel side-wheel steamer, i.h.p. 2,400, home port, Detroit, dimensions 266.2 ft. x 69.8 ft. x 13.4 ft." Her gross tonnage was 1,735.
When the company decided to number their ships she was renamed City of Alpena II, there having been a previous City of Alpena in 1880. In 1922 she was sold to the Graham and Morton Transportation Company, of Chicago, and was renamed City of Saugatuck. Later entries in the Register of American Shipping show her name as City of Saugatauk, but no reason is given for the change of spelling. Her service was shown as "lake passenger and freight" and she was listed as a coal-burner with a 77-man crew.
On June 27, 1922 her home port was changed to Chicago and in May 1925 she was bought by the Goodrich Transit Company, of Duluth. On September 14, 1935 her ownership was changed to the Michigan Trust Company (a former mortgagee—possibly she was foreclosed) and on April 18, 1939 her owner became John Roen, of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, who converted her to a barge.
Her dimensions were then given as 241.7 ft. x 38.5 ft. x 13.3 ft. and she was listed as "freight service" with her home port as Milwaukee. The startling change in the vessel's breadth is obviously due to the removal of her paddle wheels and sponsons and this, together with the removal of her propelling machinery reduced her gross tonnage to 999 61.
Bought by the Roen Steamship Company on May 1, 1939 she was renamed Leona. On July 21, 1945 a further change of ownership occurred when she passed to the Northern Paper Mills, of Hansen, Ontario and become the barge Norma. As such she traded until 1955, with Sault Ste. Marie as her port of registry, carrying pulpwood principally from points around Manitoulin Island and other locations in Georgian Bay.
Eventually laid up at Green Bay, she was sold in 1956 to Mr. Richard J. Pritte (an attorney) and associates, of Ashland, Wisconsin, and was broken up at Carpenter Cook Dock, Menominee, Michigan.
SG300 Sea Breezes 1/63