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Winona - cont'd. "On Monday, our own n a t io na l holiday, the WIN ONA gaily sailed away wi th a great crowd made up of the glass (plant) employees and their friends bound for Detroit. "When Tuesday m o r n i n g da wn ed the n oi sy A n n i v e r s a r y of our A m e r i c a n cousins, the steamer's decks were rede ck ed (sic) by a m er ry crowd to patro niz e the ex cur sio n gotten up by the ladies of the Catholic church, to take advant age of the at tr a c t i o n s at Port Huron, in the way of A ut om ob il e races, yacht races, etc. Still there were ma n y who w a tc he d the wea th er anxiously. "But when T h u r s d a y m o r n i n g broke, the only thing that effec ted (sic) the a t mo sp her e was the su lt ry f r i ct io n of competition, all W a l l ac eb ur g that were able to be up w i t h the sun were down at the ri ver sid e looking for fun. And the most s u r p r i s i n g part of it was that the mul ti tu de were there with the price and with good en ou gh reasons for taking in the sail, even the chronic stay at-homes were on hand to see the boats and then staid (sic) at home. "WINONA soon had her limit of passengers, 350, and had to cease selling tickets. This was the greatest load the boat ever carried out of town, and the Cap tai n feels hi gh ly g r at if ie d with the patro nag e bestowed. Besides this she had a large q u a n t i t y of frieght (sic) on board. C o m p e ti ti on was c e r t a i n ly the life of trade that day and seemed to be the source of success, for besides the WI N ON A re a l i z i n g very handsomely, the steamer CITY OF CHATHAM, under the a u s pi ce s of the Baptist church, gave an ex cu rs io n to Belle Isle, and it was s u r p r i s i n g l y well patronized, the church re al izi ng over $8 2 . 00 as their share after paying a big sum for ch art eri ng the boat, a dec ide d success. "On Friday, (I s l a n d ) ." the WINONA also carried a great crowd of Dr esd eni tes to Walp ole If only whoever pe nn ed this article could be sent for some remedial courses in grammar and spelling... But still we can see how popular WINONA's e x c u r sions were. The n e w s p a p e r had ad ver ti se d the trip of Thursday, July 6th, 1905, as a "Cheap Ex c u r s i o n to Detroit", with a round trip fare of only 3 5 . It is no wonder that so many people turned up at the dock seeking tickets! The notice continued: "This is the WI NO NA' s regular trip. Boat leaves town dock at 7 a. m. sharp, leaving Detroit at 4 p. m., our t i m e . " A handsome photo of WIN ONA i l l u s t r a t e d the ad vertisement. T hu rs da y was W I N ON A' s regular day to run to Detroit in 1905. Each Monday, she depa rt ed W a l l a c e b u r g at 9 : 40 a . m., bound for Windsor, and there she stayed overnight, d e p a r t i n g Windsor for W a l l a c e b u r g again on Tue sd ay m o r n i n g at 9 : 00, "Windsor time". On Wednesday, she made a Sarnia trip "calling at all in te rm ed ia te ports", d e p a r t i n g W a l l ac eb ur g at 7: 00 a. m. and sailing from Sarnia at 4 : 00 p . m. Fridays and Saturdays were open for "private excursi ons " and, of course, n o t h i n g was sche du le d for Sundays. Those private e x c u r s i o n s were great events for the participants. Go rd on Shaw was raised in W a l l a ce bu rg , and his parents were staunch memb ers of the Meth odi st (now T r i n i t y United) Church. They r e ca lle d Sunday School picnics that included trips on local steamboats, including WINONA, and Alan Man n's photo of WI NO NA that a c c o m p a n i e s this article shows the steamer on just such an excursion. Mrs. Shaw was active in the church's Epworth League, wh ich pr od uce d plays and other events. One of the Epworth me et ing s featu red an eve ni ng trip to D r e s d e n on WINONA, and during the stopover, the W a l l ac eb ur g Epworths had a joint m e e t i n g with the Epworth League of Dresden. Alan Mann also rec al ls that his late father spoke fondly of WI N O N A on many occasions, r e m e m b e r i n g h ap py times ab oa rd the steamer. One of the most p o p u lar picnic d e s t i n a t i o n s in those years was Highb ank s Park, wh ich was located on Walpole Island, near the m ou th of the Chenal Ecarte and, no doubt, WI NO NA wo uld have called there on ma n y occasions. For a glimpse of Highbanks, we wo uld direct rea de rs to the back side of the photopage in our Mi d- S u m m e r 1993 issue, w h i c h fe atured a view of CITY OF CHA TH AM and BYRON TRER ICE mo or ed at the park wharf. E x c u r s i o n i s t s are vis ibl e in the park near the