Chicora (Propeller), 7 Jan 1892

Detroit, Mich., Jan. 7 - With five boats under way at the different yards of the Detroit Dry Dock Company, they are: No. 111 (CHICORA) for Graham & Morton of Chicago, a wooden passenger boat similar to the INDIANA, 212 feet long, 39 feet 6 inches beam, 15 feet deep ; 1200 horsepower, and to develop eighteen miles all hour ; cost $128,000.
Steamer No. 111 will be built at the upper yard of the Detroit Dry Dock Company, No. 108 at the Clark dry dock yards, and the steel steamers at the Wyandotte plant.
      The Marine Review
      January 7, 1892
     

The Graham & Morton Transportation Company has closed a contract with the Detroit Dry Dock Company for a new screw steamer to run between St. Joseph and Chicago, to be ready for next summer's business. The steamer will be built of wood 212 feet over all, 39 feet 6 inches beam over the guards and 15 feet deep, and will be propelled by triple expansion engines of 1,200 horse power. She will have a passenger cabin the entire length of the ship, finished in mahogany. The new steamer will be worth when completed $128,000, and will be constructed so as to be of some service during the winter.
      The Marine Review
      January 7, 1892
     
     
     
The City Hall clock had scarcely ceased striking 3 yesterday afternoon when the steamer CHICORA started down the way at the Orleans street yard, and in a few seconds' time was floating gracefully in the stream several hundred yards from the dock line. A tug soon brought her up to the shears, where she will lie until her machinery is hoisted in. A thousand or more people witnessed the launch, and a good many others were "just a moment too late." As the sidewheel steamer KIRBY is Frank Kirby's masterpiece in metal ship-building, so, undoubtedly, will the CHICORA prove to be in wood. Her lines are as symmetrical and beautiful as any yacht, and with the powerful machinery ready to be placed in her, the boat must be very fast. Her engine is triple expansion, cylinders 21, 33, 54 by 42 inch stroke. She will have two steel boilers, 12 feet in diameter and 12 feet long, constructed for a pressure of 165 pounds: Howden's forced draft attachment will be provided. The CHICORA'S dimensions are: Length over all 210 feet; keel, 197 feet; breadth 35 feet; extreme breadth, 39½ feet; molded depth, 15¼ feet. She will have a 250 light electric light plant, and in general finish she will be similar to the Indiana. She will have fifty-six state-rooms, large smoking room and a spacious social hall. The cabins, as well as the grand staircase and gangway between decks, will all be finished in mahogany. She will have sleeping room for 200 passengers and an excursion license for 1,500. She will be schooner-rigged, with standing gaffs and booms. The boilers and machinery will be placed exactly in the center of the boat.
The CHICORA is built for the Graham & Morton Line, and will take her place on the Chicago and St. Joseph route about August. She will be the all-year-round boat of the line. She was built of wood to enable her to battle with the heavy ice often encountered at the head of Lake Michigan in winter. Capt. Ed Stines, who has long been in Graham & Morton's service, will command the new boat.
      Detroit Free Press
      June 26, 1892