02-21-2008, 09:18 PM
If you have ever read the book by Jerry Provost "Salvaged Memories" you will know about this boat. The story about how he located and salvaged the wreck is much better, but at least the boat is still treasured. The link below is shows what the minnehaha looks like currently.
New dock will help bring Steamboat Minnehaha back to Big Island
BY Jared Huizenga - SUn NEwspaperS
(Created: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 9:42 PM CST)
A plan to bring back Steamboat Minnehaha to Big Island Park sailed smoothly through the Orono City Council Feb. 11.
Council members voted unanimously to continue upgrading facilities at the park, including a plan to install an eight-foot by 80-foot floating dock that would give the historic steamboat a place to dock when it's motoring passengers around Lake Minnetonka.
Councilmember Jim Murphy - president of the Museum of Lake Minnetonka, which owns the Steamboat Minnehaha - said the new dock marks an exciting time for the city, the museum and residents alike.
"One of the things we should want to do is resurrect that old stop that the Minnehaha made in the early 1900s," he said.
The Museum of Lake Minnetonka is a non-profit organization. All proceeds from Steamboat Minnehaha fares go to operate and maintain the boat.
"We've been thinking about having the Minnehaha out there for some time," Mayor Jim White said. "The dock gives us that opportunity. ... We'd like to have more than one dock out there, but right now one is all we can afford."
The Minnehaha in the 1900s was one of six streetcar-style steamboats that transported lake-area residents from place to place, visitors to the amusement park on Big Island, and provided lake tours.
Deemed irrelevant in 1926 by advances in automobiles, the Minnehaha was filled with debris from the amusement park - which had been torn down - filled with water and allowed to sink. In 1979, though, the ship was rediscovered and salvaged from the lake. In 1996, the refurbished boat set forth on its inaugural voyage from Excelsior to Wayzata.
After discussion arose last summer about the possibility of a dock on Big Island, Murphy said, he and other museum board members and the ship's crew made a trip to the bay to determine if a dock would be feasible.
"We'll slip in there real nicely," he said. "We haven't finalized how to schedule trips from Excelsior and Wayzata, but as the season gets closer, we'll figure that out."
Excelsior-based Minnetonka Portable Dredging will install the dock for a little more than $48,000. That cost includes three years of moving the dock for winter storage and re-installing it in the spring.
The council approved the following additional improvements at the park:
- Replacing walls in the restrooms in the west pavilion with concrete block walls and more-secure entrances. (See sidebar article)
- Installing along the southerly shoreline concrete pads to which the dock can anchor. The council must still approve a conditional-use permit to install the pads
- Installing rip rap along 200 feet of shoreline at the proposed dock location. Rip rapping - an anti-erosion practice of bolstering shores and banks with large stones - will prevent undermining of the concrete dock pads.
Comment on this article at our wesbite, .
In 2005 the city purchased the 56-acre park site from the previous owners - four veterans organizations - that used the park as a campground for veterans and their families.
Since purchasing the park, the city has developed a long-term vision to preserve the natural beauty of the area and make it safe and accessible for area residents to use as one of the more unique parks in the Lake Minnetonka area.
Moorse said that the city is in the process of developing its vision for the park, adding that the park board is working hard to develop priorities that will lead to a management plan for the park and how it is preserved.
"We're asking questions like, 'What do you like about the park?' and 'What do we want to preserve about it?,'" he said. "And the answers haven't been that surprising."
"Big Island is an oasis of natural serenity in the middle of Lake Minnetonka, and that's what we want to preserve."
New dock will help bring Steamboat Minnehaha back to Big Island
BY Jared Huizenga - SUn NEwspaperS
(Created: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 9:42 PM CST)
A plan to bring back Steamboat Minnehaha to Big Island Park sailed smoothly through the Orono City Council Feb. 11.
Council members voted unanimously to continue upgrading facilities at the park, including a plan to install an eight-foot by 80-foot floating dock that would give the historic steamboat a place to dock when it's motoring passengers around Lake Minnetonka.
Councilmember Jim Murphy - president of the Museum of Lake Minnetonka, which owns the Steamboat Minnehaha - said the new dock marks an exciting time for the city, the museum and residents alike.
"One of the things we should want to do is resurrect that old stop that the Minnehaha made in the early 1900s," he said.
The Museum of Lake Minnetonka is a non-profit organization. All proceeds from Steamboat Minnehaha fares go to operate and maintain the boat.
"We've been thinking about having the Minnehaha out there for some time," Mayor Jim White said. "The dock gives us that opportunity. ... We'd like to have more than one dock out there, but right now one is all we can afford."
The Minnehaha in the 1900s was one of six streetcar-style steamboats that transported lake-area residents from place to place, visitors to the amusement park on Big Island, and provided lake tours.
Deemed irrelevant in 1926 by advances in automobiles, the Minnehaha was filled with debris from the amusement park - which had been torn down - filled with water and allowed to sink. In 1979, though, the ship was rediscovered and salvaged from the lake. In 1996, the refurbished boat set forth on its inaugural voyage from Excelsior to Wayzata.
After discussion arose last summer about the possibility of a dock on Big Island, Murphy said, he and other museum board members and the ship's crew made a trip to the bay to determine if a dock would be feasible.
"We'll slip in there real nicely," he said. "We haven't finalized how to schedule trips from Excelsior and Wayzata, but as the season gets closer, we'll figure that out."
Excelsior-based Minnetonka Portable Dredging will install the dock for a little more than $48,000. That cost includes three years of moving the dock for winter storage and re-installing it in the spring.
The council approved the following additional improvements at the park:
- Replacing walls in the restrooms in the west pavilion with concrete block walls and more-secure entrances. (See sidebar article)
- Installing along the southerly shoreline concrete pads to which the dock can anchor. The council must still approve a conditional-use permit to install the pads
- Installing rip rap along 200 feet of shoreline at the proposed dock location. Rip rapping - an anti-erosion practice of bolstering shores and banks with large stones - will prevent undermining of the concrete dock pads.
Comment on this article at our wesbite, .
In 2005 the city purchased the 56-acre park site from the previous owners - four veterans organizations - that used the park as a campground for veterans and their families.
Since purchasing the park, the city has developed a long-term vision to preserve the natural beauty of the area and make it safe and accessible for area residents to use as one of the more unique parks in the Lake Minnetonka area.
Moorse said that the city is in the process of developing its vision for the park, adding that the park board is working hard to develop priorities that will lead to a management plan for the park and how it is preserved.
"We're asking questions like, 'What do you like about the park?' and 'What do we want to preserve about it?,'" he said. "And the answers haven't been that surprising."
"Big Island is an oasis of natural serenity in the middle of Lake Minnetonka, and that's what we want to preserve."