Steaming Open the Frontier

Steaming Open the Frontier (HM2AN5)

Location: Alpena, MI 49707 Alpena County
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Country: United States of America
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N 45° 4.032', W 83° 26.065'

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Inscription
Steam power first appeared on the Great Lakes in 1818. The earliest "steamers" were expensive to build and operate. Constructed of wood, the vessels had shallow bottoms and were powered by large sidewheels.
For a time, these "sidewheelers" reigned supreme on the Great Lakes. Large, luxurious vessels met the demands of westward expansion. Sidewheelers carried several hundred passengers, crates of freight and livestock to frontier communities in the Midwest. On a single day in 1838, a fleet of sidewheelers carried 5,000 people from Buffalo to the western Great Lakes.
Sidewheelers remained popular for the passenger trade into the early decades of the twentieth century, but they faced tough competition against the propeller in every other trade.
Details
HM NumberHM2AN5
Tags
, ,
Placed ByGreat Lakes Maritime Heritage Trail
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Tuesday, August 21st, 2018 at 2:02pm PDT -07:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)17T E 308355 N 4993298
Decimal Degrees45.06720000, -83.43441667
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 45° 4.032', W 83° 26.065'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds45° 4' 1.92" N, 83° 26' 3.9000000000001" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)989
Which side of the road?Marker is on the right when traveling South
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 500 W Fletcher St, Alpena MI 49707, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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