The Last of a Generation: Steamboat Excelsior
1906 postcard of Excelsior
Of all the sailboats, steamers, personal craft, and dinner cruisers to have graced Lake Minnetonka, it’s my personal belief that the steamboat Excelsior is one of the most famous of them all. When I talk about the history of navigation on Minnetonka, the average local resident usually can’t name more than a couple old boats, which is totally fair. To the average person, many are unremarkable or simply just not discussed. However, if I probe a bit deeper, people will often divulge that they’re aware of the “boat burning” events that happened every so often on Minnetonka. Sure, there are a small handful of boats that met their ends in this way but the grand Poobah of boat burnings was certainly the Excelsior. Yet, there’s a LOT more to the Excelsior’s story than just her emblazoned death throes so, before we get to that dark evening, let’s start at her incredible beginning:
Excelsior began life in 1901 under the watch of shipwrights George Day & Maurice Godfrey at the order of George F. LaPaul. The relatively experienced boatbuilders had appeared on the Minnetonka boatbuilding scene before and, with the completion of Excelsior, this would surely be a crowning achievement. However, if we time travelled back to the day of her launch, we’d certainly be confused to see a skeletal boat, bearing the name George, rolling into the water. In fact, she would sail under the name George only through the 1903 season before being rechristened as Excelsior. So, for the sake of clarity, we will reference her as Excelsior the whole way through this article.
With a construction cost of $10,000 and coming in at an incredible 125 feet long with a 22 foot beam (width), the rear paddle wheel driven Excelsior was a behemoth in her era. Perhaps more than her length was the incredible double-deck superstructure, which allowed her to ferry up to 800 passengers. Her launch in 1901 was met with great acclaim as roughly 1,000 spectators gathered to watch her hull roll into the water for the first time. Yet, on launch day, she was far from complete - still requiring her engine & upper decks to be assembled onboard.
Her first journey with passengers would take place in July, 1901. The guests enjoyed a spacious smoking lounge on first floor and a promenade on the main deck, which measured in at 18’ x 125’ and was totally surrounded by seating. The upper deck featured the wheelhouse, some seating, and more. Her first years were a rousing success and, in 1904, she was sold to Frank Heywood of Excelsior, who oversaw major renovations to the boat. The photo above is from after these renovations, which I’ll describe as follows: removing exterior walls to create a more open appearance, adding striped fabric awnings, a new wheelhouse further forward, the addition of two lifeboats, and much more. Crucially, this was when George was renamed Excelsior. She was, again, the crown jewel of her fleet with what had become the Wayzata & Excelsior Steamboat Line.
All these improvements were just the beginning for Excelsior, as the impending arrival of the Twin City Rapid Transit Company brought concerns of fierce competition in the Minnetonka shipping business. Excelsior received yet more upgrades in both 1905 and 1906 yet, with little other competition, the Rapid Transit Company set eyes on Excelsior, the prized ship of the Wayzata & Excelsior (now White Line) Steamboat Company. If they could procure Excelsior, there would be effectively no competition for boats on Minnetonka. Then on November 30, 1906, the streetcar company purchased Excelsior for $3,250. Roughly a third of what it had cost to build her just 5 years earlier. Now under the control of the Rapid Transit Company, Excelsior enjoyed little time in the spotlight. Rather, the streetcar boats, ferries, and even a fleet sold to the Rapid Transit Company by Captain John R. Johnson handled much of the company’s passenger service. Being of little use, Excelsior was officially decommissioned in the spring of 1908 with an intent to use her in one final act to boost ridership on the streetcars & boats. . . Excelsior, they decided, would be burned.
Preparations were made to strip her of all fittings, machinery, fixtures, and equipment ahead of the scheduled burning. Being as large as she was, the job took time. Then, the day finally came: August 12, 1909. Just over 8 years after her original launch, Excelsior was towed into deep water off Big Island, anchored, and left to float quietly. Crowds gathered, Big Island Amusement Park’s shores were packed with upward of 5,000 attendees. Surrounding the now quieted Excelsior were countless boats waiting for the sight to begin. Heading off the event, fireworks emblazoned the sky and danced light upon Excelsior’s now darkened decks. She didn’t gleam white, as she had in her glory days. Rather, she was now a sickly mix of brown and black, an effect of the oil and tar that was smeared across her to help the flames lap up into her decking. Here she was, Excelsior, the last of her kind. The last of the big ones! After her would only be smaller, shorter, and quicker steamers to harken the approaching total demise of steam on Minnetonka. But that’s yet to come. In these final minutes, the night’s gentle air holds Excelsior for the last time. Suddenly, fire erupts from her hull, crawls its way into her upper decks - following the lines of oil, and finally snatches the flags fluttering high on her masts. This is it, the end. She burns for some time and, when the spectacle is nearly done, her charred hull meets the waterline and sizzles as it’s engulfed by the darkened water. Surely, there’s a flood of rising bubbles on the surface as she descends the water column and, at last, comes to rest at the bottom.
Twin City Rapid Transit says they’ll remove the decimated hulk but, in truth, it’s unlikely. This was a time where scuttling is an accepted practice, so there’s little motivation to find and remove her. This is where she’ll spend the rest of all time.
Excelsior, the pride of so many, had come and gone in less than a decade. Others will replace her and some will be much better remembered. The death of all steamboats on Minnetonka is fast approaching and her successors will be the ones to see that death arrive. How will they handle it? For the people of 1909, that much is yet to be seen.