[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 73 (Wednesday, May 22, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E872]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 A TRIBUTE TO THE ``MINNEHAHA'' AND HER MANY VOLUNTEERS ON THE BOAT'S 
                          SECOND MAIDEN VOYAGE

                                 ______


                            HON. JIM RAMSTAD

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 22, 1996

  Mr. RAMSTAD. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay special tribute to a unique 
community which has pulled together in a truly inspiring way to 
accomplish something remarkable.
  On Saturday, May 25, 1996, a dream will be fulfilled and history will 
be relived.
  On that day, a canary yellow, 70-foot-long, 76,000-pound, 
authentically steampowered craft--the express, or streetcar, boat 
Minnehaha--will once again be officially back on the beautiful and 
historic waters of Lake Minnetonka in Minnesota, making its maiden 
voyage from Excelsior to Wayzata.
  Mr. Speaker, on Saturday there will be oceanwide smiles on the faces 
of boaters in a celebrating flotilla of accompanying watercraft and 
spectators on the shores of Minnesota's most history-steeped lake.
  This historic event is the product of 6 years--and 80,000 hours--of 
hard work by dedicated, committed volunteers organized through the 
Minnesota Transportation Museum over the last decade and a half. Area 
children, citizens, and corporations gave $500,000 to make this dream 
possible.
  On behalf of all the people of our area, State, and Nation, I want to 
offer my heartfelt thanks and deepest appreciation to all of them for 
resurrecting part of our history.
  Once upon a time, 1906 to be exact, a half dozen of these fast, 
steam-powered express boats were launched on Lake Minnetonka: 
Minnehaha; White Bear; Hopkins; Stillwater; Como; and Harriet.
  For two decades, these yellow vessels provided not so much a source 
of pleasure boating as they were the critical transportation of the 
time to the many communities stretched out across this lake of many 
bays.
  To provide a bit of history, please let me read a brief excerpt from 
Eric Sayer Peterson's ``The Little Yellow Fleet; A History of the Lake 
Minnetonka Streetcar Boats'':

       At the turn of the century, Thomas Lowry's renowned Twin 
     City Rapid Transit Company was hard at work carving its own 
     special niche in American history. To provide his patrons 
     with even more services, Lowry decided to build a fleet of 
     six steamboats to travel the waters of beautiful Lake 
     Minnetonka, complementing his immense electric streetcar line 
     which stretched all the way from Stillwater to the lakeshore 
     at Excelsior, Minnesota. Lake Minnetonka was one of the few 
     places in the world where passengers could transfer from a 
     land-based streetcar and continue their journey in a 
     steamboat that was owned and operated by the parent streetcar 
     company. The unique vessels that Lowry built were the famed 
     Lake Minnetonka streetcar boats.

  But time, 20 years, and the Model `T' brought the demise of this 
proud fleet. In 1926, the Minnehaha filed with red clay roofing tiles 
and scuttled north of Big Island.
  Relocated in 1979 in 70 feet of water at the bottom of Lake 
Minnetonka and successfully raised to the surface in 1980, the boat 
then rotted on shore for another 10 years. In fact, less damage 
occurred to her structure through more than a half century mired in the 
lake bottom than in the decade up on shore prior to the launch of the 
restoration effort.
  Then the Minnesota Transportation Museum and an energetic legion of 
volunteers and boat lovers went to work. The Minnehaha was lovingly and 
painstakingly taken apart and pieced back together. The people of our 
Lake Minnetonka community came forward with original parts from the 
streetcar boats they had stored in the corners of their homes.
  And on Saturday, May 25, 1996, in Excelsior, MN, the culmination of 
all that hard work will take place. Bands will play. Then the Minnehaha 
will be rechristened and headed for Wayzata and other ports of Lake 
Minnetonka.
  The Minnehaha will continue to make those runs now, just as it did in 
Lake Minnetonka's glory days of the past, all summer long. And for many 
summers to come.
  Rescued from the bottom of Lake Minnetonka, restored lovingly through 
the boundless generosity of hard-working volunteers, and rechristened 
with communitywide affection this Saturday, the Minnehaha will now be 
as much a part of our area's future as it has been our past.
  For that, and for all the hard work and dedication of so many 
volunteers, we are eternally grateful.

                          ____________________