Continuing our look back into the past 19 years of Pasty Cam photos, we find a trio of shots having to do with the Great Lakes. The first one was a "Shoebox Memory" supplied by Nancy Nelson back in 2001. That's the S.S. South American, a steamer cruise ship that sailed on the Great Lakes back in the 50's and 60's, with two U.P. stops on the itinerary, Mackinac Island and Houghton. It must have been a pretty big event to have a cruise ship this size, come to town.

The next Great Lakes related photo, snapped by E.Neil Harri is of the Gull Rock Lighthouse, located in Lake Superior off the tip of the Keweenaw and marking Manitou Island for the shipping lanes. I wonder if the South American ever sailed past this isolated lighthouse.

The final photo is on the Marquette waterfront, taken by Danielle Mahoney in 2010. This is near the Elwood Mattson Lower Harbor Park, which is just a "stone's throw" away from downtown Marquette. A beautiful place to spend a summer day.

The video today is a compilation of photos of the South American throughout its voyages. There's even a shot of her going under the Portage Lift Bridge and another one that looks like Mt. Ripley and the Houghton County Road Commission buildings in the background. What an elegant looking ship she was!

Nice! Good morning, all!

Great pix and video...I wouldn't mind a week on that boat.
"So be my guest, you got nothin' to lose
Won't cha let me take you on a (Great Lakes) cruise" (Frankie Ford...well, almost)

I was lucky to see the South American pass by while staying with my Aunt, Uncle & cousin who were renting a cottage near Chassell approx. 1963...

My high school senior trip in 1951 was on the South American from Detroit to Mackinac Island and return.

Nice Pics and video! Been around Gull Rock and Manitou Island many times with our boats and jet ski's, great times!! Marquette waterfront has come a long way, and it's really beautiful, upper and lower harbors!! Time for a road trip very soon!!

I remember seeing the South American going up the Portage River at night! This was while my family was staying at the Blue Top Cabins (they had blue shingles) a few miles West of Houghton.

How I used to look forward to seeing that ship in
the canal. It was always so exciting to see.
Loved that ship! Didn't realize it traveled all
over like that, though.

According to Wikipedia, South American was launched in 1914 and was taken out of service at the end of the 1967 season. She was bought by a Maryland company who had been running her sister ship, North American, which had sunk earlier in '67. But South American failed to pass a Coast Guard inspection and was never put in service again. She rotted at a dock in New Jersey before being scrapped in 1992. In 2006, an underwater research company found North American's wreck 140 miles out in the Atlantic.

It's a complete mystery to me how I failed to ever see the South American sailing the canal during my days at "da Tech". Not even once! Especially considering how I virtually lived in the old Digital Computer Lab on the second floor of the Ores Research Building for two years, with a row of windows overlooking the canal!