Lake detour

Since I'm definitely on a slight detour to a time and place where steamboats reigned supreme, I must keep this short today. Today's writing journey takes me to the early 1900s when Canadian transplant Ed Elliott founded the Northern Navigation Co. (1906) and later built his majestic boat The Northern.

Ed had the mail/freight contract, which meant cruising the 11o-mile perimeter of Lake Pend Oreille every day. His route from Sandpoint took him first to Hope, then on to Bayview before returning to home port. At the time, there were 10 landings along the way.

Later, he added to his navigational offerings by loading up as many as 250 passengers for picnic/moonlight dancing cruises on the lake. Ed had enough of that by 1919 when he began towing logs, claiming his work was much more rewarding because the logs "didn't talk back like people did." He also is credited with moving nearly 50 mill houses from Laclede to Dover after the A.C. White Mill burned down in the early 1920s.

Wish he were still alive; he'd be a great interview.

Anyway, I've gotta float off and get this segment of the Lake Pend Oreille story completed. So, I'll again route today's readers to my website (http:// www.mariannelove.com) where two new stories appeared last evening.

Enjoy.