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Detroit circa 1901. "Excursion steamers Tashmoo and Idlewild at wharves." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
I found 2 post cards of the Tashmoo which seem to have been taken at the same time from slightly different locations.The big black liner in the back ground is either the "City of Detroit" or the 'City of Cleveland" of the "D&C" Line
THEY'RE ARABIC!!!
I guess that's the price we pay to use zero.
[Good point. - Dave]
In response to question about the writing. The writing looks Arabic to me. This raises a question in my mind of whether it has anything to do with the association of "arab" as a name for vendors with horse drawn wagons.
[As noted below, the writing is English. A stencil that says "No. 25." - Dave]
Will we ever see the likes of this again? Nowadays, you can't even expect men to dress for church on Sunday.
I love this photo, and so many other large crowd shots of this period. Notice how many people have stopped what they were doing to glance at the camera! Nowadays who would even notice someone taking a picture of this sort?
"I give up. What are these?"
They are things on a dock.
From my desktop copy of the Maritime History of the Great Lakes, an ignoble fate for the Idlewild:
Steam paddle IDLEWILD.* U.S. No. 85595. Of 363.42 tons gross; 284.13 tons net. Built at Wyandotte, Mich., in 1879. Home port, Detroit, Mich. 186.0 x 26.0 x 7.4 and 500 nominal horse power.
* Formerly steam paddle GRACE McMILLAN
Merchant Vessel List, U.S., 1892
GRACE MCMILLAN* Built May 3, 1879 Sidewheel Passenger - Iron
U. S. No. 85595 312 gt - 232 nt 160.9 x 26.0 x 7.9
* Renamed (b) IDLEWILD - US - 1881
Lenpthened 26' in 1889. Dismantled at Detroit in 1914; hull reduced to barge in 1919. Enrollment surrendered at Peekskill, N.Y., March 3, 1923, as "exempt."
Barge IDLEWILD.* U.S. No. 85595. Of 229 tons gross; 229 tons net. Built at Wyandotte, Mich., in 1879. Home port, New York, N.Y. Crew of 1.
* Formerly steam paddle GRACE McMILLAN
Merchant Vessel List, U.S., 1920
What a fun photo. There is so much going on that makes this photo absolutely engrossing. What a neat glimpse into the past.
Body Snatcher Pods! Really, I'd like to know also.
Tashmoo. Very cool. I could study this one for hours. People must have made a fortune designing, producing, and selling hats back then. Makes me love my modest wardrobe of millinery all the more.
The "things" are glass carboys in wooden casks -- beverages for the excursionists.
For some time now I have been examining crowd scenes in Shorpy photos to find people who are smoking. In my informal examination, smokers are quite rare in these photos around the turn of the 20-th century . All of the smokers I have spotted were men in this time period.
There may be one in this photo, a man with a straw hat on the left upper deck.
What a magnificent picture! Truly engrossing! I vote for it to be the best on Shorpys! You have created a fantastic avenue for all of us at Shorpys to travel back in time. Thanks a million!
The location may be Detroit but the language on the box in the center wagon, below the farmer with the bib overalls, is not English. What language is it, and is there enough there for one of the members of the vast Shorpy encyclopedia-audience to figure out what it says?
[The mysterious inscription says "No. 25." - Dave]
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