Down on the Lake Front, just across the Illinois Central tracks, will be found from ten to fifteen pretty yachts, owned by their captains, who will take a party out for an hour’s sail at the rate of 25 cents per hour. In case there are only two of you the charge will be a dollar, the owners never moving out for less than that sum. These crafts are sound and seaworthy and in the charge of old sailors whose skill and nerve are to be trusted and relied upon in any sort of weather. It is a most delightful manner of spending an hour. When the heat in the city is stifling and not a breath of air is stirring, try the experiment of a spin over the blue waters and see how refreshing is the breeze that is invariably blowing briskly over on the Michigan shore. There is not even time to get sea-sick, no matter how violent the motion of the staunch little vessel, yet if any of the passengers should feel squeamish the captain is only too ready to put about and return home.
If the pleasure-seeker prefers steam to canvas as a motive power he can take his choice between a trip to the government pier or water-works crib, and a longer sail to Jackson or Lincoln Park. The fare to the pier and back is ten cents; the round trip to and from the crib or either of the parks is 25 cents. There are several more pretentious vessels that go out at night for moonlight excursions on the lake. They start both from the Lake Front and from the river, in the latter case generally at the Clark street bridge. They always secure a large patronage and there is generally a good time enjoyed by those who make up such excursions. The decks are crowded with pretty girls and their escorts, it somehow generally happening that the girls outnumber the boys, and, as a dance is always begun the minute the vessel is well out in the lake, the pair of strangers who have resolved to try this manner of spending the evening are apt to find their company very much in request. The advent of another year will probably see a large increase in the number of excursion steamers, and during the Fair the lake will doubtless be drawn upon to its fullest extent as a source of pleasure for the visiting throng.
All the foregoing applies to short trips. There are steamship lines whose vessels make very extended journeys.
It not infrequently happens that visitors take advantage of the excellent opportunities afforded and make one or two voyages that they remember with pleasure long after their return to their homes in the country. The Graham Morton Transportation Company’s steamers leave from the dock at the foot of Wabash avenue for St. Joseph and Benton harbor daily, at 9:30 in the morning and 11 o’clock at night, arriving at St. Joseph at 1:30 P.M. and 3 in the morning. On Sunday one trip is made, leaving at 10 A.M. and arriving at 2 o’clock. The fare for a single trip is $1 but the round trip can be made for that price if the passengers return the same day. The fine side-wheel steamer City of Chicago, one of the handsomest on the lakes, is the star of this line. The Sunday excursion on this ship costs $1.50. The voyage is directly across the lake, about 40 miles, and is made on schedule time in good weather; adverse winds and waves are apt to cause a little delay.
The Goodrich line, however, is the leading line of lake steamers as well as the oldest. The company’s dock is at the foot of Michigan avenue. The steamers ply between Chicago and all ports on Lake Michigan, such as Racine, Milwaukee, Sturgeon Bay, Menominee, Grand Haven, Muskegon, Green Bay and Manistique. The trip to Muskegon, which takes one night, is especially enjoyable and many people indulge in it for the purpose of seeing the greatest lumber town in the world, which distinction Muskegon enjoys; the night trip to Milwaukee is also a favorite, especially in hot weather. Milwaukee, as is ever known, is a sort of Gretna Green for youthful and impressionable Chicago couples, who are in the habit of eloping to that happy haven, getting safely married and then returning on the next boat to seek the parental forgiveness which is almost invariably bestowed if they wait long enough. The Saturday night boat rarely starts in the summer months without at least one such eloping couple on board.
Some of the Goodrich line vessels will bear comparison with the finest ocean steamers. The dimensions of the Virginia, for instance, are as follows: 278 feet over all, 260 feet keel, 38 feet beam and 25 feet deep. The hull is divided into six water-tight compartments, so constructed that if the vessel were cut squarely in two halves it would float. The interior decorations and equipments are of the most magnificent description. No one should fail to at least inspect this, by all odds the finest vessel that floats the lakes. Other fine vessels of this line are the Indiana, City of Racine and Menominee.
The steamers of the Lake Michigan & Lake Superior Transportation Company, which are all elegantly appointed, carry passengers between Chicago and Duluth, at the head of Lake Superior. These staunch steamers leave Chicago Wednesday and Saturday evenings, leaving the dock at Rush street bridge at 8:30, and call at Mackinac, Sault Ste. Marie, Marquette, and all Lake Superior ports. The passenger traffic on this line during the summer is enormous and increases constantly with the fame of the northern summer resorts, which are yearly growing more popular.
The pleasure-seeker is hardly likely to be interested in the commercial side of the Chicago lake marine. The story of its magnitude, however, may be told in one brief paragraph:
The daily arrivals and clearances at Chicago exceed those of New York by fifty per cent, being nearly as numerous as those of Baltimore, Boston and New York combined. Figures talk, and these are the figures that Chicago modestly presents to the observation of the wondering stranger.