A pleasure party of 32 Bemidji people chartered the Shadow for an afternoon’s outing, Tuesday. (1900)
I.O.O.F. Picnic
Fair and smiling was the day which the Bemidji lodge No. 119, and I.O.O.F., had chartered for their first annual outing on Lake Bemidji. About eleven o’clock last Sunday, the first boatload of the “Three-Linkers,” their families and friends, left the dock for a six-mile voyage to T. B. Walker’s “Rocky Point,” at the northern end of the lake.
The remodeled and enlarged Shadow had been secured for the day, and Captain Sutton, of Scarrot & Sutton, its owners, must have overheard enough complimentary remarks from the passengers to assure him that the Shadow is bound to be a great favorite with excursion parties. The boat has seating room for 50 passengers, but can carry twice that number. A four-horse wood burning engine furnishes sufficient power to send the boat along at an eight-miles-an-hour gait. The boat moves with hardly any jar, even when the engine is pounding the hardest.
The trip was made in quick time through the perfectly-calm waters and past countless floating logs. A lady seated in a row boat trailing behind the steamer had her umbrella destroyed by flying sparks, which furnished the only excitement. (May 24, 1900)
An excursion will be given by the Bemidji Boat Co. on the Shadow every Sunday afternoon at 2 o’clock around the lake. (June 1900)
The Shadow will leave the dock at foot of Third street at 2:30 p. m., and head of lake at 3 p. m. every day. Round trip to head of the lake, 25 cents: one way, 25 cents. BEMIDJI BOAT Co. (Sept 6, 1900)
Moonlight Excursion on the Shadow for the Old Settlers Organization in Aug 21, 1902. Old Settlers organized in 1901.
The Shadow carried the fireworks to be used in the May 17, 1901 celebration. A terrible tragedy followed when several died after the fireworks were set off accidentally and several people were burned or drowned in the events that immediately followed on Lake Bemidji.