The Steamer Lakeside, Later Named the Olcott

Ernst Niebergall took this picture of the Steamer Lakeside as it was coming in through icy waters, around 1905. The Lakeside had been built in 1901 by the Craig Shipbuilding Company.  An advertisement from the Sandusky Register of August 10, 1908 provides us with the prices for round trips aboard the Lakeside from Sandusky to Cleveland and Sandusky to Detroit (about $13.50 and $20 in today's money).

In 1911, the name of the steamer Lakeside was changed to the Olcott. During the summer of 1911, the Olcott was chartered by the Buffalo, Lockport and Rochester Transit Company, to ferry passengers from Olcott, New York to Toronto, Canada. The Olcott returned to Sandusky in October, 1911. The Niebergall photo below shows the Olcott travelling through open waters.

     

The photograph below, by Ernst Niebergall, shows the Olcott as viewed from the rear.

          

In 1916, the Olcott was sold to the Government of France, and never returned to the Great Lakes region.  

 

Hand Tinted Prints by C.W. Platt

Clayton Winfield Platt was the son of prominent Sandusky photographer A.C. Platt. Upon the death of his father in 1883, C.W. Platt took over his photographic gallery at the northeast corner of Columbus Avenue and Water Street. A.C. Platt had a fondness for the natural beauty of the Lake Erie Islands area, according to an article by Merlin D. Wolcott in volume 34 of the Inland Seas. It seems that C.W. Platt also enjoyed capturing scenes of the Lake Erie Islands area.

Several hand tinted matted prints of scenes from the Lake Erie Islands area were donated to the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center by Allene Schnaitter, granddaughter of C. W. Platt.

The print below features the shoreline of Kelleys Island.

The steamer Lakeside is seen out on Lake Erie.

The Marblehead Lighthouse is a favorite destination for visitors and local residents.

A news article in the August 18, 1903 issue of the Sandusky Evening Star reported that C.W. Platt had sold his business to his former employee, C.G. Wildenthaler, due to declining health. C. W. Platt passed away in Cleveland, Ohio on January 4, 1914. He was buried in Oberlin, Ohio.