The Great Lakes Tow­ing Com­pa­ny was con­tract­ed by The SS Colum­bia Project to tow the 113 year old “Boblo Boat” SS COLUMBIA from Tole­do, Ohio to Buf­fa­lo, New York, where the SS COLUMBIA will be docked for the next year for restoration.

The SS Colum­bia Project is a 501(c)(3) non­prof­it orga­ni­za­tion whose mis­sion is to restore and enable the SS COLUMBIA to serve as a cul­tur­al flag­ship recon­nect­ing New York City to the water­front cities and towns along the Hud­son Val­ley where excur­sion steam­boats were long a famil­iar sight.

The Tow­ing Company’s 2,400 horse­pow­er twin screw Tug MICHIGAN arrived in Tole­do overnight. With the assis­tance of The Tow­ing Company’s Har­bor Tug NEW JERSEY, the Tug MICHIGAN, with the SS COLUMBIA in tow, depart­ed Tole­do on Tues­day morn­ing bound for Buffalo.

With a rich his­to­ry of its own, sur­pass­ing 116 years, The Tow­ing Com­pa­ny is proud to assist SS COLUMBIA dur­ing its jour­ney to restora­tion and a sec­ond cen­tu­ry of service.

For decades SS COLUMBIA and its sis­ter ship the SS STE. CLAIRE, fer­ried thou­sands of pas­sen­gers from Detroit to Boblo Island Amuse­ment Park. The ves­sels large­ly sat unused and unpro­tect­ed after they were decom­mis­sioned in 1991.

The SS Colum­bia, built by the Detroit Dry Dock Com­pa­ny in 1902, will receive a prop­er wel­come in Buf­fa­lo Wednes­day as the vin­tage steamship moves to the next stage in its restoration.