Port Colborne Historical & Marine Museum Digital Collections

The propeller, Asia, in Port Colborne harbour

Description

Media Type

Image

Item Type

Stereographs

Description

This stereoscopic view depicts a steamship, the propeller, Asia, tied up alongside several other vessels on the western side of Port Colborne harbour in the late 1870s. The photographer took this photo, looking southwest, from the temporary trestle bridge over the excavation for the new lock of the Third Welland Canal. In the background is West St., with the Evening Shade Saloon, or Maple Leaf Hotel visible on the far left on West St.

Notes

The Asia was a wooden-hulled steamship built in St. Catharines in 1873 by shipbuilder, Melancthon Simpson; it foundered during a storm on Lake Huron in 1882.
Although the Asia saw most of its service on the Upper Great Lakes, newspaper reports indicated the ship passed through Port Colborne in September, 1878, along with the steamer Columbia. Although it is too obscure to be sure, the ship behind the Asia is similar to known images of the Columbia, providing a tentative date for this image of September, 1878
The condition of the stereoscopic view is poor, as is the original image quality.

Local identifier

986.82.242

Geographic Coverage