Great Lakes passenger steamers had to divest themselves of their marine divisions on the lakes. Under this divestiture law, the "Milwaukee Clipper", for instance, was sold by the Anchor Line along with four other railroad-owned company fleets to the newly formed Great Lakes Transit Corporation. Under this flag, the "Clipper" carried passengers along her old route until retired in 1970. Before trains and, later, cars became prevalent, summer vacation areas in more remote areas around the Great Lakes were accessible primarily only by steamer. Northern Michigan's tourist and resort areas began to grow in this manner in the late 1890s. In the late 19th
Queen of the Lakes Queen of the Lakes Queen of the Lakes is the unofficial but widely recognized title given to the longest vessel active on the Great Lakes of the United States and Canada. A number of vessels, mostly lake freighters, have been known by the title. "Queen of the Lakes" has been used as the name of three vessels that sailed on the Great Lakes, but none was the longest on the lakes at the time. The first was a three-masted Canadian schooner built in 1853 as the "Robert Taylor", measuring 133 feet. It was renamed "Queen of the Lakes" sometime before