Thread: The Dive
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Old 07-18-2021, 01:31 PM   #143
Descant
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Default designed use

Quote:
Originally Posted by John Mercier View Post
I think the Mount, like the small mail boats, and trains were not designed to originally be tourist attractions, but had primary uses that had to be adapted.
The Mount I carried passengers and freight. Mount II was purchased and rebuilt for tourism. She had also done passenger service on Lake Champlain (as the Chateguay). Of course, most 19th century steamboats carried passengers and freight. Many other early steamboats were mostly freight, but when Mount II came to Winnipesaukee, it was for tourists. I'm not sure what a "smaller" mail boat is. The Tonimar was a private yacht converted to mail delivery and tourist rides. The Gray Ghost is basically a runabout that delivers mail and takes a few passengers. The "larger" mail boats, Sophie C and Doris E were built for tourist attractions and added mail service when the Uncle Sam(s) went out of service. The railroads, as one example, gave land at the Weirs to the NH Veterans to build the veteran's vacation homes at the Weirs as a means of building tourist and vacation traffic. In the winter, ski trains or snow trains were established to take skiers (tourists) to places like N. Conway. To me, these were all pretty much specifically aimed at tourist traffic, not adapted from some other use.
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