Grand Excursion

News of the planned trek spread widely in the months prior to it taking place, so it generated a fair amount of press attention.

Along with The Song of Hiawatha, which was published around the same time, accounts of this journey have been widely credited with influencing people to visit and often settle in the region in the late 19th century.

The steamboats stopped several times daily to load up on firewood, but still traveled fairly quickly—they unexpectedly appeared a day earlier than planned in St. Paul.

A steam locomotive, the Milwaukee Road 261, pulled a collection of historic railroad cars on the route from Chicago to the Quad Cities of Illinois and Iowa.

Steamboats (or at least boats with an appropriate appearance) then traveled up the river to the Twin Cities in Minnesota, stopping daily and often becoming part of other festivities planned in local communities.

St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly said the city would make up for that in 2004 by promising, "Church bells will ring, cannons will fire, bands will play, flags will wave and the bridges will be decked with bunting and signs."