[2] The Niagara (Official number 18714) was one of the large class of "outside" tugboats[clarification needed] that were built for timber rafting on the Great Lakes.

The crew of the Niagara claimed that the reason for their grounding was that their compass failed because it started detecting magnetic anomalies on the shoreline.

Her captain ordered her engine to be reversed, but the strong winds and heavy seas drove her onto the rocks.

The only person who sustained an injury was Mrs. A. Merritt who cut her hand on a piece of broken glass while she was escaping her cabin.

[5] On June 16, 1904 the Duluth Evening News reported that the Niagara was quickly stripped of her boiler, engine, machinery, and iron and steel work, then the pieces were placed the machinery in the Whitney Brother's dock in Duluth, Minnesota.

[7] The Niagara is also a rare vessel because she is one of only two known rafting tugs in the Minnesota portion of Lake Superior, the other one being the Bob Anderson which was built in 1862.