What a wonderful picture. Makes you want to step out of the time machine right into this scene. Would make a fun painting if you can find a temperamental pointillist to paint it.

many lake boats so appointed, anyone know why?

Waiting by the lake: hats 16, shirtwaists 2, mustaches 2 (visible, at least), sailor whites 1, and knickers 1.

Combination cargo/passenger steamer built in 1893 for the Great Lakes service. She went through a half dozen owners before being laid up in 1933. Initially sold for scrap in 1936 but caught fire and burned early in the process. A watchman was killed. What was left was sold again in 1937 with the intention of conversion into a barge. But this fell through and the ship was broken up later that year at Sturgeon Bay.

The Manitou had many a harrowing overnight trip on her long-time Chicago-Mackinac Island route. And may have had the assistance of a tug in the Windy City, but that was unlikely "up north", where the skipper would battle a stiff wind against all that metal with a single screw and no bow or stern thruster. Manitou looks like a Tippy-canoe.