This painting shows the late arrival of the steamboat Superior as she follows a path of moonlight to her wharf at Buffalo in 1825. The Superior was built in 1822 at Buffalo to replace the steamboat Walk- in- the- Water which was wrecked near Buffalo in November of 1821. Like the Walk in the Water, the Superior was the sole steamboat operating on the Upper Great Lakes until 1825 when, with the near completion of the Erie Canal, three steamboats: the Chippewa, Pioneer and the Henry Clay, were built at Black Rock and Buffalo. The Superior was a large boat, some three hundred and forty tons with a large sail area to assist her in favourable sailing conditions. By 1833 she could no longer compete with the newer steamboats on the lakes.Consequently, her engines were removed and she was converted to a full rigged ship. The end of the Superior came in 1843 when she was driven ashore and wrecked at Michigan City.

The view of this painting is from the mouth of the Buffalo River looking eastward. Buffalo's first lighthouse has guided the late arriving Superior into her home port. In the background is the small nucleus of Buffalo Harbor on the eve of the coming boom as immigrants coming via the Erie Canal were beginning to flood westward in ever growing numbers.

Image Size: 15 " X 12 " ; unf...$275.00