The Niagara
is one of the few accessible examples of mid-nineteenth
century sidewheel steamboats on the Great Lakes. It is Wisconsin’s
largest sidewheel shipwreck and contains the only steam
engine built by the famous James P. Allaire known to survive.
The wreck’s accessibility to recreational scuba divers,
the rarity of side-wheel steamer sites, and the vessel’s
association with nationally recognized ship and engine builders
make it important to preserve this rare recreational and
historic resource.
As with many other wrecks in the Great
Lakes,
zebra mussels
have colonized the Niagara. These
prolific
mollusks are very difficult to control, and further colonization
appears inevitable.
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