The Menasha was built in 1851 and was used on the "lake route" but failed to pay expenses and was laid up at Fond du Lac during the 1852 season. "In 1853 she came out again and attempted to tow logs across the lake, and being unsuccessful in that business, she was hauled out at Oshkosh and stripped of her machinery and upper works and converted to a tow barge." She worked as a tow barge from 1853 thru 1860 and was then split into two barges resulting in barges small enough to pass through the government locks. Steamboating In Early Days, Lawson p.590
The Menasha was split into two barges in 1860. The stern half was fitted with a new bow and used on the Mississippi River in the wheat trade between Prairie du Chien and points upriver.. The bow half was never used much and abandoned in 1861. She "lies covered up in the mud near the south end of Main Street bridge in Oshkosh." Steamboating In Early Days, Lawson p.590.