Donna Mae: Back in the pilot house

For Donna Mae Jensen, being in the pilot house of the Pearl of the Lake paddlewheel boat on Aug. 10 was a different sort of thrill than it might be for the average 88-year-old, but not as unfamiliar.

When she was a child her father, E.W. Holstrom, owned ferry and excursion boats that traversed Lake Pepin and the Mississippi River as far north as the Twin Cities and as far south as Missouri.

Holstrom became a partner in L.Y. Lenhart’s Lake City ferry business in 1907. He later purchased the business outright, according to an article by Eloise Blattner in the Lake City Historical Society Newsletter No. 12.

He built a ferry named “Lake City” that could haul people and automobiles across Lake Pepin. It was seen as a way for Lake City merchants to attract business from Wisconsin residents.

In 1933, during the Great Depression, the city ended its $65 subsidy of the ferry and Holstrom ended the service, according to Blattner.

He rebuilt the boat as an excursion boat and named it after one of his daughters.

The “Donna Mae” debuted in 1934 and resumed service across the lake. Later he chartered the boat for excursions up and down the Mississippi.

In her article, Blattner recalls fondly excursions she took aboard the Donna Mae with her mother and sister to Stockholm, where her grandparents and friend, Caroline, lived.

“I remember the joy I felt in walking up the gang plank to board the ferry steamer Donna Mae,” she wrote. “The vessel seemed immense!”

The Donna Mae was a memorable part of Donna Mae’s childhood, as well.

“He trained the children - there were six of us - to pilot,” Jensen said. “When I was 12 I started piloting, but someone was always there, you know. And then as I got older - 15 - I was able to land the boat in Minneapolis and St. Paul, and go through the locks. I could do it by myself. The crew were downstairs.”

Mostly she piloted when the boat was traveling here and there between charters. During chartered voyages, she would often be found working the onboard concession stand with her sister. But when business at the stand was slow, she would make her way up to the pilot house, she said.

Eventually the boat wound up in Yankton, S.D., which is on the Missouri River. In 1965 arsonists struck and the Donna Mae was destroyed.

Jensen, who returns to Lake City for class reunions, said she has been on boats on Lake Pepin over the years, but it was her first time being in a pilot house on the lake since she was a teenager, she said.

“It was rather thrilling,” she said. “and I was glad that the water was a bit rough too. It brought back memories when we were out in the channel.”

Pearl of the Lake Captain Larry Nielson was glad to have her aboard.

“I very much enjoyed sharing the helm with ‘Captain Donna Mae’ and hearing all about the history of the boat that was her namesake and her families time on the river,” Nielson wrote in an email to the Graphic. “Her youthful exuberance while driving the Pearl and sharing her stories was very fun to be a part of and created a memory that I will cherish forever.”