In 1904 (predating the building of the RMS TITANIC by seven years) the Erie & Western Transportation Company, better known as the Anchor Line, commissioned the American Shipbuilding Company of Cleveland, Ohio, to build a 361 foot passenger and package freight steamer for service on the Great Lakes . Her name was JUNIATA, and she was powered by a 3,000 horsepower Quadruple Expansion steam engine, built by the Detroit Shipbuilding Company of Detroit, Michigan (one of only seven such engines built for Great Lakes passenger service). Carrying 350 passengers in staterooms, the JUNIATA was the epitome of first class travel and sailed between Buffalo, New York, and Duluth, Minnesota.