...a steam-powered paddle-wheeler named the Sea Wing and an attached barge, the Jim Grant, carried about 215 passengers and a crew on a daylong pleasure cruise on Lake Pepin. They didn't know that a terrible storm was making its way down the river to meet them.

Wind and waves grew, causing women and children to crowd into enclosed cabin areas. Those on board had no way of knowing that this storm had already claimed lives along its path to meet the Sea Wing. The captain turned the ship into the wind, but it didn't prevent the steamer from rolling and capsizing. Ninety-eight people died.