Seth Arca Whipple (1855-1901) of Detroit, Michigan, created this painting. "Apparently without formal art training of any kind, he painted his way to a lasting place in America's marine art history. His first dated work is perhaps the most famous of all, 'Champion and Tow, 1878.' So convincingly did it represent the marine traffic of it's time that Calvert Lithographing and Engraving Company reproduced it [using] chromolithography. It shortly became the prototype of pictures hung in every steamship waiting room and ticket office on the Lakes, and Seth became one of the best known marine artists whose work were mass-produced during the last quarter of the nineteenth century." —Detroit Historical Society