Enrollment certificates state that the vessel was 250.3 feet long, with a breadth of 41.6 feet and a depth of 20.2 feet. Starboard bow view in St. Mary's River, ca. MN A photograph of the vessel taken circa 1895, while it sat in a lock in Sault St. Marie, Mich., depicts the vessel with three masts. Photographs taken after the 1899 structure change show it with only two masts, one directly aft of the forward pilot house and one directly forward of the vessel's single stack, which in turn is located at the forward end of the aft cabin. Photographs also indicate it had a cabin located just forward of the center of the vessel and that this cabin and the forward pilot house and Texas cabin were painted white.
All photographs show the vessel had a bluff bow with a full entrance.
Additionally, it carried two iron folding stock anchors. These anchors were not tied to catheads at each side of the vessel's bow, but rather were brought inboard through what appear to be retractable bow bulwark rails. The engine was built by the Cleveland Ship Building Company of Cleveland and produced 825 horsepower. The vessel had two Scotch boilers also built by the Cleveland Ship Building Company. They were 11 by 12 feet and produced a pressure of 160 pounds.