By the late 1800s, industry had overtaken the Tonawandas, with lumber piles covering available space along the river and the sounds and smells, dirt and dust of manufacturing filling the air as men and boys worked 10-14 hour days, six days a week in the mills and foundries. To escape this drudgery and noxious environment, people were drawn to the natural beauty of Grand Island across the river, where cruisers were booked throughout the summer for annual outings by businesses, organizations, and churches. Revelers boarded excursion steamboats for tours around the island, often stopping at resorts such as Edgewater, Eagle Park, and the Bedell House, and these outings became important social events for families and sponsors seeking camaraderie among employees or members. More than a dozen public and private resorts sprang up around the island, offering meals, dancing, entertainment, picnic groves, croquet lawns, bath houses, athletic fields, amusement rides, trails for biking and hiking, and carriage rides. One of the most memorable was the Bedell House, whose pleasure cruiser, the Ossian Bedell, regularly carried up to 275 passengers, and in 1871 the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser called Grand Island the healthiest place in the country. Power boat racing also became a Niagara River tradition from the early 1900s onward. The Niagara, a 31-foot wood inboard with a Herschell-Spillman 6-cylinder 4-cycle engine, set a record on the Bedell House course on September 22, 1906, reaching 25 mph. Local enthusiasts including Vandervoort, Spillman, DeKleist, and Perew often raced there, many designing, building, and driving their own boats, and by the 1940s improved engines and hulls had pushed hydroplanes to speeds exceeding 100 mph.