All aboard the sidewheeler steamboat Manatee, pictured in the Manatee River in 1910 with a large group of passengers on her deck. The Manatee—Terra Ceia’s main freight and passenger service—was part of H. Walter Fuller Investment Company’s three-steamboat fleet, which also included The Favorite and H.B. Plant. She had a single smokestack and carried small boats on her upper deck; her schedule began at 5:45 a.m. in Terra Ceia, then continued to St. Petersburg (8 a.m.) and Tampa (10 a.m.), before returning to Terra Ceia at 9 p.m. each night. By October 1910, her route expanded to include Bradenton (then known as Bradentown), Palmetto and Ellenton, offering reliable transportation to communities on the north side of the Manatee River. In summer 1911, after the Anna Maria City Pier was built, an Anna Maria Island stop was added, as well.