February 15, 2021 By Keith Norrington
The Eagle Packet Company of St. Louis contracted in 1913 with the Howard Shipyard to build a wood-hulled sternwheeler for $26,000.
The new steamboat, 242 by 37.8 feet and named Peoria, was not completed at Jeffersonville; it was moved by the towboat Dorothy Barrett to Paducah and then to St. Louis, where the vessel received its final outfitting. Four new boilers were placed aboard, along with the recycled engines (22-inch cylinders with a 7-1/2-foot stroke) from the towboat Ed Roberts, considered by rivermen to be one of the best “coal pushers” between Pittsburgh and Louisville.
The trial trip of the vessel was made on October 14, 1914, with Capt. W.H. Thorwegan, former owner of the famed Grand Republic and other steamboats, in command. The trial run proceeded upriver to Alton, Ill., where the riverboat was put through its paces in front of the home of the Leyhe family, own
January 17, 2021 By
In 1878, the Howard Shipyard of Jeffersonville, Ind., completed work on its magnum opus, the J.M. White.
Owned by the Greenville & New Orleans Packet Company, the big sidewheeler’s wooden hull measured overall 321 feet in length by 91 feet in width, including the cotton guards. Ten boilers supplied steam to engines having 43-inch cylinders with an 11-foot stroke. The paddlewheels were 44 feet in diameter.
Named for Capt. J.M. White (1823–1880) of Cloverport, Ky., the packet was the 276th steamboat built by the Howards. The contract was signed June 12, 1877; it was the fourth riverboat to be built for revered Southern steamboatman Capt. John W. Tobin.
December 28, 2020 By
During this final week of 2020, the Old Boat Column takes a fond look back 50 years to the summer of 1970, when the St. Louis levee was still a lively place for both tourists and residents. Three of the riverboats that occupied the wharf for many years are now but nostalgic, happy memories to those who, like this writer, recall the days when the sounds of a steam calliope and ragtime music reverberated over the cobblestones.
In the shadow of the historic Eads Bridge (opened in 1874), at the foot of Washington Avenue, the excursion steamer Admiral was operated by Streckfus Steamers. Originally built at Dubuque, Iowa, in 1907 as the sidewheel railroad ferry Albatross, the boat operated at Vicksburg for the Louisiana & Mississippi Valley Transfer Company, carrying 16 railroad cars at a time.
December 22, 2020 By
Merry Christmas! As previously presented in the Old Boat Column, one of the most famous excursion boat companies was Streckfus Steamers, widely known on the river system for its fleet of beautiful gingerbread-bedecked sidewheelers and sternwheelers. The company had its main offices in St. Louis and New Orleans.
An early boat of the line (originally known as Acme Packet Company under the leadership of Capt. John Streckfus and D.W. Wisherd) was the J.S., named for Capt. Streckfus. A beautiful sternwheeler, the vessel was built in 1901 by the Howard Shipyard at Jeffersonville, Ind., with a graceful wood hull 175 feet in length by 33 feet in width. It came out new as a morning packet, running on the Upper Mississippi River in the Clinton–Davenport trade in conjunction with the City of Winona and also operating moonlight excursions at Rock Island. It was soon decided that it was “heavy,” drawing
December 15, 2020 By
In 1883, for a contract price of $16,750, the Howard Shipyard at Jeffersonville, Ind., built the Benton McMillin, a modest packet boat named in honor of the Tennessee congressman, who later served as governor of the state from 1899 until 1903. McMillin (1845–1933) was noted for being an old-line Democrat who was a staunch advocate of low tariffs.
Constructed on a wooden hull measuring 155 feet in length by 33 feet in width and having a depth 5.5 feet, the sternwheeler had three boilers, which provided steam for engines having 14.5-inch cylinders with a 5-foot stroke.
The boat ran on the Cumberland River until 1886, when it was entered into the Pittsburgh and Cincinnati trade, then owned by Capt. Hod Knowles (who was also master of the steamboat), Ira Huntington and additional investors. Capt. William Brookhart and Capt. Aaron McLaughlin were the pilots, with James Chamberlain presiding as chie