March 1, 2021 By Keith Norrington
Nearly a century ago, the automobile was coming into vogue as a common means of transportation for the American people. When cars were made affordable thanks to mass production, the economic effects for the United States were astounding.
Before paved roads were plentiful, delivery of cars from factories was done largely by railroad and riverboat. Lee Line Steamers of Memphis often delivered autos to purchasers via its packet boats, and the famed towboat Sprague regularly towed barges laden with as many as 300 automobiles aboard.
This practice abated in the 1920s, but resumed following the Great Depression when Greene Line Steamers removed the passenger staterooms from their packet steamers Tom Greene and Chris Greene to handle auto deliveries between Cincinnati and Louisville until 1947.
February 22, 2021 By Keith Norrington
After years of a relative respite from severe winters, it appears that icy times have returned. Unlike the Upper Mississippi River where, owing to ice harbors, coves and other safe places, mariners in cold climates take icy conditions in stride, the Ohio River has never been well equipped to handle it; especially in steamboat days.
According to record, one of the worst ice blockages on the Ohio occurred in the 1850s, when the river completely froze and remained closed to traffic for 57 days.
As most river historians agree, the most damaging ice situation of all time, on both the Mississippi and Ohio, happened during the winter of 1918. With most of the steamboats still being wooden-hulled, the razor-sharp ice virtually sawed hulls off at the waterlines. As the ice piled up on main decks, it either sank the boat from the excessive weight or crushed the upper works.
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 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