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