onlinesteamboatmuseum

Steamboat Photos, page 3


ROWENA_CumberlandRiver_PM_Paducah14Aug1907

From old real photo P.C.

On verso it's post marked 14 Aug 1907 Paducah. addressed to Miss Ruth (something), McKinney, KY.

On front is written:

This is where I live on Cumberland River—you can see the crew of the Str Rowena on Top. AGJ (?)

on back is written:

I think there will be a Lion in your city soon but don't get scared & run too quick. I like this run fine have plenty of young ladies (something, something)

Boat facts:

Rowena (1904 - 1931)
owned first by Burnside & Burnsville Packet Co.
owned last by Cumberland Transportation Co.
Ran on upper Cumberland also on the Ohio River during low water seasons.
In 1917 ran Louisville-Evansville


SteamboatWithAlabamaAndNewOrleansBargeCoBargeNo3EXP

Alabama & New Orleans Transportation Company Barge

Barge No. 3 belonging to the A. & N. O. T. Company (Initials of the Alabama & New Orleans Transportation Company) founded circa the early 1920's. The photo could have been taken in a tributary of the Mississippi River in Louisiana or Alabama. If more exact information turns up about the image such as where it was taken and the identity of the steamboat behind the barge the caption will be expanded. The small vessel in the lower right was probably a gas boat. The photo has a spectacular cinematic quality with the high angle vantage point, an interesting composition and all the activity in the foreground. This print is a new acquisition that just arrived 2 February 2017, and its dimensions are 4.40 x 6.30 inches.

DAVE

THE STEAMBOAT IS THE "JOHN QUILL" FOR SURE. I HAVE NO DOUBT ABOUT THAT. I THINK THE RIVER IS THE BLACK WARRIOR BUT COULD BE THE TOMBIGBEE.

I THINK IT IS THE WARRIOR. THE TOMBIGBEE HAS LIMESTONE CLIFFS AND THIS ONE LOOKS LIKE A SANDY CLAY ONE. THERE WERE TWO OF THESE SELF PROPELLED BARGES THAT RAN ON THE WARRIOR CARRYING COAL AND IRON PRODUCTS TO MOBILE.

THAT IS NOT A TOWBOAT BEHIND THE BARGE BUT A SUPERSTRUCTURE ON THE BACK END OF THE BARGE WHERE THE PILOT HOUSE, CREW QUARTERS AND ENGINE ROOM WERE LOCATED.

I DON'T RECOGNIZE THE LITTLE GAS BOAT BUT SHE IS A NICE LOOKING ONE.

I DO NOT KNOW IF THESE BARGES RAN THROUGH TO NEW ORLEANS. I AM SURE THEY COULD HAVE USING THE INTER-COASTAL WATERWAY.

IT WAS CAPTAIN BUCK BENSON THAT TOLD ME THEIR WAS TWO OF THESE BARGES, DON'T BELIEVE HE EVER WORKED ON THEM. IF HE TOLD ME THE NAME OF THE COMPANY THAT OWNED THEM I DON'T REMEMBER. ALABAMA AND NEW ORLEANS TRANSPORTATION CO. MAKES PERFECT SENSE TO ME.

THANKS FOR SENDING THIS VERY INTERESTING PHOTO TO ME. I HAVE NEVER SEEN IT BEFORE.

JIM

JOHN QUILL
Sternwheel Packet

Way's Packet Directory Number 3099

Build in 1907, Jeffersonville, Indiana at Howard Ship Yard
Owned by Quill and Moore
Navigated the Mississippi; Tombigbee; Alabama; Mobile and rivers.
On June 12, 1916 she hit a rock in Warrior River and sank 15 feet.

In February, 1928, on what was termed her last trip, a tug towed her from Mobile to Twelve Mile Island. One source indicated that she sank at that point.


SternwheelerREVONAHgasBoat33percent

REVONAH Sternwheel/Gas boat Packet

REVONAH
Sternwheel/Gas boat Packet
Built in 1910 at Madison, Indiana
Owned by the Turner Brothers; Captain J. Orville Noll and the Williams Brothers
Operated on the Muskingum and Monongahela rivers

A new REVONAH replaced her in 1921


J.S.LockDam26Alton7June1938detailForNORI

Excursion steamer J.S. and towboat MISSISSIPPI in ALTON lock June 7, 1938

Detail from VIEW OF THE EXCURSION STEAMER J. S. AND THE TOWBOAT MISSISSIPPI WITH BARGE IN THE MAIN LOCK of Lock & Dam 26, Alton, Madison County, Illinois Upper Mississippi River 9-Foot Channel Project Photograph No. 3544. taken on June 7th, 1938 - nFrom the Library of Congress


AlabamaStLouis

Sharp snapshot of the ALABAMA at the St. Louis levee with a "Texas" deck added which elevated the roof of the pilot house to a level only a short distance below the top of the stacks.

ALABAMA (Packet, 1912-1934)
Built at Point Pleasant, West Virginia, 1912
Rebuilt into a quarter boat in 1934
St. Louis and Tennessee River Packet Company
Captain J. O. Tayon
Ohio, Tennessee & Mississippi rivers

Way's Directory - 0096; Ran the Paducah-Shiloh trade in 1929, the last regular steam packet on the Tennessee River. Was in the Cincinnati-Louisville trade under charter to the Louisville and Cincinnati Packet Company, in spring of 1931. Chartered to George Partin, Memphis, in 1932 for the Memphis-Caruthersville trade. Was retired soon after and made into a quarter boat.


FallsCityHighBridgeKY Kentucky River HALF

Ye ol' FALLS CITY passing under Kentucky's imaginatively named High Bridge on the Kentucky River.

Brief background from Jessamine County tourism site: jessamineco.com "When the bridge was built in 1877 it was the highest railroad trestle in the world and the first cantilever bridge in North America and the highest bridge over a navigable stream until the early 20th century. It towers about 280 feet over the Kentucky River Palisades."


FortSutterOneThirsBrightCroppedEXP

The sternwheeler FORT SUTTER: 1,139 tons, 219.2 feet, was built for the overnight passenger trade between San Francisco and Sacramento.

The FORT SUTTER was built by Schultze, Robertson & Schultze Ship Builders at San Francisco and launched there in 1912.

Both the FORT SUTTER and the CAPITAL CITY (which was built in 1910) had the distinction of being built with private baths which was a first in luxurious passenger comfort on the Sacramento River

In 1927 the DELTA KING and DELTA QUEEN replaced the FORT SUTTER and CAPITAL CITY in the overnight passenger service trade between Sacramento and San Francisco.

In 1942 the FORT SUTTER was drafted for troop transport in San Francisco Bay along with the DELTA KING & DELTA QUEEN; the ISLETON which was renamed the ARMY QUEEN, the PORT OF STOCKTON (formerly the CAPITAL CITY) and the CROCKETT (formerly the H.J. CORCORAN).

For a while, the FORT SUTTER was a floating bistro on Threemile Slough, then later burned on the beach in San Francisco, on a date yet to be determined.

The three boats in the distance to the left of the Fort Sutter are the J.D. PETERS (BUILT 1889), the GRIMES (a small utility boat used to haul materials around the harbor for the shipyards) and the celebrated CAPTAIN WEBER (built in 1892) which went on to play Mississippi and Ohio River steamboats in the period films THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN, SWANEE RIVER, DIXIE and THE ADVENTURES OF MARK TWAIN


steamboat photo

You've got to love the old J.B. Bassett, she has a picturesque and unpretentious working boat quality to her that is ingratiating.

Her owners name sounds like it should be adopted by a trendy new brewery: The Mississippi and Rum River Boom Co.

The Mississippi River field guide web site has a capsule history of the company which is informative.

fmr.org

submitted by: Steve Lee

The Mississippi and Rum River Boom Co.

Location: River Mile 859.70 - On Both Banks

At about Lyndale and 56th North was an operation area of the Mississippi & Rum River Boom Company.

Northern Minnesota loggers cut trees and floated logs down the tributaries and the Mississippi to the sawmills at St. Anthony (Minneapolis). Of course logs of the different logging companies got all mixed together. Each log was stamped on its ends with the company's brand.

The St. Anthony Boom Company and the Mississippi Boom Company were chartered to sort logs into the correct "booms" for the various companies.

A boom is a string of chained logs that channel and corral floating logs. The companies received 40-50 cents per thousand logs sorted.

These two companies merged into the Mississippi and Rum River Boom Company in 1856. Their operations extended up the river to Monticello.


J.B. Bassett HALF size

Another photo of the J.B. Bassett. The rig on the front of the boat looks like it might be a pile driver to pound wharf pilings into the river bed etc.


recent acquisitions

A favorite photo on the Library of Congress Digital Images collection.

Sternwheeler Belle of Calhoun on the left and sidewheeler Belle of the Bends on the right. This looks like the landing at Memphis, Tennessee on the Mississippi.





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With the exception of images credited to public institutions,
everything on this page is from a private collection.
Please contact Steamboats.com for permission for commercial use.*

All captions provided by Dave Thomson, Steamboats.com primary contributor and historian.

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