The pilot wheel is from the little sternwheeler Blue Wing which operated out of Keokuk, Iowa early in the 20th century. The sternwheeler City of Monroe is a 5 foot generic model based on Captain Cooley's boat the America. It was built by James Hale of Sylvan Springs, Alabama in 1975. The whistle, steam gauge and engine room telegraph are original. Not visible is a pilot house telegraph and speaking tubes for pilot house and engine room.
Half of the library consists of books on the history of the Western Rivers including steamboats, river cities and river towns as well as fiction inspired by river history. The other half of the book collection is made up of all of Mark Twain's books including many illustrated foreign language editions of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn and local history books about Hannibal, Missouri.
