Topic starter
16/06/2009 11:18 am
Today marks the 40th anniversary of my first visit to Vicksburg and the mighty steam towboat SPRAGUE on June 16, 1969. Barely 15 years old and "afire" with the river fever, I'll never forget my first views of the BIG and freshly painted steamboat that I had avidly read so much about in previous months. WOW! In those days the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had a fleet along the Yazoo and their steamer MATEUR was there, amongst a group of other USE vessels, all of them looking very pristine. The SPRAGUE (which burned on April 15, 1974) and the government fleet are now but memories.
A few photos from that very exciting day four decades ago... (Oh, to be THAT thin again!)
Topic starter
16/06/2009 6:05 pm
Another image (from a slide) that goes with the previous ones: The M/V JOHN MORRIS and the sternwheel of the SPRAGUE -- the evolution of steam to diesel on the river.