Topic starter
16/07/2008 8:59 pm
This company was brought up in another thread so I thought I'd give a little more information about it. Alter Co. started out as a scrap metal business in the Iowa QuadCities. After using other towing companies to haul their scrap for a while, they decided to start their own towing business in 1960. Their first boat was the former MV KEYSTONE, built in 1945 by Dravo. It was renamed the FRANK R. ALTER and given the now well-known yellow trim used on all the Alter boats. Through the years they have kept the tradition of naming boats after family members. After a few years of hauling coal upriver and scrap metal down, they expanded into taking grain down to New Orleans. In 1991, Steamboat Development Company began operating the gambling boats DIAMOND LADY and EMERALD LADY in Iowa. Steamboat was headed by Bernie Goldstein, longtime head of Alter Companies. That business has expanded into the Isle of Capri and Lady Luck gambling boat brands. So Alter's presence on the waterways is still strong: in scrap metal, in the Barge Line, and in the casino business. Alter has always been a good corporate citizen in the Quad Cities and has donated towboat trips for fundraisers for many years. Back in the 1980s, a trip for four went to a $600 bid at a St. Ambrose University silent auction. Most of this info comes from a very interesting book written by Bernie Goldstein, NAVIGATING THE CENTURY: A personal account of Alter Company's first hundred years. Copyright 1998
ISBN 1-882771-02-8
17/07/2008 3:57 pm
Judy,
To clarify somewhat. Alter Barge Line does still offer trips on their towboat as fundraisers to organizations such as the Red Cross, and Rotary Club. One recently went for $2400. The clarification would be that these people are Alter Barge Lines guests. Alter does not receive compensation for these trips. We leave the passenger business to the people that do it so well. The trips are usually two to three days in length and transportation to and from the vessel are the guests responsibility.
Topic starter
17/07/2008 6:01 pm
Thank you Randy for expanding on Alter's generosity. There had been a previous discussion thread about passengers on towboats - not on a large quantity or regular basis, but rather if it was ever done. Since I live in Rock Island, I've read about the Alter trip donations over the years. Did Bill Wundram, Shirley Davis, or John Willard ever ride to do a story for the Times?
18/07/2008 7:06 pm
Captain Ken Murphy
Like nearly all successful scrap recyclers, Alter Trading Co., started early in the last century when the two Alter brothers, Russian emigrants, started out with a pushcart cleaning out basements and attics in the Davenport, IA area for the "junk" they could salvage, or so I was told when I worked for Steamboat Casino Cruises in Bettendorf in 1992.
Oddly, I had just sold my own scrap metal recycling business, Can-Do Recyclers, I founded and operated for eleven years, that is still in the business of cleaning the Earth and recycling our limited natural resources some 17 years later and under the leadership of Can Do's third owner. When I applied to SCC, I was asked for two resumes; one for the DIAMOND LADY operation and another for the ATC scrap biz.
Within a week, a call came from the late Capt. Ken Murphy who saw that I had worked on the DELTA QUEEN and he asked if I knew Captain Howard Tate; so when I said I did, Ken asked how long it would be before I could begin work. I've often said since, Captain Tate helped me break into casino boats. That was over 16 years ago, and gamin' boats are still paying my bills.
Although Mr. Bernard Goldstein is best remembered by those outside the marine industry for starting the very successful run of casino boats, it was his trusted friend and veteran Alter Barge Line Pilot, Captain Ken Murphy, who has been the subject of countless pilothouse yards recalling the exploits of that extraordinary riverboatman who introduced so many of us to the G-boats. Bernie, I'm sure, hand-picked Captain Murphy as the man he wanted to start-up and manage his DL flagship that operated within sight of the "Ivory Tower", as the home office of the Alter Empire was fondly called.
21/07/2008 6:17 pm
Judy, They have not been on Alters boats since I have been here. Mr. Wundram did write a piece on Bernie for the On The River section of the times. Bill and Michael Blaser did ride along when we took the Celebration Belle to Tall Stacks also. Recently we have had reporters onboard that were associated with the production of a Japanese travel magazine that you would find in the seat pocket on an airplane. They did a nice article on the M/V Kathy Ellen. The most recent group was from a German televison station.