DELTA QUEEN; When??

Just a WAG, but I'm guessing sometime in the early 1950s, judging from the style of the glasses frame the gentleman is wearing, also it looks to me like he's drinking Coca Cola from a glass bottle. Perhaps John Jarrett could weigh in on the relative graininess of the B/W photo.

Paul

The key is the stack...but there are other smaller clues. White jackstaff, no calliope, funnel ventilators now installed and facing forward, lifeboat on port side, very little if any extention on top of the oval stack base with the Greeneline band around it, no flags at the roof other than at the stern. Wish I could see the stage clearer...and is that a white spashboard I see?

Also a semi-WAG...I'm thinking 1953...an exceptionally good year... 🙂

Judy will know...

No I don't know for sure. I have postcards of her in that exact configuration, but no date or postmarks to help. I do have pictures of her laid up here on her first UMR trip in 1954, and she has the same setup. So I'd say your 1953 guess is pretty good - it was definitely by 1954 and probably earlier.

Here's another little detail I noticed. Thats not the port side....that photo has to be reverse printed from the negative, which is pretty easy to do, whether on purpose or accident with older technology. Reason I'm certain is, the aft staircase on the port side was reversed at Dravo during the original conversion. See pg 114 of the Saga of the DQ book. The photo above is clearly after her visit to Dravo judging by the elliptical shaped funnel/stack, no wheel cover, white superstructure and added rounded deck sections. So not that this will help date it any closer, but give a little insight into the photo.

Philip: you are on to something! That is my brother, Phil, in the photo and he is right-handed and wears his watch on his LEFT hand (shown here on the right). He would normally drink with his right hand. If you are correct, and I think that you are, that would make her up-bound. I'm reasonably sure of the location but cannot be totally sure. From the bridge over Sugar Creek (now Sugar Bay) toward Warsaw some little way, the road parallels the river and there is a small pull off right near the bridge on the river side and that is where I think this is. I agree that this info is of little value in dating the photo but it does demonstrate that you have an eye like a chicken hawk! Also, that you can sneak very little past this board. When did the life boat go away? Cap'n Walnut

Phillip, I've read all the books, too, and I never picked up on that tidbit, let alone not seeing it in front of me after being all over the Legendary One...

Are you saying that the PORT aft stairway down, Sundeck to Texas leads to the bow end of the boat while the STARBOARD aft stairway down, Sundeck to Texas leads to the aft end of the boat?

Really? *face turning slightly red*

What a great bit of trivia...You know, during ACV and I think DN days, too, there was always a beautiful picture of the DQ in all the brochures, river like glass, the boat cruising in front of trees in incredible Autumn splender, a slightly older picture with the non-hinged stack, and the picture was always printed backwards...even though it was a "starboard'" side picture, the skiff was missing and the letters on the stack were mirrored backwards. Always gave me a chuckle...

Philip: Just for drill I took the photo into a program that I have and "turned it around" to see if it looked right for that location and it does. If you look at the river chart at Pratt Landing (where I say the picture was taken), you will see that the photo angles across the river inclining up-stream a bit. The river makes a tight bend at that point and you can see it clearly in the photo doubling back. Cap'n Walnut

I'd guess that the photo was taken very early in her career, as it looks to me like she has the original stage,which was off the Gordon C. Greene. I don't know when the new one was put on, but if anyone else knows this, it would serve to narrow the time frame of the photo.

More Natural ...

We took your photo to the Rabbit Hash Shipyard graphics department and they reversed it to see how it appeared, and for some reason, it seemed more "natural". Take a gander yourself.

hehehe, isn't this fun!?

Bruno, I'm surprised you hadn't noticed that as observant as you are. Once I did I was so annoyed until I finally pinpointed when the change took place. Then Steamboat Mary and I tried to figure out WHY? Best conclusion we could come up with has to do with where the stairs landed on the main deck. When facing aft, they would land right near the cylinder, and anyone needing access to the crew spaces, engine room etc, would have to navigate that tight space every time. And we all know how busy "garbage alley" is a main passage way for crew and the occasional nosy passenger who loves hanging out in the engine room, it would just have made more sense to turn those stairs around like they are now. As soon as you hit the bottom of the steps, your in a safe open passageway. Best we could come up with, anyone else have ideas?

Great sleuthing, Phillip! I had never given a minute's thought to "why" those stairs opposite each other were different. Your reasoning is good, but I'll throw one more out there: Did it have anything to do with the way the boat laid at the Greene Line wharfboat in Cinci? Did they have a door on the wharfboat that matched up to the port side door by the engineroom, and want easier access to the main deck from there? That side is obviously inteneded for the public to frequent - it has brass kickplates on the stair risers, while the starboard side does not. Maybe Dale or others who know can chime in...

Tom,
I think you're right about the location (northbound at Sugar Creek). Looks like he is at that location where U.S. Hwy 127 Tee's into U.S. 42 right there, in my estimation.

My SWAG is 1954/55 time frame based on the white splashboard and the old "ocean going" lifeboat. But that's just a guess, if you pinned me down I would say 1954. It would be a lot easier if you asked what time of day and day of the week the picture was taken. By the trees it summer time, by the location upbound at Sugar Creek I would say the boat was returning from a Kentucky Lake trip so it would be a Friday afternoon about 3:00-4:00. If it is 1954/55 Chief Engineer Jesse Armstrong has her working pretty hard, as can be seen by the wheel wash, trying to get to Cincy by midnight. Remember back then the boat still had two locks to go through lock 38 at Belleview & 37 at Fernbank.
But as Dale says "what do I know?"

Wharfboat Access Generalization (WAG)

I'm pretty sure, thinking back through the fog of forty years, there was no door on the wharfboat that matched up to the port side door by the engine room that the public frequented, or ever used. There may have been some planks laid across the gap to load supplies, but no DELTA QUEEN pax arrived or departed by that way that I recall.

Those sliding side doors, on what we called "the U-Shaped Deck", are of odd proportions with tall sills high enough to make comfortable places to sit. A person departing the boat by either door would have to step over the sill, or if standing on the sill, a tall person like myself, would have to duck to get out. My WAG on those weird doors is that they were built for cross ventilation for the engine room.

My WAG on why the port stairs are facing forward and fitted with brass kick plates is that the port side was, and may still be, the longitudinal passageway from fore to aft on the Main Deck. There is no such passageway running the length of the boat on the other side. I recall guests frequently used that port stairway going to, and from, the Orleans Room. It was a treat to be working in the engine room and seeing smartly-dressed folks using "the back way".

Shipyard....remember the crew lining up at the engineroom door when the boat arrived in Cincy at midnight? The maids, pantry men, waiters and cooks would be loaded down with left over food which they would take home to their family's. Back then Mrs. Greene allowed "totin' privileges" which meant the crew could take home left overs. Here in Louisville the domestics used to have two pay scales...$5.00 a day plus car fare with "totin' prvileges", or $7.00 a day plus car fare without "totin' prvileges".

The totin' privileges I don't remember, but I do recall the time when one of the kitchen help was leaving the DELTA QUEEN, totin' a cardboard suitcase, and as he was about to step on the stage where Mrs. Greene was talking to Big Ern; no sooner had the man said, "Afternoon, Mrs. Greene," did the wet bottom came out of his paper suitcase as beef steaks, stolen from the reefer, piled up around Cap and Mrs. G's feet.

I don't think he had those "totin' privileges".

Jim Reising;15284 wrote: My SWAG is 1954/55 time frame based on the white splashboard and the old "ocean going" lifeboat. But that's just a guess, if you pinned me down I would say 1954. It would be a lot easier if you asked what time of day and day of the week the picture was taken. By the trees it summer time, by the location upbound at Sugar Creek I would say the boat was returning from a Kentucky Lake trip so it would be a Friday afternoon about 3:00-4:00. If it is 1954/55 Chief Engineer Jesse Armstrong has her working pretty hard, as can be seen by the wheel wash, trying to get to Cincy by midnight. Remember back then the boat still had two locks to go through lock 38 at Belleview & 37 at Fernbank.
But as Dale says "what do I know?"

Jimmy: Here's another picture undoubtedly taken moments before the other one. We'll hafta await the good offices of the Rabbit Hash Boat works Graphic Dept (they don't come in til later) to reverse it like the other one. Cap'n Walnut

Whoa, wait a minute......is that the original wooden stage? If so that would mean this picture was taken prior to 1953. I believe the top hat stack extension was put on in 1950 or 1951.....so that would limit the years to 1950-1952. Take your pick, but I'll split the difference and go 1951.
Do I get the big Snickers bar?

I would say late 50's. I'm basing my guess on the photo looking like a B&W polaroid. Color came along in the early 60's.