'GENERAL JACKSON' Questions

There is a website for the JACKSON at www.generaljackson.com which contains a fact sheet giving all her construction details, etc. The site also has an online gift shop and information about the cruises.

I checked the employment opportunities for Gaylord. They didn't list anything available on the Jackson, but they had lots of job availabilities, all skills, at their resorts, nationwide. A surprise when so many people are out of a job.

I worked on the General Jackson from 1994-2002, and I belive that I only heard the calliope once. I never knew that it once had a steam generator

No, I rode the GJ with John and Wamp. I stayed in the pilothouse the entire trip. The passengers and other swine were treated like they are in any other amusement park.

The General Jackson does indeed have a whistle. It is a 3 bell chime made by Kahlenberg. It is blown on air but I would love to hear it on steam.
Air Whistles, Steam Whistles, Tug Boat Whistles - Kahlenberg Industries, Inc. The sample of it here is blown on air.

John Fryant;20271 wrote: I never heard that she had a steam boiler, or a whistle or calliope. I think she had a big single chime (E-flat maybe?) air horn and probably still does.

25th Anniversary Cruises July 2, 2010

I haven’t been on the General Jackson since the early 1980’s when I was putting my tour group on there once a week for the breakfast cruise. I noticed they are offering two 1 ½ hour cruises from downtown July 2 to celebrate their 25th anniversary. The cost is only $8.00. That is considered a real bargain for their regular cruises. Of course there is no dinner included but they are providing free punch and cake! I think I may actually go and take the cruise to see what it is like these days. There will also be a free concert at Riverfront Park that evening followed by fireworks. Opryland Hotel and Mall are still closed due to the flood. GJ operations sound complicated if you take a cruise from Opryland. You have to find the special parking lot and then board some sort of shuttle to the landing. I sounds to me like they ought to move the whole operation downtown till they get everything back in order at Opryland.

What a shame the GJ has lost her "friendly spirit" with the passing of such magnanimous souls as John Hartford and Capt. Edgar Allen Poe. Made a trip on her in '87, and mentioned to one of her pilots, who was actually out talking to passengers, (I believe it was a Capt.Bill or Bob Howell,) that I had watched them building her; he asked if I was from Louisville. I answered that I wasn't, but was "down there a good bit to ride the BELLE", whereupon he replied "The BELLE of LOUISVILLE? Why don't you just come with me up to the pilothouse." Spent the rest of the trip up there, swapping some stories, but mostly just drinking in some great tales shared by Capt "Wamp" and my friendly host. Sometime later, I related this story to a BofL crewmember. "Gee," he speculated. "I wonder what would have happened if I said I was crew on the BELLE?" "They'd have probably put you to work!" I said. MOR had a couple really great all day cruises to Hickory Lake and back, in the days when the boat was still "river friendly".
Thank goodness "river friendliness" still lives aboard the BELLE of LOUISVILLE, NATCHEZ, CHAUTAUQUA BELLE, SPIRIT of PEORIA, the BB Riverboats, etc.etc. I guess MOR won't be visiting Nashville very soon