Topic starter
20/08/2009 11:44 am
Happy Riverboating this weekend to all the buffs and buffettes (aka "Rambling River Rats") who are making the three day trip on the sternwheeler SPIRIT OF PEORIA from the namesake city to St. Louis. As usual, Judy Patsch has done an excellent job of being the "behind the scenes" organizer for this river safari. Wish I could be "on deck" with y'all, but duty calls here at the pipe organ works so I'll be with you "in spirit" aboard the SPIRIT! You surely will want to take pictures of the GOLDENROD SHOWBOAT and former Federal Barge Line towboat AMERICA when you pass Kampsville. The retired sternwheel GOLDEN EAGLE FERRY might also be tied up along your route, so keep those cameras at the ready!
Herewith is an old Eagle Packet Company advertising card with a map of the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers that will be traversed by the SPIRIT. Also attached are two photos, taken in 1989, aboard the Str. JULIA BELLE SWAIN, on a similar trip, of Capt. John Hartford and his former fifth grade teacher and beloved steamboating mentor, Miss Ruth Ferris.
Speaking of Capt. John Hartford, this week"s issue of The Waterways Journal carries a formal annoucement that John's collection of river relics, photos and books has been donated by the family to the Pott Waterways Library of the Mercantile Library, housed at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. John would be proud that his treasures will now be housed in the same archive as Ruth's vast collection of river life and lore. An Eagle Packet Company landing whistle (long-short-short-long-short) in tribute to Ruth and John -- fondly remembered and forever "gentle on our minds".
Have a great trip and we'll look forward to "live from the levee" reports!
20/08/2009 1:16 pm
SoP hope we aren't sopped!
Yet another gulleywasher and violent storm went through the area yesterday, but hopefully that is it for a while. The forecast looks good for the weekend for our 30 RRR and the rest of the passengers on the SPIRIT. About a third of us are doing a makeshift return trip: we are staying overnight in St. Louis and then taking the SoP from St. Louis to Grafton, where we'll stay at the Reubel Hotel. This is an old rivermen's hotel, with a room named after James V. Swift, and a bar from the 1904 Worlds Fair. (I'm surprised the bar wasn't named after Jimmy). Then on Tuesday we'll do the day trip from Grafton to Florence and ride the crew bus back to Peoria. I'm getting the Patsch B&B ready for Pat Traynor and Bubba Dow on the downbound, and Pat and Barb Hameister on the upbound. I've already got the Bergeron Shipyard's blueprints of the NATCHEZ out for Bubba to peruse, should he not be able to sleep up here in the 'museum'.
Looking ahead to 2010, I'm hoping we can do another TWILIGHT trip - but possibly connecting it with the CELEBRATION BELLE's new Moline to St. Louis trip. That would make 5 days of boating, or one could do just the two day TWILIGHT or 3 day CB trip. Just a thought, I'll work on it after this SPIRIT trip.
Topic starter
21/08/2009 1:17 pm
Built in 1958-59 for Federal Barge Line at St. Louis Ship, the UNITED STATES and AMERICA were the two most powerful towboats on the river with 8500+ HP. The AMERICA has been altered for use as a restaurant. Where is the UNITED STATES now? I have a small encased model of her with a tow, built by Miss Ruth Ferris in 1967 for her Midship Museum aboard the Str. BECKY THATCHER at St. Louis. Seems I remember seeing the retired towboat along the Mississippi somewhere from the deck of the DQ.
(1) M/V UNITED STATES christening brochure cover - 1958
(2) M/V UNITED STATES (right) and M/V AMERICA on Lower Mississippi River.
(3) M/V UNITED STATES and tow.
21/08/2009 1:27 pm
Keith,
The UNITED STATES is at Cairo, just above the I.C. Railroad bridge and is owned by ACL. She is used as an office/dispatch facility for their fleeting operations in Cairo. They renamed the boat AL PANNIER over 20 years ago, and they keep the boat in pretty good shape, from what I can see.
Topic starter
21/08/2009 1:33 pm
Thanks, Bob, for the up-to-date information. I knew you'd have the answer! Also heard from Capt. Kevin Mullen, now with ACL, who provided additional material on the historic towboat. As usual, people on the river are happy to give!
(1) M/V/ UNITED STATES as wharfboat at Cairo (Mound City) IL
(2) M/V AMERICA in faded glory.
(3) M/V/ AMERICA and GOLDENROD SHOWBOAT on Illinois River.
Topic starter
24/08/2009 2:38 pm
After postings about the FBL towboats UNITED STATES and AMERICA on this thread last week, Capt. Kevin Mullen requested some photos of the M/V UNITED STATES model, tow and case that Miss Ruth Ferris built in 1967 for her Midship Museum aboard the Str. BECKY THATCHER at St. Louis. Herewith are a few photos of the model, which Ruth gave to me in 1982 and which is a prized item in my collection of "steamboat stuff". Ruth was 70 years old when she made the model and case. It's not pristine/perfect, but is "realistic" and towboaty! Capt. Kevin, who is now Safety and Compliance Manager for American Commercial Lines, will be happy to know that the deckhands on the tow of the model are all wearing orange work vests!
(1) Midship Museum Curator Ruth Ferris & Capt. Don Summers examine model of FBL towboat UNITED STATES and tow. February-1970.
(2) M/V UNITED STATES model on display in Midship Museum. August-1970. Capt. Donald T. Wright's rolltop desk (Waterways Journal office) in background.
(3) M/V/ UNITED STATES model in Keith's RIVER ROOM. October-1994.
26/08/2009 1:42 am
Well, I just got home, and I have to say that the SPIRIT trip was a huge success!!! I had so much fun, and it was great getting to meet many fellow dot.orgers. Ill put up some pictures when I can, but I need to go through almost 1,000 of them, so it may take a while. Hope they're havin fun on the return trip!
26/08/2009 3:23 am
Matthew Dow;18145 wrote: Well, I just got home, and I have to say that the SPIRIT trip was a huge success!!! I had so much fun, and it was great getting to meet many fellow dot.orgers. Ill put up some pictures when I can, but I need to go through almost 1,000 of them, so it may take a while. Hope they're havin fun on the return trip!
I had a message relayed to me from the trip how the scenery on the Illinois was a hit with those that had never travelled the river before...
I was glad to hear that! Great to hear of your trip's success!
26/08/2009 12:54 pm
I'll second what Mr. Dow said. We had a WONDERFUL time. Weather couldn't have been better. The crew went out of their way to make us feel welcome. The food was great. And the entertainment was so darn good, I want to go back! THANK YOU Judy for putting this together. There is a talk of a repeat for next year. Sign me up!
27/08/2009 12:26 am
If the same people (and maybe more!!) are going that did this year, I'm also in the running for next year's trip
27/08/2009 3:49 pm
When I was going to the National River Academy, I noticed one of those boats, can't remember which, coming up the river. I thought I would walk out on the Helena Bridge and shoot a movie of the boat. It was creeping along and I thought I had plenty of time, but it was coming up the Mississippi side of the river, and it is a long, long way across that bridge. By the time I got to the appropriate spot, it was already under the bridge, but I got a good shot of the stern, and passing history.
27/08/2009 6:32 pm
Back and wow!
Bubba beat me by a few hundred pix on the trip, but I'll be posting a trip report tonight along with my pix, taken on film, an anachonism I know... but WOW, WHAT A TRIP! I will be posting and emailing later, but advance notice:
our do-it-yourself return/round trip has been adopted by the boat company, and next year they will be doing a
5 DAY ROUND TRIP PEORIA/ST.LOUIS/PEORIA JULY 24TH.
We will be back, and hopefully some of you will join us. Stay tuned for more info.