Topic starter
27/01/2011 2:35 am
Hi,
I am 49.
When I was in 1st grade in St. Paul Minn, my class was taken on a field trip ride up the Mississippi aboard the Johnathan Paddleford replica steamboat.
That did it.
I snatched up every steamboat book I could get my young hands on at the public library, And had my parents drive me down to Lambert landing to see the DQ when it came to town.
I could not explain my attraction to these boats nor can I now.
I thought I was kinda weird for it.
Then I found you all. 🙂
Sometime last year whilst cruising the net for steamboat shots I found this
one. You may have seen it before but I find it fascinating. Check the (kids?)
being hung over the railing Michael Jackson style. I currently have this pic set as my wallpaper.
27/01/2011 3:56 am
Welcome to the message board, Ron.
Your photo is indeed a dandy one. It shows the Streckfus Steamboat Company's sidewheel packet SAINT PAUL on the left and their excursion boat W.W. in the foreground, probably taken sometime between 1911 and 1917. A frequent poster on this board, Judy Patsch, can probably ID the location for you for sure, but I'm guessing it's taken at Rock Island. Now that you've located this site, let me also invite you to check out another one: Sons and Daughters of the Pionee This is the home page for Sons and Daughters of Pioneer Rivermen, and I think you would enjoy this group and their quarterly publication which features steamboats and also modern river towboats as well.
You are in good company here with many kindred spirits at steamboats.org and we're always pleased to have new posters join us. Happy reading and posting!!
Topic starter
27/01/2011 4:15 am
Wow.
Thanks
Try as I might I couldn't read the writing on the sidewheeler.
How you know what the foreground boat is is beyond me!
27/01/2011 5:05 am
Weird
It's because we have this weird sixth sense. It comes as a result of years of infection by a highly contageous disease that causes one to spend hours staring at old steamboat photos. It is like an addiction. Discovering a photo anew causes a high that just begs for more.
27/01/2011 5:46 am
The disease, according to the Greeks, has a name: vaporiconaphilia (or vaporiconamania, depending). And yes, there's no greater rush for this vaporiconamaniac than to find an as-of-yet unknown view!
27/01/2011 5:10 pm
Ron Anderson;24398 wrote: Hi,
Check the (kids?)
being hung over the railing Michael Jackson style. I currently have this pic set as my wallpaper.
Welcome Ron,
The whole "hung over the railing Michael Jackson style" tradition was upheld down through the years by the various crews of the Delta Queen Steamboat Company in the wee small hours of the morning during port stops at Natchez Under-the-Hill .
Paul
27/01/2011 5:44 pm
New to me
As many Streckfus pix as I have, this is a new one to me Ron. As Dave says, it looks like Rock Island. That looks like the Crescent RR bridge in the background, in which case this would be below the usual levee used. Whether they landed just above the Crescent or not, I don't know, but offhand I can't think of any other rr bridges on the Upper with the swing span on the Illinois shore, except Alton... I'm discounting the Government Bridge, as there was no available landing there on Arsenal Island.
Topic starter
27/01/2011 6:33 pm
Paul Penta;24406 wrote: Welcome Ron,
The whole "hung over the railing Michael Jackson style" tradition was upheld down through the years by the various crews of the Delta Queen Steamboat Company in the wee small hours of the morning during port stops at Natchez Under-the-Hill .
Paul
Really.
My my, I do declare, the things you can learn here!
-- Seems dangerous. 🙂
28/01/2011 1:33 am
Ron: Sigh, I'm sure that they are quite correct about Natchez Under the Hill but that locus had no exclusive on the caper! Cap'n Walnut
28/01/2011 2:24 pm
"Welcome Aboard" Ron! By now you have learned that there is NO cure for the "steamboat fever" (and nobody wants a cure anyway!) which has affected many of us from a very young age! Aboard the BELLE OF LOUISVILLE one summer day in 1969, Capt. Alan Bates wrote in my autograph book: "Best wishes to Keith, who at 15 1/2 years old is TOO OLD to escape the river and steamboating." As you've undoubtedly noted, ALL are welcome on this message board, which is a fabulous forum, generously made available to all of us steamboat buffs and buffettes by Franz and Carmen, as a clearing house for anything and everything to do with steamboating. Many professional river people who regularly work on the river or in related industries, historians, authors, museum curators, librarians and enthusiasts regularly visit to read and/or to post. You can bet that SOMEBODY out there will have the answer to a question, a sought after photo or whatever the topic. Best of all, it has created friendships between many people who otherwise would not have met!
Glad that you found us and we look forward to your future postings. If you get over here to the Ohio River, please come visit us at the Howard Steamboat Museum!
Keep up steam!
Topic starter
28/01/2011 2:40 pm
Thanks.
I kind of an oddball.
On one hand I like a steamboat, and top fuel funny cars on the other.
Similar in some way I suppose. A fire in the belly and lots of smoke.
One is just a bit quieter and leisurely. 🙂
28/01/2011 3:39 pm
Ron, I suppose to the outside world, most of us on this forum fall into the "oddball" category, so you'll be in good company.
28/01/2011 4:27 pm
Oddball?!
Most of us steamboaters, if not all, have other oddball interests. Oh, the stories we could tell. Fortunately, many of the stories are on this forum, as we tend to digress into other territories. Franz is very patient when we start to discuss things that have absolutely nothing to do with steamboats.
28/01/2011 4:50 pm
Race cars and Steamboats, odd? I've been messing with race cars and boats most of my adult life. Side tracked into airplanes once in a while. It's about the spirit and attitude, being an addictive personality doesn't hurt. You'll fit right in.
Of course there are some strange people on here but a few normal ones like myself. :-).
Welcome Aboard!!
28/01/2011 6:22 pm
Bob Reynolds;24422 wrote: Ron, I suppose to the outside world, most of us on this forum fall into the "oddball" category, so you'll be in good company.
Oddball? If you want oddball check out the ocean "Liner Looneys." Some of those folks want hurricane strength winds and 30 feet waves when they're on a ship. Boy, was there a happy bunch of folks on the new Cunarder QUEEN ELIZABETH during her maiden North Atlantic crossing earlier this month. I didn't miss a meal either!
28/01/2011 10:57 pm
Fred Carmichael;24424 wrote: Race cars and Steamboats, odd? I've been messing with race cars and boats most of my adult life. Side tracked into airplanes once in a while. It's about the spirit and attitude, being an addictive personality doesn't hurt. You'll fit right in.
Of course there are some strange people on here but a few normal ones like myself. :-).
Welcome Aboard!!
Be careful how you define "normal" then, Fred. And BTW, when you speak of airplanes, the word is "ALtitude, not ATTitude.
Topic starter
29/01/2011 2:26 am
I thank you for the warm welcome.
In closing I would like to mention that I am now land locked in the high rockies of Colorado where the word steamboat means the town a few clicks north of here. And the only thing in our rivers are these rainbow trout the size of small packet boats!
Peace.
:Ron
29/01/2011 2:53 am
Ron: I can see that your dedication to veracity tends to bond yourself to this group. We are dedicated to NEVER...EVER stretching the truth. And, yes, we sometimes stray into other avocations...steam trains, fine firearms competitive shooting and steam launches being some. Cap'n Walnut
29/01/2011 5:37 pm
Soooooo
Where exactly in the high Rockies? I'm in Leadville.
29/01/2011 5:41 pm
At least there weren't any iceburgs.
And I suppose the rest of the passengers were "green" with envy.
Topic starter
29/01/2011 6:04 pm
Lexie Palmore;24444 wrote: Where exactly in the high Rockies? I'm in Leadville.
Oh how cool!
I'm in Dillon!
30/01/2011 5:27 am
Ron,
You are not the only one far away from brown water. Although I can go to the Delta King in an hour +; I am in the California Foothills about 1500' altitude (I know, flat land to you Coloradans). And I grew up in a far N. Calif. railroad town, Dunsmuir where the Sacramento river is a trout stream--trout about the size of yours too! 🙂
I have no Idea why I got this malady, but I think a TV show called "The Riverboat" (I think??) is still strong in my childhood memory--I don't remember the plots, just the engine room shots and them using the speaking tubes. Maybe that's where it started. . .
S'
David D.