Oil spill near Davenport

"Rut row!", is right, but now maybe whatever object that is that has wreaked so much havoc over the years near LeClaire will finally be found and removed.

Towboat sunk at LeClaire Ia.

I drove up there this morning and took a few pictures, which I'll post later. The COLBY is downstream from the TWILIGHT and CITY OF BATON ROUGE some 100-150 yds. There are Environmark tanker trucks and equipment up and down the parking lot and levee, as well as the containment booms in the river. The river may have been closed down initially, but traffic is running normally now according to the lock logs.
They have not identified any submerged object which could have caused the damage. I'm a little puzzled by your posts Paul and Frank, indicating that this is an area which has experienced many problems. I am not aware of them. It is a few miles upriver of L&D 14 so the water level remains OK. The TWILIGHT navigates this area daily during her season without incident. The notorious Rock Island Rapids, where the river bottom is rock, not sand, are located below L&D 14. There have been many incidents in that stretch of the river over the years, down to the beginning of the Rapids below the I-74 bridge. One such incident many on here would be familiar with was the time a DQ pilot failed to come through on slow bell and he tore up the paddlewheel. Capt. Mike Williams was Mate on that trip and supervised the almost complete rebuilding of the wheel during the elongated shore stop in Davenport that day. She departed with many unpainted bucket boards, as the painted supply she carried aboard was not enough.
Please share with us incidents you are aware of which have occurred over the years in this supposedly dangerous area for you to call it Rut row - that's a new one on me!!!!

Thanks for the update, Judy. I caught part of a radio trasnmission (between two boats here on teh Illinois) and the STEPHEN L. COLBY hitting a submerged pipe was mentioned. I have no idea how true that is.

The stretch from Lock #14 up to the upper end of the buoy line (just below where the COLBY rests) is very shallow; I have no idea what the bottom is composed of, but It is in the 11 foot depth range at normal pool. Once you get up out of the buoy line there at the LeClare city front (the Shell gas station) it is pretty deep for several miles up the river. Of course, the TWILIGHT only draws about 4 feet; the STEPHEN L. COLBY likely draws 8' 6" or so.

I was referring to the time that the DQ's wheel was torn up and the time her monkey rudder was knocked off and nothing more. Of course the AQ had trouble with one of her Z-drives while approaching the highway bridge below LeClaire while headed upriver during October '12. Maybe we have the beginnings of a mystery as deep as the Bermuda Triangle.

Frank, the monkey rudder incident was at Clinton. Was there one at LeClaire as well?

And Judy, the "rut row" is from the cartoon "Scooby Doo". This cartoon came out toward the end of MY childhood, so you may not be familiar with it!

Chronologically correct!

You got that right, Bob! Rut row was after my childhood cartoon time! But I still read the daily comics...
What I haven't been able to find is whether the COLBY was bareboat or not. There are no barges around it now. The lock page history just shows the locking time, not the number of barges. But it took only a single locking, so I imagine no barges were involved. It happened about 4:30 Monday afternoon, so there was still daylight...
I was amazed to find out the TWILIGHT draws 5 feet, the same as the NATCHEZ. Didn't the JBS draw just 3?
I hope with you being out on the river for Thanksgiving it means you'll be home for Christmas!

Stretch the 'Bermuda Triangle' a bit....

Frank, if we stretch that Bermuda Triangle upriver a few miles, we can add the 1979 MQ incident at Albany on her first UMR trip, when she didn't lower her stacks and caught the power lines, which caused the tower on shore to topple onto the onlookers' cars on the Albany levee! Luckily the lines were dead and the only injuries were some cuts from the flying glass of the shattering windshields... That year the DQ followed the MQ by a week, and we met the MQ as she was down bound near Clinton. Perfessor Tschiggfrie serenaded them with Who's Sorry Now?, which was returned by Perfessor Chengery's The Old Gray Mare. Those were the days!

I will be home for Christmas this year, thanks. Don't quote me on the TWILIGHT draft - it was a guess, pure and simple, and probably too deep. All I know is they have a full galley in the hold, and I've been down there and can stand up comfortably, so I guessed 5 feet on the draft.

Bob Reynolds;32539 wrote: Frank, the monkey rudder incident was at Clinton. Was there one at LeClaire as well?

I remember one time, several years back, when Barb H. and Ann Z. were exploring the Upper Miss. by auto and they found Her Majesty Ship sitting in the neighborhood below downtown LeClaire. She had hit some uncharted object in the LeClaire Harbor and the resulting damage to her hindquarters was being repaired.

Speaking of the LeClaire Triangle, where did the AQ get her stack feathers electro-trimmed on the Upper Miss?

Thanksgiving Day is appropriate time to remember "The Days" of that era on the DQ. It was a simpler time with fewer layers of "interference" in the daily life of a Steamboat. Happy Thanksgiving to all.

The Colby is reported to have 80,000 gals. of "liquids" on board.

AQ stacks

Do you mean the time she came out of Lock 8 at Genoa Wisconsin and thrust the whole town into darkness when her stacks caught the power lines coming from the power plant immediately below the lock? That's about 190 miles upriver from the current situation - heck the whole UMR could be a Bermuda Triangle if we started to recall incidents we can remember regarding the QUEENS!

Pictures at LeClaire

Here are a couple of pictures I took Friday at the scene - not very good because the whole area is taped off - not that that would sometimes matter, but it was too darn cold to wander too much!
1) The CITY OF BATON ROUGE, the TWILIGHT's wharfboat; TROJAN a harbor tow helping out; barely visible the STEPHEN L. COLBY But I wanted to give you an idea of how far this was from the TWILIGHT's dock. Incidentally, the Buffalo Bill Museum/LONE STAR are just to the rear of this shot, and unlike some struggling museums, they just announced an expansion last week!
2) You can see a little of the containment equipment on shore.
3) Hmm... doesn't this angle of listing remind you of a larger boat's position on 12/12/85?????

Judy Patsch;32549 wrote: Do you mean the time she came out of Lock 8 at Genoa Wisconsin and thrust the whole town into darkness when her stacks caught the power lines coming from the power plant immediately below the lock? That's about 190 miles upriver from the current situation - heck the whole UMR could be a Bermuda Triangle if we started to recall incidents we can remember regarding the QUEENS!

Yep, that's the incident. I forgot where on the Upper it happened.

Judy Patsch;32535 wrote: I'm a little puzzled by your posts Paul and Frank, indicating that this is an area which has experienced many problems. I am not aware of them.

Judy, to be clear, there was nothing in my post (which started this thread) to indicate "many problems". My "rut row" was a polite euphemism for Holy S**T. Which I think is a proper response to an oil spill in the Mississippi River. 🙂

Lock 14 to LeClaire shallow...

The stretch of river from the I-80 Bridge to Smith Chain Light has always been a shallow stretch with a hard bottom. This is where the "new" channel was cut to by-pass the old canal entrance. On a good day the draft is usually 11' and if the pool is drawn down will be less. The Colby running lite boat was likely drafting 10' on the bow as sitting level he would draft 9'6". When a towboat runs lite the bow plows down due to bluff bow lines displacing water...were never designed to run without a tow. Bumping bottom on the UMR is common, but usually results in a bottom "polishing" by sand. No one wants to rub in the LeClaire to Rock Island stretch as the bottom is more rock than anything. A lot of folks have had barges being opened up through this part of the river and I have heard of a towboat getting holed above the Bettendorf Bridge during drawdown. Luckily the Aaron Barrett was running in close proximity and was able to get the crew off the Colby. The Twilight has a 6' draft and can sometimes "squat" on her stern when running hard and may draw 6'6" when she gets into the shallow crossings...we usually throttled down a little until deeper water is found and brings her stern back up. Making ice in Peoria Lake...Giddy-yup! Happy Thanksgiving to all! Luke

Thanks Luke

Thanks for your experiential information on that stretch of the river - it sounds like you've worked on the TWILIGHT? I'm a frequent passenger, just can't place your name and you... the first trip I made this summer was during the flood, but on the next two Kevin did indeed have to throttle back in several shallow places. What boat has brought you to icy Peoria Lake?

Thanks much for the information. The crew of the COLBY was mighty lucky!

For those who aren't veteran readers of The Waterways Journal, Capt. Luke was the author of the popular "TOMMY TOWBOATER" cartoon strip in the 1980's.

If you get up this way Luke, come see me at the museum!

Twilight years...

Judy...I worked part time as a relief for Kevin when the Twilight was just out of the yard(s)...built hull/superstructure at Jenerette and finished at Henry. It was Denny's first or second season at LeCLaire. I began "hanging around" the JBS in 1980 or so when at Peoria but kept my day job as a towboat pilot. I am now captain of the Crimson Glory these past 6 years and am currently at Ottawa waiting on barges to be loaded. Keith, nice to hear someone remembers Tommy Towboater...most of the crew I work with these days weren't born when it was being published during the 4 year run! Will definitely stop by the Howard Museum...last visit was the Steamboat Conference many years ago. Which reminds me, I sure miss the Egregious Steamboat Journal...go through my old editions every so often. Always had lots of good info. Luke

Pictures of the towboat being raised

Here's the latest on the salvage efforts. It's been quite a tourist attraction I guess. I've gone up there just once, too much to do here on the home front, and its too cold to be out wandering the levee..

Photos: Crews lift stranded boat from Mississippi River at LeClaire | WQAD.com