Steamin' Into A New Year!

Keith Norrington;19811 wrote: May all your trips, on the river and otherwise, be pleasant ones, free of snags, sandbars and shoal water ......

......and full of steam (hopefully).

Happy New Year, Keith and all.

Paul

Duck! Here comes another one!

Being the upbeat, optomistic (Can't even spell the word), type I am. The title well sums up my outlook for the new year.
However, that's mine own view point and I wish none any ill. That being said, Happy New Year to those of the marine industry and folks on this board.

Happy New Year to all my dear friends here on steamboats.org! This year has many dreams to complete for all....and it has the potential to do it! Lets all breathe a collective sigh of relief and move forward into 2010 with hope. May we all be here again next year with stories of our successes and the wonderous achievements we were lucky enough to have in the 365 days till then!

Perhaps 2010 will have us planning on a new river cruise, or experience to rival those we have had before. Perhaps we will have word of the ability to welcome back some of the former fleet of DQSCo. Perhaps we will all get together to listen to a lecture at the Howard, take a river vacation, talk of the great times we have had out there.

What ever we do, we keep the spirit of steamboatin alive into this decade!

Travis

Happy New Year to you, Keith and also to all the other members of this board. Do you know the name of the artist who did that illustration? It reminds me of the old magazine ads for Southern Comfort whisky. Perhaps that's what it is.

Happy New Year - may 2010 be better than any year before

Hi Keith, Travis, John & everybody!
Here were are in the countdown to the end of a decade. This was a rough one! I also feel wary about more of the same, but ready to go forward, come what may. At least we have our steamboats, and memories from our boats, which will stay with us always.
Being on the dark side of 53 myself, Keith, I can practically see the grains of sand falling through Old Man Time's hour glass as we get closer to midnight. It is 3:25 p.m. and counting where I am.
Sweet dreams tonight to all of you as we hurtle ever forward into the unknown future, pushed by the irresistible forces of time!
Nori

Dean Cornwell did the painting of the BETSY ANN for the whiskey ad you are thinking of. I have a large print of the painting (just the painting of the BETSY ANN, not the whiskey ad portion!).

Steve, The ad I remember wasn't of the Betsy, it was a stern view of a big sidewheeler very similar to the one in the view that Keith submitted. It may have been the same illustration, but cropped closer. I'm not sure of the brand of the booze, either, it might have been Southern Comfort or Old Granddad.

John, You have good memory. I looked for the whiskey ad which used the Dean Cornwell "Betsy Ann" artwork (apparently for "Old Crow" whiskey), but couldn't find an example.

However, while looking, I found the exact artwork you were asking about. It was by James Bingham and used for a Southern Comfort whiskey ad in 1955. I attached it, along with a photo of my Dean Cornwell print of the Betsy Ann, entitled "Kentucky River".

Does anybody know if the BETSY ever ran the Kentucky River? I don't remember anything in the Log of the BETSY about it and Way is silent on the subject in his Directory. That appears to be the Palisades of the Kentucky River above Frankfort in your painting, Steve. I seem to remember that there was a head-on painting of the BETSY by Cornwall...mebbe as a cover of a magazine...mebbe True magazine. Cap'n Walnut.

Tom, I looked up the hull size of the BETSY ANN, and at 165' x 33', she would not fit in the Kentucky River locks. So this painting by Dean Cornwell must have a whimsical title, I would guess. Unless she really did do a trip up to lock #1 and back.

Cap'n Walnut, you are spot on! It was TRUE magazine. Keith Norrington has a copy and may post a cover shot tomorrow when he gets in.

We did a private fall foliage trip up to Kentucky River Lock 1 and back in October. Attached are some photos taken by Dan Back.

There has been some rare commercial traffic lately on the KY River, as Aquarius Marine has been building a mooring facility for a new asphalt plant about 1 mile above the mouth of the river. The day of our cruise the m/v Ceredo was towing some barges from the work site. (this was also the same day that the Belle of Louisville had her accident near Harrods Creek). First photo is the Ceredo heading on the KY River. Other 2 photos show them, and the Barbara H, getting underway on the Ohio.

Two more photos. First one is Lock & Dam #1 on the Kentucky River. There was a minor crest that day, and a good amount of flow over the dam. It's 4 miles up to lock #1 from the mouth.

Lock #1 has been inoperable since September 2005 due to a broken valve. Last time we took the Barbara H above Lock 1 was during Jim Reising's inaugural "Ramble on the River" in August 2005. I'm glad that wasn't a one-way trip, and we didn't get stuck above lock 1 forever!

When we came out the KY River, we noticed that the PA Denny had arrived at our landing from Louisville. She laid-over here for the night on her way back to Cincinnati.

Whew, Bob! That was a near, if not quite, a half-century ago. At that time I was a wannabee this, then wannabee that. Of course a steamboat man was one of the wannabees! That TRUE cover was a stunner as I remember it. I'll look forward to Keith's posting. Cap'n Walnut.

Steve: Even if she did, as you well know, there are no palisades on that lower stretch of the river.

Steve, If you will compare that first illustration in your post with the one that Keith posted at the beginning of this thread you will see that it is a cropped enlargement of the same illustration. I thought that was the one. I've seen the one of the Betsy Ann also. I still don't know who created the sidewheeler painting. Its a great picture, but I think he over did it a bit with the fire coming out the stacks.

John, I mentioned the artist's name of the sidewheeler painting in my posting - It was done by James Bingham and used for a Southern Comfort whiskey ad in 1955.

It would be interesting to find an actual print of that one.

The Chautauqua Belle is riding the snow banks into the new year, over the past 48 hours we've had more then 30 inches of snow fall.

The True Magazine cover you mention was the issue for February, 1953, featuring the Str. BETSY ANN by Dean Cornwell. The "centerfold" of that issue contained Cornwell's painting of the interior of the Str. TENNESSEE BELLE pilothouse. The originals of both hang in the Ohio River Museum at Marietta. Ohio.

Thanks, Keith. Din't the Betsy have two stages originally? Cap'n Walnut.

You are most welcome! Yep, the BETSY ANN had two stages when she began life in 1899 as a lower Mississippi packet, running in the Natchez - Bayou Sara trade, principally as a mail boat and named for the daughter of Rufus Learned, who ran the big lumber mill at Natchez. In 1921, when she came to the Ohio, the BETSY became a single stage boat.

(1) Str. BETSY ANN - first trip up Ohio River - at Gallipolis - 1921
(2) On the Lower Mississippi - circa 1900
(3) Later in 1921 - In Emsworth Lock

Keith: I think Fred said that they got rid of one because of all the locks on the Ohio. If I remember it correctly, what difference would an extra stage make?? Cap'n Walnut

Those pix of the cold CB illustrate how I feel today...I just got back from my Rose Bowl trip in southern California where it was mid 70s, to the below zero stuff here...I'm skimming the board before trying to get my finances straightened out and the suitcase unpacked and the Christmas decorations put away. Looks like there's been a lot of deep thinking going on in the steamboat world over the New Year! Not only is my brain frozen from the temperature change, but spending a night in an empty Denver International Airport has discombobulated me too much to post anything thoughtprovoking yet.....