This week in River History

Lighthouse Keepers

Reckon that event was the beginning-of-the-end of Lighthouse Keepers on the Ohio River. Little is remembered, and not much has been said about those faithful keepers of the kerosene beacons that once guided the steamboat pilots safely along their way upon the river. Old time pilots claimed that these lamps were much more reliable than the electric lights that eventually replaced them, as they were given daily attention. Captain Harry Hamilton claimed that even during the 1937 flood, the navigation lights kept burning, for the light keepers moved their lamps higher up into the branches of a convenient tree as the waters rose.

Lighthouse Service vessels like the U.S. GREENBRIAR and WAKEROBIN made weekly rounds along their routes supplying the lighthouse keepers with the necessary coal oil, lamp wicks, and whatever else needed to satisfy the needs of the keepers of the light. These hearty souls tended their lights along assigned routes that they could readily service from a home-built wooden skiff or jonboat. For this they received a government check each month, and after the prescribed number of years of loyal service, the light keepers were entitled to a modest pension from a grateful Uncle Sam.

Arthur J. "Red" Schletker was the Chief Engineer on the GREENBRIAR until the captain retired, and he was asked to become the Master of that lighthouse tender. Cap'n Red replied that he did not have a Master's license, so a test was arranged, which he passed, and served as the skipper of the GREENBRIAR until its final days.

My own steamboat career started with Captain Schletker who, in later years, was Captain Ernest E. Wagner's relief whenever the AVALON came home to Cincinnati. This gave Big Cap some time off to spend with his family, and it also allowed me to meet his acquaintance through my father, Jesse Sanders, who knew Capt. Red from AVALON dealings. Dad, then Chief of the Traffic Division, arranged for automobile parking near the Covington (Ky.) landing for the steam excursion boat whenever it came to town. For this dad received a large stack of yellow passes, all good for free trips on the boat, and we spent them liberally each summer when Capt. Red was aboard. When it came time for me to find a "paying job" on the river, Captain Schletker was my only contact, and he took me over to where the AVALON was tied below the Greene Line wharfboat, and there my steamboating began.

Great post Shipyard Sam keep those stories coming!Great to learn how you got your start.As well as you thoughts on the light keepers!

Sam: I have seen a photo of your parents under the Jackson's Landing Light (mile 522.0). My parents had, with others, a summer camp there during the 1930s. There was a little country store there and I can still smell the coal oil that was used to maintain the light. I donno who tended the light as I was under 10 when such visits ceased. The camp, store, tenet house, milk house, barns, silos farm pounds and all are gone today and the place has been bulldozed flat from the top of the bank and the place is posted to all comers. But, the Jackson's Landing Light is still there. I, too, would like to say that your postings are looked forward to with keen anticipation by me. Keep them flowing...