1 smoke sack or 2?

Did she have only one boiler? Also was she more of an ocean going ship than a riverboat? Your answer could lie within.

The California was built in Maine and worked the waters up and down the Mass. coast. It would be on the ocean or up a river as needed. It's hull was rounded with a flat deck on top. In 1849 it paddled around the horn and arrived at Sacramento Ca. California in 1850. It was snagged and looted on Aug 1 1850.

So it was both a riverboat and seagoing craft.

About 2/3 back from the bow at the ship wreck site, is a squarish puddle, maybe near the location of the side wheels. I thought this depression was the boiler, but I have been told that the boiler would have been forward of the wheels. what do you think?

I am just leaving to see if I can dig up something at the bow.

Dave Freeman

My opinion is that the person whom said the boiler was forward of the engine just might be wrong. The very first Cunarders the BRITANNIA and her sisters the COLUMBIA, ACADIA, and CALEDONIA had one boiler with one stack aft of the machinery. These ships were built in Scotland in the early 1840s, and were quite typical for their day. Each also was equipt with masts to hoist sails if the steam equipment or wheels failed.

Does anyone have an idea why the 1849 "California" built in Maine, would have a single smoke stack? Why did some riverboats have 2?

1 or 2 smokestacks

I was told by more than one person that it was due to the style of the boat. The one stackers were Hudson river style where the stack is single and behind the pilot house.

Thanks,
I have an eyewitness that saw a single smoke stack at the "California" site, many years ago.

I just assumed that all riverboats had 2 stacks. The witness was sure that the single smoke stack was in the center of the channel.

Dave Freeman

ed frazier;27884 wrote: I was told by more than one person that it was due to the style of the boat. The one stackers were Hudson river style where the stack is single and behind the pilot house.

Well, like Western River style steamboats, Yukon style boats, and even the great ocean greyhounds, Hudson River boats had different stack arrangements. The last paddlewheel steamboat operating on the Hudson, the ALEXANDER HAMILTON, had two stacks that were fore and aft of each other. The speed queen MARY POWELL had two stack. Her boilers were out on the guards behind each wheel. The ROBERT FULTON had three stacks that were transverse.

*RE: Stack number & arrangement*

Steamboating colleagues:
Frank on the money RE: number and arrangement of 'stacks' on many East Coast boats of the time. Variations came in such different ways one viewing the photos wonders why and what was the purpose. Some with one stack just abaft the pilothouse and the other well, well astern. You figure it out. The great sidewheel NEWPORT of 1865, FRANCIS SKIDDY of 1852 had four stacks to vent their four boilers. The three tandem stacks on HUDSON RIVER DAY LINE steamers awesome but made me wonder about how they caught the wind. Some boilers aft and forward of the paddle boxes. The outside mounting arrangement of visible rounded boiler casings for various reasons: One was to conserve interior space. The other was to mount the boilers of the day well outside with the dismal hope that if they exploded the blast force would go outboard. YIKES!

Speaking of the Str. CALIFORNIA discovery and possible 'boiler brick.' The only boiler bricks I vididly recall were those lining the high pressure boiler fireboxes on the old CUNARD liners QUEEN MARY and QUEEN ELIZABETH when in service. I looked in the fireman's viewing port with goggles through the searing white heat. The bricks looked more ash gray to me with a rough surface texture like bisque wear pottery. Years ago I looked inside the DELTA QUEEN'S fireboxes but honestly can't recall now what the linings looked like.

A interesting soft cover book on the subject complete with drawings, engine specifications, photos, art work is 'Paddle Wheel Steamers and their Giant Engines,' Bob Whittier, Seamaster Inc., 1987 with 50 Pgs. A real must have if you can tace a copy down now. Whittier knows his stuff making all clear in the operation of the walking beam, sidewheels etc. doing something similar to the steamboat Cyclopedium books by our own Alan Bates. I picked my copy up some years ago at the Ohio River Museum, Marietta, OH gift shop. The book gave me clarity in viewing, understanding the engine and 'feathered' paddlewheels of the Str. TICONDEROGA of 1906 at Shelburne Museum. Well, what do I know?

R. Dale Flick
Coal Haven Landing, Ohio River, Cincinnati.

Aeshetics?

From the sound of all these discussions it very much sound simple. It all comes down to the aeshetics of the builder on the amount of stacks. The subject of the steamboats and paddlewheelers is something I would have never guessed would be so vast. I wonder if I will ever know, I hope I never do. I find these topics so intriguing and love turning to computer on and learning something new.

Great Question !

Dave ,
First of all , great question and one that I have pondered many times over ever since I first saw a single stack steamer !
Secondly , and this is only my hunch , is that the number of stacks was in direct correlation to the number of boilers . Now , having said that , why two boilers as opposed to one ? Well , I would just have to imagine the reason there was two boilers was that just possibly due to the size and tonnage of the vessel in question , more steam was required to literally turn the paddlewheel fast enough for the vessel to reach the desired speeds . Makes sense ??
Well does it ?? We all know that the Str.'s Delta Queen and Delta King both have two boilers but only one stack !
One other possibility is that with time , research and development , it was determined that by having a stack for each boiler , the boilers were able to function more efficiently in a fashion similar to the number of exhaust pipes on some automobile car engines .
Furthermore , this is just one more example of the lost technology that just possibly went to the grave with so many naval architects of so long ago !
Food for thought !
Smooth Sailing !
Ted Davisson
WA-4141

Tom Adams;27863 wrote: Does anyone have an idea why the 1849 "California" built in Maine, would have a single smoke stack? Why did some riverboats have 2?

Dave Freeman

I did a little research on Maine built steamboats and used that as a guide to answer Dave privately. With very little exception, it seems that the Maine shipyards built their boats along very similar lines for well over a century. There could be variations according to size, but the majority, especially smaller boats, usually sported a single stack. I googled images on Maine Steamboats and even my little sketch of the Ticonderoga, with, by the way, a single funnel, popped up.

It's always interesting when someone thinks they see an old smokestack. Unless it was built with cast iron (not likely) or sank very recently, it would have rusted away generations ago. They were built with very lightweight material so as to not add weight above the center of gravity.

Another question: do you know if the boiler was salvaged, along with possibly, the machinery? Keep digging.

Here we go...

The location of the “California” is on the 1850 river bed, but on land that is traveled very little. And it is about ½ mile from the current river course. The historical reference to the location placed it one mile from where the Sacramento River and Stony Creek joined in 1850. I have survey maps from 1858 and 1859 for both sides of the River and could measure from this 1850 landmark. At that position ( I had an error of plus or minus 100 yards)

I found an active sink hole which is the correct size and shape and pointing in the stream bed in the correct direction. There is a rectangular puddle in the middle of this sink hole. I have made a 16 foot probe and found, that what ever is in there is tipped with the bow upward. This matches stories from 1850.

I gave a talk to the local historical group and a fellow came forward after the meeting and claimed to have seen a single stack at that site. He was very compelling. He claims a single smoke stack was visible in 1975 ish.

Today with this information, the land owners have offered the use of a backhoe. In a few weeks I will be back out there! I have a couple of very import pioneer cabins in the Red Bluff area that are on the front burner right now.

Oh, and thank you for all the information you sent!

Dave Freeman

Well I sat tight and waited for what some of the "old timers" like Bates might have to say, but no response. There were a lot of Mississippi-Ohio river system boats with just ONE stack. The famous JAMES RUMSEY of Wards was a single stacker. The Howard yard built a whole slew of single stackers, the MERCURY, VENUS,MARS, for the USACE Howards built the NAUVOO, ARKANSAS II, CHICOT, TALLULAH. In my time there was the WM. LARIMER JONES, TITAN, VESTA, HENRY A LAUGHLIN, the big sternwheeler CHAMPION COAL and don't forget the 21 big DPC's. The list goes on and on. I think we just conjure up the river boats with two stacks in our minds, just like the thought of how romantic it must have been. Both thoughts wrong!!