A trip on a tow boat down the Ohio River from Point Pleasant, W. Va. to Cincinnati, O

More. More. More. More. More. (have to type 25 characters...)

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The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog

Four score and seven years ago. Done for now.

Nope not done, found some more!

And a one and a two..............

What, more?????????????????????????????

*Great photos/shovelin' coal*
Morning, Patrick & Steamboating colleagues:
Patrick, many thanks for sharing/posting this incredible array of photos. B/W photo quality is excellent and obviously then professionally done. It was war-time with all that entailed. Off hand, I'd think these photos also done not just for docmentaray purposes but with some propaganda benefit at the time. Capt. Bill Judd may also have comments on these photos. I assume they are B/W prints, right?

The above titled "four score and seven years ago. Done for now" caught my attention in more ways than one. YIKES! Seeing the guys in the barge shoveling coal into barrows with those rickety wood 'chicken run' walk ways propped up on whatnut says a lot. Real 'steamboat romance, isn't it? Today, if boats like this still under steam, such practices would bring down a flurry of complaints, written reports from OSHA, the union and the insurance companies. In the old days on steamboats they took big risks in daily operation not giving much thought. All in a day's work. That's the way it was then. Again, thanks. What do I know?

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

Yep, all different today.

I just had the opportunity to flip through a few thousand pages of Waterways Journal from the 40's and 50's... plenty of reports about men AND women hurt on the boats, lost overboard, etc. A cook burned by a stove explosion... engineer went missing, found later by another boat floating at a lock... air line explosion, crew injured... At least they got the boilers pretty much under control by this time.

*River today is better*
Morning, Patrick,
Interesting comments on your research in "...a few thousand pages of the WATERWAYS JOURNAL from the '40s' and 50s.'" Look longer going back earlier in those years and you'll learn even more. You'll even read at times about engineers, strikers, oilers and others suffering bad burns and steam scalds. Other times missing fingers, hands or feet. Think of the casualties lost that were never reported other than the local news where they hailed from. Also at times poor to no protective work boots, hats, goggles. Some of those 'romantic' old steamboat photos show roustabouts carting heavy boxes, barrels, sacks with no shoes, bare feet. Today required sound ear protectors from OSHA and other agencies. Steam is and has been a dangerous power to be carefully controlled, monitored. In the early days and on down steam was just as dangerous then as nuclear energy has been in our time. Back then wages were dirt cheap and laborers expendable. Roustabouts rested/slept where they could flop down, ate out of a tin pan with a spoon only--no knife or fork. Glad I talked, listened, wrote down what the 'real old timers' told me. They took it for what it was. That's the way it was then. We can't judge that era from the very few steamboats we know operating today. Capt. Bill Judd another who can tell you plenty. "Steamboat romance?" Yeah, sure...Uh Huh. What do I know?

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