Boatyards

Alan, what about yards that were famous for their boats' performance, such as Nashville Bridge and St. Louis Ship? I have heard the story of Harry Dyer telling Capt. Joe Chotin that if Capt. Chotin did not like the way a proposed boat and unit of high-speed barges was built, he (Dyer) would buy them back. Of course I know that all yards occasionally built specialty vessels, but did/do they not have certain standards they used on vessels they were experienced at building?

This attitude could, of course, lead to an amount of arrogance on the part of builders. Was it always a case of persuasion to get an owner to build a certain way that the designers knew was best, or did designers/yards ever refuse to do something they knew was just wrong?

The fantastic woodwork in the Howard home is a testament to the yardworkers woodworking abilities on something other than boats...I suppose this venturing into storefronts, furniture, etc. by the yards was out of necessity to keep them going when boat orders were slim? How many boats could a yard build in a year?

Alan, Judy & steamboating colleagues:
Great information here along with data on the 'outside work' Howard's did in other ventures such as mentioned above. The same practice apparently existed here in Cincinnati with a number of the old boat yards in the Fulton District. The prominent St. Rose Church on Eastern Ave. still contains fine examples of interior work done by nearby workers at the yards who, no doubt in many cases, were members of the church community. Directly across and adjacent to the old yards [Cincinnati Marine Railway] existed until just two years ago examples of 'Steamboat Gothic' houses possibly accomplished by yard workers. Before demolition architectural students and professors from University of Cincinnati closely studied and photographed them. Estimates were calculated by them as to what the logistics and cost would be to create the same today and it was astronomical $$. As stated in a previous posting possibly two survive today and have been restored near the VERDIN BELL CO. foundry.

As Judy has mentioned the interior of the Howard mansion is a stellar example surviving indicating the fine work, carving--and materials--done. If you want to get some indication of what the interior of a fine steamboat cabin looked like, then visit the mansion and look in wonder.

Cheers,
R. Dale Flick

Well, here's a contribution or two from Mile 579 on the Upper Mississippi. All these shots were taken in the Ice Harbor at the yards of Iowa Iron Works/Dubuque Boat and Boiler Co. founded in 1870 as Rouse & Dean. The first view was snapped on launch day, December 27, 1906 of the railroad transfer ferry ALBATROSS. 34 years later Streckfus would rebuild her hull and engines into the ADMIRAL. Photo two was snapped on December 4, 1901 in the ice-covered harbor after the SPRAGUE was launched. And photo three was taken in 1898 as the packet BETSY ANN was raising steam prior to her delivery trip to Natchez for Capt. R. F. Learned. Most posters here know that this Southern belle would eventually become the pride and joy of Capt. Fred Way Jr. in the dying days of packet steamboating on the Ohio in the twenties. All three of these boats were built when the company was known as the Iowa Iron Works. There is still a store front in downtown Dubuque which has a cast iron name plate on it reading Iowa Iron Works.

Sorry that the last two photos didn't post. I've resized them, and will try again. Still didn't upload them. I guess they're in the wrong format, and I'll have to wait until Jonathan is home to help out with the posting. Hope to have something to share by Easter time.

Bob, about all I can say is that people is people! Yes, the Howard's and other builders did things in certain ways. By careful observation you can tell the builder's name by the traits of the boats, but when they built for the U.S. Engineer Corps, for example, they were tightly bound to the customer's designs and the results were not always pretty. In my opinion the Corps designed some of the ugliest boats ever. They tended to take the old architectural adage that "form follows function" too literally.

Persuasion was always difficult when dealing with the man who had the cash. The Natchez is a beautiful boat, but she is not what I would have designed if I had had a free hand. I also designed a tub for a guy in Florida, my ugliest effort. In fact, I thought the finished product was the ugliest sternwheeler on earth until I went to San Diego and saw one that was infinitely worse.

Often inland boatyards were obliged to build to the designs of 'outsider' naval architects. The Mississippi Queen is a very good example of bad design. No western rivers naval architect could have created such a mess, neither Bill Preston, Dennis Trone or even I.

Today some builders are noteworthy for their good design of towboats. Nashville Bridge Company was especially adept at making esthetic designs that also functioned well. I have always liked the looks of Dravo's work. Do you remember the series of 'direction' towboats they built that ran for Union Barge Line - Eastern, Northern, Southern and Western? They were beautiful towboats and designed by Dravo's people. St. Louis Ship built a series of towboats with 'streamlined' railings and decks that looked like a 1949 Desoto gone haywire. The Ashland boats built by Calumet were very good-looking boats. I happen to dislike some details of Jeffboat's designs, but overall they represent artistic thought on the part of their designers.

As many boats as you want, Judy. Parts of the woodwork in the Howard mansion were made by a wood-carver imported from Austria.

CW's Kahlke pix

I just came across some of CW's pix of the Kahlke Yard, including of the horse-drawn windlass, which he took during the DQ's 1954 layup in RI. Unfortunately they are slides, so I'm having them made into prints and will post them upon returning from Oregon. Obviously they had the run of the yard, and since it was pre-floodwall days, the place hadn't silted in yet.

Several years ago I went through both Way's Packet and Towboat Directories and wrote down the boatyards mentioned in them. I found nothing in Genoa, Wisconsin or Bayport Minnesota. Back in 1999, Mr. Robert Wiederaenders was researching boatyards for the Mississippi River Museum in Dubuque. In his preliminary papers he lists Bayport as having a boatyard, not named. Bayport is on the St. Croix River in Washington County. Genoa is at mile 679UMR, and other than yards in LaCrosse and Onalaska at 703 and 698, there is another possibility near Genoa: DeSoto in Vernon County at 657 UMR, but that yard was closed long before your boat, as was one in Lansing Iowa in Allamakee County at 663UMR...

Judy,

Thanks for the additional info on Sam and my M.I.A. shipyards. I've contacted the Washington County historical society only to get a similar response; that there was a shipyard at Bayport, but no additional information. It's hard to believe in both cases that Sams boat, my boat (ori.JOSEPH THROCKMORTON, now ELIZABETH LEA), and her two sisterboats (DAVID BATES and DAVID HARRIS), could have been one time projects for these two different yards. I guess we may never know. I'm still looking for photographic evidence of my boat working both with the WILLIAM A. THOMPSON as a tender and also later with the lock and miter gate sandblasting and painting unit. Any leads on photo's of the THOMPSON and support fleet would be appreciated. I've been in contact with the St. Paul district who has provided me with some photos and original drawings.

Thanks again Judy for your follow up!

Somebody asked how the marine railways were powered. I designed one for Capt. G. W. McBride at Harrods Creek, Kentucky. The cable that pulled it up was attached to a farm tractor, which took off across a field in low gear.

The THOMPSON worked out of the RI District - try contacting them for photos and info.

Kahlke Yard

The boat yards are a great topic. Hope we hear a lot more on this. I've tried to attach a couple of images that are Kahlke related. If I'm not doing this right I'll have to ask Franz for help. The first image is of the Kahlke-built rafter SAM ATLEE. This vessel was typical of Kahlke boats of the late nineteenth century. Simple, clean lines and beautifully well-proportioned. It's hard to believe they were built without plans. According to an interview with Fred Kahlke in 1967, his father Peter taught him to "eyeball" them. Amazing. The other photo was taken at the Kahlke Yard about 1935 and shows the steamers JAMES P. PEARSON (just before she was rebuilt by the Kahlkes), PEARL, and the houseboat GEE GEE. In the foreground is a pretty good view of the marine railway cradles. I'll post a few more images if I can figure out how to make this "attachment" thing-a-ma-jig work.

Pix look just fine, Jerry. Thanks for joining us in this thread - isn't anyone who knows more about Kahlke than you. Our loyal lurker Pat Welsh told me that the FREDDIE BOY in my earlier pix was built in 1926 by Davenport attorney Carl Lambach, and is still around today as the RUFUS B II. I'll bet many of us have seen that version - I think it was around Wabasha in the
'70s and maybe owned by a Mayo Clinic doctor in Rochester???

The German woodcarver's name was Ernest Hoffmann and he spent two years working inside the Howard mansion, which was under construction from 1890-1894. There are 15 different varieties of wood in the 22 room mansion. Mr. Hoffmann also worked in the shipyard, undoubtedly carving beautiful cabin arches and all manner of fancy work aboard the floating palaces turned out by the Howard's.

Annie Blum here.

Several times I have hear about this business of "eye-balling". I would appreciate if someone out there would explain how that works. That seems to be alright if the Coast Guard is not asking for drawings but how does one go from an idea to a draftsman without the use of an architect? I have seen a few pieces of blueprints from the 1930s that were signed only by a draftsman. Also, can I assume that different parts of a boat were drawn by different people, depending on their expertise?

I hope that you can answer these questions for me because I have wondered about these for a while, and besides, this board knows everything. Really!

Annie Blum here again.

Did anyone mention the Eagle Point yards owned by Diamond Jo Lines? If not, can someone provide some information?

Annie,

As per our phone conversation, the Eagle Point Boatyard was located at the foot of the bluff just below the location of present-day Lock and Dam #11 at Dubuque. Adjacent to the boatyard was the Dubuque Lime Works, a firm which used the abundant limestone from those bluffs in the manufacture of bricks, etc. The Eagle Point Boatyard was started by Joseph "Diamond Jo" Reynolds in 1870 (same year as the Iowa Iron Works a.k.a. Dubuque Boat Boat and Boiler Company was founded) to build and repair the wooden hull packets of his Diamond Jo Line. The long-time yard superintendent there was Capt. John Killeen, who not only was superintendent at the yard but also supervised salvage and efforts at raising sunken steamboats. Probably his most notable effort at raising a boat was the big Diamond Jo Line sidewheeler QUINCY which sank at Trempeauleau Mountain in 1906, I believe. The boatyard, along with the Diamond Jo fleet, warehouses, and landings were all sold to Capt. John Streckfus in 1911, a year after Reynold's death. I don't believe the boatyard was used by Streckfus, as I think they did most of the work on their fleet at Mound City, IL and probably at St. Louis. Early on, they wintered their excursion fleet in the Quad Cities. In later years, they also used the services of the boatyard at Paducah for repairs and inspections. Eagle Point most likely was abandoned at that time, since by then, nearly all of the new boats under construction by UMR boatyards in this area were iron/steel hulls, and DBBCo was the pioneering firm in metal boat-building on the Upper Mississippi. Kahlke Boatyard probably did most, if not all of the work on wood-hulled boats on the Upper once Eagle Point closed. Somewhere in my archives I have a photo snapped in 1903 of the ST. PAUL on the Eagle Point marine ways being shortened about 25 feet. It was snapped from the roadway of the newly constructed Dubuque-Wisconsin Bridge at Eagle Point, which was situated just below the bullnosing of the future LD #11. That bridge was replaced in 1982. I'm still attempting to post a few more of those DBBCo pictures. Judy suggested I try using Picasa to format them. I'll give it a go and see what happens.

Annie Blum again.

Thank you very much David, "for the rest of the story".
I am hoping someone will answer my other question.

Streckfus had a carpenter shop here in Credit Island Slough where they wintered their boats, and much of the conversion work from packet to excursion was done here during the winters.

Here are David´s photos (part 1).

Carmen

and part 2 of David´s photos.

Carmen

First of all, thank you Carmen for helping me post these four pictures. My lack of computer savvy is pretty obvious! The first view shows the BETSY ANN raising steam in the DBBCo yards prior to her departure for Natchez in 1898. Picture two shows part of the Upper Mississippi steam towboat fleet of the Inland Waterways Corporation (eventually the Federal Barge Line) laid up for the winter in the Ice Harbor, adjacent to the DBBCo yards. All of these sternwheelers were built at Dubuque, and they are (L to R): PATRICK J. HURLEY, JAMES W. GOOD (built in 1931 and 1930), unidentified vessel, C. C. WEBBER and S. S. THORPE (built in 1927). The picture was taken Dec. 1, 1939, and the vessel under construction is the USCE dredge WILLIAM L. GUTHRIE.

The first photo in Part 2 of the pictures shows the gigantic hull of the SPRAGUE on the day of her launch, December 4, 1901. Notice that her cylinder timbers do not extend all the way aft to the fantail, since the boat was taken downstream and her wheel placed in St. Louis after she cleared the Keokuk locks, which were too short to accommodate her 318-foot overall length with wheel. The last shot shows the sidewheel light house tender WILLOW nearing completion on Nov. 22, 1925, at the upper end of the Ice Harbor, site of the present-day National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium. If I can locate that shot of the ST. PAUL on the ways at Eagle Point Boatyard, I will attempt to post that also. One final picture I'll try to post is the last steamboat DBBCo built, the JULIA BELLE SWAIN while she was under construction in the winter/spring of 1970-71. Stay tuned . . .

I was having similar problems and was only able to post multiple photos once. So you're not the only one who can't figure out the magic formula.