For Carmen Neumeier and all other Steamboat-fans

and one more...

Regards,
Tien

These are old pictures of Lake Champlain steamers, most of which are "gone with the wind." If you visit the Shelburne Museum, just south of Burlington you can see another steamboat that is a National Historic Landmark, the Ticonderoga. It's on dry land now, but is a beautiful restoration.

Check it out at
www.shelburnemuseum.org/collections/detail.php?id=8

Hello Tien,

Great find! Thanks a lot! Thought you are already back home in Germany.

Carmen

Hello Carmen,

no I am "back again" in the US - just saw couple of minutes before a steampaddler live again...

Pic will follow later.

Regards,
Tien

Alexandria Belle

Good Morning,

as promised one more which I saw from the Canadian Tower on Thousand Island.

Regards,
Tien

Hello Tien,

Another great photo! Thanks! I haven´t heard of that one yet but I found the website

http://www.usboattours.com/

Unfortunately there´s no further information about the boat on the website.

Carmen

The boat in the center photo, "The Chateaugay" was reincarnated as the "Mt. Washington, on Lake Winnespeaukee in New Hampshire.

Search "Chateaugay"! The results will lead you to my previous post on the old message board.

Pete B.

Steamboating colleagues:
Tien-Lung Yao's interesting photos--though not river steamboats--are interesting for many reasons. The Str. CHATEAUGAY was a classic sidewheeler with the first iron hull built at Shelburn Harbor on Lake Champlain in 1888. Famed engine builder Andrew Fletcher built her walking beam engine and as an old man was elected to 'drop the hooks and open the throttle' on her maiden voyage. The engine was so powerful that her initial thrust forward bounced spectators aboard together even startling old Fletcher himself. According to author Ralph Nading Hill in his classic book SIDEWHEELER SAGA, she carried 1200 invited guests to the christening of the then new TICONDEROGA, April, 1906. Later Mrs. Watson Webb salvaged the fine wood snack bar from the CHATEAUGAY for inclusion on the TICONDEROGA at Shelburn Museum. Winters are cold and icy up there, as many of you know. The CHATEAUGAY's hull and engine were so sturdy that crew members often recalled eating Easter, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year dinners aboard many times.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent a telegram to the offices of the CHAMPLAIN TRANSPORTATION COMPANY which is quoted here.

"Please extend hearty greetings and good wishes to all who join with you on the old TICONDEROGA in celebrating the 132nd anniversary of the CHAMPLAIN TRANSPORTATION COMPANY. This is a notable event in the history of water transportation and one that will emphasize the long and varied service which the company has given the public through it ability to adapt intself to the needs of generations that have come and since since that far away day in 1809 which saw its beginning. I am sure I have be pardoned if I confess a sentimental interest in the company, and recall with pleasure many trips made in the old days on such sterling craft as the TICONDEROGA, the MAQUAM, the CHATEAUGAY and the second VERMONT. These trips with my father, James Roosevelt, when he was President of the Champlain Transportation Company. I trust the birthday party will be a grand success and memorable in the long annals of the Companny." Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Cheers,
R. Dale Flick

Now I Understand...

Now I get it! Cap'n Roddy often pronounced Captain Gabe's last name, when Garbiel wasn't around, as "CHATEAUGAY". It was another of Rod's ways of having fun. He was obviously punning Gabe's name with the name of the steamer. That Roddy...

Dear Tien-Lung Lao & steamboating colleagues:
I looked again at the posted photos of the walking beam engines from Tien-Lung and gasped. Though not river steamboats, the tale is worth telling. The old photo of the OAKES AMES is a dandy. In 1874 the CHAMPLAIN TRANSPORTATION COMPANY bought and converted her into the CHAMPLAIN. Her dual walking beams engines--one for each wheel--added speed and maneuverability. On July 16, 1875, her Pilot, John Eldridge, was under medication for acute gout when he ran the steamer on the rocks at Steam Mill Point near Split Rock. The CHAMPLAIN was disastrously wrecked. But that's not the end of the story and, to me, too 'spooky' for words. Yet these things have happened to all of us at one time or another.

Nearly two years ago I was called down to COWAN'S Fine Antiques here in Cincinnati [Mentioned on TV's 'History Detectives' and 'Antiques Road Show'] to view and help identify items in an incredible collection they'd acquired from a private individual. The collection featured many steamboat/steamship items too numerous to count covering table after table; stacked in corners and on the floor of two rooms. I happened to see an old tin box stenciled with the name STR. CHAMPLAIN. It was carefully opened and inside was a fine old signal gun possibly chrome plated with signal flares of various colors. It was taken out and carefully examined. It had come from the CHAMPLAIN following the 1875 wreck and somehow had been saved and languished for years until the previous collector had acquired all adding to the collection. True enough it was from the wrecked steamer. History at times holds many surprises for us if we stop, look, and examine. I have no idea where the box and gun ended up after the big auction. Also examined were fine wood chests containing period tools from an old shipyard along with a chest once owned by a sail maker.

In later years Horace W. Corbin, grand nephew of Gen. George Custer of 'Little Big Horn' infamy, was in control of CHAMPLAIN TRASPORTATION CO. He held one of the first civilian pilot licenses for flying in World War I and had testified for Gen. Billy Mitchell at the famed court martial. He had also lost a fortune in a Mexican timber venture. Corbin saw the role of steamboats on Lake Champlain changing and put diesel ferries on the lake and finally ended owning the CHAMPLAIN TRANSPORTATION CO. So much for serendipitous wanderings in steamboat history. See what old photos can resurrect from the past.

Cheers,
R. Dale Flick

For your next US-travel plannings...

Have you ever been here:

http://www.fultonsteamboatinn.com

Regards,
Tien

Hello Tien,

No, I haven´t been there yet. I thought I´ve seen the website before but I haven´t found it in my web directory. I found this one

http://www.thesteamboathouse.com/

There´s a motel and restaurant in Switzerland located in an old paddlewheel steamboat

http://www.le-bateau.ch/

Carmen

Impressions from Boston

Hi Carmen,

some impressions from Boston.

For 1 ship I have no idea you might interested in or not. It's your decision...

Regards,
Tien

Some more from New York City

Further detailed high-resoluted pictures available on request.

Otherwise I will erase them in the next days from my hard disk.

Regards,
Tien

Hello Tien,

Again wonderful pictures!!

Keep the coming!

Carmen

PS: I´ll write you a PM on the other board.