Labor Day and the Last Gasp of Excursion Steamboating

Keith, my understanding from the present owner a few years ago was that the stacks and pilothouse were given to the present owner's father with the provision that they be hauled away. I could be wrong, but thought they didn't pay anything for them.

Ruth Ferris, the longtime authority on all things pertaining to St. Louis steamboating history, told me that, as the big Streckfus boats (WASHINGTON, CAPITOL, J.S. DeLUXE and SENATOR) were dismantled at St. Louis, there were huge piles of railing, gingerbread, acorns and other steamboat stuff piled all over the levee. Some of it was free for the taking and other artifacts were sold.

Photo: Trademark Streckfus jigsaw railing piled on St. Louis levee.

3 decades too early

If only that had been 30 years later, there would have been a couple more 'dumpster divers' there besides Ruth! I'll post some of CW's pix of the pilothouse and shrine later this weekend - I'm painting the garage and just on a brief break now.

Thanks, Keith, for your reflections about the last summer days on the river marked by the farewell appearance of the Streckfus excursion boats for another year. Yes, for those of us who lived on the Ohio, Upper Mississippi or Illinois, the surest sign that summer was over was that last excursion, as the Streckfus fleet headed for sunnier climes, leaving those of us in more "frigid climates" to pine for the return of another excursion season! And Labor Day was the unofficial signal that the end was in sight! Attached herewith are two reminders of those wonderful "last hurrahs" of summer. The ad is for an August 30th CAPITOL excursion here in 1921 (her second season), and the other is a view of her sister sternwheeler WASHINGTON up at Cassville, WI making a short stop on her all-day cruise from Dubuque. In a few minutes she will back away and paddle downstream in time to load another crowd for the Moonlite trip at Dubuque that evening.

For me, though, Labor Day wasn't associated with the end of the steamboating season, since for this youngster the only steamboat making excursions was the venerable AVALON, and her trips were usually in mid-to-late summer (July and August). To this day, I still associate the AVALON with summertime! What Labor Day and the onset of Fall always meant for me was the DELTA QUEEN's annual appearance at Dubuque. And it was regular as clockwork year after year. She would invariably leave Cincinnati on the Saturday after Labor Day on her 20-day St. Paul round trip cruise. One week later, on the following Saturday, she would be in the Dubuque area; arrive at St. Paul the Monday after, and then make her last appearance at Dubuque southbound the next Wednesday. And that marked the end of the steamboat season for another year. But, oh, what golden, crisp, sunny, clear days those were on the river, looking at the autumn splendor from the decks of her ladyship! Now, those are just an old-timer's recollections of days that are no more, but what treasured days they were. And each Fall, that one-and-only trip on the DQ (whether it was lock-to-lock, or several nights' long) signaled the end of steamboating for another year. Memories going back to 1962 -- can it really be that long ago?

You did it again, my friend -- cracked the floodgates on recollections of times, people, and places that are real treasures. My only regret is that there are fewer and fewer friends with whom I can share the memories of having been there to savor those days. Thanks again for your magic touch, Keith, in bringing that all back to mind!

Fall steamboat appearances

When the DQ was in Dubuque on a Saturday, she was in Rock Island on Friday. Unfortunately quite often I opted in those 'unenlightened' days to go to our high school football game rather than go back to the levee - I would always go down there with my father and watch her land, if not during school, but wouldn't come back for the departure. One year my parents got to go aboard and they purchased a souvenir plate for $1. It is on the buffet yet today. Her first trip up here in 1954 when she was laid up here she was here from Friday through the following Saturday Sept. 18-26. In Doc's 1962 log she left Cincinnati on Sept. 8, was in Rock Island on the 14th and Dubuque on the 15th.
The AVALON would be here on a weekend: Friday through Sunday. One year it was the Labor Day weekend, but usually it was earlier. Of course, back then Labor Day was still summer as our schools didn't start until the day after.
Oh, to have a steamboat here this Labor Day weekend...

Autumn on the Upper with the DQ

Judy and Keith have sparked another trip down memory lane and into the basement file cabinet drawers containing the old Kodachrome prints of yore. Speaking of those glorious autumn days of steamboating on the Upper Mississippi, here are three views of the DQ in the days when Capt. Wagner was Master, Capt. Doc was Mate, Cal Benefiel was Chief, and Capt. Walt Karnath and Charlie Fehlig were pilots. View #1 is taken from Riverside Park at LaCrosse at 12:30 on the afternoon of Sunday, Sept. 18, 1966, as she blows the departure whistle while backing away. Doc wasn't aboard that year, as he was presenting plans for the "new Delta Queen" over at the S&D meeting in Marietta. However, that Fall yours truly met three river friends on board for the first time: Dorothy and Mickey Frye and Roddy Hammett. View #2 was snapped from Julien Dubuque's gravesite atop the bluff at the mouth of Catfish Creek south of town around 10:00 a.m. the morning of Saturday, Sept. 17, 1967. Capt. Hawley was Master on the upbound trip, and Capt. Wagner rejoined the boat at St. Paul. View #3 shows the departure from LaCrosse on Sunday, Sept. 18, 1967. The photos don't do justice to the foliage, but those hills fairly rang with the DQ's deep whistle and the echoes of the steam calliope! In 1968, while passing the McGregor/Prairie du Chien area around 8:30 at night, Doc backed up a parade of cars along the highway on the Iowa side for a couple of miles as they followed the boat, listening to that steamy concert as only CCH could play. All you could see from the boat was row after row of headlights stretching off into the distance astern. In between "sets" of numbers, they would raise a ruckus by blowing their horns for more! Doc played for over a half hour straight that night.

Bob: As you know, I rarely throw anything away -- and so, in answer to your posting and in the interest of historical accuracy, I dug out your letter of September 15, 1998, in which you conveyed the information that the owner of the Str. WASHINGTON pilothouse and stacks told you that in 1938 his father paid the wrecking crew foreman the sum of $50 for the artifacts.

Many thanks, Dave & Judy, for your memories and photos. I have a poster in my collection from the Str. AVALON for some late summer cruises at Evansville, Indiana and emblazoned across the top in large letters is the admonition of LAST BOAT RIDES THIS YEAR! Those were the days!

Photos:
(1) Str. AVALON at Evansville, Indiana.
(2) Str. AVALON at Evansville - April 21, 1960 - note the calliope being played, summoning the townsfolk to come take a "moonlite" river excursion!

Keith,
Something stood out in the second picture, other than it being a pretty shot. It looks like the steam and the player (Capt. Hawley perhaps) are lit up. Were there lights around the calliope to light it up at night, or is it just the glow from the lights around the roof?

A few other tramping excursion steamboats...

Bubba: I don't think there were any lights around the AVALON calliope. That's a good question for Capt. Doc. When I played on the BELLE, the decoration lights outlining the pilothouse, shining through the swirling clouds of steam from the calliope, gave quite an "illuminating effect" back there -- as long as I kept playing!

Photos:
(1) Doc Hawley at AVALON calliope - Capt. Ernie Wagner in background.
(2) Str. AVALON calliope.
(3) Doc at the keyboard of the AVALON calliope, giving a steamy performance.

September on the RI levee

Picture 1 shows the AVALON in Rock Island in 1953. The ferry sign was for the WJ QUINLAN. My family set up our camp stools just past the barrier to listen to the nightly calliope concerts.
Picture 2 is also on the RI levee in 1953.
Picture 3 was taken Sept. 24, 1954, two days before the repairs were completed and the DQ headed back to Cincinnati. Just over the stage behind the trees is the tower for the Clocktower building on Arsenal Island, the RI District Corps office. The little covered landing barge was for the diesel ferryboat TRANSIT, which ran between RI and Davenport. On the very right edge is part of the Armory, which was torn down this year to make room for a riverfront park, now that the casino complex is gone.

Keith,
Thanks for the explanation. I figured it would have to be the glare of the lights from either the lights around the roof or the lights from the pilothouse. I don't mean to get off track from the original post, but have they ever thought, now-a-days, of having an Aurora Effect for the Belle like they had on the Queens?

And to the original intent of the posting, here are some shots of the Minne on the last Moonlite of the year. May not be from the Western Rivers, but they're some decent night shots. Enjoy!

Thanks for shaing your great photos Bubba! The calliope now on the BELLE is a different instrument than the one, built by Ernest Wilde in 1966, that I played during my tenure as "perfessor" in the early 1970's. It would be interesting to have the colored lights, but the big concern at the moment seems to be how to air condition a 1914 built steamboat! And if any renovations were ever made to the calliope I wish the console was moved back UP on the roof! When the NATCHEZ was here in November, 2005 and I was guest calliopist for several days and nights, it was fun to have all those colors flashing before my eyes! Dave Tschiggfrie made a dandy video from the riverfront belvedere as I played and the lights through the steam make the calliope appear to be ablaze. Hot tunes, indeed!!!!

WASHINGTON pilothouse

Going back to the first boat posted in this great thread, the Streckfus steamer WASHINGTON:
1) Here is her pilothouse as it appeared on the boat.
2) The WASHINGTON leads the first JULIA BELLE SWAIN near Old Lock 3.
3) Taken in the WASHINGTON's pilothouse in 1937 by C.W. Stoll. The caption reads Capt. Fred Way and H.W. ?Jobunboeke?? Does anybody know the correct spelling or anything about him?

Great photos Judy and thanks! I dug out this one showing the WASHINGTON (retired) with the ADMIRAL undergoing finishing touches just before entering service in 1940. Look yonder in the distance, below the Eads Bridge, and alongside the Streckfus wharfboat is the new steamer PRESIDENT, currently "resting in pieces" at St. Elmo, Illinois.

Keith Norrington;18330 wrote: Many thanks, Dave & Judy, for your memories and photos. I have a poster in my collection from the Str. AVALON for some late summer cruises at Evansville, Indiana and emblazoned across the top in large letters is the admonition of LAST BOAT RIDES THIS YEAR! Those were the days!

Photos:
(1) Str. AVALON at Evansville, Indiana.
(2) Str. AVALON at Evansville - April 21, 1960 - note the calliope being played, summoning the townsfolk to come take a "moonlite" river excursion!

The lights around the roof from when I've looked at them they seem just like small bulbs in modified conduit LB's... Is that correct? I would love to install this type of light on the CBelle, but my research hasn't turned up any providers other then the modern day rope lighting everyone strings up. Is it something that was custom made from regular conduit, I can't imagine how one would wire sockets that small unless they were using the conduit itself as the ground?

Mat, I don't know specifically what they use on the BELLE, but on the DQ the regular deck lights were regular sockets and we used 7.5 watt bulbs.

When I took the m/v ISLAND QUEEN to the first Tall Stacks in 1988, we wanted to have lights like that around our roof. Company owner Dale Lozier and her sister went and bought a big roll of wire and some "snap on" sockets that simply had to be snapped on the wire -- these punctured the insulation to make contact with the copper wire inside. Seems Dale and her sister were up all night in the hallway of their hotel with 175 feet of wire strung out, assembling those lights! And we knew even at the time that they were not USCG approved, but we did it anyway.

Point is, I know you could not use that type of wire, but the 7.5 watt bulbs worked perfectly for that application. Hope this helps!

[QUOTE=Keith Norrington;18339]Bubba: I don't think there were any lights around the AVALON calliope. That's a good question for Capt. Doc. When I played on the BELLE, the decoration lights outlining the pilothouse, shining through the swirling clouds of steam from the calliope, gave quite an "illuminating effect" back there -- as long as I kept playing. QUOTE]

Keith, you're right on the money as usual! There were no additional lights illuminating the calliope or the player on the AVALON. I think the reason that your night shot at Evansville gives that impression is because it is probably a time exposure (notice how the steam from the calliope swirls in a gigantic cloud rather than appearing as individual jets from each whistle.) There are two photos at night showing Doc at the keyboard that I remember seeing, and neither of them show any other lights except those outlining the texas roof and the pilothouse. One of these pictures appears on the album cover of the "Here Comes the Showboat" LP/CD. That photo was taken in May 1961 ( in the vicinity of Lock 16 on the Ohio as I recall) when Gold Crest Recordings taped the calliope, whistle, and other steamboat sounds during the boat's Hannibal, OH prom trip. But there are no other lights present in that picture. The other is a shot snapped here in Dubuque in 1960 by Bert Hantelmann, a close-up of Doc at the keyboard, and again, except for the illumination provided by the flash bulb, everything else is totally dark. Playing the BELLE's calliope at the Louisville landing as you did so often, I wonder how much additional illumination the lights of the city and those on the landing provided for you while playing. My one and only experience playing calliope on the BELLE at night was in September 1983 during her Madison, IN Moonlite on the Kentucky River trip. I spelled C.W. playing before the departure, and there was precious little additional illumination from on shore. My most vivid memory is how dark it was up there!! And I have no recollection of any extra lights up on the roof during the times I watched and listened to Doc playing on the AVALON at Dubuque. Judy would probably remember even better than I since she camped out every night on shore to take in those pre-Moonlite concerts.

Dave: As you know, the BELLE and wharfboat RENOWN were several miles upriver at Cox Park during the seasons of 1970, 1971 and part of 1972 while the "new and improved" (don't get me started!) wharf was built to replace the historic sloping cobblestone levee that had served Louisville for well over a century. Although some of the lights in the parking area at the park provided a bit of illumination, playing the calliope at night was a pretty dark experience! And, as you stated, at places like Madison it was, as John Hartford would say, "darker than the inside of a cow!" I mostly relied on the pilothouse lights shining through the steam -- and sometimes used a small flashlight. After we moved from the park landing back down to the city waterfront, there was PLENTY of light!

Speaking of Madison, herewith are several photos from the Capt. C.W. Stoll Collection, taken by him, of Streckfus excursion steamers visiting at that city.
(1) Str. WASHINGTON.
(2) Pilothouse roof and whistle of SAINT PAUL (later the SENATOR)
(3) J.S. DeLUXE.

For those interested in Keith's evening performance on the NATCHEZ in Louisville, check out this video on YouTube. It's from the tape Dad made that Keith mentions.

YouTube - Natchez steam calliope