Topic starter
28/08/2009 6:52 pm
Today in History notes the last trip of the steam sternwheel towboat LONE STAR, so here are some pictures taken last week of her in her new glass house in LeClaire Iowa. I had not been up there since the glass enclosure was built around her, and it is an impressive site now, with displays all around her inside the enclosure. You can climb all over the boat, except in the pilothouse, and it is well-labeled. It is still a work in progress, but it is well worth a visit. The LONE STAR is part of the Buffalo Bill Museum in LeClaire, on the riverfront. The CITY OF BATON ROUGE and the TWILIGHT are docked immediately downstream from the LONE STAR. Unfortunately this glass/metal enclosure obscures the LONE STAR from the river, but it was necessary to preserve the boat. She had been rotting away as long ago as 1981 when Keith and I almost went through the engine room floor in a rotted area. All the deck areas have been repaired, but you can get a great view of a wooden hull untouched since it was put on at the Kahlke Boatyard in Rock Island in 1957 - this was the last big project done at Kahlke's.
1) Look closely and you might see the LONE STAR behind the glass. The paddlewheel had been on display at the Rock Island casino site. It ostensibly is the first wheel of the SPIRIT OF PEORIA which was replaced due to its weight.
2) That's Pat Trayor and Matt Dow in the LS Engine Room. Surprisingly, Matt is taking pictures...
3) The tubes in one of the boilers.
Topic starter
28/08/2009 6:59 pm
more LONE STAR pix
Why oh why won't the titles stay capitalized????
1) the pilothouse
2) looking up at the nameboard. Note the hand on the paddlewheel. It should be noted that there was a loose stirrup dangling on a bucketboard, and that it was NOT liberated by anyone in our group!
3) the pilothouse as seen from the roof of the boiler deck
Topic starter
28/08/2009 7:13 pm
the LONE STAR in operating days
The LONE STAR began as a single deck vessel in 1922, built at Kahlke Yard in Rock Island. She was 90 x 24.5 x 4.1; engines 12's-5ft stroke; rated 340 hp. She ran locally for Builders Sand and Gravel of Davenport. The second deck was added at Kahlke's, but I don't know the date.
1) her original configuration
2) with the second deck added, this was a familiar sight to me in my childhood
3) in the Kahlke Yard getting her new wooden hull 1957. This was the last project of the Kahlke Yard. They refused to go to steel hulled vessels. That is the ferry WJ QUINLAN behind the LONE STAR.
28/08/2009 7:34 pm
WOW! Thanks, Judy, for the great photos of the LONE STAR inside her new "display case"! After years of rotting away to the point of having unsafe decks (as we know firsthand!) it is wonderful to see that they FINALLY did something to preserve the old gal before it was too late. BRAVO!
I hope that, eventually, visitors are again permitted inside the pilothouse. Her steering gear and levers were manufactured by the S.J. Gardner (the S.J. being for Stonewall Jackson) Foundry & Machine Company in my hometown of New Albany, Indiana. Two of my great-uncles, now long deceased, were employed by the Gardner firm and one of them was an installer of the steam steering gear on boats. Mr. Gardner's daughter, Patricia, passed away a couple of years ago in her early 90's, the last member of the family. She occasionally came to the Howard Steamboat Museum and it was always a pleasure to visit with her.
Your pictures are timely and wonderfully appropriate since, as has been noted, TODAY marks the 42nd anniversary of her last trip in 1967 when those boilers were cooled down forever.
28/08/2009 11:18 pm
Great Pics-Fond Memories
May I also give my thanks to Judy for the fine shots of the "Old Lady" LONE STAR, as the rivermen around Judy's harbor fondly recall the venerable little steamboat.
My last remembrance of the LONE STAR, underway, was watching her from the DELTA QUEEN, in 1965, as we steamed alongside the ever-busy boat, and I first fell in love with this gem of a wooden, steam-sternwheeler as she playfully flirted with the larger, steel Steamer AVALON, some fifty-years ago this summer.
It's a blessing that there are those who still care so much for the LONE STAR... especially when so many of our irreplaceable steamboats are fast falling into the void.
Topic starter
29/08/2009 1:02 pm
A true wooden boat
While the keepers of the LONE STAR have replaced the rotted wood, they have maintained her in her working condition. I marveled at the relatively crude amenities and the great signage explaining most everything. The addition of displays of shipyard tools and other river items out in the enclosed area surrounding the boat itself really adds to the total exhibit. It is certainly worth a trip to visit a true working-river boat. Michael Blaser has immortalized her in a painting with the DQ passing her on the One Whistle Side, but she certainly wasn't a glamour boat. The Buffalo Bill Museum/LONE STAR is located right next to the TWILIGHT and CITY OF BATON ROUGE, so if anyone ever takes a TWILIGHT cruise, plan on visiting the LONE STAR too.
29/08/2009 4:35 pm
*RE: LONE STAR pictures/History.*
Steamboating colleagues:
I agree that Judy's pictures and history of the LS are stellar. Unfortunately, my peregrinations have not been out to see her to appreciate what has been done in the line of marine preservation. Most impressive to say the least.
A 'shy lurker' E=Mailed here late yesterday asking if Sons & Daughters of Pioneer Rivermen had or considered making a donation to the LONE STAR effort and "...if not, why not?" A check of the J. Mack Gamble Fund, S&D, reveals that over the last several years the sum of $15,000 has been granted to the Buffalo Bill Museum/LONE STAR restoration. That during the 'high days' of the stock and money markets. I understand there was a plaque there noting the Gamble Fund donation. Who with keen eyes recall seeing it?
Shores of cold, windy, rainy north Lake Michigan,
R. Dale Flick
30/08/2009 5:25 am
Fantastic news. The lone Star is indeed a valuable artifact.
30/08/2009 4:33 pm
Lone star
Really enjoyed the update on the LONE STAR and the BBM. Here are a few other photos:
The original LONE STAR was built at Lyons, IA for Capt. Sam Mitchell and ran as a short-trade packet between Davenport and Buffalo. She was later used for shoving log rafts and general towing. In the 1880's she was converted into a regular towboat and was involved in sand dredging (she reportedly towed a digger and a sand barge) for Goss & Co. of Davenport, IA. She was rebuilt, enlarged (to accommodate a sand pump in the engine room)and converted to a sternwheeler in 1890 by the Kahlkes. In 1900 she was converted to coal-burning. In 1922 the Kahlkes rebuilt her again and did a major reconditioning job on her in 1957 (see Judy's photo with the W.J. QUINLAN).
The photo of the LONE STAR and other boats boats at the Kahlke Yard probably dates to around the turn of the century. The position of the stacks on the LS suggests before her 1900 conversion to coal. That would make the old ferry on the right the AUGUSTA before she became the T.J. ROBINSON in 1903.
I hope the museum takes good care of her. I plan to make it up that way next summer to have a first-hand look.
30/08/2009 4:39 pm
Lone star
Whoops! I forgot to convert the images to 72 dpi. I guess the files were too big for the server to handle.
