Point Pleasant Whistle Blow

Whistle Blow

There has never been a whistle bow at Pt. Pleasant. All four of the S & D whistle blows were at Long Reach, WV at the Union Carbide Plant. Long Reach is about 35 miles up river from Marietta, Ohio. Whistle Blow #1 was held on 5-1-65, #2 was on 5-7-66, #3 on 6-21-69 and #4 on 6-19-76. The 1969 was the grandaddy of them all. Mode-Art Recordings of Pittsburg got it all on tape. The recordings are still available from the Ohio River Musuem at Marietta. S & D had a later whistle blow at Marietta on Sept. 1999 courtesy of Capt. Nelson Jones and his steam barge. Incidently Homer Denney played a calliope at the 1969 affair while the whistles were being changed.

Bert Fenn staged a Whistle Blow at the Tell City Chair Company prior to the "Tootenannies" held at Long Reach. I'm not sure of the date at the moment, but think it was in the late 1950's or early 60's -- and somewhere I have a list of the whistles that were blown, courtesy of the late Mr. Paul W. Seabrook, who was on deck for the event. Alan Bates undoubtedly was there too and can offer amplification. Alan?????

The first whistle blow I know about was organized by Billy Bauer and myself. It was done on Nugent's sand digger in the Louisville harbor. Bert Fenn heard about it and he and I organized another whistle blow at Tell City in August 1958(?) at which 31 whistles were blown. There were two whistle concerts a couple of days apart. The newspaper put out a special edition with the schedule of events. The work as done on the roof of the Tell City Chair Company. Courtney Ellis was there. We had a manifold with about five outlets so changes could be made while other whistles were blown. Here are some of the whistles that were played for the town: Str. Indiana; Str. Gold Dust; Str. Chris Greene; Str. Chickamauga; Str. Tom Push; Grand Republic's ready whistle; Str. Ed J. Howard; Str. Longfellow; Str. Charle R. Hook; Str. Bowling Green; Str. Wynoka; Str. Sunshine; DPC Str. Casablanca; DPC Str. America; Tell City Planing Mill; Str. C. C. Slider; a New York Central locomotive; L&N locomotive 1878; Tell City Desk Co.; the Giant Heulhund; a Southern Railway locomotive; str. John W. Hart; Paoli Chair Co.; Jefferson Basket Co; a Mack Truck whistle; an IC Railroad locomotive; and an unidentified one from John Beatty. The stunt was published round the world and an English magazine included a mention of it in an article about community individualism. I have tapes of it. All whistle were measured and tones analyzed for pitch. The Long Reach whistle blows, or Tootenannies, were inspired by this one and happened six or seven years later.

The Giant Heulhund was a variable-pitch whistle used at Tell City for many years as a curfew. The sound was a horrible screech.
Another weird one was brought by Courtney Ellis. It was made from a rivetted water heater tank and had a piston inside to change the pitch. Steam pipes went up each side to the top to equalize the pressure above and below the disc. The disc could not fit tightly inside the water tank because of the rivet heads, so the thing made an extremely loud squawk that jumped from overtone to overtone as the piston was moved. When it was time for Courtney to take it home we found it would not fit in the trunk of his car because the piston rod stuck out several feet. Courtney was equal to the occasion - he stepped on the tank, grabbed the rod and bent it double.

I just now dug out the Newspaper poster of the Schweizerfest Steam Whistle Concert. It was held on August 1, 1960. The weird whistle provided by Courtney Ellis was from the Langstaff Planing Mill at Paducah, Kentucky It was 30" long, 9" in diameter and had a piston travel of 20". The Grand Stentorian Finale of the concert was a simultaneous blast from ten whistles followed by the Giant Heulhund. Heulhund means howling dog.

Thanks Alan for that list of whistles from the Tell City Whistle blow. I was there for the event and still remember how impressive it was. I had thought it was part the the Centennial Celebration of 1958 but it was obviously later as part of the Schwitzer Fest that has continues to this day that grew out of the Centennial Celebration. Thanks for the memories.

Alan...remember how hot it was on the roof of the chair factory that day? A black tar roof, hot steam pipes and the August sun made for a truly hot time. Had OHSA been there the whole operation would have been shut down; it could never happen today. As I remember it we had to climb two ladders to get on the roof. But it was a day I'll never forget.

Yes, Jim, the only shade on that roof was in the shadow of that stinking-hot smokestack!

The Mack Truck whistle belonged to me, a Christmas gift from my dad the Christmas before. That whistle will soon be mounted on JIM'S DREAM; blown via an electric leaf blower. It's a pleasant sounding whistle and should be a nice addition to the DREAM.

Science Project

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/steam-whistles/message/4841
One of our member's sons built a whistle for a high school science project. I am proud to have been his mentor. The project is entering the state level and there is an engineering scholarship involved.