PRESIDENT'S calliope

PREZ' calliope history

The PRESIDENT's calliope came from the Streckfus excursion boat JS DELUXE. When the PREZ was built, it was heralded as a new era boat, all steel, etc. and the Streckfi didn't feel that an old fashioned instrument like a calliope fit in. So she came out calliopeless. But after many passenger complaints, they realized the error of their ways, and when the JSD was dismantled in St. Louis in 1938, her calliope was installed on the PREZ for the '39 season. This was so eventful that the '39 Streckfus Steamers magazine made it the cover story. This calliope had only 28 whistles. As I was typing this, I was interrupted by a phone call from CCH. I asked him if the calliope had been elsewhere prior to on the JSD, he didn't think so.

Thanks, Judy, for this and the history of the PRESIDENT's calliope. I don't mean to horn in on your thread, but for some who may not know, after the PRES and ADMIRAL were converted from steam to diesel, they played the calliopes with compressed air. If memory serves, the boilers were used as the air reservoirs, so there was a LARGE volume of high pressure compressed air for these instruments, making them sound somewhat better than your typical air calliope.

a portable calliope????

You'd think the PREZ' calliope was portable, considering all the moves it made over its career. Here are the locations I've found from my snaps:
1) on the port side near the smokestack, taken at Canal St. May 1974, the first time I ever saw the PREZ and NOLA...
2) same location, worse shape. My caption says: 6/25/84 at Bienville St. My best recollection is that N.O. Steamboat owned her then and was in the process of getting her ready to run summers up in St. Louis.
3) sometime after 1985(red trim is key), on the starboard side near the smokestack.

more PREZ calliope locations

1) 1989 Now its on the port side aft of the pilothouse and beyond the inner railing
2) 1989 You can see this far out location and a far out character approaching the camera. He is a well-known .org poster, and the occasion was Ruth Ferris' birthday, hint hint.
3) 1939 Streckfus Steamers magazine heralding the arrival of the PREZ' calliope.

So, to summarize locations:
portside forward
starboard forward
port aft
stern overhang

Anybody found any others?

Judy,
Thanks for all the wonderful information about this instrument. I know that the whistles on the President's calliope are long gone, but is the keyboard still around or has that gone by the wayside as well?

Keyboard?

Good question. Maybe Bob Reynolds would know. His boat was at Mike's while the PREZ was there, and he could see over there I think.

Were both calliope's Nichol's calliopes?

Keyboard and manifold were both intact as of about a year ago. Valves and electrical/electronic components appeared okay.

Nichols?

I have to plead total ignorance on that point. Hopefully one of our calliope experts will come online and enlighten us as to the creators...

It is reported that the "new" keyboard-as Judy's pictures illustrate--is still on board as the cutting torches gnaw away.

When did the three whistles replace the single whistle as shown in one of Judy's pictures?

PREZ whistle

I can't find that picture. But here's one Keith took and annotated thusly:
"PRESIDENT starboard stack and whistle(from JS DELUXE) that was on the ADMIRAL until '74, then was put on PRESIDENT until she was converted to diesel."
So that would put this whistle on the PREZ from 75-78.

So is the single whistle the original and is today's single whistle the same one?

Is there any way to get the keyboard off and save that. It may have some historical importance?

Judy and all others concerned...

The calliopes of the Streckfus Line boats were ALL Thomas J. Nichol instruments and I have seen no pictures of any of their boats sporting any instrument built by others.

The PRESIDENT/JS Deluxe calliope keyboard disappeared under a veil of secrecy in 1988. In 1985 the calliope was rebuilt by then Chief Engineer Gary Frommelt. Chief Frommelt was aboard the BELLE OF LOUISVILLE later that same summer and I talked to him about this calliope and the fact it was the last mechanical calliope on a steamboat (albeit with out steam aboard) on the rivers (for everything today is electronic or electro-mechanical). The Chief informed me there were only two people who could play the thing, Captain Clarke Hawley and Col. Vic Tooker. I offered to throw my hat into the ring and never got the chance.

In 1988, prepatory to coming to Cincinnati, Oh for the first (and in my mind the best) Tall Stacks festival the mechanical calliope keyboard was removed from the PRESIDENT by the late Dave Miner of Miner Manufacturing of Ft. Donnelson, IA. He rebuilt the calliope with a player unit which was located in the Pilothouse of the boat. The instrument was relocated to the Port side just ahead of the wheelbox and outside of the fence. Capt. Hawley was imported as Perfesor for the cruise to Cincinnati, and on up the Ohio to Pittsburgh. Every time he played, it was recorded for playback at a later time. This was to save money on us Perfessors, I should imagine.

So where the original keyboard (which was all brass) went to from the PRESIDENT/JS Deluxe, no one knows..or will fess up to it! I have contended that Dave Miner kept it...but, he steadfastly refused to be the perpetrator. That said, it is out there somewhere waiting for one of us to find it!

Last time I was anywhere near the boat the only thing left was the manifold (sans all whistles) and the Kim Graham sourced keyboard (correct me Judy if I am wrong), which was added in a rebuild of the instrument over the winter of 1991-1992.

What I would have given to have played that instrument on steam and mechanically! Unfortunately, that was not to be, as she was converted when I was a lad of 12.

Here is a question I cannot answer and perhaps someone else can. There is only one Streckfus calliope left to my knowledge, that of the WASHINGTON (which is in a private collection in Florida and for sale, I am told). Does anyone else know of any others I don't know of?

~Travis~

YES ,, Both ADMIRAL and PRESIDENT,,CaLLiopes were Thos.J. Nichol CaLLiopes,, Thanks Travis,,,...Manufactured by the NICHOL VALVE Co. Cinn.O.
The only other Streckfus one I know of is the WASHINGTON's ,, and here is a pic of it,, with the Sparks Circus CaLLiope in my shop in 1985,, TWO Nichol CaLLiopes together was a Great photo opp...and Historic moment,,..
(the WASHINGTON's CaLLiope is on the right)

I dug into my archives and came up with a few more photos of the calliope on the PRESIDENT. The first two images were taken at New Orleans in March, 1972. The third one is at St. Louis in May, 1975. At those times the calliope was located in front of the port stack.

Several more views of the calliope on the PRESIDENT. I took the first two in August of 1988 at St. Louis -- the calliope now relocated in front of the starboard stack -- and very shortly before it was electrified and played by compressed air. I snapped the third image as the PRESIDENT was in McAlpine Lock here at Louisville en route to the first TALL STACKS on October 9, 1988. Capt. Doc Hawley is playing the calliope.

Travis: Bette Gorden, curator of the H.T. Pott Waterways Library at the Mercantile Library (now at the University of Missouri-St. Louis) tells me that the original keyboard from the PRESIDENT calliope is now part of their Streckfus Steamers collection.

Contact Bette at [email protected] for more information.

Here's a view I took, with Capt. Doc Hawley playing the PRESIDENT calliope, in McAlpine Lock in October, 1988.

I was fortunate enough to play the PRESIDENT's calliope under steam as a "tracker" instrument right before the boat was converted from steam to diesel.

Capt. Gabe Chengery, realizing what was about to happen, got permission to go over and play it one last time while the DQ was in New Orleans one day. He invited me to come along, and we both played it that day, possibly the last time it was played under steam. I think Capt. Gabe had arranged with Capt. Curran Streckfus to play it, and I seem to remember that when his father, the old man Capt. Verne Streckfus found out, he was none too happy about it, but since Capt. Curran had made the promise, Capt. Verne allowed it to happen.

What very little keyboard skills I may have were self-taught strictly so that I could play a calliope, and my touch has never been light. Capt. Gabe told me that day that my heavy hand at the keyboard "really paid off" being able to play that tracker calliope. It was not nearly as hard to do as I had imagined it would be.

The depth and breadth of our resources...

Wow, Wesley. Look what you started with just one question about the ADMIRAL's calliope! Capt. Verne had 2 daughters, Curran was his nephew. Thanks Keith for posting all the pix. I know you gave me those of Doc playing, but they are 'somewhere' other than where I looked yesterday. Dave, what was the WASHINGTON's calliope doing in your shop - were you getting it ready to go overseas? Bob, your calliope playing style on the DQ would be suitable I'd think for the tracker situation. Pardon me calliopists, if I use incorrect terms - just remember I must hold the record for most DQ trips without a Vox Calliopus certificate, I love calliope music but couldn't find middle C if I tried - anyway, Bob/Gabe/Dave T./Doc all play a slower style and Doc always attributed his to the pressure needed to push the keys on the tracker instrument. Travis, you quoted someone that only Doc and Vic Tooker could play the PREZ's original keyboard. I question Vic, because he played only electronic keyboards. Of course with his musical ability I presume he could have adapted, but he certainly played at a much fast tempo than what you could do on a tracker, I think. An ignoramus' question: the PREZ' calliope had only 28 whistles. I'm sure it was an economic thing. How much cheaper would a 28 note instrument have been than a 32 note - logic would say it would be 1/8th cheaper, but I suspect it would have been more savings??? One more while I'm at it: were all the other Streckfus calliopes 32 noters (JS, SAINT PAUL, CAPITOL/ADMIRAL, SIDNEY/WASHINGTON)?

I took that picture of the whistle in May, 1975 at St. Louis. Capt. Bill Carroll said at the time that it was from the ADMIRAL and originally was on the J.S. DeLUXE. I remember hearing it blown by steam on the ADMIRAL and it was not really a melodious sound, nor was the single barrel whistle on the PRESIDENT. As steamboat whistles go, I don't think anything beats the DQ's!

Yes Keith! Having blown the 20 minute whistle a few dozen times over my years there and having blown a few more over the years nothing compares to the DQ's whistle. Not only the perfect sound she produces but the linkage which makes it so easy to pull and manipulate and after you've blown it a few times you pick up on the art of making it sing so sweet.

Mel: When I was watchman on the DQ, Capt. C.S. Ware used to say, "OK Keith, get ovah heah and blow that whistle cause I know you love it so!" I'd blow the whistle and then he'd say, "Well All right -- now hand me a banana!"

Those were the days - now gone with the wind. BUT, we have our memories and memorabilia -- and NOBODY can take those from us!!!

Yes, Judy, as you pointed out, each calliope player has their own distinct style. Capt. Roddy Hammett used to say I had a "Remington-Rand" touch! I was in New Orleans once and rode the NATCHEZ on Roddy's off day. I played the calliope and he later wrote me that he heard it from his home in the Quarter and KNEW who was playing! When we were on the BELLE, Roddy often stood behind me as I played and danced around the roof, doing the Charleston to the delight of people on the wharf!

Capt. Rip Ware came on watch one night and said his nap had been interrupted by the calliope and that he knew WHO was playing it because it had "that BELLE OF LOUISVILLE JUMP!" We had left Vicksburg that evening and they had a "Catfish Festival" going on downtown along the waterfront. Capt. Wagner said, "Get back there on the cally-ope Keith and serenade the folks as we come down the Yazoo -- and you know what I want to hear first!" Of course, I began with his favorite, "Down Yonder"!

It was always fun to play the DQ calliope in the BIG locks at Keokuk or Kentucky Dam when we were all the way DOWN in the chamber. What volume and reverberation!

"Portability of the calliope"

In ruminating about the various locations of the PREZ' calliope, it occurred to me that as a steamboat, the calliope was in the same place: port forward. Its relocations came after the dieselization and so they just had to move the air compressor, not change steam lines. I had been thinking that would have been a chore. But I know some steam calliopes have been moved, usually due to the pilots' protestations. The original JS was one...Keith, help?