Questions about Diamond Jo

Diamond Jo sale

Mike, my mind is semiblank on this without going to the files. But it certainly wasn't because Diamond Jo had lost to the competition - there wasn't any real competition for the St. Louis - St. Paul route. We had packets that ran shorter routes, like St. Louis to Keokuk, or Dubuque to St. Paul or Davenport to Clinton. Of course, Diamond Jo did shorter routes like to Keokuk and Dubuque too. It was basically due to trains and other reasons which were decreasing the passenger trade. Streckfus converted the SIDNEY right away into an excursion and ran the other 3 as packets/excursions until they were converted completely in 1917 on. I want to say Diamond Jo Reynolds' death entered into it too, but I can't say for sure until I go upstairs and dig. One thing many don't realize is that Streckfus bought not only the 4 boats, but shipyards, warehouses, and wharfboats in that purchase. Two of the warehouses are still standing in Bellevue below L&D 12 and highlighted on the TWILIGHT cruises. One more factor in the sale, on a positive note: Streckfus realized that while the packet business was going down, the experience of taking short excursions was increasing and very profitable so he wanted to expand that business, and the demise of the JS had him looking for a replacement too...

I think a few months ago we lightly discussed this subject, but in doing my research on the history of the Howard built boats, I found a lot of packets were converted to excursion boats in the 1900-1915 time period. At that time the packets trades were quickly being wiped out by new roads, trucks and stiff railroad competition, but how come excursions became profitable? I don't think that suddenly people wanted to take short boat rides, there must have been something else going on. I believe it was probably alcohol. As the country marched toward prohibition, a lot of localities enacted local option laws outlawing booze. Being on interstate waters were excursion boats exempted from local ordinances? Within a few years after 1919 when national prohibition took effect, most of the converted excusion boats were out of business, except, pretty much, the ones serving large cities. That's just my thoughts, but what do I know.

Excursions then vs. now

You might be on to something Jim. I'll throw out some more: when we think of an excursion boat ride today, we're talking about a 2 hour ride. It might be narrated or not, there might be entertainment or not. There will be a bar and at least snack items available. But back in the early 1900s, an excursion boat ride was much more: first of all, it was often an all day trip; second it could be a whole family experience, bringing your picnic basket lunch, even on a Streckfus boat; third there was almost always a good sized band providing dance music; fourth other entertainment such as bridge lessons and games were provided; fifth it was relatively cheap; sixth it was a way to cool off in the hot days of summer(Doc always says a/c was the demise of the AVALON); seventh it usually had something for an entire family(hard to remember that once families actually did stuff together!)

Also consider that day packets(and even the first JS originally) ran a packet trip by day and an excursion by night, so the excursion idea was already there. Streckfus saw that he was making more off his excursions than his day trade and that the excursion popularity was increasing while packets were decreasing, so he went excursioning big time. And that would be my final point: Streckfus gave you a whole package and did it well. Maybe alcohol was an important piece of that package, but there sure were other factors as well. Maybe the demise of packets was the reason for the increase in excursioning: more boats and opportunities for it, while no opportunities to be on the river in another mode?