Topic starter
13/09/2006 4:35 pm
Steamboating colleagues:
Discussion of old steamboat brochures elicited a number of interesting postings. Discovered here is a period brochure: 'A Round Trip Between Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. All the way by water on Steamer BETSY ANN. 7 DAY TRIP only $35. INDEPENDENT PACKET CO. Good Meals A Feature & AWay From Heat and Dust.' *Meals, possibly, but I don't know about the heat and dust in days before air-conditioning in the summer months and no mentions of the smell from livestock on the lower deck. [See WAY'S PACKET DIRECTORY Entry No. 0604 for her 'bio' or read Fred's LOG OF THE BETSY ANN]. This undated brochure [Possibly 1927/1928] lists 14 wharfboat stops on the Ohio River for shipment of passengers and freight. One way fares at $17.50 from major terminal points. Recently mentioned veteran Horace P. Lyle was the Cincinnati agent and continued on in later years with the GREENE LINE and the DELTA QUEEN. He was a real veteran. Crew on the BETSY were:
Master: W.I. Guthrie
Pilots: Charles Ellsworth/Elmer Fancher
Mate: Charles Arthurs
Purser: Frederick Way, Jr.
Clerk: William S. Pollock
Chief Engineer: William Smith
2nd Engineer: Herbert E. Banks
Cook/Steward: Ora Milligan
The BETSY used the GREENE LINE terminals at Gallipolis, Oh., and Hungtington, W.Va. This on a commission basis but with good feeling between rival lines and boats as per Keith's mention of the relationship between the EAGLE PACKET CO., GREENE LINE and BETSY ANN. It made sense as on-going freight and passengers were served by a link of boats. As early as 1904 there was a friendly link between Capt. Gordon C. Greene and Mary B. Greene when their company moved to Cincinnati and the L&C LINE under 'Commodore' Fred Laidley.
Brochures as such based in the emerging area of Public Relations/Marketing/Advertising came on strong just before World War I. Banks in major cities quickly learned of the commission profts in their 'Tourist Bureaus' for travel on rail/steamboats/steamship lines. This led to what is known widely today as 'Travel Agencies.' In the old days of steamboat/steamships etc. was the use of 'letters of credit.' That's for another day and discussion.
Cheers,
R. Dale Flick
Topic starter
13/09/2006 4:54 pm
Dear colleagues:
I made a glitch on my posting. Should not read just R. Dale Flick. The title is: 'Brochures/wharfboats/Agents.' I'll get it right one of these days.
Cheers,
R. Dale Flick
13/09/2006 8:00 pm
Dale,
the heat and dust were on rival land carriers, such as highways and railroads. In the 1920's either could supply anyone with enough smoke, heat and dust to last a lifetime in just a few miles. Consider traveling from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati in August in 1928. I daresay less than a quarter of the distance was paved with concrete or asphalt. In 1929-1930 there was not one lousy mile of paved highway on U.S. Route 31 through Alabama excepting in big cities. I know. I was there. We were dragged through two creek beds - one by a team, the other by a bulldozer. The Betsy Ann would have been Heaven by comparison, even rooms over the boilers.
Topic starter
13/09/2006 8:42 pm
Dear Alan & steamboating colleagues:
You got that right Re: "heat, smoke, dust" back then. Time and again old steamboat log books, letters, photographs of the era etc. mention/show "A dark and smokey night." "Smokey" from steel plants, power plants, factories, homes in major cities from Pittsburg on down. You were there then and we're all here now. I well recall evenings living near old Coal Haven Landing in Cincinnati's East End when the big steam Pennsylvania and New York Central locomotives would roar past. Some stopped at the crossing down the street for signal clearance and the glow from their furnace doors and steam venting could be seen and heard. Out in the drive by the house the sound of cinders from the trains would ping on the hood and top of the Hudson and Ford--with runningboards, mind you. Remember the smell of anthracite and bituminous coal smoke the first cold spell in October? Remember the coal man heaving his deliveries down the chute into the basemement? If you wanted to save on the coal delivery bill they'd dump outside and you hauled or shoveled it in yourself. Remember the wood curtain stretchers to dry lace curtains from the copper washing boiler with strarch added? Seemed like my grams was always washing curtains back then. The big steam towboat would wheel up and down from Coal Haven to St. Rose Church on Eastern Ave. The smoke would roll up the street and through the yards with that unmistakable smell. An old draftsman told me once of working at his drawing board down by the river here in Cincinnati. He kept a soft camel's hair brush at hand to brush off the cinders when he returned from lunch. You remember the customary window blind like covering draftsmen pulled over their tables at night to keep all in place and clean until the next work day. Ah, those were the days.
Cheers and thanks,
R. Dale Flick
14/09/2006 1:49 am
Summer in the drafting room. We used to take the sleeves off of old shirts, sew a little elastic around the sleeve just above the elbow, and use them at the office. In the morning the men would remove their shirts and put on the shirtless sleeves. The sleeves protected the tracings from most of the sweat. The absent body of the shirt allowed a little air to waft over the bare chest and back. Air conditioning replaced the shirtless sleeves. Cad-cam replaced the draftsmen.
I wanted to make a new start, but the machine chose to put this in Dale's thread.
25/09/2006 12:02 pm
The lack of paved roads was mentioned. I remember talking to Lillian Sinclair, whose husband worked for the Ford dealer on Front Street in Marietta at that time. While Marietta was served by several railroads, they depended on the steamboats to deliver the new automobiles, thus the Front Street location for the store. The building now contains a tire store.
Topic starter
25/09/2006 1:39 pm
Hi, Bruce:
Fascinating insight on "paved roads...railroads...Marietta, OH." in your posting. Yes, Alan Bates, you and others, bring up a good point on the development of the U.S. highway systems along the rivers and back into the hinterlands. Other observers have also mentioned the perfection of higher quality auto/truck tires and the evolution of the trucking industry as we know it today. A lot of school history texts focus on "The railroads destroyed the steamboat business." True but not true. The railroads for a considerable time linked hand-in-hand with the steamboats for transfer of freight and passengers. Some of the railroad companies had interest--or total ownership--in steamboat/steamship lines to bind their system. One good example was Cincinnati's Jacob Strader [*Sidewheeler JACKB STRADER] who branched from steamboats to the formation of the 'Little Miami Railroad' as seen in the Fontayne & Porter panorama of Cincinnati, 1848. Some rail experts declare the views of the LMR rail cars and rolling stock to be among--if not the first--good views of rail equipment we have.
The late John Burns, son of old Jim Burns who built the DELTA QUEEN/DELTA KING, said his dad was 'cautious' in the plan to build the two boats for the Sacramento River as the highway system, advances in heavy rubber tires and new bridges would be a potential threat to the business for the two river queens. When Jim Burns presented his thinking to the officers of the 'California Transportation Co.' he was given the message to either get with the plans for the two new boats or move on down the road.
Cheers and thanks,
R. Dale Flick
PS> Sorry that just 'R. Dale Flick' came up on my initial posting but I forgot to type the title in the appropriate box and hit 'Post.'