Riverboat Rumors - Final Curtain for the Goldenrod?

text removed..................

Keith,

How sad to hear this distressing news! We sure have alot on our plate nowdays if we are gonna preserve steamboating for the future.

Please keep us up to date on this situation as you can!

~Travis~

No further bulletins yet, but inquiries are being made.

Meanwhile, here are a few more photos. The black and white images were taken at St. Louis on June 24, 1968. The first is of the GOLDENROD with the BECKY THATCHER II (formerly the Str. MISSISSIPPI) aft. View #2 shows a very slim and trim 14 year old who was "afire" with steamboat fever. Oh, to be so slim and trim again!!! Picture #3, taken from the HUCK FINN, shows the pilothouse of the GOLDENROD. This was built in 1963 for the first BECKY THATCHER restaurant boat (formerly the 1879 snagboat C.B. REESE and later converted to a towboat named I.A. O'SHAUGNESSY and WOOD RIVER) which sank in 1965 and had to be scrapped. The reproduction pilothouse, built from specifications taken from the actual one from the GOLDEN EAGLE, then on display at the Missouri Historical Society's River Room, was then placed atop the GOLDENROD, which had lost her original pilothouse in a 1962 fire.

A November 2nd article, "Impending Death for the Goldenrod Showboat" by Don Mopsick at www.gather.com (type SHOWBOAT in the search window) says that the current owners of the partially beached Goldenrod plan to hold a "cash and carry" auction of the showboat's contents in a few weeks (including antique furnishings) after which they plan to dismember the steel hull for scrap and burn the wooden superstructure. The article was originally published in the November issue of Jazz Me News.

So, sad to say, it appears that the old showboat has presented her final melodrama and has reached the end of a long life.

Hi, Keith:
Thanks for your timely posting on 'Impending Death for the Goldenrod Showboat' and the 'link.' Tough to hear RE: "cash and carry" auction/dismemberment of the steel hull and burning of the wooden superstructure. Tough news to hear with the loss of this legend of the rivers. 'The old days die hard and fast' it appears. No doubt you have many fine memories of the GOLDENROD.

Cheers,
R. Dale Flick

That's really sad...

I am glad we took the time to see it last summer....

Yes, Dale, the GOLDENROD certainly does hold many fond memories for me. When I was 13 years old, and after reading about her being at St. Louis, I wrote a letter, addressed to Capt. J.W. Menke and asked for information about the old showboat. Although Capt. Menke, then in his late 80's, still lived aboard, along with his brother, Capt. Charley Menke, and longtime actress Blanche Forbes, the boat had been purchased after the 1962 fire by Frank Pierson, Don Franz (of the St. Louis Ragtimers) and a group of investors who restored the boat. Frank gave my letter to Ruth Ferris, who was setting up a riverboat museum aboard the BECKY THATCHER (former Str. MISSISSIPPI) which he also owned, and asked her to respond to it. Of course, Ruth being a former school teacher was only too happy to do so, sending me pictures and other material. Thus began a lively correspondence and friendship that lasted until Ruth's passing in 1993 when she was nearly 96 years old. My parents took me to St. Louis the next summer to meet Ruth and she took us over every nook and cranny of the old showboat, as well as the BECKY, then under renovation, but with engines, boilers and so much still intact. What a great day that was, and one I'll never forget!

I will always be very grateful to Frank Pierson (who passed away in 1988) for "introducing" me to Ruth. He easily could have tossed my juvenile letter into his wastebasket, but thankfully he didn't. Ruth was a fabulous influence in my life and because of her I've had many a river adventure and met scores of wonderful people who share the interest.

Don Franz is planning a "send off" for the GOLDENROD, which would have celebrated her centennial in 2009. He's contacting St. Louis tv stations and hopes to have the St. Louis Ragtimers go to Kampsville to give a "grand finale" performance either on board or on the landing in front of the old showboat, which is now partially beached. The Ragtimers have performed MANY times on the boat since the early 1960's and a number of albums and CD recordings are available on EBAY and elsewhere. The annual Ragtime Festivals on the showboat lasted for over 30 years and drew people from all over the country and abroad.

To my knowledge, no date has yet been set for the auction, or for the scrapping of the boat. Soon, the MAJESTIC SHOWBOAT at Cincinnati will be the lone survivor of authentic showboats.

Here's a photo of yours truly with Miss Ruth Ferris in the Midship Museum aboard the BECKY THATCHER on August 9, 1970. Note that I am wearing one of the orange SAVE THE DELTA QUEEN - KEEP STEAMBOATING ALIVE buttons! Can it REALLY be 37 years later???? The other image, taken by Capt. Art Denkmann in 1963, is of Capts. Charley and J.W. (Bill) Menke aboard the GOLDENROD SHOWBOAT.

Keith,

do you think it's possible that someone will make a video recording from the "send off" to put it here on steamboats.org so everyone can participate in this very sad event? If someone would make the recording, I can take care of getting it online.

Franz

Yes! Don tells me that he plans to have the "send off" completely documented. I'll put you in touch with him. It will be something akin to a New Orleans style Jazz Funeral! While I would love to go over to Kampsville and visit the venerable showboat one last time, it's probably best that I am "swamped" with the details of scheduling 300+ pipe organ tunings for our technicians throughout nine states before Christmas -- and the work on my desk is at "flood stage"! So, I'll remain "moored" in my office and await film, pictures and stories from those who do attend. I don't know when they plan to start the demolition and cremation, but I couldn't bear to watch that desecration anyway.

Portions of the original 1909 wood hull are still lurking inside the steel barge hull which was added in 1947. Ruth Ferris created a unique exhibit in her museum on the BECKY THATCHER with pieces of showboat hull timbers and the 36" square spikes which held them in place. Some pieces of that old hull might be available as "souvenirs" for those who are interested!

A few more GOLDENROD images from the archives. Capt. J.W. (Bill) Menke on the gangplank in the 1950's, along with a view of him seated on the bow with his daughter, Mrs. Robert Craighead. Look closely and on Capt. Bill's lap you'll see "Pinkie", his beloved cat. When the showboat burned on June 2, 1962, it was feared that Pinkie had perished in the blaze, but several days later she came trotting up the gangplank. She lived into the early 1970's. The third photo is a view I took in May, 1987, from the Eads Bridge, after the showboat had been moved upriver from her longtime landing at the foot of Locust Street.

I looked on the internet and found that the Goldenrod is a National Historic Landmark Vessel. I sent an email to my contacts at the National Park Service, Omaha District, which covers NHL Vessels where the Goldenrod is at, in case they weren't aware of it's current plight... Not sure if anything will come of that, but it was worth a shot...

Yes, the GOLDENROD became a National Historic Landmark in 1968. Today I heard that the owner is awaiting some legal approval before the auction and scrapping of the boat can proceed. There probably will NOT be a lot of publicity about this, so it could happen suddenly and without fanfare. The owner wishes to retain a large chandelier (not original to the boat) and the pilotwheel (from the towboat WENONAH) which has been on display aboard the showboat since the dilapidated WENONAH was scrapped and burned at East St. Louis in 1951. Her whistle went to the Missouri Historical Society and her roof bell was also displayed on the showboat -- except for the years it was on exhibit in Ruth Ferris' museum aboard the BECKY THATCHER.

I recently obtained a copy of the marine survey report done in 2001 on the showboat. It paints a very grim picture of the stability problems in the hull (owing to the 1909 wooden hull being set down into the steel barge in 1947) and says that there is really no compartmental integrity at all. This is what brought about the closure of the boat after a Coast Guard official saw the boat on television and noticed that the boat was badly "hogging". An immediate investigation ensued and the GOLDENROD was deemed UNsafe.

When I am at my Mother's house, I watch way too much tv, but sometimes there's a reward for that. Was waiting for a TCM movie and they were showing One Reel Wonders. The subject was St. Louis, very pre-Arch, and all of a sudden there was the Golden Eagle at the landing, and then people going on board a "Showboat", no name given, but no doubt the Goldenrod, and the Admiral in all her streamlined glory, cruising down the Mississippi. By the time I came out of my tv fog, it was over. It was in color, by the way. Are you familiar with this film? I would think it might have some steamboat significance, especially for the St. Louis oriented buffs.

Hi, Keith, Steve & steamboating colleagues:
Thanks to Keith & Steve for continuing the discission here on the fate of the GOLDENROD and her impending fate. Sounds grim indeed and I hope this isn't a sign of the times to come. NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARK VESSELS is a program well worth reviewing and studying. I've been out of the 'loop' in their affairs and programs for several years now. Some 120 vessels in addition to land sites/ports etc. have come under their umbrella. Supporters and critics alike in the past have opined that the program, though admirable, can be a 'double edged sword.' Some of the vessels we all know about are: BARBARA H., BELLE OF LOUISVILLE, DELTA QUEEN, GEORGE M. VERITY, GOLDENROD, LONE STAR, MILWAUKEE CLIPPER, PRESIDENT, SERGEANT FLOYD, W.P. SNYDER. This list by no means complete. I'd be interested in hearing of the positives and negatives of this program from those who know far more than I do from their first-hand experience.

The link I provide is: http://www.hspsi.org/NHL/nhl.html

Cheers,
R. Dale Flick

Lex: The GOLDENROD SHOWBOAT was permanently moored at St. Louis beginning in October, 1937, and the GOLDEN EAGLE sank and went to heaven on May 18, 1947, so the film would be from that time period. Sounds like something a lot of us would like to have a copy of for our collections!

The National Historic Landmark (NHL) program for vessels has many many positives. Fortunately the National Park Service (NPS) had the foresight to create the separate categories for just vessels. NHL status is more difficult to achieve than the standard National Register List status. There is a requirement for a certain percentage of original fabric for an NHL to qualify as an NHL. Also NPS attempts to keep tabs on the inventory of NHLs, which can include entire city blocks, such as downtown Madison, Indiana. The NPS has a certain amount of governance in the form of covenants that require owners to report damages or get approval for alterations.

On the negative side, the NHL vessel program had their own source of funding for grants, but that stopped about 8 years ago. The funding came from the money generated by the scrapping of the old naval reserve fleet ("ghost fleet"). These funds were funneled to NPS where they were then made available in the form of grants to NHL vessel owners. Unfortunately, environmentalists, followed by the EPA, shutdown the naval reserve scrapping program from about 2000 until 2006. Now they are scrapping ships again, but the "connection" has been lost as to where the scrapping funds go. The funds don't go into the NHL vessel grant program, that's for sure. High steel prices have made naval ship scrapping a high dollar business of its own. So if NHL vessels want grants from NPS, they must go through NPS's general grant fund, which is highly competitive amongst all the NHLs.

An article in today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch entitled Historic Vessel May Get Reprieve conveys the news that the GOLDENROD SHOWBOAT might have escaped the scrap heap - at least temporarily. Apparently there has been a court battle over unpaid mooring charges at the Illinois river site. A pending agreement will allow a St. Charles businessman to move the boat elsewhere and continue pursuing a new life for the venerable floating theatre.

I had already selected a place for the pilothouse in the museum yard, -- and this week's board meeting was going to include a discussion on ways and means to obtain the relic. I'm glad we won't have to pursue that -- at least for the time being!

Link to Goldenrod article

Click here for a link to today's article on the Goldenrod Showboat. I hope that the legal arrangements can be worked out and the boat saved. It would be rather mean to destroy a nearly 100 year old boat over a rent payment.

Lexie,

do you remember exactly on what day and day time you saw this One Reel Wonder movie? TCM (www.tcm.com) has a comprehensive database and schedule on their website so t should be easy to find out what video clip exactly it was and how o optain a copy ...

Franz

The Sternline Telegraph has been "HOT" this morning! I've received numerous e-mails concerning the GOLDENROD and Capt. Bill Ray called from St. Louis to say that he'd just heard a radio news report concerning the showboat's stay of execution.

One plan for the preservation of the GOLDENROD was somewhat akin to that for the PRESIDENT -- putting her in a manmade moat. This still doesn't solve the problem of the old showboat's structural problems which got her into hot water with the Coast Guard in the first place. The city of St. Charles disposed of the GOLDENROD after pouring in excess of several million dollars into it and that's just the beginning of what's needed to literally "re-build" the boat. The sad truth is that it's VERY doubtful if there's anybody out there willing to take on this project. Dilapidated old riverboats just aren't high on the list of priorities these days!

I went to that web site and got nowhere. For some reason they did not list that short, or it was in with some other stuff. Sometimes they show a short that is of a similar subject to a movie being shown before or after the short. Thus, if they show Meet Me In St. Louis, it could be shown before or after that movie, which happens to be a favorite around Christmas time.

This week I've heard from the daughter of the late Blanche Forbes, who was widowed in her 20's and was an actress/musician/housekeeper on the GOLDENROD from 1937-1975. Blanche passed away at age 93 in 1993, but her log books of daily happenings aboard the showboat, as well as other memorabilia are in her daughter's possession. Barb, a retired teacher in California, recalled that during summer vacations from school, she and her mother often "camped out" near the pilothouse on the roof of the GOLDENROD on hot and humid summer nights. When the ADMIRAL cruised closely alongside the showboat as she came in for a landing from her moonlight cruise at midnight, the pilot often directed the bright searchlight beam on the "campers"!

Here's a photo of Miss Blanche at the rail of the GOLDENROD, taken by Capt. Art Denkmann in 1963.

C.B. Reese on the White River

While looking for my Dad's family, I ran across some crew members of the C.B. Reese, listed on the 1920 Prairie Co AR census. I am not certain of exactly what it says at the side of the census, but appears to be Government boats C.B.Reese Arkansas ?. I can not make out the last word, it could be snagboat. This was in Wattensas Township, and was listed as being Devalls Bluff, but was crossed out. I know Devalls Bluff was at one time a port on the White River. The Master and Pilot was Samuel H Evins, age 52, born AR, parents born KY.