Topic starter
10/03/2011 12:40 pm
While going through some old family pictures, I found these gems, taken by my father, Francis L. Sward, in July of 1954 in Portsmouth, OH. Dad had taken a job for the Peter Kiewit Company, which was building a uranium plant for the Atomic Energy Commission, and we were living there at the time. Interestingly, the Gordon C. Greene was also in Portsmouth around the time Dad started the job, serving as a floating hotel, renamed the Sarah Lee. The boat served some of the workers for the Kiewit project. (I think the river boats were calling me even then).
My Dad was a great fan of riverboats, and would take any excuse to watch them. As a boy, he would visit his grandfather in NY and watch the Hudson River Dayliners from Garnerville. He rode the DQSC boats 9 times. He and I would come down to the landing when the boats came to Cincinnati, and we were regulars at Tall Stacks when he was alive. I also have a scrapbook of newspaper clippings of articles he saved on the boats, and pictures and slides too numerous to count! But these pictures--what a find!
10/03/2011 1:31 pm
Great pictures! Thanks Mary. Looks like they were getting up steam for the calliope. That was the best time for a shower. They could run some steam to the water tanks on the roof to warm the water. Of course, then there was no cold water to adjust the temperature. Always an adventure.
Topic starter
10/03/2011 1:52 pm
BTW, that is our car, the third from the left corner in the second picture. I remember being squashed in the back seat between my brother and sister in that car for quite some time.
10/03/2011 2:26 pm
1953 Ford
Mary, was that about a 1953 Ford? It looks very much like my first car in college. Of course I owned one for only part of 1969 before the engine threw a rod and I was back to walking again. Hey, what do you expect out of a $50.00 car?!?! 🙂
10/03/2011 2:43 pm
*RE: MAJESTIC photos*
Hi, Mary & steamboating colleagues:
I agree with the gang posting above. These photos and you related history real gems! The FORD auto also caught my eye. I also remember when the big Piketon uranium plant was under construction. You were at the right place at the right time. We're practically neighbors living here in Mt. Washington, Cincinnati. Keep those photos and memories coming. Do you recall way back then the false 'gold rush' in the Sciota River valley? While Piketon was under construction small samples of gold was found in the valley. People went crazy--for a time--until it was proven that gold it was but in such small samples to be not worth the trouble. That was a L-O-N-G time ago.
R. Dale Flick
Coal Haven Landing, Cincinnati.
Topic starter
10/03/2011 2:49 pm
Ted, it was indeed a '53 Ford. We had it for quite awhile. Dale, what I DO remember about that time was falling asleep to the sound of the whistles from the river and the trains at night. I remember the feeling of longing to just "go, go" that engendered. I did not understand it at the time--but I do now.
10/03/2011 4:34 pm
I like it when cars are in the picture as it helps date the scene. And boy do they date that scene! I well remember the sea change in car design in the early 50's, especially the Fords.
10/03/2011 4:59 pm
Thanks for sharing those great images Mary! Fun "finds" in the family photos! Reminds me of the days in 1965 and 1966 when the old wooden hull of the MAJESTIC was declared too decrepit by the Coast Guard to continue traveling and she remained dockside here at Jeffersonville for two seasons before being purchased by Cincinnati. My grandparents loved to attend the shows performed by Indiana University students and I well recall seeing the smoke pouring from the stack of the boiler (on the stern of the showboat) that supplied steam for the calliope on the roof of the towboat. Lots of families came with lawn chairs, blankets and some with picnics, to relax on the river bank and listen to the half hour cally-ope concerts that preceded the melodramas. Sometimes the BELLE went by and there would be "dueling calliopes". Them wuz the days!
With the Ohio now on a rampage, I was thinking just this morning of when (now over four decades ago!) the MAJESTIC was moored here and of the times the river was at flood stage and full of debris and drift, creating a potentially perilous situation for the fragile riverboats. A crew from Jeffboat would usually move the showboat and towboat upriver a bit and place barges around them for safety.
Herewith a faded photo of the MAJESTIC and towboat IU (formerly ATTABOY) at the Jeffersonville waterfront during HIGH water. March, 1962.