Sidewheel vs Sternwheel

Passengerboat Sternwheelers

I suspect the reason that almost all our passenger steamboats and even fake paddlewheelers are sternwheelers is that seeing the paddlewheel gives off more of an effect. It makes it feel more historic to SEE the method of propulsion. The sidewheelers worked very well for the packet industry... I don't see why sternwheelers became popular.

Money, money, money

Mostly a matter of economics. They could turn on a dime, but the wheel was exposed and not protected by anything, so more damage and repairs. Needed only one person to handle a sternwheel and the sidewheelers needed 2. Sidewheelers were wide and could not navigate narrow channels like the sternwheelers. Sidewheeler needed 2 paddlewheels thus twice the cost of construction and maintenance. Pretty much the bottom line, and, in the day, they didn't really care if anyone saw the paddlewheel.

When I was a young lad in St. Paul I would snag every steamboat (and drag racing) book I could check out at the public library. In one of the books the author stated that the side wheelers caused splashing of the passengers close to the wheels. Presumably even when enclosed in the paddle boxes. This led to predominance of the stern wheeler. I don't know if this is true or not but there you have it.

:Ron

Side Vs. Stern...

I seem to recall Louis Hunter went into a lot of detail in his book...I believe it was dollars and cents, with a nod towards engineering simplification. Side wheelers were faster I believe, but chief reason was a narrower hull. This made for heavier drafts, which in turn takes away pay tonnage pending river conditions. Also were the inherent problems of a side wheel...engine centering, lop-sided effects when boards were damaged, more ER staff, etc.
The stern wheel boats were said to be cheaper to build, run, lighter draft and less crew to manage. Pretty much sealed the fate of the grand old side wheelers. Would also imagine stern wheelers were a bit easier for the pilot when around landings...the bells for a side wheeler must have been complicated, especially when performing close maneuvering. Just read the story of the Far West again where they raced from the Little Big Horn to Fort Lincoln...I don't think they could have done that with a side wheeler. Wish I could remember Hunter's book title...received mine through the S&D many years ago. Recommended reading as his detail of day to day operations of packet boats is incredible. Happy New Years to all!! Luke

Louis Hunters Book

Would the name of the book by Louis Hunter you are in search of be titled Steamboats On The Western Rivers?It is currently available on Amazon in kindle an hard cover. Carole Matthews of Pompano Beach Florida 33964

Hunter...

Sounds like the correct title...for those who have not read it is a "nuts and bolts" description of the steam boat trade. He goes into details such as vessel construction, operation, crewing, freight, crew pay, fuel costs, etc. without much narrative. Very descriptive but also can be very dry to read but will reward the reader with a very complete picture of operating a steam powered vessel with associated facts and figures and "rule of thumb" calculations of a wooden hull with powerful machinery. Luke

Over here on the Upper Miss, the VanSants led the change to sternwheelers in the rafting business. Logs broke away from the rafts and would get into the side wheels. The body of the boat protected the wheel at the rear from the loose logs.

Lexie is correct in her thinking that whatever caused the switch to sideheelers was probably the result of some economic factor. Whenever there is a paradigm shift, it usually is caused by a change in economics. The reasons others gave were as true in 1850 as they were in 1900, yet sidewheelers dominated until almost the beginning of the 20th century. I thought perhaps there was a big increase in coal prices might have caused the change but coal prices remained fairly stable towards the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. Something changed that made sternwheel boats more viable than the tried and true sidewheelers. Perhaps there was a change in insurance rates or maybe steamboat inspection service regulations. I'll keep researching.

One thing I thought of was the fact that a sternwheeler can be more easily used as a towboat than a sidewheeler. Easier to lash a barge alongside and easier (with slight modifications) to push a barge or barges ahead. This fits right in with the economic factor...more freight hauled with the same crew, little increase in fuel.

Now, let me preface this with the disclaimer that I'm just a po' mountain boy raised in Northern California where the Sacramento River is just a trout stream & I'm not referencing any historical documents, just doin' some "in my head figgering."
A side wheeler, by it's nature requires paddleboxes to protect the wheels and the passengers; the sternwheeler doesn't, although River Lines usually boxed theirs to give a "more modern" look to the boat. Boxes complicate wheel servicing, and tend to keep junk in the wheel, causing further damage.
OK, one downside, now some other thoughts:
Sidewheels are place mid-ships, so the engine room is too. This provides an obstacle to go around for both passengers and freight; sternwheel engine room is at the 'far end" of the boat, eliminating the inconvenience. This also means that boiler placement has to be considered to balance the waterline. The Boiler room can be configured to not take up the full width of the deck, unlike the engine room, so it's easier to get around (loading heavy freight, etc.). On later boats, like the DQ, the boiler room was placed below the main deck (traditionally called the boiler deck), third factor!
Fourth, the sternwheel is somewhat protected from water-born hazards by the hull--but, as we all know, not completely protected!!!
Then there is, as has been mentioned, the complications of two wheels, more wheel bearings, oftentimes two engines (the stearnwheel cylinders, although on opposite sides of the boat, are in essences one engine).
Not to be ignored, however, is the greater maneuverability of sidewheels that can be operated independently of each other. I have seen the DQ using her bow thruster (yes, a "modern" addition) practically turn herself around within her own length, so eventually that would not be an important factor.
Ok, just some thoughts, feel free to debunk them!

Here it is: the railroads. Fierce competition from railroads in the later third of the 19th century just about ran the river business off the map. The packet trade went into a steep decline and the only hope was towing freight. This would have put the shipyards into sternwheel mode. They kept building sidewheelers into the 20th century but not on the same scale as they had been. Old habits die hard, so there were those who just liked the sidewheelers and kept building them. The only sidewheeler I was ever on was the President and there was a barnyard of room between the engines. The Presidents boilers were below the deck and one could have played a football game on the main deck. So I'm guessing that the old packets had the same situation, except for the boilers being on the main deck. If so, they could stow an astounding amount of freight from stem to stern.

I find it curious that someone hasn't replicated a period proper side wheeler if not just for fun.

Not even Disney.

Loss of passengers...

I agree with Lexie that the railroads taking the passengers off the river is probably the biggest cause of re-design of vessels. Who needs a fast boat when you're carrying bulk like cotton, lumber, coal? We've all seen the stern wheelers on the LMR loaded with cotton bales to the hurricane and a companion barge strapped alongside piled high. I would imagine the side w were limited on strapping barges alongside as heavy tonnage would require flanking around bends, landings, etc. and without flanking rudders in front of the wheels would be a tough challenge, if not impossible. I seem to recall the
4th(?) Natchez was a sternwheeler vs. the palatial side wheelers that bore the same name previously. I think the side wheelers, especially the monstrous LMR vessels, were more appealing in appearance ( JM White, etc. ) but bulk tonnage demands possibly made them impractical and out dated. Neat discussion folks! Keep the thoughts flowing...Luke ( in St Louis building a tow)

The Island Queen was a sidewheeler. Also, currently in existance is the Black & Mitchell with sidewheels. Although they were only dredges and didn't carry passengers. I too have wondered why not take one and convert to a passenger boat. 1 Wheel vs. 2 is almost an elemetary economics lesson. I am betting as well that money was the final nail in the coffin for the sidewheelers.

Having run a whole bunch of boats up and down the ditch for a number of years, including having spent thousands of hours and miles piloting a sidewheel and fabricating an oratorical narrative here and there regarding paddlewheels for educational/entertainment purposes, My thoughts are:
Side wheels came first because, only the deep, wide midsection could withstand the torque, to begin with. Also sidewheels didn't interfere with rudders, steam started out as sail assist on blue water. Placing the wheel midships also kept it in the water battling waves. Early riverboats mimicked ocean boats, Fulton's Folly wasn't the "Clermont", it was the "New Orleans", which made it down during high water, but too deep a draft forever prevented the return. Henry Shreve changed that with hog chaining or post tensioning, which allowed for shallow draft hulls. Wheels could now be put on the stern, where more power could be applied and the wheel protected from debris by the hull, but sidewheels were still more maneuverable cuz sternwheels had the rudder mounted in front of the wheel on the hull, hence were more maneuverable in reverse, unless they really had a lot of headway as there was no wheel wash on the rudder going ahead. With the advent of steel and other refinements in hog chaining as well as steam engine and pittman design, allowed the stern sections to be beefed up enough to not only mount a stern wheel, but place "Monkey Rudders" behind the wheel. Finally the stern wheel could compete and surpass the sidewheel. In essence, it was an evolution. The side wheel steers like a controlled wobble kind of like standing in the middle of a teeter totter, you have a fulcrum and a forward and aft lever working against one another; whilst the stern wheel smoothed all that out, one lever, one fulcrum. Try balancing a yard stick on end in the palm of your hand, not too hard, that is a stern wheel. Balance it side to side, not so easy, a lot of energy is lost in correction. As material science and engineering advanced, monkey rudders melded into main rudders, main rudders became flanking rudders, sternwheels became the most efficient way to move tonnage, and remained so up until and even after WWII.
Me, I am prejudiced, I love my little sidewheeler, and I think I can have her dance on water as no other vessel can, complete with "dosey doe and promenade home", but there is no doubt that the sternwheel is an all around better adaptation, as history has born out. The men who built the river steamers did so with ingenuity, trial, error and a lot of guts. I am still humbled when ere I discover a new gem of ingenuity devised by the early pioneers of our craft. And Henry Shreve is one of my heroes.

Was the Fulton/Roosevelt 1812 vessel a sidewheeler or a sternwheeler, and was it's name NEW ORLEANS or ORLEANS? Newspapers of the day reported it both ways. I recently read an interview from an 1870 Madison, In. paper of an "old timer" who claimed to have seen the first steamboat and he said the name was ORLEANS and it was a sternwheeler. I really don't know.
The attached early wood cut shows a sternwheel named ORLEANS.

My guess is the very early steam engines that found their way aboard these first steamboats were still of the design already familiar at that time -- i.e. the original upright vertical affair, using a walking beam. And the more complex design using a pair of horizontal engines with cut-offs was yet to come (within another decade)... So the NEW ORLEANS (or ORLEANS) was more likely a sidewheeler, in my mind... But that's just my guess... 🙂

*Sidewheel/Sternwheel/Economics/Questions*
Steamboating colleagues:
Catching up again, reviewing the above postings RE: 'Sidweheel vs. Sternwheel' noting all the great ideas, information. Basically econonmics were the final deciding factor on the bottom line of steamboat ledger books and finance reports. Granted there were records of big cotton shipments..."thousands of bales"...others mention many of the big cotton 'brag boats' never lived up to their earning capacity. Yet, there were exceptions. Their size, operating expenses, fuel, need for dual engineers, firemen etc. cost big money. As late as the 1920s the mighty sidewheel KATE ADAMS strayed from her usual trade in the south seeking fortune up here on the Ohio River appearing as a near great ghost. Capt. Fred Way wrote of her in his books and later in his S&D REFLECTOR. The mighty "Ever lovin' KATE" was sumpthin' else in her day. Ed Frazier's mention of the last ISLAND QUEEN certainly jolted my early memories seeing her great engines rolling over. And the last IQ did vibrate, shimmy underway you could feel standing on the top decks. In spite of the horrific explosion and fire on her September, 1947, her hull and engines were later found to be in good order and intact. They 'could' have been remounted in a new boat for CONEY ISLAND but by then CONEY CEO Ed Schott was more than 'spooked' with any thought of going back into the excursion boat operation for the park--which was already in decline following 1945 and the end of W.W. II.

Steve Huffman right on about engines. The famed 'walking beam engine' an adaptation of Watt's low pressure engines used in pumping English coal mines, running mill equipment were of the cross-head type. Then the appearance of the true walking beam engine up to 1850. Earlier boats equipped with the so termed "Steeple" or "'A' Frame" enging upright connected to the earlier cross-head; then the walking beam converting vertical or horizontal engine movement to roatary by cams, journals, cranks etc. driving wheels.

Upright engines early on so mounted to conserve space somewhat. Metal technology then saw very heavy horizontal steamboat engine cylinders and pistons facing unusual friction wear on the bottom sides. Walking beams still ran in limited numbers down to the 1920/1930s and a tad later. Others operated with single, double or triple incline reciproacting engines.

The big fuss over the ORLEANS or NEW ORLEANS still surfaces as does the question of the early CLERMONT or NORTH RIVER STEAMBOAT. With no photography then only a few artists renderings from 'folk art' to refined survive--but with no small amount of debate. Other written diaries, letters, living memories often run conter to each other. This question and debate too involved to open now similar to still brewing NATCHEZ vs. ROBT. E. LEE debates. I have in the archives, Literary Club of Cincinnati, a surviving writing/memoir of the ORLEANS or NEW ORLEANS first 1811 stop in Cincinnati causing a lot of excitement. "People ran to the river, dogs barked and howled." The boat did not land at the bank but remained anchored off shore with people rowing out, clambering aboard to visit. Cap'n Walnut [Tom Schiffer] has a fine writing/research on the topic he could share. No doubt master model builder John Fryant can add more information. Again, what do I know?

R. Dale Flick
Coal Haven Landing, Ohio River, Cincinnati

Sternwheel vs sidewheel

Mr R

The time period and trade, or rivers of operation, are also important considerations in the argument. Although I have not analized the build stats, my gut feel is that the steamboats built in the Pittsburgh region were predominately sternwheelers.

I concede that sidewheelers were usually faster and more maneuverable. But sidewheelers also required a larger crew of engineers which converts to greater expense. Also I do not believe you ever had a sternwheeler on the Hudson River because of its wide deep navigable waters. The Missouri River was a bit different ─ “too thick to drink and too thin to plow” according to artist George Catlin ─ a dangerous river known by pilots as “The Misery”.

The Poes and Calhoons from Georgetown, PA switched from sidewheel to sternwheel designed boats in the 1850’s. The Poes followed the general design evolution of the Pittsburgh region which included the boatyards in Brownsville, California, Elizabeth, Freedom, Shousetown, etc. Their light draft “mountain boats” designed for the Missouri River, found abundant opportunities on the Mississippi River after cold weather put an end to navigation on the northern rivers. When larger sidewheel packets were out of commision due to the winter stage of the Mississippi, freight rates would rise for transporting flour and other merchandise to New Orleans and other southern ports. The Poe philosophy made sense and proved its worth by returning good profits over the years.

The upper Missouri River steamers of the 1860’s were a breed to themselves. These vessels were not the slower-than-an-island deep water boats of the lower Mississippi River. The average Missouri River packet was a sternwheeler 165 feet long not including the wheel. It was 30 feet wide and its draft was about 4 feet when loaded and 20 inches empty. The weight of the boat was close to 300 tons and its capacity was between 200-300 tons. Most “mountain boats” had two decks with the pilot house on top although some had a Texas deck with luxurious cabin space. [1]

The finest Poe mountain boat, the str Nick Wall, built in Pittsburgh in1869, was 180x33x5 and rated at 338 tons. [2]

Most Poe family boats were not large for their day. The Poe brothers believed that moderately sized sternwheelers yielded a better return on their investment. Costing less and shallow enough in draft because of their size, Poe boats could run, especially on the upper Ohio and Missouri Rivers, when the river level was too low for larger craft to operate. They could make more paying trips per season than owners of larger boats.

At the sharp edge of a continually moving frontier, the sternwheel design produced a striking functional power in river transportation.

Fran Nash

References.
1. John G Lepley, Packets to Paradise Steamboating to Fort Benton, (River & Plains Society, 2001), p 81.
2. Frederick Way, Jr.,Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994, (Ohio University Press, Athens 1994), p. 347-348.