SPRAGUE Whistle

Hey Keith,
From being around whistles and whistles blows as a hobby in the last 20 years at first view I'd guess this was one of many Liberty Ship whistles from WWII. I wonder if there is a military connection with any of her crew. Of course whistles come and go about as much as a packet makes landings so this educated guess could be out in left field. But still a guess. Interesting stuff for sure. Wish the MHS stuff was still on display.....somewhere.

Aaron

My first thought was that it was the HURONACO's ready whistle. 😉

Frank is usually right, but I thought it was the HURONACO's warning whistle for a sharp bend before her articulated couplings started to work as she rounded the bend.

Well, Bill, I wouldn't argue with you.

What I am about to say comes from memory, spelling of name is probably incorrect. The whistle in the photo posted by Keith at MHS an attributed to the Str. Sprague I thought has a notation that it (whistle) was donated by or on loan by Chapin Newhart or Newhard (sp?).

The name Chapin Newhart as I remember was in the Investment Business in Downtown St Louis and had some attraction to or "business" connected also with the River. I believe it was he and probably some "associates" that bought or had built the M/V Golden Arrow to use for private parties for their club or organization.

End of feeble memory. I have no hard documentation for any of the above [except for the fact that I have a photo of the whistle when it was on display at MHS in the building then known as The Jefferson Memorial] and make no pretense of verifying or denying the authenticity or have any idea where the whistle might reside today.

Capt. Jim is very correct in that Chapin S. Newhard was prominent in St. Louis business circles and was instrumental in the 1964 construction of the posh sternwheeler yacht GOLDEN ARROW, which was built at Dubuque and long a fixture on the St. Louis waterfront. In the last few operating years of the ADMIRAL, the GOLDEN ARROW was moored to the Streckfus wharfboat. I don't recall what her final disposition was before/after the wharfboat was sold, although in 1976 I saw the GOLDEN ARROW in Florida, then being utilized as a wharfboat for the excursion boat TOM SAWYER. Seems that she was back in St. Louis after this sighting.

There was considerable controversy about the single barrel whistle being from the SPRAGUE. As J. Mack Gamble once said, there is hardly a whistle on the river that isn't surrounded by controversy! Jack Custer did exhaustive research, with the able assistance of Miss Ruth Ferris, who had been curator of the river collections at the Missouri Historical Society (1957-1965) and who found that the whistle had also seen service on the towboat W.W. O'NEIL. During the summer of 1995, Jimmy Swift arranged for a special tour, with the museum registrar, of the MHS collections storage building. Judy Patsch and I were included in this behind-the-scenes safari. All of the wonderful steamboat treasures from the once elegant River Room (including the SPRAGUE whistle and a number of others) were safely stored on shelves but, alas, very much out of the public eye.

I probably ought not comment on this Bill, and Frank. Well, some might say it was the ready whistle. Others might say the articulation whistle, but to me it looks like the low water whistle which was the only thing left when she sank there in Gunpowder Chute behind Rose Island...others say Coney Island. Fred Laidley said (I mention Fred only because I know Dale is out of the country) that he commissioned a dozen of them made down at the Rabbit Hash Iron Works and they made thirteen, so the odd one went to the HURONICO. As soon as they hit low water in Gunpowder Chute, it blew! Cap'n Walnut

Well, Tom, I won't argue with you either. Looks like you've done some mighty fine research there. I did notice that you spelled the HURONACO's name HURONICO. Fred Way once commented that her name was HURONACO down at the old Cincinnati office of The Delta Queen Steamboat Co. when the DQ and MQ were owned by Overseas National Airways (ONA). I think Dayton Randolph might have spelled it the way you do.

Capt. Fred spelled the boat's name HURRONICO.

In Pilotin' Comes Natural Capt. Fred spelled the boat's name H U R R O N I C O.

Sigh! A rose by any other name would smell... Cap'n Walnut

*RE: SPRAGUE whistle & photo*

Steamboating colleagues:
Keith's period photo he took of the purported SPRAGUE whistle is a dandy for sure. Not small by any standards compared to the two chairs on either side or that of an averaqe height person. I know little to nothing RE: whistles or calliopes, but as a kid do remember hearing the last of the 'wildcat whistles' on the last of the steam towboats on foggy nights near Coal Haven Landing and Dayton Bar near Saint Rose Church on old Eastern Avenue in Cincinnati.

AJ Richardson makes a good point on the possiblity of a World War II Liberty Ship but, again, who knows? I can assure you from experience our U.S. Navy after 1920 instituted a detailed system of nomenclature identification using an 'alpha-numeric' system of letters/numbers on nearly each and every component, piece of equipment, materials used to the present day--down to desks, chairs, typewriters, engine and navigation fittings, gagues visible on metal label plates. I was charged in keeping detailed records of these plates in our office files. If only we could check the whistle out in question looking for any maker marks, engravings/casting or possible nomenclature markings. Looking again at the very top of the whistle in Keith's photo, I find it hard to discern if there is simply a tightening bolt or one with an acorn atop.

When Capt. Tom Greene purchased the DELTA QUEEN in 1947 certain U.S. Navy equipment was still aboard bearing those markings from the Navy. This included a second magnetic compass in her pilothouse now on deposit at the Ohio River Museum, Marietta, Ohio, courtesy of the estate of the late Charles Brown of Cincinnati and wife Lorena. There were two such compases on the DQ and the first dated to her completion bearing the maker's mark from a San Francisco company. May be unusal for a steamboat but the DK/DQ did use compases navigating on expansive San Francisco bay during fog or inclement weather. Well, what do I know?

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

Hi Dale,
After taking a second long look at the whistle photo, I can tell that the item at the top of the whistle is an elongated acorn nut. Look again at the very top, and you can see a couple of threads extending above the nut. This must be the end of a long threaded rod. Also at the bottom of the nut, you can see the flats of the hex type nut. ~ Frank Grimm ~