Topic starter
20/05/2012 12:52 pm
The Sunday 20 May 2012 edition of the St Louis Post Dispatch Community Section has a half page article (above the fold no less, by P-D writer Tim O'Neil) on the sinking on 18 May 1947 of the Steamer [antique as stated in the article] Golden Eagle while on her way from St. Louis to Nashville, TN. Three of the 4 photos are credited to the P-D. A small photo of Capt. Nathan Smith
20/05/2012 7:45 pm
Capt. Blum, thank you for mentioning the Golden Eagle article in the P.D. I almost always peruse the entire section but this week the front page focus was on the continuing and never ending need for more taxpayer dollars to fund stadium improvements. Consequently I set the section aside and would have missed this informative article. And I also have a question regarding the Eagle Packet Line that perhaps you can answer. Were any of the E.P.L.'s assets acquired by Streckfus? I know that Streckfus purchased several of the Diamond Joe vessels.
Topic starter
20/05/2012 10:58 pm
Don't think any assets were purchased by Streckfus. Hopefully Keith will fill us in next week on more details; like who were the St Louis owners when the Golden Eagle sank as mentioned in the P-D article. Suspect Keith is pretty busy this weekend at HSM.
20/05/2012 11:30 pm
Golden Eagle Sinking Anniversary
Indeed, it has been a whirlwind of work and fun at the Howard Steamboat Museum this weekend! My old boat column for the May 28th issue of The Waterways Journal will feature the 65th anniversary of the GOLDEN EAGLE sinking.
Streckfus did not acquire any assets of the Eagle Packet Company. After the sinking of the "GOLDIE" Capt. Buck Leyhe and his brother, Capt. Henry Leyhe, focused their time and energy on the management of the Eagle Boat Store, on Wharf Street, just above the Eads Bridge. The boat store evolved into Eagle Marine Industries in later years and today is at Sauget, Illinois. The old boat store building burned in 1972 and was razed.
21/05/2012 3:43 pm
Link to the article
Here's an online link to the article, if anyone hasn't seen it yet. A Look Back. One thing to not miss is the associated images. They are found through the 'Images' tab, but I've included the link here too: Image : A Look Back.
21/05/2012 6:31 pm
Thanks for the link. I don't know much about Capt. Buck Leyhe but he certainly must have been quite an iconic figure.
22/05/2012 2:53 pm
Anybody know whatever happened to the engines? I would assume they were scrapped?
22/05/2012 3:50 pm
Phillip: As you surmised, the engines of the GOLDEN EAGLE (built here at Howard's as the WM. GARIG in 1904) were scrapped (along with just about everything else) by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Thanks to the efforts of Ruth Ferris, the pilothouse was salvaged and sold to Ruth for the sum of $257. Read more about this saga in next week's issue of The Waterways Journal!