Str. James Lee at Memphis, 1910

*JAMES LEE, Memphis, 1910*
Hi, Jim:
WOW! and double WOW! The JAMES LEE, Memphis, 1910, real winners. This is better than Christmas plumb pudding. Differing loads and types of cargo tell a story all their own. I'd opine the large sacks are possibly cotton seed or cotton meal, which was a hot commercial item in those days. The "bunch of wagons," upon closer examination, are all brand new and of the same make. They were agricultural wagons used for cotton and cotton by products in the south. To the stern you see the great ['Ever lovin' KATE] the huge KATE ADAMS.

Lots of activity, hustle and bustle along with 'wharf rats' lounging, watching all the action. No doubt the cool to cold season as people wearing darker, heavy coats; leaves on trees nonexistent. I noted in this 1910 shot the rude appearance of telephone/electric poles. This a portent of things to come, big changes. Again, thanks for your offerings.

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

The third boat is the CITY OF ST. JOSEPH.

tHE WAGON TO THE RIGHT IN THE FIRST PICTURE has the look of a dump wagon. from a old teamster and historian

I went back and looked again the four wagons in the guards sure look like dump wagons the one on the bow is a regular farm wagon with extentions added to the box

*Dump wagons on JAMES LEE*
Hi, Carl,
I'd take the word of an "old teamster and historian" in the blink of an eye. I also noted the offset in the front of the wagon body. Seems wagons like this also hauled harvested cotton etc. to the mill for dumping, processing. No doubt multiple uses. Rememember the term "drayage" with horse and wagons in long ago childhood? Also "teams" and then "teamsters." I didn't see many, but the last urban horse and wagons I saw here in Cincinnati just after W.W. II, were the CITY ICE CO. still making home delivery. My grandmother would turn the blue/white sign in the front window indicating a 25 cent or larger 50 cent ice block. The ice was in the back on sawdust with a heavy canvas covering. The ice man wore a long leather apron with huge tongs to clamp the ice, bring it inside. Next was the 'rags, paper and iron' wagon with two horses. It was a dual operation with the husband driving one wagon, his wife the other in coveralls, straw hat, work boots. Her name was Susie and she knew, waved to all the kids in the neighborhood. FELDMAN COAL CO. at Coal Haven Landing had employed motor trucks already for some years. They'd dump it on the street or drive with option to shovel your own coal down the shute into the basement coal bin, or hire one of FELEDMAN'S 'coal heavers' to do the job for you; paid independently. Well, what do I know?

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

Str. James Lee at Memphis, 1910

Mom did a painting of the Str. James Lee that you can see at Marion Sue Bradford Thompson | World Class Steamboat, Landscape and Oriental from Missisippi River Delta
You can see the painting I have there in the Gallery of Work then click on Steamboat Collection. In fact she did paintings of most of the Lee Line Steamboats.

Yeah, Dale. I remember the huckster wagons and the French Bauer milk wagons in Covington. Dad built some houses on Upland Avenue and the foundations were dug with mule and scoop. The team would come up in the early morning from the Trenkamp Livery Stable on Highland Avenue, pulling a wagon. The scoop would be in the back of the wagon. The scoop would be unloaded and hitched to the team and the mule skinner would take the reins. With a voice that would shatter glass he would gently admonish the mules to action. Grabbing one of the two handles of the scoop he would lift it to give the scoop a bite into the earth and then the whip would crack like a pistol shot as it struck the off mule's buttock. There was NO hair left there! The mules would desperately lean into the harness and their legs flail the turf for purchase and the scoop would fill as the skinner filled the air with music that would make a steamboat mate green with envy. The filled scoop was pulled to the spoil area and the handles lifted to dump. At noon, the mules were unhitched and taken to the rear of the wagon box where they were watered and fed with ears of horse corn. As a four-year-old, I'd steal a ride on top of the overturned scoop as the mules returned for another load...to the consternation of the skinners (I was the boss's son). Yeah, Dale, life was really romantic back then...if you were the boss's son (and not the mule)! Yep, them wuz the daze! Cap'n Walnut.