Streckfus Str. WASHINGTON on the Ohio

Another view of the restored pilothouse and stacks from the Streckfus Str. WASHINGTON, now a boat/pool house along the Missouri River. And a parting shot from the camera of C.W. Stoll as the Streckfus Str. SAINT PAUL (later the SENATOR) heads downriver, taken from the bridge at Madison, Indiana.

And here is the WASHINGTON in her pre-Streckfus excursion boat days as the SIDNEY, snapped ca. 1917 up at McGregor, IA, underway with calliope tootlin' away. Wonder if that could possibly be Fate Marable at the keyboard? With all those flags flying, perhaps it was a special occasion or holiday . . .

SIDNEY and her flags

Here are 3 more of the SIDNEY in her Streckfus days, pre-WASHINGTON remodel. She's flying flags in all of these, so I suspect that was standard procedure. They all appear to be US flags, which keeps the patriotic Streckfus tradition alive - flags were painted on stairwell covers, boats were given patriotic names, etc.
1)There is a calliope player visible, but no steam shows. Note the man in the straw hat at the end of the gangplank - he is behind a stand and is selling tickets, not only for boarding, but for trading in for purchases onboard. This served 2 purposes: only a Streckfi handled the money, and if a customer didn't use all his coupons, no refunds were given - so one might as well use them all.
2) Flags aflying in the Keokuk lock, which was built in conjunction with the dam the Keokuk Power Co. financed in 1913.
3) near the Keokuk dam - wonder what the other boat is in the background? The GW HILL, perhaps?

Here's one I have of the SIDNEY, American flags flyin'. You'll notice the flash in the upper left-hand corner. This was inside the men's room on the SPIRIT OF PEORIA. This just looks like what a steamboat should look like and I liked the picture so much, I took a picture....of the picture 🙂

Man, this is great! Every new picture posted elicits another view and another and another from all the dot.orgers. This could only happen via the miracle of the internet (are you watching all this, Franz? Thank you!) In Judy's wonderful phrase, this is a regular Streckfustravaganza. So, keeping the ball rolling (or the wheel turning) here's a shot snapped in 1922, probably, at Davenport, showing the entire Streckfus excursion fleet except for the CAPITOL, which may have been running her trips down at New Orleans yet if this view is before or after the regular Streckfus season on the Upper. From left to right are the local ferry W. J. QUINLAN, the J.S. DELUXE, SAINT PAUL, and WASHINGTON. Question is, how long did the boats winter in the Quad Cities? When did they finally move to St. Louis, and this one's for Judy: I've heard that the boats were laid up in the off-season in Sylvan Slough down there and that the work on converting them from the old Diamond Jo packets to excursion vessels took place there also. Is that right? Have you run across any photos of the boats together there?

Okay, this brings up a question as to Strecfus Scrip. No refunds were given, but if one decided they needed more after boarding, could it be purchased on board during the trip?

Bob,

My bet is that Annie Blum could answer your question for sure. And I would also not be surprised if Streckfus had additional scrip available for purchase at the purser's office on board, where family members of course would handle those transactions.

A Streckfi was on board with tickets

Exactly right, Dave. They'd never pass up a chance to make more money!

SIDNEY wintering in Credit Island Slough

David Tschiggfrie;18385 wrote: Question is, how long did the boats winter in the Quad Cities? When did they finally move to St. Louis, and this one's for Judy: I've heard that the boats were laid up in the off-season in Sylvan Slough down there and that the work on converting them from the old Diamond Jo packets to excursion vessels took place there also. Is that right? Have you run across any photos of the boats together there?

The Streckfus corporate office moved to St. Louis in 1915, but they kept a carpenter shop and wintering headquarters here until the early 1920s, at least. In one of Louie Armstrong's biographies he says he remembers coming up to Davenport to get on one of those big Streckfus steamboats to start the season. He worked on them 1919-20. Much of the conversion work from packet to excursion boats was done here, but it was in Credit Island Slough, not Sylvan Slough. CI Slough is between Credit Island and western Davenport, straight across the river from my museum - UMR 480. Sylvan Slough is upriver between Arsenal Island and Rock Island/Moline, about UMR 484. I've never seen any pictures of the boats wintering or being converted here, but you'd think there would be some - another project at a library I guess. Here is the only picture I have in the Credit Island Slough, and it is really featuring the ice cutting for local iceboxes, and the SIDNEY just happens to be in the picture. No date is on it. I guess this wintery scene takes us full circle from Keith's original posting about the last days of summer and excursion boats! By the way, the pix you posted of the QUINLAN and the 3 Streckfus boats: there was a huge mural of it behind the soda fountain in the W.T. Grant store in downtown Davenport. As soon as I heard it was closing, I called to ask what would happen to the mural, never got a reply. Later I saw it on the wall at the Davenport Chamber of Commerce office.

Streckfus ticket stand

Here is a better view of that ticket stand for the SIDNEY. Notice it says to buy tickets before going aboard - that refers to both the boarding pass and the concession tickets. It looks like a boat officer has replaced the strawhatted man at the booth, but he is there observing.

W.T. Grant Store Mural

WOW! David, I have been trying to track down that photo for years. I used to take the ferry TRANSIT from Rock Island to Davenport on weekends to swim at the Natatorium in the late 50's. After the swim we'd go over to the W.T. Grant store for a soda. I've never forgotten that photo (it was really large) and the boats were magnificent. Please let me know if you have a high-resolution file of that photo you could send me so I can make a print. I would be grateful.

Jerry

Annie Blum here. This note is just barely on the subject. My first knowledge of the Streckfus Family being called Streckfi was from an assistant steward on the 4th deck of the Admiral. His name was Jim Wyrich and he has since gone to his rest. He was a co-teacher at the high school where I taught at that time; this was about 1967. He was a biology teacher and because of the tendency to use the "fi" in the plural of certain organisms, he started referring to the collective members as "Streckfi". You have read this testament from an eye witness.

A colleague of the Commodore wrote a letter to the Waterways Journal, I think in the 20's, saying nice things about him but also saying that the Commodore could see through a 2x5 board if there was a fifty cent piece underneath. Most of you know the expression that the brothers knew how many sandwiches there were in a ham. Also, a member of the family without the surname "Streckfus" told me that he got in a lot of trouble because he was working on the gate and took it upon himself to refund some tickets instead of taking the matter to another family member. It was preferable to place family members in such places as the purser's office and on the Admiral, checks were not taken from passengers and charge cards were unheard of. When a passenger was in need, especially before a mealtime, a way could be found to cash a check. Now we can laugh at these things but the family knew they could trust each other and in time they knew the few others that could be trusted. They understood good business practices and did not miss a change to come out on top. I guess that one of the reasons they lasted so long in the excursion business.

I plumb forgot to mention that, in the first image, of the WASHINGTON at New Martinsville, that's Capt. Fred Way (who was one of her pilots) standing on the stage. The Ford automobile on the landing belongs to the photographer, J. Mack Gamble, longtime Upper Ohio River correspondent for The Waterways Journal, who lived in a big house on the river at Clarington, Ohio and was a school principal.

Streckfi, ADMIRAL

Jim Blum;18398 wrote: Annie Blum here. This note is just barely on the subject. My first knowledge of the Streckfus Family being called Streckfi was from an assistant steward on the 4th deck of the Admiral. His name was Jim Wyrich and he has since gone to his rest. He was a co-teacher at the high school where I taught at that time; this was about 1967. He was a biology teacher and because of the tendency to use the "fi" in the plural of certain organisms, he started referring to the collective members as "Streckfi". You have read this testament from an eye witness.

Interesting! I guess as a language teacher I just did the singular/plural kind of out of habit, like alumnus/alumni. I like it better than Streckfusses or some other kind of plural.

I guess with the ADMIRAL's schedule it was pretty easy for teachers to work on her during the summer - back in the day when we had the summer off. Just exactly what was the ADMIRAL's schedule, Memorial Day through Labor Day for public trips? Did they do dockside charters or concerts during the winter? I would think that ballroom would have been one of the larger venues in the city. On a related note, just what crew was kept yearround for her?

A few more photos I dredged up from the Streckfi-Files"!

(1) SIDNEY At New Orleans.
(2) PRESIDENT - from the Eads Bridge at St. Louis.
(3) Passengers boarding the SIDNEY for an excursion.

And here are a few more from the files of "STRECKFI"...

(1) J.S. #1 (built at Jeffersonville) at a landing with calliope playing.
(2) WASHINGTON leaving lock.
(3) WASHINGTON at Parkersburg, West Virginia.

Aboard the Streckfus Str. SENATOR (formerly the SAINT PAUL)

(1) SENATOR pilothouse and LOTS of wooden gingerbread & jigsaw railing! - Photo by Bill Torner.
(2) View from SENATOR pilothouse - note steam towboat at right - C.W. Stoll photo.
(3) SENATOR life boat - 1940 - photo by Bill Torner

Jerry,

Glad you enjoyed seeing the Davenport photo again after all these years. Please check your private messages on the board regarding that picture.

David

Yes Judy, you are right. The Admiral was chuck full of students and teachers, especially students because the school year, as it was then, was perfect. The season usually started the weekend before Memorial or Decoration Day and ended at Labor Day. A few years she did remain open on weekends through September but mostly for moonlight trips. After the close of the season she was left in place at the foot of Washington and closed in with temporary screens and the canvas down. Everything was pulled out of place and washed down, repairs made and improvements taken care of. Only once can I find a mention of the Admiral spending the winter north of Eads Bridge, right after she started running maybe in '43. Only seldom was she used for any event off season. To us this does seem odd and especially for people who knew ways to make the dollar. It also seems odd to me that she ran seven days a week only the first few years, maybe the first three. It is true that the boilers needed one day but there were years when she was closed two days a week. I remember that myself. Other years she ran six days and that seemed more in keeping with an attraction that is dependent on seasonal dollars. I am not sure, but I imagine that a lot of time was spent figuring projected numbers of passengers versus the cost involved. Of course they knew what it took to break even. The winter crew consisted, for the most part of the salaried crew such as masters, mate, most deckhands, stewards (usually not the pilot) and part of the 4th deck crew consisting of adult women. After the little boats came into play about 1974, it became more necessary to keep people on the payroll for the 4th deck, to cook for charters as well as do regular Admiral winter work. After a few years, a kitchen was built specifically for the little boats in conjunction with the "north leg" complex.

When she first came out, the Admiral day trip lasted all day from 10 a.m. until about 5 p.m. Remember that I am working from memory here but this is a good general idea. Everything would turn around in time to leave the dock again at 9p.m. and return at midnight. The day trips gradually became shorter and in her last year or so, she sadly ran only from 11 a.m. until 3p.m. The last few years the day trips were either 5 or 6 days a week and the moonlights were 4 days a week, Thursday through Sunday. There was live music every trip and at night (during my time) there was one band in the ballroom and another band on the 4th deck. Of course this last band was a source of aggravation to the pilothouse because the band was placed well forward. The canvas was kept down to help with the light and the sound, well, that was another thing to be dealt with and Jim would know more about that.

Annie Blum

ADMIRAL trips

My first trip was in June 1956, and it went from 10 to 4:30. In 1961 I think it was 10:30 to 4:00, and as you said, it just kept getting shorter. While a 2 hour trip is standard now on what is left operating, the ADMIRAL was so big it could take hours just to check out everything and to walk the whole boat. It was really a whole amusement park/dance hall/sightseeing/sunbathing vessel. Those on .org who never set foot aboard her can't imagine her vast expanse... When I was going to NOLA for the first time in 1974 and planning to ride the PRESIDENT, my dad advised me that it would be like being on the ADMIRAL, only much smaller. He was right. In later years after the ADMIRAL ceased running, I never considered the PREZ to be small, but her 291x84 was dwarfed by the ADMIRAL's 374x92 and 6 decks. (And while the AQ's 418x92 is bigger, it doesn't have the same effect, since you can't stand at one end and look all the way back to the other inside.)

Thanks, Annie and Judy for your rememberances. I did ride the PRESIDENT, but sadly, never the ADMIRAL.

Judy speaks of standing at one end of the cabin and looking all the way to the other end. I remember riding the PREZ in N.O. harbor and standing at the bow, watching the big boat "flex", bow to stern, as we met harbor tugs and ships. A real experience!

Annie Blum here. There is one last thought I want to add but I was in Marietta and it didn't get written.

Judy is quite right about the ability to stand at one end of the Admiral and see straight through to the other end. This was most evident in the pilothouse. It was exhilarating to sit on the lazy back bench or, if you were lucky, next to the pilot, especially as the boat was making her turn at the beginning of the trip.

During the process of stearing, the pilot would sometimes turn and visually check clear back to the stern. I inquired about this one time and was told that, "With a boat this long like a kite you have to look every once in a while to make sure that the stern end is going the same place the bow end is."

Bob, thank you for your nice comment and thank you all for the chance to share good memories.