Sultana Question

Cincinnati City Directory

The 1860 Cincinnati City Directory lists John Litherbury at 165 E. Third Street. I'm not sure if this is his home or business as it is the only listing for Mr. Litherbury that I could find in the directory.

The same directory also lists the following:
Ship Chandlers
Barker, Hart & Cook 44 Pub. Landing
Isham & Fisher 47 Pub. Landing

Steamboat Agents
Athearn & Hibbard 5 E. Front
Bennet, A. 14 Landing
Brown, H.W. & Co. 25 E. Front
Cox & Fulton 7 E. Front
Cunningham & Heron 22 W. Front
Irwin & Co. 22 Broadway
Johnston, Geo. L & Co. 29 W. Front
M'Burnie Theoph., 3 E. Front
Paul & Murdock 13 Water
Ross & Co. 33 Sycamore
Schram, A.D., 23 Walnut
Sherlock, Thomas 20 Broadway

Steamboat Builders
Hambleton, S.T. & Co. 1215 E. Front
Horsley & Ehler 248 W. Front
Johnson, Morton & Co. 585 Front

Steamboat Inspectors
Custom House Building
Guthrie, James V. 422 W. 6th
Haldeman, Thos. J. 57 E. 4th

Boat Stores
Barker, Hart & Cook 44 Public Landing
Cullen, James 46 Public Landing
Isham & Fisher 47 Public Landing
Witte, Ferdinand 17 E. Front

The 1863 Cincinnati City Directory gives a better clue. Considering the Sultana was built in 1863, this is the most accurate information I could find.

Litherbury, John, saw mill, s.s. E. Front e. of Willow, b. 131 E. Third

I interpret this to be south on East Front and East of Willow behind 131 E. Third. I hope this is correct.

Hi Mark, the Lithertbury yard was on Eastern Ave. ( now Riverside Drive) just about where the big crane is located at Cincinnati Barge & Rail terminal, what we old timers refer to as Sheet Metal. The Verdin Bell Co. plant is also close by. That would be in the 3000 block of Riverside Drive. The 131 3rd. address was the Litherbury residence. The Weeks shipyard was just downstream from Litherbury's and John Litherbury was married to a Weeks daughter. One reason researchers have a rough time in this area is because it was known as Fulton and not in the Cincinnati Corporation until about the 1860's.

Dale Flick will probably read this and respond. Dale did a rather complete research on all the yards in Fulton. I have searched the riverbank at Litherbury's and Cincinnati Marine Railways sites hoping to find treasure, received nothing but cuts, bruises and ticks!!

Shipyard searches

I guess I was a lot luckier then when I went into Kahlke's in November 1980 and found the donkey boiler from the PEARL. I didn't take it of course, but after my pictures appeared in the REFLECTOR, it disappeared. I also saw bits of the marine railway, secured too well. Usually the yard is underwater but this particular November brought low enough water to wander in there.

Thanks!

Thanks, Jeff and Capt. Bill, for the interesting information! I have a special interest in boat stores and ship chandlerys that supplied steamboats -- especially the Eagle Boat Store at St. Louis, which moved around to several waterfront locations. The late Capt. Roy Barkhau describes the cavernous interior in such wonderful detail in his 1951 book, A History of the Eagle Packet Company, that you feel you are right there amongst all the marine hardware!

Way's Packet Directory Listing

I made a new Sultana blog entry from Way's Packet Directory and Bill Judd's comments here (with trackback links). You can view it here. Any objections? Or am I overstepping my bounds?

Surviving the SULTANA

When Alan Huffman and I met, he was covering the Mississippi River news for the Jackson Clarion-Ledger newspaper and I had brought the 1792 flatboat replica, ADVENTURE GALLEY II, to the Vicksburg landing. Since, he has written a most interesting and informative book about "surviving the SULTANA explosion" based on true life experiences by those who lived through the Andersonville prison camp and then the calamity above Memphis. What really surprised me was that the Union men were marched under guard, by their own side, as though they were prisioners, to the SULTANA landed and waiting at Vicksburg where they were boarded for that fateful ride up the swollen river. For a look at Alan's book, see:

Sultana, Hardcover, by Alan Huffman, History Book Club® - historybookclub.com

I am planning to side-scan the present day Litherbury Ship Yard site with a HumminBird 3D Vision SideScan unit hoping to track and "see" anything at all. I believe that maps from the 1850s-60s have gotten me within 20-30 yards of the actual site. Mark Wiiloughby