Surviving Western River Style Steam Engines

hi all
The oldest western rivers steam engine I am aware of went into a boat the "Missouri Packet" built winter 1819 at Chillicothe loaded with salt pork and flour for Fort Atkinsen in Nebraska. She was floated to Louisville where one engine was installed. she was a boatjack vessel and has a balance wheel on the shaft on the port side. The piping was all copper. The valve was a sliding valve. The engine may have had a cut off valve. If I remember right the Western Engineer got a cutoff valve in Louisville. The boat was snagged near Boonville, Missouri and is now housed with the Arabia in KC.

Mo Packet engine

Hi I will try again to send a copy of my drawing of the engine>

Unfortunately, to my knowledge the QUEEN OF SEATTLE is not currently running, but if she runs again, her engines date back to the 1880's. There's nothing replica about them! Before being placed on the COP-R-LOY/DETROITER the engines were on the towboat W.F.SMITH built in 1918. She according to Way's Towboat Directory received them used from the sawmill boat RAY. The story of the engines even goes back further as the RAY got these engines off of the packet ANDY HATCHER built at Charleston, W.VA. in 1889. So it's quite possible they are the oldest surviving steam marine engines in America. I'll let that point to the BELLE OF LOUISVILLE folks to figure out though.

Speaking of the Minnie, there was a gentleman on the Belle last season with pictures of engines he had built as exact copies of the Minnie's.