The Georgia Lee at Louisville 1905

*RE: GEORGIA LEE at Louisville, 1905*
Hi, Jim & Steamboating colleagues:
WOW! Jim's GEORGIA LEE, 1905, good as Christmas goodies for me. This shot from SHORPY no doubt has been digitally cleaned up, enhanced to the point of almost 3-D. I've looked, scrolled back and forth, up and down taking it all in. This a classic and what real hardworking old time steamboat life was all about. Lots of action with the gawkers on the bank watching all. The rousters back and bellying the cargo aboard; then the passengers on the LEE ensconced on deck ready to steam out. The GEORGIA LEE was a Howard built boat, 1898 with a fairly long career until the Memphis-Cincinnati packet trade was abandoned, thanks in part to business decisions by Commodore Fred Laidley. The GL lost by fire at Memphis, 1918. I have a period Howard Yards photo here showing her brand spanking new just being finished, painted out fresh, pristine.

I find the waiting cargo equally as fascinating: Cases of 'Mica Axle Grease,' rag bales [Not cotton], spools of new hemp rope, possibly a boiler, huge wood beams, hogsheads no doubt with tobacco. That kid has one expensive bicycle even for that time. Some barrels no doubt empty. Those down in Lousville with sharp eyes may be able to identify the markings on the wood cases. Could they contain bourbon etc? No doubt not subject to the weather as they're being stacked outside. The more you look, the more you find. Notice who are doing all the heavy work. No steamboat romance where they are concerned.

SHORPY claims copyright, but many of these same photos are available from the Library of Congress. Thanks Jim. You made my day.

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

Georgia Lee in the WJ

Thanks Jim! A fabulous photo of a beautiful boat! My weekly "Old Boat Column" for the December 3rd issue of The Waterways Journal featured the GEORGIA LEE, including photos of when she sank in 1909 at the Paducah Marine Ways. Hard to believe that I've now written 50 columns for the WJ!

Wonderful picture...but it's not 1905...the GLENMORE sitting outside the Louisville/Evansville wharfboat wasn't around until 1906, so I would date the picture sometime in the summer 1906. Corn Island the original site of Louisville can be seen in the background. That sure is a load to freight they're loading on the boat. The poor rousters carrying those boxes up the stage have to carry them all the way to the roof where they are stacking them by the bell on the skylight roof.

*GEORGIA LEE date/SHORPY Photo etc.*
Keith, Jim & Steamboating colleagues:
Keith, what a concidence you just finished an article for the WJ on the GEORGIA LEE; and in know you did a fine job. Jim, I too questioned the 1905 date as mentioned with you nailing it down. Another case for 'steamboat forensics.' The more you look at these photos the more you find. I enlarged somewhat to the GL's stern in the area of her cookhouse. The inset area appears to have a work table with cabinets on the bulkhead. Possibly a work/prep area for dressing chickens, turkeys and other food items. Aft of that obviously a deep sink with a water line coming down; then a larger drain pipe from the bottom. Aft of that what appears to be water barrels; and one possibly has a hand pump for pumping water in pots of kettles. I see two men seated in chairs. One black man may be either a steward or cabin man with white shirt, black suit coat and hands behind his head.

We don't know what direction the GL is steaming--either up or down river. The huge bales of rags 'could' be intented for the concerns in Cincinnati who bought, shipped up bales of rags, cotton waste and batting for recycling here in town; thus the name 'Ragtown' for Cincinnati. A big concern here now has the contract to provide paper stock to the U.S, Mint for paper bills impregnated with cloth fibers.

SHORPY Historical Archive interesting as the source from Jim. Many of these SHORPY photographs originally done by DETROIT PUBLISHING CO. I researched and found they are still in business with sources and numbers to phone for orders. Many of these photos were dated 1906. DETROIT PUBLISHING had a fine photographer named William Henry Jackson who came here to do this photo work. And what a keen, talented eye he had for subject, composition, light and mood. Jackson's work produced some 25,000 glass plates during his working career from 1890 to 1927. He died in 1942. A good question if SHORPY claims any copyright.

In digging further, I learned that The Library of Congress, where many of these plates are now, say, "We are not aware of any U.S. copyright restrictions on these images other than some of a 'personal' or 'publicists' rights." Not all that clear. I know that 'publicists rights' cover any possible use of such images for 'personal sale or gain.'

Copyright a 'touchy area. If images not so marked or stated leaves the use open. Our late Alan Bates used to say, "If you use such a photo; and it isn't so marked, then let the claimant do as they threaten. They usually never get a dime." I well remember the Late Loretta Howard handing me a packet of steamboat photos as a gift; and that had to back about 1956/'57, now a L-O-N-G time ago. Jim, didn't you and Kenny as teenagers do a lot of photo copying for Loretta Howard? Well, what do I know?

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

What a terrific photo! I'm curious about all those little boxes stacked up around the bell on the skylight roof. There's another pile of them still on the landing in the right of the photo. They seem to be all labeled MICA on the box ends. I know that mica was used for windows on the doors of coal stoves but what else was it used for? All of those boxes constitute a LOT of mica. Or perhaps it was a brand name for something else? I also note the 'scape pipes up next to the pilothouse - sidewheeler fashion. Maybe or maybe not these was a specific reason for this? I've seen this placement on other sternwheelers, also. Perhaps the pilots wanted to hear how the engines were performing.

*RE: Cargo/boxes on GEORGIA LEE*
Hi, John & steamboating colleagues:
John, read back on my first posting. The MICA was MICA AXLE GREASE possibly manutactured in Louisville. Not sure about all those "little boxes," but possiblity they could be bourbon, or other product, in glass bottles. Note all packing boxes, cases large and small, were of wood--no cardboard yet in those days. I'e tried in vain to hone in to read the product logo and name on the other boxes to no avail.

On her stern roof I also noted what appears to be some kind of bright metal piping [?] stacked with a tarp partly covering. Other photos taen about the same time show the rousters working hard in their bare feet. I'm sure they all thought old time steaboat life was wonderful, romantic. Yeah, right.

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

After studying this picture in detail, John I think what you think is "Mica" might very well be Marcus. Those boxes look to me like paint boxes...4 one gallon cans to the box (paint still comes that way). Edwin Marcus had a paint factory on Market St. In those days Louisville was one of the largest paint manufacturing centers in the country. Marcus paint was widely used on steamboats and Mr. Marcus was quite the steamboat fan. Howard's must have used a lot of Marcus paint because in the late 1920's when the shipyard ran into finacial troubles, Mr. Marcus was one of the large creditors who along with other creditors took over the shipyard management (Howards eventually paid them all back).
Another interesting part of this photo is the group of men sitting on the pile of lumber watching the rousters tote those boxes....it is the embodiment of the opening chorus from the musical Showboat; "colored folks work on the Mississippi, colored folks work while the white man plays".

*RE: MICA or MARCUS?*
Hi, Jim:
Could be, could very well be MARCUS. The other packing cases at the lower end are marked MICA AXLE GREASE. I used a touch of digital enhancement, but can't for the life of me decipher the logo markings on the other packing cases. Question: Isn't huge PORTER PAINT CO. a Louisville based corporation? A 'senior moment.' What was the other huge hardware company that used to ship on the packets? The classic Str. ECLIPSE of 1852 recorded a work force of: 121 people at times. 70 firemen and deckhands, 25 stewards and waiters, five cooks [*With underhelp], 3 mates, 5 engineers in addition to a team of pilots, clerks etc.

Yeah, the 'wharf rats' perched on the lumber watching all the action tells a story of its own. Other period SHORPY photos got me showing a few rousters toting their cargo in bare feet. I can only imagine the occupational stress, strain, physical problems and injuries those men suffered. Years ago Capt. John Beatty related to me a couple of gristly experiences he had as a young kid with his dad. Never mentioned what boat it was, but the rousters working still pretty much the same as in 1906, 1850s. John also mentioned seeing rousters toting on their shoulders wood railroad ties on and off the boats. Those ties were heavy enough alone, but when they'd been dipped in creosote made them even heavier. The term then for such a tie was that it had been 'zinked.' The boats did carry their own cadre of roustabouts but were supplemented at various landings by locals who were 'day hired.' Yeah, it was one beautiful scene every day with all that music, dancing, whistles, calliope and showboats. Yeah, right.

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

I saw the boxes of Standard Oil's Mica Axle Grease at the lower end of the wharf. Who really knows whats in the boxes the rousters are carrying; the amazing thing to me is the variety of freight being loaded on the boat. It looks like everything from bales of burlap to finished lumber, spools of oakum to hogs heads of tobacco. Belknap Hardware, the largest hardware wholesaler in the south, was located just five blocks from where this picture was taken and they sold every conceivable item from the dinng room table to horse collars. It truly is a fascinating photograph that captured a momement in time.

*GEORGIA LEE, GLENMORE, boat freight*
Hi, Jim & Steamboating colleagues:
'Belknap Hardware' it is and thanks, Jim, for reminding me. I too noted "the amazing...variety of freight being loade," as Jim comments. Note the rousters carrying not one, but two packing cases on their shoulders over and up on the boat. By todays standards of bulk freight handling, not efficient and labor intensive; yet it must have worked for them. No rolling dollies, freight carts, fork lifts, conveyor belts or hydraulic equipment. Pity the rousters trundling the barrels to stack and the boxes up the stairs to the roof--up and down, down and up. Until the bitter end of packet boating one older, senior rouster was posted to watch, survey the younger men carrying the loads. These veterans knew as much about loading freight in the right spot aboard as did the mate or clerk. Mates and chief rousters at times carried a kind of cane or long rod where they pointed to the loading spot for the men to place. Nothing needed to be said, no words spoken. Look close on the GEORGIA LEE and you may see such a man at his post. Times were changing and with it the type and volume of cargo. Then came the advent of the heavy over the road trucks making door-to-door deliveries faster and cheaper. And as Cap'n Walnut posted, "Yeah, them wuz the days, if you were the boss' son--and not the mule."

Jim's second photo showing the upper wharfboat with the Str. GLENMORE docked interesting. WAY'S PACKET DIRECTORY, Pg. 189 Entry No. 2348 gives a 'bio' on her. A Howard built boat originally the JOHN W. THOMAS, burned Christmas night, 1905; rebuilt as GLENMORE for the Glenmore bourbon distillery. So, this photo no doubt in later 1906 after she came out under the new name.

Those here reading may remember the huge GREENE LINE wharfboat in Cincinnati. I recall seeing two, possibly more, big weight scales on steel rollers used to weigh freight before marking and loading. The outside doors on the river side had painted above LOUISVILLE, CHARLESTON, HUNTINGTON, PORTSMOUTH etc. where freight was loaded at the right place. Years ago the Greene family related an amusing story about an incident on the wharfboat. One of the rousters, named 'Honey,' either suffered an accident or had an altercation with another. His ear was nearly severed from his head. Capt. Tom Greene rushed the man up to the hospital. While waiting for medical attention, Capt. Tom absently turned and said, "'Honey,' you're going to be just fine." The reaction of the waiting patients, medical staff, must have been amusing. Well, what do I know?

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