Topic starter
04/08/2009 11:56 am
The thread on the GOLDEN EAGLE was getting a bit lengthy, so thought I'd start a new one about her previous life as the Str. WM. GARIG. She was another product of the famed Howard Shipyard, built at Jeffersonville in 1904, with measurements 175' x 35 x 5.2. Two boilers and other machinery came from the JULIAN POYDRAS. Named for a prominent Baton Rouge merchant, the boat was built for the Baton Rouge and Bayou Sara Packet Company. After 1908 she was owned by Carter Brothers of New Orleans. Her last regular operation in the deep south was in the New Orleans-Camden trade on the Ouachita River with Capt. Sam Cotton as master in 1917. She was sold to the Eagle Packet Company, St. Louis, in March, 1918 and renamed GOLDEN EAGLE. After the Greene Line purchased the Eagle Packet Company's steel hulled CAPE GIRARDEAU (built at Howard's in 1923) from Capts. Buck and Henry Leyhe in 1935 to become the GORDON C. GREENE, the GOLDEN EAGLE was further altered for the tourist trade.
(1) WM GARIG at far left - note the wide guards for carrying cotton bales.
(2) Underway, showing her slim and nice packet boat lines.
04/08/2009 1:48 pm
I have her engines as 14's X 6' with two 44" X 28' boilers. The Carter brothers operated her New Orleans to Monroe, as well as on the Black River. Master in 1908 was George L. White, with H. W. Gribble as Clerk, operating to Achafalaya & Bayou Des Glaize. Does that correspond to your information?
Topic starter
04/08/2009 2:16 pm
I had the data about the engines and boilers, but not the information concerning the routes under the Carter brothers and additional names of officers and crew members. Always good to have more details. Thanks!
The records of the Howard Shipyard and Dock Company are contained at The Lilly Library on the Bloomington campus of Indiana University. Well organized and cataloged in a climate controlled environment, there are blueprints and files of correspondence concerning the construction of steamboats, barges, etc. Lots of good "steamboat stuff" to peruse here!