Topic starter
14/03/2012 8:17 pm
Yesterday at Howards while I was scanning in some more of Clyde Howards picture.....can you believe it, we now have almost 2,000 Howard photos in the museums data base!....curator Keith was rummaging through some boxes of old Waterways Journals. I "borrowed" some from 1935 and I found them fascinating reading.
In the days before .org, facebook, etc. the river fraternity kept up with each other via the personal comment section of that fine river magazine.
Here's two examples from the Feb. 23 issue:
Capt. & Mrs. Fred Way have purchased a home at 121 River Ave., Sewickley, Pa. Capt Way reports that he and his wife were recently guest of the chief estimator for Dravo Corp. "We had a showing of river motion pictures until 1 AM. Mr. Rechtin showed three reels of the new towboat PEACE while I showed mine of the steamers QUEEN CITY, SENATOR CORDILL, etc."
C.W.Stoll, of Louisville, now at Carleton College paid his first vist to the waterfronts of Minneapolis, St. Paul.
Under news from the Upper Ohio:
LIBERTY'S BIG TRIP; "The packet LIBERTY resumed the Pittsburgh Charleston trade last week after an enforced lay up due to weather and river condtions with her guards dragging in the water and had to leave behind 60 boxes of bolts and an a automobile. Included in her cargo were six automobiles for Louisville, Ky., a cabin full of canned goods, several hundred boxes and kegs of bolts, 12 gas ranges, 60 drums of oil, steel sheets and bars, minning tools, etc.
Under st. Louis items:
The towboat Herbert Hoover made her appearnce with seven barges, the crew;Capt George Rogers, master, Charles Wilkens & Carl Cuttings, pilots and Howard Tate mate.
Topic starter
14/03/2012 8:22 pm
Front cover ad from the February 23, 1935 (as was most of the other 1935 covers) issue was from the FAIRBANKS,MORSE & CO. trying mightly to convince boat owners to convert ot diesel. Fair warning: this add is not politically correct in todays enviroment. The ad is titled:
Is Steam a Habit?
"In the "glorious" old days when moving a vessel came first and cost was a secondary issue - when the sole idea of competiton was a race up the river with a "nigger on the safety valve"......steam was the logical power.
But today? Habits, customs, methods are changing overnight. Today it is reaized that power on river craft-as everywhere else-must be at once cheapest and the most effecient. Today, indeed, is rapidly becoming the day of another order on the river.
That order is: Full 'Diesel" ahead."
14/03/2012 10:12 pm
Indeed a find, Jim! That last item is the one that got me. Of course, I knew and worked with Howard Tate, "The Very First Mate". I remember Capt. Ray Prichard talking in detail about Capt. Carl Cutting (I always thought there was no "S" on the end).
Capt. Rip Ware used to talk about Charles Wilkens, who used to have a light named after him at UMR mile 98. He (Wilkens) committed suicide by jumping off a boat. Charles "Cat" Wilkens is also spoken about frequently in Jane Curry's book "The River's In My Blood" with the pseudonym Pat Wilson.
Topic starter
14/03/2012 11:36 pm
That's what I love about the river....it's big, but it's a small family. I've never met a riverman I didn't like.
15/03/2012 12:14 am
Capt. Bob you are correct, it was Cutting without the s. In some research I did several years ago I saw that he served as the Master of the big "state" boat for FBL, the Illinois.