Topic starter
13/04/2008 12:37 am
In March on our AQ trip I walked the mile or so north from Vicksburg to pay my respect to the greatest steam towboat ever made, the Sprague. I thought you'd like to see what is left and quite frankly I'm hoping for some advice toward what I was looking at...
What is left of the paddlewheel. I was told the wheel shaft was at a totally different area, but I knew I was in the right spot when I saw the gear on the one end of the shaft...
Topic starter
13/04/2008 12:43 am
A few more...I honestly think these are engines, with the second picture showing a close up of a cylinder head? There is a part of me that thinks that if these are engines, they are too small in diameter to be from the Sprague. However they were surrounded by what I perceived to be all Sprague 'stuff'...
Topic starter
13/04/2008 12:52 am
And lastly the stacks? I wasn't gutsy enough to crawl through them like Keith as there were a ton of yellow jackets around that seemed to just have woken up from winter slumber. I might add, in this area of stuff there was a mess of stacked up, 3/4" or 1" straight length rod, very long lengths with a few strange bends here and there, all rods ending with either eyelets or threaded ends, some of the threaded ends having turnbuckles still on them. Hog chains bent from the fire? Sorry no pictures of these...And I had to take a picture of the incredible mural on the inside flood wall in Vicksburg...
13/04/2008 1:46 pm
Neat pictures Bruno- thanks for sharing
I remember being fascinated by the Sprague but when I was in Vicksburg, I bought a small compact at an antigue shop with a picture of some handsome dude that I told people was Jeff Davis- my southern boyfriend : )
13/04/2008 7:21 pm
Yes, Bruno, you found the shaft. As for the gear ring, that is either the ring that drove the "tell-tale" wheel that was mounted on a portside hog chain where the pilot could see what the paddlewheel was doing; OR, it was part of the rig that slowly turned the paddlewheel as an exhibit after she was retired.
I still recall my first visit to the boat. I was guided through by a silent black man. He explained nothing. At the very end he made his first and only comment. "Boss, I ain't had a tip all day."
13/04/2008 10:30 pm
Bruno,
Here is a pic I took from thr AMERICAN QUEEN of the SPRAGUE shaft the week of the 20th of March. It looks a little different from the river. I need to make the pilgrimige up there next time I am on one of the boats up that way.
Last I saw of the stacks was 2003. They were at the riverfront park near todays kids play area. I have a pic I took form inside them, as I had just walked through one of them.
~Travis~