WJ Editorial: Tradition, Innovation And Community
This issue features our ever-popular captains’ profiles, highlighting the rewards a life of hard work, cooperation and learning can bring on the rivers. There are many pathways to this meaningful life, and we hope our younger readers will catch a vision of the possibilities available to them on the waterways. This career path not only will reward hard work but also is immune to replacement by artificial intelligence.
The river life offers a rich tradition and a camaraderie not shared by all industries. How many industries were immortalized in fiction by Mark Twain and sung about by John Hartford and John Fogarty? (Apologies to our younger readers who probably have never heard of Hartford and Fogarty.)
Our industry is a welcoming one, and our captains come from all backgrounds. Indeed, not all captains featured in this issue come from families with river traditions (although some do have a rich maritime or service legacy).
With this issue, we are pleased to announce Capt. David Smith—already well-known to our readers as writer of the Old Boat Column and to many through his long career on the inland waterways—as editor of the Inland River Record. The IRR has been published annually since 1948, beginning as a guide for towboats on inland and coastal waterways, founded by Capt. Frederick Way Jr. The Waterways Journal Inc. acquired the publication in 1968 and has continued producing the annual directory of commercial vessels ever since.
Capt. Smith joins a distinguished list of predecessors and colleagues. Dan Owen edited IRR for many years, continuing to do so after retiring from the staff of The Waterways Journal until his death in 2018. Jeff Yates, a Paducah-based river historian and photographer, then took over as editor of the Inland River Record in October 2018. Their patient diligence, quiet competence and high standards for accuracy have made the IRR a unique and treasured resource for the river community and everyone who depends on it.
Over the years various digital tools have made gathering, compiling and checking the entries in the IRR easier and less-time-consuming, but it is still edited and vetted—“curated” in current lingo—by human beings who are intimately involved with, and dedicated to, the inland waterways industry.
We’re grateful for Capt. Smith, and the other captains featured in these pages, for the role they play in the industry today.
