WJ Talk: River Veterans Recall A Half-Century Of Change In The Barge Industry
From Federal Barge Line and St. Louis’ crowded barge scene to deregulation, single-sideband radio and AI, three shoreside veterans reflected on five decades of inland change.
Mark Mayfield, Stephen Rauch and Wendell Macejak discussed their careers in WJ Talk with Zac Metcalf, associate publisher and editor of The Waterways Journal. Their careers crossed at Federal Barge Line and later included ConAgra, Merchants Transportation, Valley Line, SC&O, ACBL, Midwest Marine, MEMCO and AEP River Operations.
Three Paths Into The River Business
Mayfield returned to St. Louis during the Vietnam era and joined the Marine Corps Reserve. Reservist Ron Moore showed him a Federal Barge Line dispatcher ad in The Waterways Journal. Mayfield was hired quickly.
Rauch’s father worked in the Chicago barge business. Two days after high school, Rauch went out on a Great Lakes freighter, then spent summer 1969 as a Twin City Barge and Towing deckhand. He later joined Federal as a Chicago dispatcher and transferred to St. Louis in 1974.
Macejak knew little about the industry in Chicago. A neighbor told him Rauch was leaving Federal’s Chicago office. Macejak took the job and transferred to St. Louis in 1979.
When St. Louis Was A Barge Industry Hub
Rauch counted 19 St. Louis-area barge companies in 1974.
“St. Louis was an absolute mecca for barge line headquarters in the mid- to late 1970s and early 1980s,” Rauch said. “It was the place to be if you wanted to be in the barge business.”
Mayfield remembered softball and bowling leagues and Propeller Club gatherings. He also recalled Federal President Robert A. Kyle. When Mayfield drew a Christmas shift after leaving JCPenney partly to escape holiday work, Kyle sent flowers and a card to Mayfield’s wife thanking her for the sacrifice.
Mayfield and Rauch remembered Federal’s 9,000-horsepower mv. United States and mv. America as “titans of the waterways.”
Deregulation And Consolidation
All three cited deregulation, mergers and acquisitions as defining changes.
Macejak said regulated rates created a level playing field. Deregulation allowed aggressive price competition, with larger operators better able to absorb lower rates, accelerating consolidation. Before consolidation, changing St. Louis barge companies was common. “It was like musical chairs,” Macejak said.
Rauch said mergers and acquisitions cost him jobs and kept him out of the business almost three years. After Farmland Industries, he returned with Midwest Marine in 1995 and said it felt like being reborn.
He recalled the Interstate Commerce Commission, Waterways Freight Bureau and tariffs on regulated commodities. Their disappearance pushed the industry toward free markets. Mayfield noted deregulation coincided with the 1980 Russian grain embargo and other commodity disruptions.
A Market Made By Telephone
Rauch recalled the daily grain call at the Merchants Exchange in St. Louis, where barge lines and grain companies quoted southbound grain freight and traded by telephone or in person.
Because everyone heard quotes, the call became a market reference. By the mid- to late 1980s, major grain companies resisted revealing positions publicly. As they withdrew, the system collapsed.
The River Still Set The Rules
Floods, low water and lock delays could overturn plans.
Mayfield recalled the 1973 flood at St. Louis Ship, when a dry dock carrying a boat and people broke loose and moved downriver. During the 2011 Paducah flood, he was told to shut the office and start sandbagging.
He remembered 1988 low water, when tows were built around shallow drafts and the Coast Guard checked drafts at Cairo.
Rauch’s 1973 flood memory involved the new 5,600-horsepower mv. Herman Pott, which made its maiden voyage from St. Louis to Joliet and sat two weeks because the river closed.
From Single-Sideband Radio To AI
Dispatchers relied on single-sideband radio and marine operators for boat positions, fuel and lube-oil figures, traffic information and crew-change details over crowded frequencies.
Rauch said an hour in the radio room could be exhausting, sometimes forcing dispatchers to write what they thought they heard.
Macejak contrasted that with computer and satellite communications and AI. AI may help dispatchers decide which barges to pick up or drop and optimize plans, he said, but only if operators understand the business.
“If you don’t understand what’s going on, you can’t properly tell AI what you need or what you’re trying to accomplish,” Macejak said.
Communications have changed, but deck crews still make couplings, haul wires and ratchets and work through heat and cold.
Learn It From The Ground Up
Mayfield urged newcomers to learn operations, dispatching, insurance, the Coast Guard, the Corps of Engineers and a 24/7 business.
Macejak’s advice: get on the boats, haul wire and pumps, and learn how crews execute shoreside instructions.
Rauch recommended dispatching because it connects boats, customers and dispatchers. “You’re like the hub of a wheel,” he said.
Mayfield worked in the river business from 1972 to 2015, Rauch from 1972 to 2016 and Macejak from 1974 to 2024.
Rauch still follows waterways groups, river communities and The Waterways Journal. Companies, technology and towboat names will change, he said, but river transportation will remain.
“It’s going to change over the years, but it’s always going to be there,” Rauch said.
Related Waterways Journal Coverage
- Stephen K. Rauch Reflects on Federal Barge Lines — Rauch recalls his years with Federal Barge Lines and the company’s efforts to develop cooperative water-and-rail transportation.
- Federal Barge Lines Helped Spawn the Modern River Industry — A historical examination of the influential barge line that helped shape the modern inland river business.
- Captains Share Experience at the Inland Marine Expo — Veteran captains discuss career development, mentorship, wheelhouse leadership, navigation technology and the importance of river knowledge.
- Retired Captain Gets to Briefly Go Back “Home” — Capt. Bob Reynolds looks back on a river career spanning passenger vessels, towboats and more than three decades with Magnolia Marine Transport.
- Capt. Ben Moffett Reflects on a Lifetime in Towboating — A longtime captain discusses training pilots, changing safety practices and nearly five decades on America’s rivers.
Additional River Industry Resources
- The American Waterways Operators: 75 Years of Industry History — A historical overview of the national tugboat, towboat and barge industry’s development.
- U.S. Coast Guard: Towing-Vessel Master, Mate and Apprentice Mate Requirements — Official information about the knowledge and examinations required of towing-vessel officers.
- U.S. Maritime Administration: Educating the Maritime Workforce — Federal information about maritime education, training and workforce development.
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: Inland Navigation Fact Sheet — Background on the lock, dam and navigation system supporting commercial transportation on the Upper Mississippi River.
