Mention was made last week of the snagboat Missouri clearing the wreck of the Str. Elisha Woods. Snagboats are a nearly forgotten, though once very important, fixture on… Read More
Author: Capt. David Smith
There have been any number of formulas and theories as to the proper ratio between length and width of boat hulls. In 1901, the Howards built a steam… Read More
In 1892, the Huntington & St. Louis Towboat Company had a towboat built at Cincinnati that was named Wash Honshell. The hull was 157 by 28 feet, and the… Read More
The Cincinnati, Big Sandy & Pomeroy Packet Company—otherwise known as the White Collar Line owing to the fact that boats owned by the concern sported twin white bands on… Read More
News that Amherst Madison had recently purchased the Michael J. Grainger and would rename it Ohio brings to mind other vessels named Ohio on the inland rivers. Most… Read More
Few living within the Big Sandy River valley today could imagine that at one time the best way to travel in the valley was by steamboat. In the late… Read More
The Old Boat Column in The Waterways Journal has been a fixture in the magazine for many years. I’m not sure exactly when it started, but it was… Read More
The Dravo Contracting Company experimented in building a steam prop towboat in 1919 that it named Peace. Following the construction of this vessel, the company built mainly sternwheel vessels,… Read More
As mentioned previously in these columns dealing with early diesel towboats, the Charles Ward Engineering Works of Charleston, W.Va., was an early proponent of prop-driven vessels. However, in 1927,… Read More
By the early part of the 20th century, railroads had all but decimated river transportation, in particular barge towing. Other than certain trades, such as the steel industry in… Read More
