The J.P. Drouillard

January 25, 2019

Named for an iron industrialist at Nashville, Tenn., and owned by the Ryman Line, the handsome sternwheeler J.P. Drouillard was a product of the Howard Shipyard at Jeffersonville, Ind. Constructed… Read More

The Candy Boat

December 27, 2018

On this Christmas Eve, the Old Boat Column editor concludes his seventh year of penning river history vignettes with a sweet story of the Polly. Affectionately known as “The Candy… Read More

A Chris Greene Christmas

December 17, 2018

The cabin of the Chris Greene decorated for Christmas. (Keith Norrington collection) River historian and WJ correspondent Virginia Bennett (1924–2013) loved to reminisce about her favorite steamboat, the Chris Greene… Read More

The Clara Cavett

December 10, 2018

This week, the Old Boat Column presents an image of a towboat that was dubbed the “race horse of the Allegheny.” The vessel originated in 1877 as the Muskingum River… Read More

The Charles R. Cox

November 17, 2018

This towboat was originally built as the William G. Clyde. Constructed at Ambridge, Pa., in 1922 by the American Bridge Company, the vessel was completed at the Coal Valley (Pa.)… Read More