Old Boat Column

This column is about a towboat that has long been a personal favorite of mine. It was not the largest, and it certainly was not the most attractive or… Read More

The sad news was dispensed through social media recently that one of the most iconic towing vessels built for the inland rivers in the middle of the 20th century was… Read More

The past two Old Boat Columns looked at one of the two boats that led the towboat parade for the Greenup Lock dedication in 1962: the 3,200 hp. Valvoline of… Read More

Last week this column began looking at the Sohio Cleveland, built in 1949 by St. Louis Ship for the Sohio Petroleum Corporation of St. Louis. The boat, which measured 150… Read More

The last column detailed the dedication of the Greenup Locks and Dam that featured a towboat parade. This week we will look at one of the boats that led that… Read More

The July 28, 1962, issue of The Waterways Journal, published 63 years ago today, carried a feature story on the July 22 dedication of the new Greenup Locks and… Read More

As with the other inland river shipyards in the United States, the Nashville Bridge Company (Nabrico), Nashville, Tenn., directed all efforts toward building vessels for the war effort during the… Read More

Last week, the United States of America celebrated the Fourth of July in honor of the 249th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. One towboat that… Read More

Last week, this column looked at the Sohioan, a diesel boat built by St. Louis Ship in 1943 for Standard Oil of Ohio (Sohio). At that time, the Sohioan, with… Read More

Standard Oil was founded in 1870, and by the turn of the 20th century had become a giant entity, so much so that it drew the attention of the… Read More