Old Boat Column

Before the grand opening of the George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge, spanning the Ohio River between Louisville, Ky., and Jeffersonville, Ind., numerous ferries were in operation over many decades. The… Read More

Originally named Mary S. Blees, the handsome sternwheeler Piasa was built in 1899 at Mobile, Ala., on a wooden hull that measured 170 feet in length by 34 feet in… Read More

Named for the daughter of a Cincinnati furniture manufacturer, the sidewheel packet Emma Duncan was built in 1860 at Pittsburgh. Constructed on a wood hull measuring 180 feet in length… Read More

The American Bridge Company at Ambridge, Pa., constructed, in 1927, a steel hull measuring 169.8 feet long, 38.9 feet wide and having a depth of 6.5 feet for the Carnegie… Read More

The Old Boat Column this week presents two versions of a vintage view of the riverfront at New Albany, Ind., the writer’s historic hometown. Published as night and day post… Read More

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 famous Howard Shipyard at Jeffersonville, Ind. Read More

This week’s Old Boat Column presents an image with a common factor. Taken in the 1880s, all three steamboats lying at the Clarksville, Tenn., wharf had the proud distinction of… Read More

The river community recently observed the 20th anniversary of the untimely passing (age 63) of Capt. John Hartford. Born in St. Louis in 1937, Harford (original spelling) attended the Community… Read More

A well-known steam towboat that operated on the Ohio and Mississippi was the John A. Wood. The hull (198 feet in length by 40 feet in width) was built in… Read More

The Old Boat Column this week finds us looking back in time 145 years and exploring up the capricious and cursed Missouri River. Prominent in the image is the steamboat… Read More