Old Boat Column

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… Read More

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… Read More

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… Read More

This week, the Old Boat Column journeys up the Missouri River to the historic river town of Hermann. This scene shows a typical day along the waterfront during… Read More

An attractive steamboat that was important to travel and commerce on the Ohio River in the early 1900s was the Oriole. The history of this vessel dates back… Read More

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… Read More

This week, the Old Boat Column presents an unusual image. The packets Bald Eagle (left) and Saint Louis are engaged in the transfer of freight at a St. Read More

Built by the Barmore yard at Jeffersonville, Ind., the sternwheeler Saint John began operating in 1878. The wooden hull measured 176.6 feet in length by 36.2 feet in… Read More

The Sadie Downman, which was typical of the small towboats that ran on southern rivers, was built in 1899. Records show that the steamboat was first inspected at… Read More

Noted for being one of few riverboats to have an octagonal pilothouse, the Phil Sheridan was built for a cost of $80,000 in 1865 at Cincinnati, Ohio. Constructed on… Read More