In the St. Louis area, Calhoun County, Ill., is a narrow peninsula that was organized in 1825. Strategically situated beween the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, today the region can be… Read More
Eagle Packet Company
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
With the spotlight on St. Louis for this week’s eighth annual Inland Marine Expo, the Old Boat Column presents a riverboat that was a favorite of the host city. Never… Read More
When Frank Pierson purchased the steamer Mississippi (then a tourist attraction moored opposite Hannibal, Mo.) in early 1966 and brought it to St. Louis to replace his sunken Becky Thatcher,… Read More
The Eagle Packet Company of St. Louis contracted in 1913 with the Howard Shipyard to build a wood-hulled sternwheeler for $26,000. The new steamboat, 242 by 37.8 feet and named… Read More
In 1883, for a contract price of $16,750, the Howard Shipyard at Jeffersonville, Ind., built the Benton McMillin, a modest packet boat named in honor of the Tennessee congressman, who… Read More
The cotton packet Wm. Garig was a petite, wooden-hulled sternwheeler launched at the Howard Shipyard in Jeffersonville, Ind., on Saturday, May 7, 1904, at 3:15 p.m., according to Day Book… Read More
Strategically situated between the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, Calhoun County, Ill., is a narrow peninsula that was organized in 1825. Today the region can be accessed by crossing the Illinois… Read More
Undoubtedly taken from the Eads Bridge, this week’s Old Boat Column image presents a busy scene at St. Louis in 1903. Spread Eagle In the foreground is the steamer Spread… Read More
Several steamboats carried the name of Alton, paying tribute to the Illinois city on the Upper Mississippi River above St. Louis. Undoubtedly the best known and most attractive riverboat to… Read More
