steamboat

Taken 80 years ago, this week’s image for the Old Boat Column features the sidewheeler President. Originally built in 1924 for the Louisville & Cincinnati Packet Company as the Cincinnati,… Read More

Originally the pleasure steamboat Minnesota, this petite sternwheeler was a product of the Howard Shipyard at Jeffersonville, Ind. In the autumn of 1915, Edmonds J. Howard, proprietor of the famed… Read More

Built by the Ayer & Lord Marine Ways at Paducah, Ky., in 1918, the H.G. Hill was 165 feet long by 30 feet wide. The engines (12-inch cylinders with 6-foot… Read More

Of the 28 steamboats owned and operated by Greene Line Steamers, only one was a sidewheeler. The Greenland was built in 1903 by the Knox boatyard at Harmar (Marietta), Ohio. Read More

Named for a Cincinnati coal dealer, the Tom Dodsworth was built in 1871 at Pittsburgh by James A. Blackmore. Capt. George McCallam was the first master of the big sternwheeler,… Read More

Originally named Irene D, this former rafter was built in 1888 at Rock Island, Ill. It was constructed on a wooden hull that measured 133.5 feet in length by 29.6… Read More

Regarded as one of the most beautiful steamboats afloat, the Virginia made big news 109 years ago when it wandered out of the flooding Ohio River on the night of… Read More

Built for the Pittsburgh & Cincinnati Packet Line, the Keystone State was constructed at Harmar, Ohio in 1890. The wooden hull of the sternwheeler measured 225 feet in length by… Read More

Built at Louisville, Ky., in 1857, the large sidewheeler Red Rover ran in the Nashville–New Orleans packet trade. Constructed on a wooden hull that measured 256 feet in length by… Read More

According to riverman-historian Capt. Fred Way (1901–1992), the steamer Tacoma holds the record for being the longest-living packet boat to remain in operation without a name change or alteration in… Read More