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
sternwheeler
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
Named for the mayor of Little Rock, Ark., the J.A. Woodson was built at Louisville, Ky., in 1881. According to the U.S. List of Merchant Vessels, the boat was constructed… Read More
The sternwheeler Joe Fowler was built at Jeffersonville, Ind., by the Howard Shipyard in 1888 for the Fowler family. Built at a contract cost of $20,800, it was designed to… Read More
Every boat has a beginning and an ending. This week’s Old Boat Column presents a vignette of a vessel whose history both began and ended at Pittsburgh. The sternwheeler Mayflower,… Read More
The sternwheel towboats Lady Lois and Laura J, owned by Amherst Madison, are both in their ninth decade of river duty. Pictured here on the Kanawha River in front of… 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 Chris Greene… Read More
The nation’s last authentic overnight steamboat may once again cruise the rivers of America’s heartland and deep south. On November 27, the U.S. House of Representatives reinstated an exemption to… 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 at least… 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. Louis railroad… Read More
