Sporty Days

Hartford, John

picture

Sporty Days (Steamboat)
Ferries
Packets
Steamboats

New Madrid (Mo.)

1940-1949

The Sporty Days was a double deck, combination ferry and packet boat. She was built on the river bank at New Madrid, Missouri, in 1927 by Dick Richardson for John Kirtz, her owner and operator. The dimensions of her wood hull, with a scow bow, were 60 x 26 x 4 feet. Width overall, 30 feet; draught about two feet. She had but one stack and one tubular boiler about 12 feet long and 36 inches in diameter. Her two engines were especially made in Paducha, Kentucky, with a 4-inch bore and 4-foot stroke. The stern paddle wheel was about 12 feet in diameter and 8 feet long. It had ten buckets. Although used as a ferry boat on many occasions during the days of prohibition she made trips to St. Louis. It is reported that her owner returned with suit cases of currency which was deposited in the local bank at New Madrid. She was pulled out on the bank in the winter of 1937 to avoid being crushed by ice. She was never returned to teh river and is rotting awaying out on the bank at New Madrid. This is 1948. Her owner died in poverty on the streets of New Madrid.

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Herman T. Pott National Inland Waterways Library