The Exporter was built in 1895 at Madison, Indiana, for St. Louis parties. Her dimensions were:- 186.5 x 35 x 6.1 feet; tonnage 578, net and gross. Her horse power was 1127. On April 12, 1902 she was struck by a storm at the mouth of Salt River and three of her coal barges were sunk. On March 29, 1906, the Robert Taylor, while attempting to steer around the Point, on the Ohio River, collided with the Exporter, breaking a cylinder timber and fan tail on the Taylor; damages, $400. While enroute to Hickman, Kentucky, on April 28, 1923, with the biggest tow of logs of the season, she burned her boiler at Fulton, Tennessee and went to Memphis for repairs. In 1925 she was owned by the Mengel Box Company of Louisville, Kentucky. In March 1926 she went around to White River with two barges of logs.