Silver Bow

Hartford, John

picture

Silver Bow (Steamboat)
Steamboats
River steamers
Steamboat lines
Packets

The Silver Bow was owned and commanded by Captain Thomas W. Rea and was built by the James Rees and Sons Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1869. Official records show her to have been 212 by 32 by 5 1/2 feet. She had three boilers each 40 inches in diameter by 26 feet with cylinders 18 inches by 5 feet. The tonnage is give as 335; carried tonnage is listed as 600 tons. Missouri River histories list this boat as having operated under the St. Louis and Omaha Packet Company which was established in 1867. Joseph Nanson was the line's first president and the boats included the: T. S. McGill (master, T. W. Shields); Silver Bow (master, T. W. Rea); Mary McDonald (John Greenough); Cornelia (S. T. Belt); Columbia (Wm. Barnes); Glasgow (Wm. P. Lamoth); Kate Kinney (J. P. Kinney); H. S. Turner (James A. Yore). These boats were owned by individuals but were run under a joint arrangement and on regular schedule time. Low water and railroad competition caused the line to disintegrate and the boats to drift off into other trades. An ad card owned by the Waterways Journal for the Silver Bow when she was in the St. Louis and Jefferson, Texas trade for the Carter Line shows a complete St. Louis - Jefferson distance table. Thomas W. Rea was master and C. A. Faris head clerk. Carter and Conn were the agents for the Carter Line with headquarters at 409 North Levee. The Silver Bow was cut down by ice, a total loss, on February 26, 1872, in St. Louis, Missouri. As noted in the picture, the spars on the forecastle were not used for swinging stages but for sparring.

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Herman T. Pott National Inland Waterways Library