Sprague

Way, Frederick, Jr., 1901-1992
Hartford, John

picture

Sprague (Steamboat)
Steamboats
Towboats

The Sprague was built in 1902-03 by the Iowa Iron Works Company (now the Dubuque Boat and Boiler Works), Dubuque, Iowa, for the Monongahela River Consolidated Coal and Coke Company, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She had a length of 315 feet, a beam of 62 feet, and a hull depth of 9 feet. The diameter of the propelling stern wheel is 37 feet with bucket planks 40 feet long and 4 feet wide. The wheel is turned at an average speed of 8 1/2 revolutions per minute by two 28 inch x 63 inch by 12 feet compound condensing engines. The Sprague was designed and built to tow coal from the Pittsburgh Coal District, in the spring of each year when river conditions were favorable, down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to Southern ports. It is believed her first large coal tow arrived in the Memphis, Tennessee, area about May 1904, and consisted of 56 barges of coal and two fuel barges. The 56 coal barges covered an area of 5.9 acres, and contained 1,400, 000 bushels of coal. It is also understood that the Sprague was assisted in handling this tow by one ot more bow boats. The Sprague was operated by the Monongahela River Coal and Coke Company for some eight or ten years with more or less success. With the advent of fuel oil and natural gas, there was a diminishing demand for coal, and for a number of years the Sprague was idle. The Standard Oil Company of Louisiana acquired this steamer from the Aluminum Ore Company of America in 1925, and after making extensive repairs, placed the Sprague in service between Baton Rouge, Louisisana and Grand Lake, Arkansas and Memphis, Tennessee. Here she operates to-day.

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Herman T. Pott National Inland Waterways Library