The Ohio was a stern-wheeler built at Cincinnati, Ohio in 1879 as the Clifton. She was 251 x 39 x 5.5 feet; 716 tons. This stern wheel Clifton was sunk by ice in the mouth of the Kentucky River on January 21, 1881. She was raised, rebuilt and renamed the Ohio on October 4, 1881. The Ohio ran in the cincinnati - Memphis - New Orleans trade along with the DeSoto, Buckeye State, Granite State and others under the White Collar Line. Enroute from Memphis to Cincinnati on February 17, 1894, she struck a stump in backing out from the landing at Cottonwood Point, Missouri, 120 miles above Memphis, Tennessee. She then sank proving a total loss. The boat was valued at $25,000. The cargo was damaged $9,000. No lives were lost.
In the struggle of the packet boats against rail competition the Anchor Line put up a bold fight. To reduce operating expenses they built the Bluff City, the only stern-wheeler the Anchor Line ever built. She came out new in October 1896, built at Jeffersonville, Indiana. But fate was against her as she lasted but one year. On November 18, 1897 she caught fire at Chester, Illinois on the Mississippi River. The fire was supposed to have been started by a spark from a pipe falling among some logs. She and her cargo were a total loss. The steamer was valued at $55,000 and the cargo at $30,000.
Record of masters, mates, pilots, and engineers of merchant steam, motor, and sail vessels kept by the United States Steamboat Inspection Service in 1898.