The "big" Liberty at Charleston, South Carolina, in 1934 when the wharfboat sank. Pictured, from left, are Clark Tuery (Clerk), Capt. Walter Booth (Master), and Roy Collett (Purser).
Eagle Packet Company coal book from 1931 - 1945. Records Eagle company coal sales as well as balance sheets for the company's labor, drayage, and cargo from various ports such as Saint Louis, Alton, Grafton, Mozier, Louisiana, Keokuk, Ste. Genevieve, Chester and Quincy, among others. Some pages are missing.
This map, plotted out by Norbury Wayman, shows the various locations of steamboat lines and related companies on the St. Louis levee, detailing three periods of time; before 1865; 1865 - 1900; and 1900 - 1953. Lines and companies are donated by name, location and years of operation. Nearby streets are mapped as well, for easy frame of reference. Scale in feet: 100 ft. = 1 inch.
Sternwheeler Idlewild. Note on back of photo reads: "Idlewild, 1934, photographed at Walker's bar 20 mi above Cave In Rock on Mississippi from orig. negative. Edison H. Thomas took the photo from the dredge Grafton."
In Green River Lock 1930. Evansville and Bowling Green packet. The Evansville was built in 1880 at Cincinnati, Ohio for the Evansville and Green River trade. She was 120.2 x 30 x 5.2 feet; 144 tons. Indicated horse power 391. While lying at the wharf at Calhoun, Kentucky on Green River, June 6, 1882, she collapsed a flue killing three people. The Evansville was famed for her mocking bird whistle, as was pilot Genie Lund who played it. She was commaned in 1890 by Captain Abbot Veatch who was founder of the Waterways Journal. She was evidently purchased by Cairo parties about 1890 according to a special river telegram to the Globe Democrat which under the date of August 1, published this item: \"The departure of the new Cairo and Tiptonville packet, the Evansville, this afternoon, on her maiden trip, was the occasion of much rejoicing on the part of the Cairo people, as it makes an epoch in the history of the river trade out of the City of Cairo. The boat is emphatically a Cairo institution, bought with Cairo money, by Cairo men, and manned by a crew having the interests of Cairo at heart. She will ply between Tiptonville, making three trips per week, and, without doubt, will fill a want felt by the people below here for many years. The trade she will secure will be mainly that which the large Anchor Line boats, as well as the Cincinnati boats, and will in no way interfere with trade enjoyed by other boats.\" Part of her career, around 1900, she operated under an alias the CRESCENT CITY when she ran to Bowling Green along with the J. C. Kerr. On July 11, 1919, she took a sheer on her pilot and went into the bank with good headway, sprung her seems, and sank at Aberdeen, Kentucky. She was later raised. She burned at Bowling Green, Kentucky on July 25, 1931. When known as the Crescent City and while ascending the Green River, enroute from Evansville, Indiana to Bowling Green, Kentucky, on May 12, 1898, she was run into heavy timber on the bank. She was damaged $700. No lives lost. In the investigation, T. K. Bowles, pilot on duty at the time, was found at fault, his license was suspended for 30 days. In October 1923 the crew on the Evansville, of the Evansville and Bowling Green Packet Company, composed the following: - Captain William Williams, master; Captains Gene Lunn and Owen P. Jones, pilots; Lou Walker and Tim Hill, mates; and Ben Ellis and Len Johnson, engineers.