The Belle Memphis was a large Anchor Line boat built at the Howard Yard, Jeffersonville, Indiana in 1880. Her dimensions were:- 267 x 42 x 7.5 feet. She operated in the St. Louis - New Orleans trade. On May 13, 1889 she took into the Vicksburg wharfboat the largest cargo of freight ever delivered by one steamer up to that date. It was a manifest of 11,024 packages weighing 813 tons. On
The Belle Memphis was a large Anchor Line boat built at the Howard Yard, Jeffersonville, Indiana in 1880. Her dimensions were:- 267 x 42 x 7.5 feet. She operated in the St. Louis - New Orleans trade. On May 13, 1889 she took into the Vicksburg wharfboat the largest cargo of freight ever delivered by one steamer up to that date. It was a manifest of 11,024 packages weighing 813 tons. On
\"The pilot house was a sumptuous glass temple; room enough to have a dance in; showy red and gold window curtains; an imposing sofa; leather cushions and a back to the high bench where visiting pilots sit, to spin yarns and 'look at the river'; bright, fanciful 'cuspidores'; new oil cloth on the floor; a hospitable big stove for winter; a wheel as high as one's head, costly with inlaid work; a wire-tiller rope; bright brass knobs for the bells; and a tidy, white-aproned, black'texas tender', to bring up tarts and ices and coffee during mid-watch, day and night. The pilot house ssemed perched on a mountain; and her decks stretched far away, fore and aft below one.\" From Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain. Note: The bearded gentleman was Captain John Crane, the master of the Belle Memphis for many years.
