Steamboat Photos, Page 16 Page 144 from: J.R. Hildebrand, "Cotton: Foremost Fiber of the World." National Geographic, 74, 2 (February 1941): 137-185 COLUMBIA 1900-1911 Detail from a charming horizontal format photo from La Crosse of the COLUMBIA with pilot, crew, officers and passengers visible on board as she heads toward us on a glassy smooth river. COLUMBIA (Packet/Excursion boat, 1900-1911) Sternwheel Packet/Excursion boat Way's Packet Director Number 1248 Built at Muller Boatyard, Stillwater, Minnesota 1900; constructed from the former rafter PAULINE; Captain William Henning and Captain Frank J. Fugina. Sold January 1906 to Florida interest, Captain Comber. Used in the lower Florida Keys during the building of the Florida East Coast Railway to Key West. Burned at Milton, Florida, March 13, 1911 A dinky little snapshot from a scrapbook 2.80 x 3.70 of the S.L. ELAM at a landing on the Red River or the Ouachita River. Whoever wrote in white pencil under the photo on the black page in the album probably hadn't heard the word "paddlewheel" before because they described it simply as "Old Time Propeller" S. L. ELAM (Packet, 1913-circa 1918) Built 1913 at Slidell, Louisiana Originally owned by the Carter Brothers Fred Way's Packet Directory Number 4897: Originally had a patented Kidney boiler which was replaced in 1915 with three return-flue boilers. Named for Judge Elam of Natchez, Mississippi. She ran on the Red River at first and later she ran on the Ouachita between New Orleans, Louisiana and Camden, Arkansas. In December 1915 she snagged and sank in the lower Red River. She made one trip, Pittsburgh-Cincinnati, under the name S.L. ELAM after being sold to the Liberty Transit Company in 1918. She was then rebuilt and renamed General Wood Paramount News St. Louis MO. Sternwheelers were not made for Arctic use but this one is making the attempt to navigate the ice choked Mississippi river before navigation became impossible. The photo shows the workman chopping ice from the paddlewheel as the river boat attempts to ford her way thru the ice. One of the stranger "caught in the act" photos of a sternwheeler from Murphy Library. This is the gas boat HANOVER on the Alabama River. Looks like the diving boy just above the sternwheel could have been launched from the boat with "help" from a "friend." A knock out punch delivered from behind? Note that 3 of boys in the middle of the boat were watching, so were witnesses to that "dive." A head first dive that close to shore could be dangerous if the water was too shallow. The HAVOVER had a lot of style for a little gas boat. Charming capture of bygone days. Undated photo, possibly early 1900's. HANVOVER (Packet) BOAT DESCRIPTION: Sternwheel/Gas boat BOAT TYPE: Packet RIVERS: Alabama River Packets--Alabama River Neg. 11564 UW La Crosse Historic Steamboat Photographs Photo Courtesy of Murphy Library at the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse Steamboat Collection Photographs With the exception of images credited to public institutions, everything on this page is from a private collection. Please contact Steamboats.com for permission for commercial use.* All captions provided by Dave Thomson, Steamboats.com primary contributor and historian.