Towboat Lone Star A PORT SIDE PROFILE OF THE LONE STAR AS SHE LOOKED WHEN SHE WAS OUTDOORS ON DRY LAND FOR SO MANY YEARS AT LE CLAIRE THE LONE STAR AS SHE LOOKS TODAY IN HER LARGE SHELTER ON THE LE CLAIRE WATERFRONT WITH CREDIT GIVEN TO THE TRAVELING SNYDERS BLOG, AUGUST 2013 This is the oldest photo of the LONE STAR I have ever seen but it's plainly the same boat except at the time this was taken it had only a single smokestack. Found it on eBay and the person who listed it couldn't read the name of the boat so it wasn't identified in the listing which is probably why I was the only one to bid on it. If there is a historian working in the museum at LeClaire, Iowa where the LONE STAR is now exhibited, they would be interested in this and I am curious to know about when this picture was taken. It could have been during the late 1800s or early 1900s. Last visited the boat with Michael Blaserin 2007 when I visited the LONE STAR when she was still outdoors at the mercy of the elements. The Lone Star now sits in under a handsome shelter next to the Buffalo Bill Museum in Le Claire, Iowa. In all the other photos I've seen of the LONE STAR she has two stacks, as she does today preserved lovingly for posterity. What a relief to have her safely in out of severe weather and restored with all her roguish charm intact. Attached are 2 grayscale images from La Crosse of the LONE STAR for the page devoted to that little towboat at Le Claire, Iowa. The boat tied up at a landing was taken at a location that someone will probably recognize from the bridge in the background. The excellent grayscale photo of the LONE STAR smokin' as she pushes a barge was taken below Davenport, Iowa by David Plowden in 1964. I took the color "flash" photo inside the engine room during my first visit to the boat in 1991. Frame captures and links to two beautiful videos on YouTube of "Bellpepper's" radio controlled model of the LONE STAR. For some reason the second video plays perfectly in high definition but I haven't been able to get the first video to play in sharp focus. RC Lone Star Sternwheeler Bellpepper Youtube.com Uploaded on Sep 11, 2011 Music: "The Ash Grove" by Joemy Wilson (Google Play • iTunes • AmazonMP3 • eMusic) "Radio Control Model of the Lone Star Steamer, a tow boat used on the Mississippi River until 1968, and now on display at the Buffalo Bill Museum in LeClaire, Iowa. I started with the Dumas Myrtle Corey kit as a base for this model and scaled the Lone Stars dimensions to it. I used the vacu-formed hull, paddle wheel, and lower deck, the rest was scratch built on top of that. The model includes an on board sound system from Model solutions of Canada, a Harbor Models smoke generator, and stacked gear reduction drive. It took me 3 years to build off and on, and I've finally gotten up the courage to put it on the water, and thankfully it didn't sink. Many thanks to the staff at the Buffalo Bill Museum for all their help with this project." RC Lone Star Sternwheeler 2 Bellpepper Youtube.com. Music: "Paris, Texas" by Ry Cooder (Google Play • iTunes • AmazonMP3) Uploaded on Sep 15, 2011 "Nice fog at the lake today." The LONE STAR inside its shelter by Greg Nelson FROM THE TWILIGHT RIVERBOAT PHOTO STREAM ONLINE IS THIS 2017 PHOTO BY GREG NELSON OF THE LONE STAR SAFE AND SOUND IN ITS OWN SHELTER AT LE CLAIRE, IOWA. In 2007, steamboat artist Michael Blaser and I visited the LONE STAR at LeClaire when she was still outdoors exposed to the elements and her hull held up in a rather tortuous looking way. The patina of age and the craftsmanship with which the boat was built were fascinating to behold from these low vantage points of the sternwheel and bow. Dan Martin / Dave Thomson in Lone Star pilot house, Sept. 1991. Some photos I took of the LONE STAR in '91 at LeClaire, Iowa when she sat at the mercy of the elements outdoors next to the Buffalo Bill Museum. The postcard "chrome" view of the LONE STAR when she was pushing barges was taken by Rene Briegel. The LONE STAR now resides safely in a deluxe climate proof building on the LeClaire waterfront buffalobillmuseumleclaire.com The Lone Star Stern Wheeler (built 1868, decommissioned 1967) is the only surviving example in the United States of a wooden-hulled boat built in the traditional Western Rivers fashion. The Lone Star was designated a National Historic Landmark and is open to visitors at the Buffalo Bill Museum. The boat's enclosure, The River Pilot's Pier, has won a significant design award from the State of Iowa for its "green" design in 2008. A new sound system has recently been added to the River Pilot's Pier building where the Lone Star is located. The new sound system allows you to experience the sounds of the steamer traveling on the river along with background sounds. This paddlewheel is cropped out in this black and white photo from the Murphy of the LONE STAR at work on the water but it shows off the starboard profile very nicely. Have never seen a better watercolor of a steamboat. Would look good with the photos of the LONE STAR sent earlier. Believe this may be in the Muscatine, Iowa Library collection. John Schmits also painted the DQ which I've only seen as a teenzy weenzy little thumbnail file. John W. Schmits Quad-City Times Obituaries March 2nd, 2005PrintSave MUSCATINE, Iowa -- John W. Schmits, of Muscatine, Iowa, died Tuesday, March 1, 2005, at Unity Hospital. Funeral services will be Friday, March 4 at 11 a.m. at Christ the King Chapel at St. Ambrose University, Davenport. Father George McDaniel will officiate. It is requested that memorials be made to the John W. Schmits Award at St. Ambrose University. The scholarship will be awarded annually to deserving art students to continue John's artistic legacy. John Schmits was born April 25, 1935, in Quincy, Ill., son of Walter and Louise Rosswog Schmits. John attended St. Ambrose Academy and St. Ambrose College before enlisting in the Army. He was hired at St. Ambrose College on his return, to assist Father Catich with classes in the Art Department. As one of the beneficiaries bequested in the E. M. Catich estate, John received half of all remaining artwork from Father Catich's studio. Schmits donated the collection to St. Ambrose University with the stipulation that a gallery be created in Father Catich's honor. John remained at Ambrose to teach drawing, calligraphy, and watercolor, as well as engineering, advertising, painting, serigraphy, and printmaking until his retirement in Aug. 2004, after 46 years of teaching. John was a founding member of the Iowa Watercolor Society, and painted upwards of 300 paintings a year for many years. His goal was to produce affordable paintings so that ordinary people could own and appreciate original artwork. An exhibit of a selection of his works is at the Muscatine Art Center through April 3rd. 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.