Saga of The President
NEW LATEST NEWS ON THE PRESIDENT (updated 9/21/2009): Unfortunate news about the President steamship. Our correspondent has informed us that he saw the President steamboat cut up into truck-shipping-size pieces in a field in St. Elmo, Illinois. The man who did this is David Campbell and the trucker who moved it is house mover Jeremy Patterson. There is an effort underway to acquire the President's engines and get them to a secure location so they may be preserved. Our informant said he walked around inside the President's hull and it appeared perfectly sound. Therefore, we do not see any reason why the boat was removed from the water and chopped up.
OLD NEWS ON THE PRESIDENT (updated 8/13/2009): The President is up around St. Louis (or Davenport, Iowa??), and the machinery has all been removed. It is being used as a Casino Boat. (The machinery from the President was vertical engines, and could not be used on a stern wheel. The Presidents machinery was designed for a side wheeler.)
OLD NEWS: The PRESIDENT was decommissioned in 2000. A few years ago her fate was in question, as she was for sale by Isle of Capri Casino, resting on a shallow on the Yahzoo River near Vicksburgh, MS. Built in 1934; 280 X 80 X 9.0.
More photos, including one when the vessel was under construction:
