New Items - Photos, page 5 1920'S EXCURSION STEAMER "CITY OF CAIRO" WAS ORIGINALLY THE SNAGBOAT "DAVID TIPTON" CITY OF CAIRO Sidewheel Excursion boat Way's Packet Directory Number 1058 Built in 1900 as the snagboat DAVID TIPTON. About 1923 John F. Klein converted the TIPTON into an excursion boat that he first named the URSIE BOYCE and later renamed CITY OF CAIRO. Operated at Cairo one season, then went to St. Louis where Andrew J. Franz chartered her for a tramping trip up the Missouri River. She got up to Jefferson City and was one of the few sidewheel excursion boats ever on the Missouri River. Laid up in Alton Slough the winter of 1924 (?) and sank. F.X. Ralphe, Hastings, Minnesota took her to Mound City for repairs where she again sank and was lost. Captain Oakley Doolan (master); Captain Gerald H. Friemonth (pilot); Everett Hicks (chief); Dave Mangum (purser). Steamboat landing at Vicksburg, Mississippi 1906 - 2 STEAMBOATS! The Mississippi River circa 1906. "Steamboat landing at Vicksburg, Mississippi." Starring the paddlewheelers Belle of Calhoun and Belle of the Bends. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. From SHORPY The SENATOR CORDILL at a wharf boat PEERLESS on the Choctawhatchee River in Florida Another steamboat named PEERLESS, this one had smokestacks remarkably larger in diameter in relation to the size of the boat than usual, maybe they had been salvaged from a bigger boat and used here. Plenty of cotton bales loaded on the foredeck at a landing on the Choctawhatchee River in Florida. From the Florida Memory site. This cabin interior is unidentified at Louisville.edu's digital library but I believe this was taken inside the BELLE OF THE BENDS when she was being completed or possibly being spruced up between seasons. Comparing this photo to the one I used that has Jim Waddell as Mark Twain playing poker with four gentlemen in a cabin which was probably from the BELLE OF THE BENDS, the details of the décor overhead along the ceiling and between the skylights is identical in design to the ones in this photo of the empty cabin in progress when new or being freshened up. Source of photo: digital.library.louisville.edu Mud Island Cabin Interior Photo Credited To Lorraine Capozzi June 2017 TOP STORY Mud Island Museum closed due to vandalism By Brandon Richard August 24, 2019 wmcactionnews5.com MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - The Mississippi River Museum on Mud Island has been forced to close because of a vandalism. George Abbott, a spokesman for the Memphis River Parks Partnership, which manages the museum, says vandals were hard at work Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning. That's when they say they not only managed to get into the museum, but broke display cases, which house historic artifacts. Abbott says none of the artifacts were damaged or stolen, but the museum had to close so the display cases could be replaced. It's not clear who's behind the vandalism, but visitors to Mud Island were disappointed to hear the news. "It's just very sad," said Darren Decoste, a Memphis resident. Michael Henson, who is visiting from Kentucky, says the vandal ruined things for everyone. "It's really a shame that they would do stuff like that," said Henson. "The stuff is open for the public to view and someone has to go in their and mess it up for everybody." Last year, the Memphis River Parks Partnership closed the museum citing low-attendance. They spent the next few months making the 37-year-old museum more attractive to modern audiences. Abbott says they are re-evaluating security and hope to have the museum back open by next weekend. Copyright 2019 WMC. All rights reserved. Computer generated sidewheeler in color with sky, landscape and river Not attributed to a specific digital technician, a computer generated color image of an un-named sidewheel steamboat with no smoke coming from the stacks. It was pretty obviously based on plans for various scale models of the ROB'T E. LEE which have been sold by Revell and other companies since the 1950's. LONE STAR ENGINE ROOM WITH RESTORED EQUIPMENT Aquila pilothouse smokestack. TELEGRAPH Pilot house from La Crosse Way's Packet Directory Number 5320 Built in 1877 at Cincinnati, Ohio. Original cost: $60,000. Her hull was newly built and the cabin of the previous TELEGRAPH was transferred onto it. Her machinery came from the old TELEGRAPH. Owned by Cincinnati, Big Sandy and Pomeroy Packet Company Captain James Campbell (master); George Damron (chief engineer) And Captain E.S. Morgan (master) Her fastest time was Cincinnati to Pomeroy in 22 hours 26 minutes on Janurary 1, 1878. She made this time during a normal business trip, making all the landings. In 1887 a blacksmith at Augusta, Kentucky made a brass cannon for the TELEGRAPH Dismantled at the Knox Boat Yard in 1891; hull became a wharf boat at Vevay, Indiana. Pilot House ISLAND MAID excursion steamer 1922 - 32 ISLAND MAID Sternwheel Excursion boat Way's Packet Directory Number 2796 (view of the stern of the Pilot house from La Crosse) Built at Jeffersonville, Indiana by Howard, 1909 as the G. W. HILL Excursion boat G. W. HILL was sold to the Coney Island Company of Cincinnati in 1922; they renamed her Island Maid. She caught fire early spring 1929 at Cincinnati and burned off much of her upper works. She was rebuilt, then caught fire and burned at the marine ways, Madison, Indiana on December 7, 1932. The fire also consumed the towboat FRED HALL. Cincinnati's Coney Island had enjoyed two-boat service until this happened, and thereafter the ISLAND QUEEN cared for the park business. 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.