Documents - Insurance Certificates Insurance certificate in the MISSISSIPPI & OHIO RIVERS PILOTS' SOCIETY, St. Louis, Missouri issued on the first of April 1899 to Campbell Hunt to benefit his wife Laura in the event of his death. Attested to by PS. Drown and rubber stamped with the signature of Society President Theodore F. Hall. Apparently this was a serious document and not some sort of strange prank as the issuing of the certificate on "April Fool's Day" with the person attesting given as "PS Drown" and not signed on the bottom line by Campbell Hunt himself suggests. Of further interest is mention of the Pilots' Society having been established 10 years earlier under Article 10 of Chapter 42 in "The Revised Statutes of the State of Missouri, 23rd April, 1889. Original Insurance Policy date August 27, 1851 for the steamboat CAMBRIA that I bought from Ray Samuel as his Garden District shop in New Orleans in October 1989. Attached "cover" and page one with vintage steamboat vignette. There is a lengthy hand written documentation of the sinking of the CAMBRIA as I understand it on the 25th March 1851 (in Fred Way's account the sinking occurred on the 3rd of February, 1851) and the settlement of the claim by Knox Insurance by their agent Stephen Morse. CAMBRIA 1845-1851 Way's Packet Directory Number 0809 Sidewheel packet Built at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1845. 172 x 24.5 x 5 Originally owned by Capt. William Forsythe, Pittsburgh, and Thomas Arbuckle of Allegheny City, Pa. Ran Pittsburgh-Cincinnati in a "Line," 1846. News of the initial skirmishes leading to the Mexican War came from New Orleans to Louisville in April 1846 aboard the PEYTONA, thence to Cincinnati on the YORKTOWN, and on up the Ohio to Wheeling and Pittsburgh on the CAMBRIA. The J.M. WHITE carried the news to St. Louis. Later ran Pittsburgh-St. Louis, Capt. Kindrick. Sank and lost upbound near Ste. Genevieve, Missouri., February 3, 1851, owned by a Capt. Ludlow who was in command. Partial transcript of the Policy on the page that has a steamboat vignette in "the banner" across the top: Steamboat No. 107 Proposition 142 THE KNOX INSURANCE COMPANY of Vincennes, Indiana On Account of the present owners of the Steamboat "Cambria," Do make insurance and cause John Ludlow to be insured lost or not lost, the sum of Thirty three hundred & thirty three dollars on the STR "Cambria," where is Master, Ludlow, or whoever else may go for Master, beginning the adventure upon the said Steamboat at 12 o'clock at noon, on the Fourth day of January one thousand eight hundred and fifty one and to continue and endure until noon on the Fourth day of January one thousand eight hundred and fifty two. And it shall be lawful for the said Steamboat during the continuance of this Policy to navigate the usual waters of the Western & Southern Rivers, except the Missouri, Arkansas & Red Rivers. 1. FARMERS' & MERCHANTS' BANK of MEMPHIS TENNESSEE $10.00 - 1st August 1854 2. BROWNVILLE BANK AND LAND COMPANY of OMAHA CITY, NEBRASKA $3.00 - 1st September 1857 3. WESTERN EXCHANGE INSURANCE of OMAHA CITY, NEBRASKA $5.00 - 2nd November - 1857 J.C. Crossley - "Hire of Lighter" under sundries probably means they rented a barge for some purpose. Lighter was an archaic word for a flat bottomed barge. I guess this dates from 1870 if that is a zero behind December 187_ this just arrived today Steamboats' Traffic Association examples Envelope from Steamboats Traffic Association Postmarked New Orleans, 4 March 1905 Steamboats Traffic Association Chas. W. Drown Freight Traffic Manager (rubber stamped supplement to address): 523 Hibernia Bank Building New Orleans, Louisiana Among the many Steamboat Rates listed, Authority 3809 pertains to Captain Fred Way Jr.'s BETSY ANN Various other steamboats have their own Authority numbers assigned to them including some other examples below: Excerpts from: THE NINTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE RAILROAD COMMISSION OF LOUISIANA. JANUARY 1, 1908. BATON ROUGE: THE DAILY STATE PUBLISHING COMPANY STATE PRINTERS 1908 STEAMBOAT RATES AUTHORIZED BY THE COMMISSION and in Effect January 1, 1908 APPENDIX "F." Authority No. 3569. Steamers Alice and Jessie. Rates between New Orleans and landings on Amite River, as far as Bayou Manchac and Hope Villa: also down freights. Issued January 25, 1906. Authority No. 3587. Natchez & Bayou Sara Packet Co. Rate of 1% cents per bushel on grain and bran, carload quantities, from Vidalia to points on west bank of Atchafalaya River to Union Point, Black Hawk and Red River landings. Issued February 6, 1906. Authority No. 3809. Steamer Betsy Ann. Rate of $1.50 per ton on cotton seed meal and hulls. from Vidalia and Tenses to landings on the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivera. Effective March 11, 1908. Authority No. 4068. Steamer Carrie. Rates on commodities between New Orleans and landings on Bayou Lafourche. Issued October 18, 1906. Authority No. 4145. Steamer Annie P. Tariff applying on cotton from Bayou Bartholomew to New Orleans and Monroe. Effective December 18, 1908. Authority No. 4601. Steamer Grand Isle. Tariff applying on commodities from New Orleans to Grand Isle. Effective August 15. 1907. Authority No. 4696. Steamer G. H. A. Thomas. Tariff applying on commodities, from New Orleans to Springfield. Effective September 11, 1907. Mississippi Valley Barge Line Co. 1948 Envelope from the M.V.B.L. (Mississippi Valley Barge Line Co.) NEW ORLEANS St. Louis 1, Missouri Canceled 20 April 1948 Cairo, Illinois Addressed to Bill Forbes San Antonio, Texas There is nothing in the envelope now but it may have have contained a pay check. Reference to the M.V.B.L. can be found in the 1st sentence of the article on John Hartford below. Old-time Music Stays Gentle On His Mind February 13, 1992 By LANE KELLEY, Staff Writer Sun Sentinel Deerfield Beach, Florida John Hartford bought his first Gibson banjo with money he made working on the Mississippi Valley Barge Line when he was 15 years old. He started playing the fiddle about the same time. Since then, Hartford has turned his obsessions with the river, the banjo and the fiddle into an inimitable style that has made Hartford the Mark Twang of American music. On Saturday, Hartford brings his instruments, the amplified board he dances on and his bizarre sense of humor to the Amaturo Theater at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. "My job description is that I've spent the last 40 years attempting to play the world's two most despised instruments in one of the world's two most commercially unacceptable forms of music," Hartford said in his deep baritone voice during a phone interview. "One is bluegrass music and the other is polka." But Hartford, 54, has had plenty of commercial success. He has won three Grammy Awards, two of them for a song that has gotten more radio airplay than just about any other record in country music, Gentle on My Mind. Glen Campbell's recording of Hartford's tune has been played nearly 5 million times since it was released in 1967, according to Broadcast Music Inc., in Nashville, which tracks radio airplay of songs. Only three other records tracked by BMI have been played more: Yesterday by the Beatles, Never My Love by the Association and Campbell's recording of By the Time I Get to Phoenix. After Gentle on My Mind and a regular stint as sideman on Campbell's popular TV show, Hartford lit out for the territory like Huckleberry Finn. He became one of the first bluegrass hippies, scattering dope references, jibes at the establishment and zany songs such as Boogie on his albums, mostly recorded for independent labels. On Mark Twang, the album that won him a third Grammy in 1977, Hartford spoofed the father of bluegrass, Bill Monroe, by recording Monroe's Little Cabin Home on the Hill a cappella. Hartford sounded as if he were singing underwater. From teenzy vintage booklet about St. Louis/Tennessee River Packet Co. For that rainy day with nothing better to do. - Dave Uncle Charley Elmore was apparently an early "Riverlorian" . . . doesn't say what instruments he played but he also served as narrator to passengers about the "passing scene" viewed from the Mayflower. Charley dreamed up the guide and distributed it, imagine the packet co. foot the bill for printing. Here's a genuine artifact from my early collecting days written on June 7th, 1856 at Cairo, Illinois by James W. Brannon, President of the New Orleans & Cairo Mail Company giving authority to Captain Van Dusen to settle the accounts of the steamboat Antelope and any other boats chartered as mail packets operating between Cairo and New Orleans at his discretion. Transcript: "Cairo June 7th (18)56 Cap't Van Dusen is hereby autherized (sic) to settle the accts with steamer Antelope or any other boats which may be now or hereafter chartered as mail packets in mail service between this point and New Orleans - and make such arrangements, and give such direction in performance of the service as he may deem best. Jas. W. Brannon Prest. N.O.&.C. Mail Co." ANTELOPE Way's Packet Directory Number 0301 Sidewheel Packet Built at New Albany, Ind., 1853. 587 tons. Ran Louisville-New Orleans, Capt. E. Brown, master. Snagged and lost at New Orleans, Louisiana on Sept. 27, 1864. 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.