onlinesteamboatmuseum

Lighthouse Tenders


Steamboat U.S. Greenbrier

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The U.S.L.H.S. GREENBRIER at Charleston, West Virginia in 1924

Steamboat GREENBRIER celebrated in a special 8 x 10 print taken 11 June 1924, evidently to celebrate the maiden voyage of the boat built by the Charles Ward Engineering Works of Charleston, West Virginia. Charleston is the city on the shore of the Kanawha River in the background of this photo. The boat was photogenic and was often captured by shutterbugs along the Ohio. A nice looking boat with lots of character. The initials U.S.L.H.S. stood for United States Light House Ship (actually Light House Tender).

GREENBRIER
Sternwheel Lighthouse tender
Built Charleston, West Virginia by Charles Ward Engineering Works, 1924
Assigned to the U.S. Lighthouse Service (1925-1939)
Transferred to the U. S. Coast Guard (July 1, 1939-September 1, 1947)
Last owned by H. Lee and H. E. Rosher; Charles G. Smith Company (March 1948)

OFFICERS:
Captain Leslie Hill (Master, 1924 - Spring 1938)
Captain Arthur J. Schletker (Master, 1938)
Ran on the Ohio, Tennessee and Kanawha rivers
Fred Way's Steam Packet Directory Number 2444:

GREENBRIER tended the government lights on the Ohio River and tributaries. In 1929 when there was a celebration of the Ohio River locks and dams she carried U. S. President Herbert Hoover from Cincinnati to Louisville. In 1939 she became a U. S. Coast Guard boat and in World War II she had an anti-aircraft gun mounted on the roof. She ended her career as a landing boat on the Intracoastal Canal.


old paddlewheel steamboats

Dated 1943 of young lady standing near a seated old gent with the lighthouse tender GREENBRIER behind them.


U.S. Greenbrier

Four of the U.S. GREENBRIER, lighthouse tender that came in a cache of steamboat photos taken by a chap who traveled the rivers, working on boilers in boat yards and repairing boilers when a boat was stranded somewhere and couldn't move under her own steam until she was fixed up.


GREENBRIERatPaducahKY

Photo of the Greenbrier seen in Paducah, Kentucky, 1938 from commons.wikimedia.org

Tennessee Valley Authority, Information Office.
National Archives & Records Administration.
Southeast Region (Atlanta) (NRCA)
5780 Jonesboro Road
Morrow, GA, 30260
Cataloged under the ARC Identifier (National Archives Identifier) 280831
Kodak Negative File, compiled 1933 - 1976 ARC identifier: 279689

On the back the 8 x 10 is rubber stamped Nov '29 so this must have been when President Hoover (possibly the gent in the white hat on the main deck, far right) was aboard the boat from Cincinnati to Louisville to celebrate Ohio River locks and dams.


GreenbrierVistorsDay

Visitors day.


GREENBRIERsternViewForNORI





Other Lighthouse Tenders

dandelionlighthousetender

The DANDELION at KEOKUK, IOWA

Beautiful photo of the DANDELION at Keokuk. Quite a few of the houses on the hill in the distance are still standing in that part of town which I have visited often. Nearby this location is where the towboat GEO. M. VERITY has been preserved on dry land since the early 1960's and there is a museum aboard that welcomes visitors.

DANDELION
Sternwheel Lighthouse Tender
Way's Packet Directory Number 1438

Sternwheel lighthouse tender that was originally built as the rafter F. WEYERHAEUSER at Rock Island, Illinois in 1893. She 140 feet long, 31 feet wide with a draft of 4 and a half feet. Engines were 15's - 7 feet. The U.S. Lighthouse Service used her on the Upper Mississippi and sold her at Rock Island in October 1927 to boat broker John K. Klein. She was lost in a collision with the towboat HERBERT HOOVER at Cairo, Illinois in February, 1929.


LighthouseTenderOLEANDERwithSteamPropBargeTUSCALOOSAforNORI

Lighthouse Tender OLEANDER (right) with steam propellar barge TUSCALOOSA, somewhere on the Mississippi River. La Crosse Collection.

Oleander (1903-1926)

Sternwheel Lighthouse tender
Way's Packet Directory Number 4292

Built in 1903 at Dubuque, Iowa
Captain Thomas B. Good (master) for the U.S. Lighthouse Service
Operated on the Mississippi River

Had horizontal steeple compound engines which were different than anything on the river. In 1909 took U.S. President William Howard Taft down from St. Louis to Memphis. Replaced by the WILLOW when she retired in 1926.

In 1930 Captain Russell Warner bought her and stripped off the cabin. The steel hull was eventually acquired by the Ohio River Company and was used at Huntington, West Virginia as a coal fueling barge with a steam hoist aboard.


Lighthouse Tender Goldenrod

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LighthouseTenderGOLDENRODmakesFuelStopAtShoreForNORI

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Excellent real photo of a boat which Fred Way said was "an attractive example of marine architecture." High praise indeed.

GOLDENROD
Sternwheel lighthouse tender

Frederick Way's Packet Directory Number2376
Built Jeffersonville, Indiana., at the Sweeney Yard, 1888.
150 x 26.5 x 3.7. Engines, 12's- 5 ft.
Two boilers. An attractive example of marine architecture.

Served the government lights on Ohio River and tributaries replacing the LILY. Capt. Owen F. Jolly was master in early years, then Capt. Leslie T. Hill, native of Aberdeen, Ohio was on her until the end. Harry Layfield, New Richmond, Ohio, went aboard as a striker engineer 1903, became chief 1912 and left her in 1917. William Handley was engineer for 22 years.

Decommissioned when the GREENBRIER was built in 1925, and sold to John Lyons, Middleport, Ohio. He moored her under the ice piers there, and in a flood she broke away and was lost.


Lighthose Tender Lily

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Lighthouse tender LILY

LILY
Lighthouse tender
Sidewheel

Way's Packet Directory Number 3471

Built in 1875 at Louisville, Kentucky for the U.S. Engineering Department

Began in service on the Ohio River. In 1888, she burned off her upper works and was completely rebuilt with a new hull and texas. The old hull became a wharfboat at Madison, Indiana. After being rebuilt, the LILY went to the upper Mississippi and Missouri rivers. She serviced beacon light buoys between St. Paul, Stillwater and the St. Croix River and St. Louis for many years. She was also the guard boat for the President's fleet.

On October 17, 1911 she snagged near Wellington, Missouri. On November 24, 1911, she snagged again near St. Albans, Missouri, mile 49 on the Missouri River at the head of Centaur Chute and was lost. She was the first lighthouse tender on the upper Mississippi.


LighthouseTenderLILYSept1877PayVoucher-PhotographEXP

Lighthouse Tender LILY $75.00 wages earned for the Month of September 1877 by Sidney Milner, Mate

$75.00 pay voucher for the Month of September 1877 made out to Sidney Milner, Mate aboard the Lighthouse Tender LILY per Appropriation for Lighting and Buoyage of the Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio Rivers. By order of Commander Albert Kantz U.S. Navy Inspector of the 14th District and who signed the order for the voucher and by him and the recipient Sidney Milner signed in the lower right hand corner, both of them on Saturday, the 29th of September 1877 at Cincinnati, Ohio for wages from Saturday, September 1st to Sunday, September 30th, 1877.

LILY
Lighthouse tender
Sidewheel

Way's Packet Directory Number 3471

Built in 1875 at Louisville, Kentucky for the U.S. Engineering Department

Began in service on the Ohio River. In 1888, she burned off her upper works and was completely rebuilt with a new hull and texas. The old hull became a wharfboat at Madison, Indiana. After being rebuilt, the LILY went to the upper Mississippi and Missouri rivers. She serviced beacon light buoys between St. Paul, Stillwater and the St. Croix River and St. Louis for many years. She was also the guard boat for the President's fleet.

On October 17, 1911 she snagged near Wellington, Missouri. On November 24, 1911, she snagged again near St. Albans, Missouri, mile 49 on the Missouri River at the head of Centaur Chute and was lost . She was the first lighthouse tender on the upper Mississippi.

Officers & crew:

Captain Owen B. Jolly (1875); Captain William R. Hoel (1875); Captain George Vandergrift (1885); Captain Charles Dufour; Captain William Eagon (master); Campbell Hunt (pilot, 1910, 1911); M.H. Crapster (master, 1892); William C. Egan (chief engineer); Dick Stevens (pilot); J.H. Duffer (commander, 1888); Jim Carrew (pilot, 1894); George Farnsworth (pilot, 1894); A.B.H. Lily (commander, 1894); James W. Swayze (commander, 1891); Robert W. Wise (commander, 1894); Washington P. Hight (1897); Richard Stevens (pilot, 1895); Mayo Dorsey (pilot, 1897); John Clark (pilot, 1897)


LighthouseTenderWAKEROBIN fromLaCrosseForNORI

Wakerobin Sternwheel Lighthouse Tender

Wakerobin

Sternwheel Lighthouse Tender
Way's Packet Directory Number 5680
Photo from La Crosse
William E. Nolden (pilot)
Ran on the Mississippi, Illinois & St. Croix Rivers
Built in 1926 at Neville Island, Pennsylvania by Dravo for the U.S. Lighthouse Service, Department of Commerce and in 1938 was in the U.S. Coast Guard.
After 1950 she operated under lease to the U.S. Engineers, Memphis who took title in 1955 but she was sold shortly thereafter in a public sale to Comet River Company in Cincinnati.
She was used as a landing boat at Cincinnati and continued there until sold to Captain Trone who took her to Chattanooga, Tennessee.
In the winter of 1975-76 changes were made so that she could be used as a harbor landing boat.
She was also used as a wharfboat to back up the Julia Belle Swain.
In 1978 she was towed to the Illinois River and was still under the ownership of Captain Trone in 1980.
She was sold in 1985 to B and B Riverboats of Cincinnati, Ohio.





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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.

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