onlinesteamboatmuseum

Dave's River Room, page 1


PEERLESSandJames_L_Hale_MURAL_40perCent

The pilot wheel from this boat is in the steamboat room.


SteamboatRoomThomsonHaleModel60percentForNoriEXP

SteamboatRoomThomsonWestReducedForNoriEXP


The Peerless Pilot Wheel
PilotWheelFromPEERLESSasLightFixtureAtWeidmannsRestaurant

Jim Hale took this photo when the Peerless pilot wheel was hanging as a chandelier at Weidmann's Restaurant in Meridian, Mississippi. Weidmann's also owned the large mural, then later Dave acquired it from a Meridian antique dealer.


river room

The Peerless pilot wheel now hangs in Dave Thomson's townhouse in Los Angeles County. Here is a close up of the wheel since restoration with old holes drilled for light fixtures gone and lustrous sheen to old wood brought back to life.

Description of other items in the River Room:
The smaller pilot wheel is from the little sternwheeler Blue Wing which operated out of Keokuk, Iowa early in the 20th century. The sternwheeler City of Monroe is a 5 foot generic model based on Captain Cooley's boat the America. It was built by James Hale of Sylvan Springs, Alabama in 1975. The whistle, steam gauge and engine room telegraph are original. Not visible is a pilot house telegraph and speaking tubes for pilot house and engine room.

Half of the library consists of books on the history of the Western Rivers including steamboats, river cities and river towns as well as fiction inspired by river history. The other half of the book collection is made up of all of Mark Twain's books including many illustrated foreign language editions of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn and local history books about Hannibal, Missouri.


river room

Dave Thomson owns a wheel that came from the pilot house of the Peerless. Originally built by Captain Norman Staples in 1900, they christened the ship the "James T. Staples." On January 11th,1912 at Powe's Landing, Alabama the boiler exploded killing 26 persons and injuring 21 others. The wreck floated down and sank below Bladon, Alabama. Mr. James Little, president of the Peoples Bank, bought the wrecked boat. He raised it, rebuilt it, and put it back into business as the Peerless in 1915. In 1924 Little sold the Peerless to Captain O. F. Burke, who renamed it the Helen Burke for his sister. The boat was abandoned in 12 Mile Marsh above Mobile and "rotted down" as Fred Way says, during the years 1929 - 1930.


river room

Here Darlin, Cody, and a cubist Dave gather for some steamboat wheel appreciation. (see more urrealist art. by Dave*)

PeerlessWheelInGarageWithDaveHunkeredDown


More steamboat relics
river room


3ChimeWhistleOtherMaritimeSalvageForNORI

Nautical stuff in the southeast corner of the River Room: Framed silk tie with colorized photo of the steamboat AMY HEWES, 3 chime whistle, pilot wheel made in Scotland, red port side running light, 10 pound Anchor, DIXIE BELLE hand crank for making Ice Cream with bas relief steamboat inside the circle at center.


SpeakingTubeHingedLidEXP

Pilot House speaking tube - a good way to communicate with the engine room.


steamboatRoomThomsonSouthEmptyShelves65percentEXP

Hinged lid on PILOT HOUSE speaking tube on the south wall next to Jim Hale's model of the CITY OF MONROE.


river room


Whistle 3 chime With Model 75 percent

3 chime whistle made by Chesapeake Bronze Works in Rock Hall, Maryland. Also included is Jim Hale's CITY OF MONROE model.


steamboatRoomThomsonSouthwestEmptyCase65percentEXP





moremusejmphotosclickhere

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.

logo