Wharfinger's General Vessel and Cargo Book Attached file of a sample page from the July, 1888 New Orleans "WHARFINGER'S GENERAL VESSEL and CARGO BOOK" which was bound into a large ledger kept by the wharf keeper to keep track of the comings and goings of boats and ships that carried freight to and/or from the Port of New Orleans. Usage fees must have been charged to the vessels by the wharf keeper as well. Pages measure 11.20 x 17.70 inches. As you can see the majority of the vessels were from foreign ports while the river steamboats were far fewer by comparison. I was able to locate photos of some but not all of the steamboats and in photo shop added the boat's name, month and year. Entry in the New Orleans WHARFINGER'S GENERAL VESSEL & CARGO BOOK "St. Bt." CITY of BATON ROUGE Arrived from St. Louis on July 19th, 1888 Cargo: Miscellaneous Discharged July 19th, 1888 CITY OF BATON ROUGE Sidewheel Packet Way's Packet Directory Number 1049 Built in 1881 at Jeffersonville, Indiana by Howard Ship Yards 942 tons Home port circa 1881, New Orleans, Louisiana. Original price $84,300. When new and on a delivery trip, she got stuck on the rocks at Louisville Falls and remained three weeks. Ran St. Louis-New Orleans. Owned by the Anchor Line Captain Horace E. Bixby John W. Langlois, head clerk in 1890 She sank and was lost at Hermitage, Louisiana at 3:00 p.m. on December 12, 1890 with the loss of two deck passengers Written aboard the CITY of BATON ROUGE by Mark Twain (Sam Clemens) during his pilgrimage back to the Mississippi River in 1882 while he was preparing to expand his OLD TIMES ON THE MISSISSIPPI magazine articles into a full length book which would be entitled LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI. Clemens traveled on five different boats during his voyage from New Orleans to St. Paul. He was a passenger aboard the CITY of BATON ROUGE from the sixth through the twelfth of May, 1882. The pilot was Horace Bixby who had "learned" Sam the river from 1855 to 1859 to qualify him to obtain his pilot's license. The following journal entries were written aboard the CITY of BATON ROUGE and are included in SAMUEL L. CLEMENS' MISSISSIPPI STEAMBOAT CAREER put together by Barbara Schmidt and Dave Thomson for Barbara's twainquotes.com website: twainquotes.com May 8, 1882—Got up at 4 A.M. in a roasting-room—some idiot had closed the transoms & I was over the boilers— & went on watch. Fog—Geo. Ritchie steered the watch out by compass, using his & Bixby's patented chart for the crossings & occasionally blowing the whistle. The chart is a great thing—many pilots use it, now. - Mark Twain's Notebooks & Journals, Vol. II, 1877-1883 Entry in the New Orleans WHARFINGER'S GENERAL VESSEL & CARGO BOOK "St. Bt." PARIS C. BROWN Arrived from on July 11th 1888 Cargo: Miscellaneous Discharged July 12th, 1888 PARIS C. BROWN Sternwheel Packet Way's Packet Directory Number 4391 Built in 1878 in Cincinnati, Ohio at the Marine Railway Company 642 tons Her engines came from the first GOLDEN RULE. In the fall of 1878, she came out in the Cincinnati-New Orleans trade. She was named after a Paris C. Brown who was connected with the Marine Railway Company and also with the boat store Parker, Wise and Company. Owned by Southern Transportation Company (1880); A.M. Halliday Lost at Hermitage, Louisiana after being speared by a snag on January 1, 1889 OFFICERS & CREW: Captain J.V. Reynolds (1878) Chris Young clerk, 1878 & 1880 Captain A.M. Halliday (1880) 1889: Chris Young, master Pres Ellison 1st clerk I.M. Young 2nd clerk James Steen chief engineer George Trunnell pilot, 1889 Wash Kinley pilot, 1889 Ran on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. T.P. LEATHERS (1885-1890) sternwheel packet There were two entries for the LEATHERS that month: Arrived from Vicksburg on July 12th and 19th 1888 Cargo: Cotton and Cotton Seed Discharged July 12th and 19th 1888 Hull built at Freedom, Pennsylvania and completed at Wheeling, West Virginia in 1885 Sank November, 1890 about three miles above Natchez OWNER: Captain T.P. Leathers OFFICERS & CREW: 1888: Captain Bowling S. Leathers (master), T.Paul Leathers and Frank Leathers (clerks) RIVERS: Mississippi River OTHER INFORMATION: Ways - 5286; T.P. Leathers was a large cotton carrier in the Vicksburg-New Orleans trade. When she sank about three miles above Natchez in November, 1890 she was loaded down past dry seams with 1700 bales of cotton and 8757 sacks of cotton seed. The T.P. LEATHERS was named for Captain Tom P. Leathers who was born in New Orleans on May 24, 1816, died June 13, 1896. Captain Leathers owned: The GENERAL QUITMAN in partnership with John W. Cannon, the NATCHEZ (1853-February 1854), the NATCHEZ (1860-March 1863), T.P. LEATHERS (1891). In partnership with Captain Truman C. Holmes, Leathers owned: the PRINCESS, the C.C. JUNIOR, the R.W. McREA and the CAPITOL. Leathers was master on: The GENERAL QUITMAN (1868), the MAGENTA (1864), the sidewheel NATCHEZ and the sternwheel NATCHEZ. In the winter of 1868 he was captain on the BELLE LEE. A fight regarding the terms of the charter of the BELLE LEE ensued between Captain Leathers and Captain John W. Cannon and from that point on Leathers was regarded as an enemy by Captain Cannon. Leathers held stock in the packet MAGENTA at various times. He was captain of the NATCHEZ when she raced the ROB'T E. LEE in June-July of 1870. Entry in the New Orleans WHARFINGER'S GENERAL VESSEL & CARGO BOOK "St. Bt." CITY of NEW ORLEANS Arrived from St. Louis on July 4th, 1888 Cargo: Miscellaneous Discharged July 5th, 1888 CITY OF NEW ORLEANS Sidewheel Packet Way's Packet Directory Number 1112 Built at Jeffersonville, Indiana by Howard, 1881 924 Tons cost $87,000 Owned by the Anchor Line OFFICERS & CREW: 1885: Captain A.J. Carter (master), Archie Woods (clerk); 1896: Captain A.S. Lightner (master), J.W. Langlois (clerk) Mississippi River Much of her equipment went into the CITY OF PITTSBURGH, May 1898 Steamer CITY OF NEW ORLEANS at a wharf with barges and a warehouse Here is a new discovery—a cabinet card of the steamboat at a wharf with barges in the foreground and a large warehouse on the wharf. Lots of detail in this image probably taken along the Lower Mississippi River. CITY OF NEW ORLEANS Sidewheel Packet Way's Packet Directory Number 1112 Built at Jeffersonville, Indiana by Howard, 1881 924 Tons cost $87,000 Owned by the Anchor Line OFFICERS & CREW: 1885: Captain A.J. Carter (master), Archie Woods (clerk) 1896: Captain A.S. Lightner (master), J.W. Langlois (clerk) Mississippi River Much of her equipment went into the CITY OF PITTSBURGH in May of 1898 Entry in the New Orleans WHARFINGER'S GENERAL VESSEL & CARGO BOOK "St. Bt." CITY of ST. LOUIS Arrived from St. Louis on July 12th, 1888 Cargo: Miscellaneous Discharged July 13th, 1888 CITY OF ST. LOUIS Sidewheel Packet Way's Packet Directory Number 1130 Built in 1883 at Jeffersonville, Indiana at Howard Ship Yards 978 tons Original price $86,850. Home port or owner's residence circa 1882, St. Louis, Missouri. Captain W. H. Thorgewan bought her at a U.S. Marshal sale at St. Louis, March 1898 for his bid of $19,050. In 1901, she was running harbor excursions at New Orleans; President McKinley rode her that May. Sold early in 1903 to the Greater New York Home Oil Company but a U.S. Marshal stepped in and sold her to attorney T. Marshall Miller for $3,125. Laid up at Carondelet, Missouri and burned there on October 29, 1903. After she burned, the Anchor Line sold her original roof bell to Captain J. Frank Ellison and it went to the QUEEN CITY. Entry in the New Orleans WHARFINGER'S GENERAL VESSEL & CARGO BOOK "St. Bt." HALLETTE Arrived from Shreveport on July 2nd, 1888 Cargo: Cotton Seed Discharged July 3rd, 1888 On July 16th the HALLETTE arrived again and was discharged the same day The cargo was again entered in the log book as Cotton Seed HALLETTE Sternwheel Packet Way's Packet Directory Number 2515 Built in 1887 at Jeffersonville, Indiana at Howard Ship Yards Original price, $11,500. 197 tons. Her machinery came from the ALEXANDRIA. She was named for the daughter of H.C. Stringfellow, a Shreveport plantation owner. Navigated the Mississippi and Red rivers Home port/owner's residence of the Red River Line circa 1887 was New Orleans. Pine Bluff (Arkansas) Packet Company (1899) In 1902 she ran the New Orleans-Atchafalaya-Des Glaizes trade commanded by Captain E.A. Rucker with Oscar Smith, clerk in place of the steamer JULIAN POYDRAS. In 1905 she brought cotton out of the Yazoo for the Parisot Line. No further history of the HALLETTE has been found. Entry in the New Orleans WHARFINGER'S GENERAL VESSEL & CARGO BOOK "St. Bt." Hey. Loury (Henry Lourey) and 2 bgs. (barges) "Hey." was an abbreviation for Henry and "Loury" was evidently a misspelling of Lourey. Arrived from St. Louis on July 19th, 1888 1450 Tons Cargo: Flr. (Flour) & grain Discharged July 20th, 1888 Way's Steam Towboat Directory Number T1095 HENRY LOUREY Sternwheel Towboat 209.6 x 35.2 x 5.8. Engines 26's - 9 foot stroke. Built in 1881 at Mound City, Illinois by the St. Louis & New Orleans Transportation Co. and absorbed into the St. Louis & Mississippi Valley Transportation Co. ("Dog Catcher Line", so termed by rivermen for the reputed vocation of employees during layup) in 1886. Principals of the Mississippi Valley Transportation Co. were: Henry A. Haarstick, president Henry Lourey, Vice President, died in St. Louis on March 2nd 1885. Henry P. Wyman, secretary Austin R. Moore, treasurer; J.P. Burdeau, freight agent. Capt. George W. Woodward was master in 1896. She was sold to the Combine in November, 1904 along with 34 model barges and towboats H. M. HOXIE and S. H. H. CLARK. She then towed coal south from the Ohio River to New Orleans until dismantled at Elizabeth, PA in June, 1911. The hull was burned to recover old iron two years later. In 1920 the old bones of the hull were still imbedded in the mud opposite the Elizabeth Marine Ways. The photo is the "right eye" of a Keystone stereoview from my collection Number V1450. According to rootsweb.com the stereoview of the Steamer HENRY LOUREY was taken prior to her being sold to the Pittsburgh Combine in 1904 from St. Louis. 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.