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The River: Wash your hands, take a respite from the crisis for a trip down memory river; wash your hands


The riverboat captain is a storyteller, and Captain Don Sanders will be sharing the stories of his long association with the river — from discovery to a way of love and life. This a part of a long and continuing story.

By Capt. Don Sanders
Special to NKyTribune

Although a long and clear memory has been a blessing with vivid recollections of World War II and everything that happened since; nothing in the nearly 80 years I’ve taken up space on this planet even comes close to the reaction to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) scare, so far. As we will be continually bombarded 24-7 with accounts of grocery shelves stripped bare of toilet tissue and paper towels, and news of celebrities exposed to the virus, my thoughts turn to my fortress of solitude in these troubled times, the river. Come with me, but make sure you’ve washed your hands.

First, let’s go to one of my most favorite times, the post-Civil War period on the Lower Mississippi River, the era of the great packet boats. Though built in the most luxurious splendor during the time Twain dubbed “the gilded age,” post-war steamboats were gasping for air. Railroads, perfected as the ultimate transportation mode during the “rebellion again northern tyranny,” as my Southern shipmates liked to say, already made steamboats obsolete. The “floating palatial palaces” of the postbellum period were a last-gasp measure for the steamers erected with hopes of regaining trade lost to the “Iron Horse.” But, what rare beauties came out of those times so often remembered as the “Golden Era of Steamboating.”


With accounts of grocery shelves stripped bare of toilet tissue and paper towels, my thoughts turn to my fortress of solitude in these troubled times, the river.

My favorite steamboat of that era, the EDWARD J. GAY, was featured in an earlier column. Other boats of the post-war period are better known to the casual reader, namely the ROBT. E. LEE, NATCHEZ, and J. M. WHITE. Each of these names adorned several boats, but most people believe they are a single vessel touting those notable monikers. About everyone with the smallest inkling that steamboats ever existed has heard of the famous contest between the NATCHEZ and the “de old BOB LEE” racing from New Orleans and ending in St. Louis on the 4th of July 1870. Generations of boys knew, by heart, the winning time for the LEE was “3 days, 18 hours, and 14 minutes.” Somehow, I fell into that group of mostly extinct former-youngsters who can recite the days, hours, and minutes as smartly as they recall their Social Security digits.

In the minds of many steamboat buffs, the grandest of the great steamboats was the palatial J. M. WHITE, built for Captain John W. Tobin and others, at the Howard Shipyard in Jeffersonville, Indiana, across the Ohio River from Louisville. Of course, earlier steamboats boasting the same name, but they paled in comparison to the later. The WHITE celebrated Captain J. M. White of Cloverport, Kentucky, while the first two WHITEs honored a merchant tycoon from Herculaneum, Missouri.

The famous contest between the NATCHEZ and the “de old BOB LEE” racing from New Orleans and ending in St. Louis on the 4th of July 1870. Dean Cornwell painting.

With high hopes of reviving the steamboat trade and competing with the bright ribbons of iron blanketing the land, the J. M. WHITE, built to haul 10,000 bales of cotton on her broad guards, never carried more than 5,067 bales. Reduced economic times and yellow fever outbreaks contributed to the disappointing performance in the cotton trade.

Expletives describing the attributes of the WHITE far exceed my vocabulary. Still, Col. Will S. Hayes writing in the August 7, 1878, Louisville Courier-Journal newspaper said such things as: “…unlike anything that has ever built before… the skylights are very chaste in drawing and execution…pure Gothic in style…massive…gold carvings with ebony relief.”

On her maiden voyage, the J. M. WHITE towed the uncompleted EDWARD J. GAY to the Crescent City. Eight years after the Howards finished their “supreme triumph in cotton boat architecture,” according to Captain Fredrick Way, Jr., the J. M. WHITE burned at the Blue Store Landing, St. Maurice Plantation, Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana on December 13, 1886. Gunpowder stowed in the magazine within the hull exploded in a spectacular display of volatile splendor rivaling the best the WEBN fireworks would produce a century later. The hulk, embedded in the mud of the Mississippi River, still comes up for fresh air during infrequent episodes of extremely low water. Captain Clarke C. “Doc” Hawley of New Orleans, my long-time friend and steamboat mentor, is one of the few among the living who’ve walked those hallowed decks.

In the minds of many steamboat buffs, the grandest of the great steamboats was the palatial J. M. WHITE, built for Captain John W. Tobin and others, at the Howard Shipyard in Jeffersonville, Indiana, across the Ohio River from Louisville.

Another exciting time in steamboat history was at the turn of the 19th and 20th Centuries when coal was “king” and the most desirable of fuels to power the age of steam, both on the river and ashore. In 1899, the Monongahela River Consolidated Coal and Coke Company, a coal transportation business, formed with the merger of more than 90 independent coal mines and riverboat concerns. Collectively, the company with its fleet of over 100 steam towboats, 4,000 barges, and the facilities for handling coal at Cincinnati, Louisville, Memphis, Vicksburg, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans, was commonly called the “Combine.”

Perhaps the most well-known of the Combine steam towboats was “Big Momma,” the Steamer SPRAGUE, built at the Iowa Iron Works, Dubuque, Iowa, and launched in 1902. Like the J. M. WHITE, the expletives describing the attributes of the SPRAGUE overstress the boundaries of my expressive abilities. Captain Way called the SPRAGUE “the largest steam towboat ever built for inland river service.” WAY’S STEAM TOWBOAT DIRECTORY devotes four pages to the glorious history of that greatest of all steam workhorses that I’ve written about many times before. Instead of repeating myself, I will tell you about another favorite Combine steam towboat.

Expletives describing the attributes of the WHITE far exceed my vocabulary.The Ladies Cabin of the J. M. WHITE.

The steamboat OAKLAND, built at Pittsburgh for Captains Tom Fawcett and “McKeesport Billy” Smith in 1872 to tow coal to New Orleans, ran in that trade until selling her to the Peoples Coal Company of Pittsburgh who ran the steamer in opposition to the Combine. In 1907, the Combine acquired the OAKLAND and operated her until 1913. Again, it was Captain Way who described the OAKLAND best as one of the “towboat immortals with a fancy rail porch and fancy-topped smokestacks.” Of particular note was the roof bell of the OAKLAND having this inscription inscribed into the bowl: “Cast by A. Fulton’s Sons & Company Pittsburgh, PA. AD 1872. Steamer OAKLAND. Capt. Billy Smith.”

After the Combine rebuilt and renamed the OAKLAND the F. M. WALLACE in 1913, it had a somewhat shaky career, including a long layup from the autumn of 1918 until early 1920. Then she became chartered to the Federal Barge Lines with the celebrated Captain Edgar “Jocko” Meeks as Master. Whatever happened to the WALLACE is unclear, but her hulk lies near Ames Towhead below Herculaneum, the home of afore-mentioned Missouri business tycoon, Mr. J. M. White.

The famed roof bell from the OAKLAND ended up on the steam towboat CRUCIBLE owned by the Crucible Steel Company, Pittsburgh, whose long-time Master was Captain Guy A. Smith, grandson of Captain “McKeesport Billy” Smith of the OAKLAND. Captain Charles E. Ritts was the early Master of the CRUCIBLE before he became the Superintendent of Transportation for the steel company. A favorite photo of the OAKLAND / CRUCIBLE bell and Captain Ritts posing with his foot on the historic signaling device was recently shared on Facebook by the Captain’s granddaughter, Barbara Ritts, and reproduced here. Barbara also added these comments concerning her grandfather and how he started his illustrious river career:

The OAKLAND

“My grandfather, Charles Ritts, was a deckhand on the boat in June 1905. When Crucible Coal Co. bought her in 1912, he started working for them as Captain of the CHARLEY JUTTE. That was on August 15, 1912. On September 9, 1912, the name of the boat changed to the CRUCIBLE, and he remained on the CRUCIBLE as Captain till he left her on October 5, 1925, to become Crucible Steel’s Supt. of River Transportation.”

Crucible Steel replaced the steam towboat CRUCIBLE in 1948 and took delivery of a diesel-powered towboat by the same name in 1951. Eventually, Captain Smith’s original bell found its way aboard the new towboat. Crucible Steel later sold the diesel boat to Island Creek Fuel & Transportation Company in 1961. Island Creek sold the CRUCIBLE to Hillman Barge and Construction a year later. Within four more years, Hillman sold the boat to the Merdie Boggs & Sons, Inc. transportation company of Catlettsburg, Kentucky.

Surprisingly, the Ohio River Museum, Marietta, Ohio, recently received the bell as a donation from the Boggs family. They acquired it from Captain Merdie Boggs, who bought the diesel-powered towboat CRUCIBLE, along with the bell, and renamed the boat the BRYAN B. Capt. Clarence Boggs, son of Cap’n Merdie, removed the bronze sounding device from the BRYON B in 1984. It has reposed in the Boggs yard ever since.

A favorite photo of the OAKLAND / CRUCIBLE bell and Captain Ritts posing with his foot on the historic signaling device was recently shared on Facebook by the Captain’s granddaughter, Barbara Ritts.

Just this past week, Barbara Ritts was pictured with an unlikely crew contemplating wrestling the heavy bell into a van for the trip from Ashland, Kentucky to the museum. Barbara reported the yoke made it safely to Marietta, but until more brawn is found to heft the weighty noisemaker, it remains where it has rested for the past 36 years. My recommendation involves recruiting a couple, or more, young towboat deckhands used to toting such loads. In the meantime, my heartfelt appreciation goes to the Boggs family for insuring the illustrious OAKLAND / CRUCIBLE / BRYON B bell will soon be in perpetually protective hands at the “Muse on the Muskingum.”

So, how was this for a little respite from the news? Except for reading Captain Pete O’Connell’s dissertation this morning concerning the pros and cons of stockpiling toilet tissue and paper towels, I’ve been glued to writing and editing this edition. Consequently, I haven’t heard another word about the Corona -COVID-19 hysteria. Hopefully, the reading works as well for you as the writing did for me.

Now, to wash my hands until finishing two verses of “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”

Just this past week, Barbara Ritts was pictured with an unlikely crew wresting the heavy bell into a van for the trip from Ashland to the museum. William Reynolds, Jeff Spear, Barbara Ritts and Taylor Abbott.

Captain Don Sanders is a river man. He has been a riverboat captain with the Delta Queen Steamboat Company and with Rising Star Casino. He learned to fly an airplane before he learned to drive a “machine” and became a captain in the USAF. He is an adventurer, a historian, and a storyteller. Now, he is a columnist for the NKyTribune and will share his stories of growing up in Covington and his stories of the river. Hang on for the ride — the river never looked so good.


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4 Comments

  1. Excellent. ..love steamboat history. Don paints a picture for you..

  2. Ronald L Sutton says:

    Note the Oil Lamps in the Palatial Salon of the JM White. These were, I’m told on good authority, responsible for several Steam Boat Fires. Hitting a snag, motion making a crossing, or sudden movement could cause the Burning Oil to Spill, sometimes setting the whole Boat on Fire. Capt Don has, as usual, produced a great narrative, almost ‘the Best of Times, the Worst of Times for the Industry.’ Readin’ from self imposed Isolation.

  3. John Fryant says:

    You mean to tell me that those three young bucks couldn’t lift that little ole bell into the stern end of that SUV?

    Great article Capt. Don! I hope the paper can put all of your stories together into a book.

  4. Thanks, Ronald and John for the comments. Much appreciated.

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