Old Boat Column

In the May 23 Old Boat column, we mentioned the Boatyard of the U.S. Engineer Department at Gasconade, Mo., located near present-day Mile 104.8 on the right bank of the… Read More

Mention was made last week of the snagboat Missouri clearing the wreck of the Str. Elisha Woods. Snagboats are a nearly forgotten, though once very important, fixture on the navigable… Read More

There have been any number of formulas and theories as to the proper ratio between length and width of boat hulls. In 1901, the Howards built a steam sternwheel towboat… Read More

In 1892, the Huntington & St. Louis Towboat Company had a towboat built at Cincinnati that was named Wash Honshell. The hull was 157 by 28 feet, and the engines… Read More

The Cincinnati, Big Sandy & Pomeroy Packet Company—otherwise known as the White Collar Line owing to the fact that boats owned by the concern sported twin white bands on each… Read More

News that Amherst Madison had recently purchased the Michael J. Grainger and would rename it Ohio brings to mind other vessels named Ohio on the inland rivers. Most recently, of… Read More

Few living within the Big Sandy River valley today could imagine that at one time the best way to travel in the valley was by steamboat. In the late 19th… Read More

The Old Boat Column in The Waterways Journal has been a fixture in the magazine for many years. I’m not sure exactly when it started, but  it was an intermittent… Read More

Editor’s note: After more than 10 years of writing weekly articles focusing on steamboats and river history, Keith Norrington is retiring as the author of the WJ’s Old Boat Column. Read More

Editor’s note: Keith Norrington is retiring as Old Boat columnist for The Waterways Journal after a decade of weekly columns. His final column will appear April 4; until then, we… Read More