Mississippi is a state that has a rich culture, from performing arts to blues music and American architecture and history; there are several picture-perfect possibilities in this state. The outdoor scene here is so diverse because you will be able to see serene nature parks and scenic byways. Mississippi may not seem … Read more
Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994 Frederick Way, Jr., was a noted steamboat pilot and river historian who collected steamboat data throughout some 80 years of his life. Whether you are a steamboat historian or a genealogist whose ancestors traveled on the rivers, Way’s Packet Directory is bound to help in your research. Steamboats … Read more
Night Stop on the Mississippi’ In this moonlit scene, a small sidewheeler lands against a levee with the Mississippi at flood stage. The landing places either rose with the river or were relocated, depending on the current. The flat-bottomed hull design of the riverboat, drawing as little as two-and-a-half-feet, afforded easy access … Read more
PHIL SHERIDAN Built: 1866, Cincinnati, Ohio Type: Sidewheel, wooden hull packet. Size: 227′ x 35′ 6″ x 6′, 728 tons. Engines: 22’s – 7 ft. Boilers: 4 boilers, each 40″ x 26 ft. with five 9″ flues. Operating on the Upper Mississippi River, the PHIL SHERIDAN was owned first by the Cincinnati and Wheeling Line before being sold … Read more
‘BIG’ MISSOURI Built: 1845, Cincinnati, Ohio. Type: Sidewheel, wooden hull packet. Size: 304 feet, 886 tons. This is a 1850 lithograph of the MISSOURI, also called the BIG MISSOURI because it was the largest steamboat on the river below Louisville before the launch of the SULTANA in 1848. It operated mainly between St. Louis and New Orleans and was … Read more
When the Civil War broke out, neither side were prepared for naval battles on the western rivers. The inevitable result was an urgent and innovative period of warship experimentation. Before the war, James Buchanan Eads (1820-1887), an inventive self-taught engineer living in St. Louis and familiar with the Mississippi River, proposed that the U.S. government … Read more
Quote:~ The Mississippi River and its basin has shaped the history of North America, influencing Indian life, exploration, military campaigns, pioneering and settlement, politics, folk and high culture, civil rights, and economic development. Home to diverse and distinctive species of flora and fauna, it was first civilized between 500 AD and 1500 AD by agrarian, … Read more