Monthly Archives: December 2016
Steamboat Stamp WASHINGTON
STEAMBOAT WASHNGTON 1816 STAMP ISSUED MAR 3, 1989 In 1929, Garnett Laidlaw Eskew writes of Wheeling, West Virginia on page 32 in his critically acclaimed book, ‘The Pageant of the Packets, A Book of American Steamboating’: “We wonder if Wheeling knows she is the birthplace of the American steamboat. Is Midland America aware that it is […]
Read MoreNew Orleans The First Steamboat on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers
New Orleans The First Steamboat on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. The 1811 New Orleans Model by John Bowman This is a historically accurate model of the steamboat New Orleans. The Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania had a replica built at the Elizabeth, Pa. boat yard in 1911 to commemorate the “Centennial Celebration of Steamboating”. […]
Read MoreWilliam Manley & Son Bellaire Wharfboat Model by John Bowman
Wm. Manley & Son BELLAIRE WHARFBOAT with the ferryboats Gertrude and Hazel The Manleys, Peter Manley, then William and son John operated Bellaire’s wharfboat from the 1870s into the late 1920s. This Bellaire Wharfboat sat at the Twenty-Sixth Street wharf (known as the lower wharf) built by the city circa 1878. In October of 1883, […]
Read MoreWHEELING BUILT STEAMBOATS the Washington
Washington Henry Miller Shreve’s 1815 stern-wheel steam-powered Washington, built on the North bank of Wheeling Creek was the first steamboat built in Wheeling, Virginia. The Washington was one hundred and thirty-four feet in length and twenty-eight feet in width with two decks, the first double-decker steamboat. Washington had two high-pressure steam engines, the first on […]
Read MoreWHEELING BUILT STEAMBOATS the USS Signal No. 8
USS Signal No. 8 A.J. Sweeney & Son for Capt. Campbell Sweeney built USS Signal No. 8, a 190-ton stern-wheel steam-powered packet “tinclad” river gunboat, in 1862 at Wheeling, Virginia. A Federal officer of the U.S. Navy requisitioned Signal-reaching Cairo, Illinois on her maiden trip. Campbell sold her to the U.S. Navy for the sum […]
Read MoreWHEELING BUILT STEAMBOATS the Sidney
Sidney A.J. Sweeney & Son of Wheeling built the stern-wheel steam-powered packet Sidney in 1880 for Capt. William M. List of Wheeling, W. Va. William named the boat for his mother, Sidney McMechen-List. Sweeney had the hull for the boat built at the Flesher Boat Yard, Murraysville, West Virginia. At Wheeling, Sweeney completed the boat […]
Read MoreWHEELING BUILT STEAMBOATS the St. Lawrence
St. Lawrence A.J. Sweeney and Son built the side-wheel steam-powered packet St. Lawrence at Wheeling, West Virginia in 1879 for Capt. William M. List. The St. Lawrence was 266½’ x 41’ x 6’, three-quarters the length of a football field, the biggest steamboat ever built in Wheeling. Sweeney had her hull built by Dan Morton […]
Read MoreWHEELING BUILT STEAMBOATS the Liberty No. 4
Liberty No. 4 The stern-wheel steam-powered towboat Liberty No. 4 was built in 1863 for Capt. John K. Booth (his fourth “Liberty”) by the shipyard of “Wilson, Dunlevy & Wheeler”. Actually, it was started when it was Wheeling, Virginia, and completed that same year in Wheeling, West Virginia. It was the first towboat completed in […]
Read MoreWHEELING BUILT STEAMBOATS the Liberty No. 2
Liberty No. 2 The side-wheel steam-powered packet Liberty No. 2 was built by the Wilson, Dunlevy & Wheeler Yard at Wheeling, Virginia in 1861 for Capt. Charles Booth. She replaced his 1857 Liberty, recently sold to the Mason City Coal Co. T. Sweeney & Co. of Wheeling placed her machinery. She was placed in the […]
Read MoreWHEELING BUILT STEAMBOATS the Lewis Wetzel
Lewis Wetzel The side-wheel steam-powered packet Lewis Wetzel was built by the Wilson & Dunlevy Yard at Wheeling, Virginia in 1848 and it was launched the last week of July 1848. The engines were by Phillips & Co. of Wheeling. The Lewis Wetzel was named to honor the frontier hero long associated with the Wheeling […]
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