Steamboats

[Dave Paetow]

Driving down the Ol' Mississip today and saw a couple big Steamboats.

Mississippi Queen

MQ squeaking under the I-90 bridge (river is pretty high right now)

Delta Queen docked in Red Wing

 

[bobad]

I noticed that the smokestack was removed to get under the bridge... wonder if they have to do that every time or is the water really high right now.

 

[PatentAppliedFor]

You know she was a dancer, she moved better on wine
While the rest of those dudes where gettin there kicks
Brother beg your pardon I was gettin mine
Ohhhhh Mississippi Queen

:dude

 

[Tonefiend]

Cool pics. I haven't seen one of those in years.

 

[Ramrodrowdyyates]

I'm trying to remember the name of the big Steamship in New Orleans. I was thinking Syracuse, But I believe I saw they Syracuse in Vicksburg years ago. I took a trip on the big (and very unadorned) Sidewheeler they had in New Orleans many years ago. As a kid, it was a big kick!

 

[juniorspecial]

One time when I drove from California to Detroit I listened to Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain. It was on one of those books on tape things--unabridged, from the library. It was great.

I had just finished it a couple of miles before I got to the river where it passes Davenport, Iowa.

 

[doodman]

From ages 6 to 10 I used to live on Third Street in a town in Iowa which means three blocks from the river. Whenever the Mississippi Queen or Delta Queen would be going through, we used to go down and "ooh and ahhh." It was a REALLY big deal for a bunch of poor folks from our neighborhood. For some reason I thought the Delta Queen was bigger. Whatever.

Cool pictures, thanks for sharing!

 

[Bluburst135]

You know she was a dancer, she moved better on wine
While the rest of those dudes where gettin there kicks
Brother beg your pardon I was gettin mine
Ohhhhh Mississippi Queen

:dude

:rock

 

[Shovel95]

I'm trying to remember the name of the big Steamship in New Orleans. I was thinking Syracuse, But I believe I saw they Syracuse in Vicksburg years ago. I took a trip on the big (and very unadorned) Sidewheeler they had in New Orleans many years ago. As a kid, it was a big kick!

I think it's called the Natches????

MY favorite is thew Riverboat President.....they have great concerts on board.....cool way to see a show :dude

 

[DrRobert]

This year they had the "Grand Excursion" celebrating the 150 yr anniversary of a trip up the Mississip by a bunch of paddle wheelers. We had 9? boats go by Casseville. The whole town (1100) and 1300 out of towners were down by the river watching. I ran sound for a little song and dance show on shore while the boats went by. They played the calliopes, ran in circles, blew the horns then disappeared up the river. Some of them were still locking thru 40 miles upriver 9 hours later (pretty relaxed way to travel). The water was about 5-6' higher than it usually is this time of year, so, no, they don't have to take off the stack to get under the bridges most years (course, most of these boats never go 20m from home anymore, I wonder if any of them had mechanical problems?). They travelled from St. Louis to Minneapolis.