The History Book Club discussion

This is a thread to discuss the "history of steamboats and river barges".

The Mississippi Steamboat Era in Historic Photographs: Natchez to New Orleans, 1870-1920

Joan W. Gandy

Synopsis

nsidered among the finest photographs of the Mississippi ever taken, 170 recently discovered photographs offer vivid, detailed, beautifully composed images of major steamboats, picturesque river towns, landings, floods, cargoes, great waterway itself. Includes an extremely informative text, rich with detailed information and fascinating anecdotes.

The life story of the inventor of the steam boat which dramatically changed river transportation.

Robert Fulton: A Biography

by Cynthia Owen Philip (no photo)

Synopsis:

Robert Fulton was a renaissance man. Starting out as a fine arts painter, he produced the world's first steamboat empire, thrusting America to the forefront of the Industrial Revolution. At the same time, he invented a means of raising boats on canals and a system of submarine warfare. Born in Lancaster, Pennsylvainia, he flourished in Philadelphia, London, Paris and New York City.

My goodness, I am delighted to see some books come the Transportation way.

The most famous of all the magnificent paddlewheelers.

King and Queen of the River: The Legendary Paddle-Wheel Steamboats Delta King and Delta Queen

by Stan Garvey (no photo)

Synopsis:

This is the remarkable story of paddle-wheel steamers Delta King and Delta Queen, California'slast and most beloved riverboats. Since moving to the Mississippi and Ohio over half a century ago, the Delta Queen has become the world's most famous steamboat. Born in the Roaring Twenties, these historic vessels carried passengers nightly between San Francisco and Sacramento from 1927 to 1940. They offered romantic overnight cruises with dining, dancing and jazz. After serving the U.S. Navy in World War II, they went their separate ways--the Queen through the Panama Canal to America's heartland and the King to Canada where for seven years it was stranded on dry ground. The Delta Queen found fame and fortune in her new life on rivers of the Midwest and South--and still operates there today. In sharp contrast, the Delta King suffered 40 years of hardship, gloom, heartbreak--with sinkings, landlocking, fires, and piracy. Finally, the King was restored at Sacramento as a beautiful floating hotel. This is truly a tale of "riches to rags to riches." Through lively interviews, anecdotes, photos, maps, and lyrical prose, King & Queen of the River covers the unknown story of these legendary steamboats from the Roaring Twenties to the 1990s.

A mostly forgotten incident in the history of the steamboat.

Ship Ablaze: the Tragedy of the Steamboat General Slocum

by Edward T. O'Donnell(no photo)

Synopsis:

There were few experienced swimmers among over 1,300 Lower East Side residents who boarded the General Slocum on June 15, 1904. It shouldn’t have mattered, since the steamship was chartered only for a languid excursion from Manhattan to Long Island Sound. But a fire erupted minutes into the trip, forcing hundreds of terrified passengers into the water. By the time the captain found a safe shore for landing, 1,021 had perished. Ship Ablaze draws on firsthand accounts to examine why the death toll was so high and how the city responded. Masterfully capturing both the horror of the event and the heroism of men, women, and children who faced crumbling life jackets and inaccessible lifeboats as the inferno quickly spread, historian Edward T. O’Donnell brings to life a bygone community while honoring the victims of that forgotten day.

Steamboats on the Western Rivers: An Economic and Technological History

by Louis C Hunter (no photo)

Synopsis:

Definitive account covers every aspect of steamboat's development: its construction, equipment and operation; the organization and conduct of steamboat transportation as a business enterprise; the hazards and amenities of shipboard life; steamboat races on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers; collisions, explosions and fires; the rise of competition; the ultimate decline, and much more.

Award:
John H. Dunning Prize in American History (1952)

Days of The Steamboats

by William H. Ewen (no photo)

Synopsis:

The exciting history of American steamboats -- the palatial passenger boats and workaday freight steamers of the Atlantic and Pacific coastal waters, the Great Lakes, and the Hudson and Mississippi river systems -- is colorfully narrated in picture and prose by steamboat expert William H. Ewen. This general work will appeal to young adult readers as well as older steamboat buffs.