MAY CONTAIN NUTS
HOME
Home

Search Shorpy

SEARCH TIP: Click the tags above a photo to find more of same:
Mandatory field.

Search results -- 30 results per page

Winter Crossing: 1900
... extremely fast, and the ferry docks were set up so the boats always entered dock facing upstream. Michigan Central was built in 1884 ... River railroad ferries. My grandfather worked on these boats when he first came to Detroit from Pennsylvania in 1919. I remember ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/02/2012 - 3:18pm -

Circa 1900. "Detroit River. Car ferry Michigan Central entering slip." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Who's with me?Winter break on the Detroit River! Frigid WonderThis is just a beautiful photo, of an otherwise thoroughly utilitarian scene, just barely romanticized by having train cars and a paddlewheeler as subject matter. The texture in the broken ice at foreground, the impressionistic smoke, and mist in the distance -- Wow. Brr.I'm getting frostbite just looking at this picture. All aboardI see the three sets of tracks, but would like to see the actual way they load and unload the box cars. I bet the guy smoking the pipe could have told us. Extraordinary!This is an extraordinarily beautiful photo. The black and white textures are remarkable. I can feel the cold air and hear the ice crunching as the ferry drifts in. The ghostliness of the image is echoed in the misty distant skylines, and the whole is anchored by the two figures. What a composition! SkylineDoes anyone know if the ferry is pulling into Detroit or Windsor? Any clue from the church in the distance? Interesting weatherCloudy, with a 100% chance of thumbprints! Link & PinThe center car seems to be fitted with a link & pin coupling. The Railroad Safety Appliance Act took effect in 1900 outlawing these hand crushers on railroads engaged in interstate commerce. Absolutely wonderful!As a person who lived in Archangelsk city, I used to see a scenes like this many many times. I feel the atmosphere, I even can feel a smell of it. Wonderful! Just great! "Michigan Central"This seems to be the same sidewheeler design as in the previous shot of a car ferry, the "Transport." The names (hard to see) are stenciled on a signboard over the wheelhouse. A ferry wonderland"The Great Lakes Car Ferries" by George Woodman Hilton has another photo of the Michigan Central on page 35. Best. Photo. Ever.I've been reading Shorpy regularly since sometime in '07 when I saw a link on either Boing Boing or Neatorama. This is abso-freakin-lutely the Best. Photo. Ever. Bless you, and keep doing what you do. Over the riverAt about this time, my grandmother may have been on a sleigh on the frozen river, on the way back to Windsor from Detroit, smuggling back cotton socks. She would have been 10 years old. Such was the family story. Great photoI am so impressed with the high contrast in the sky. If it were not clearly labeled as a scan directly from the negative, I would have assumed this was a print which had received a lot of attention in the darkroom. This image is one of Shorpy's all time greats. [All of the images on this site are adjusted for contrast in Photoshop. - Dave] 57 summers laterBelow is a scan of a 35 mm Kodachrome slide showing this same rail car ferry yard as it looked on July 6, 1957. The photo was taken from the deck of the Ambassador Bridge and its viewpoint is 180 degrees from that of the 1900 photo (the bridge was built during 1927-1929). View full size. The church steeple seen in the distance on the 1900 photo is located in Windsor, Ontario. Here's a photo of it taken from the bridge deck just seconds prior to the one of the rail car ferry yard in Detroit. Jules VerneyUntil you focus in on the rail cars, and the pictures resolves into the recognizable, there's a kind of Victorian Future-Shock quality to it. Frozen in timeThe sharpness of the broken crystal shards could kill a man, they stand pointed end up, ready to cut a careless worker or walker, like razor-edged beveled glass. Two men are seen, yet each is lost in their own solitary thoughts. Possibly thinking "damn, it's cold." Final departureIt looks like they are taking boxcars full of the damned over the river Styx. The church might be in WindsorIt looks very much like Our Lady of the Assumption Church near the foot of Huron Church Rd. It is still there, presently in the shadow of the Ambassador Bridge. If so, the view is downstream. Detroit RiverThis is the Detroit side. The river flows extremely fast, and the ferry docks were set up so the boats always entered dock facing upstream. Michigan Central was built in 1884 by Detroit Dry Dock in Wyandotte, while Transport was built there in 1880. Both were cut down to barges by the 1930's. A nearly identical boat, Lansdowne of 1884, survived in steam until 1970 for CN/Grand Trunk, until she blew a cylinder head (I remember the shock among the Detroit trainwatching community at the time). Her long survival was due to the limited size of the RR tunnels under the river, which couldn't handle hi-cubes and other large cars. Lansdowne then became a floating restaurant, with two Milwaukee Road Skytop observation cars aboard. Recently scrapped in Buffalo. I frequently went down to watch Lansdowne and an even older propeller ferry in the days of no security, "Sure, just be careful!" WindsorI live in Amherstburg, about 20 miles downriver from Windsor. I love these photos of the Detroit River. Great StuffI love these pictures of the Detroit River railroad ferries. My grandfather worked on these boats when he first came to Detroit from Pennsylvania in 1919. I remember watching them shuttle across the river during my childhood in the '60s and '70s. Does anyone know what that factory on the right is? Is it the Michigan Peninsular Car Co. (aka American Car & Foundry)? It seems to be in basically the right place on the west side of Detroit. My great-grandfather, on the other side, worked there. Building a ModelI'm building a 1/87 model of the train ferry Windsor, and these pictures and diagrams have proven to be invaluable. Thanks, Terry Jolliffe Belle River, Ontario (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, Railroads)
City of Cleveland: 1905
... to have; vessels over 10,000 tons were required to have boats for 1060 passengers and the Titanic had boats for 1178. The fact that she had a tonnage of 46,000 tons and a maximum ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/30/2012 - 11:13pm -

Cleveland, Ohio, circa 1905. "Cuyahoga River from the Viaduct." The sidewheeler City of Cleveland. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing. View full size. A city on the moveTwas a bright time in Cleveland's history; it was then America's seventh-largest city (it would peak at fifth place in the 1920s) in the midst of a whole civic-building boom downtown. I have a soft spot for my hometown, and am always glad to hear the good news about its renaissance. From DetroitIf you look on the back of the boat you can see that "The City of Cleveland" is from Detroit. I wonder what Cleveland residents thought of that. Pollution TestI never knew rivers could burn. The old joke around here is that someone once dipped an exposed film plate in the East River and it developed. FlammableThe Cuyahoga is notable for having been so polluted that it has caught on fire. According to Wikipedia there have been at least 13 river fires, with the earliest being in 1852. A fire in 1969 was an impetus for the environmental movement. SafetyFour lifeboats for a vessel of that size? Is it owned by White Star Line? Interesting photoI helped refinish the walls and floors of the warehouse building on the right (the one with the word "Ship") in 1978. It was at that time being used as a furniture showroom and warehouse. It is nice to see the old place standing more than 70 years before that! LifeboatsUntil the wreck of the Titanic rules regarding lifeboats were significantly out of date. The British regulations were based on the ship's tonnage. The Titanic actually carried a more lifeboats than the regulations required her to have; vessels over 10,000 tons were required to have boats for 1060 passengers and the Titanic had boats for 1178. The fact that she had a tonnage of 46,000 tons and a maximum capacity of 3,000 people wasn't covered by the regulations. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if the City of Cleveland met and exceeded American regulations at the time - seven years before the Titanic. We've Got Gas!The two round brick building to the right are gas holders for coal gas manufactured at a gasworks. Coal gas was used for lighting and for cooking, and, sometimes, to power coal gas internal combustion engines similar to liquid gasoline engines. The circular framework next to the two brick gas holders is a rising and falling gas holder where steel tank sections telescope together and rise and fall with the volume and pressure of gas within. The framework holds the sections true where they slide up and down in guides on rails on framework similar to guides on elevators. Only the top rising section has a 'lid', against which the gas presses from below, raising the other round segments which are similar to a tin can with the top and bottom removed. The sections interlock so the top rising sections pick up the next going up, releases it going down in sequence. Coal gas and their gas works were replaced in the Fifties and Sixties by natural gas. Thank You. Round buildingsDoes anyone know what the two large round buildings in the back right were used for? Nightly AdventureDeparting Cleveland for Buffalo every night on the C&B Line while Lake Erie was ice free at 7:45 with a 7:30 a.m. arrival in Buffalo. If you were off to Detroit from "The Forest City" you left at 10 p.m. (after arrival of all trains of the Erie and of the Bee Line) with a 5:30 a.m. arrival in the not yet "Motor City." Name confusionThis is the 3rd of 4 D+C boats named "City Of Cleveland", plus another early one named simply "Cleveland". This one was built in 1886. Like most of the early D+C boats, she had twin stacks athwartships, and a walking beam engine. When the 4th one was built in 1907, this boat became City Of St. Ignace, and later Keystone. The Great Lakes are a researcher's nightmare (or dream), with most boats having had multiple names during their lives, and many names recycled repeatedly to new boats. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Cleveland, DPC)
Let's Do Launch: 1943
... sweaters. (The Gallery, Arthur Siegel, Baltimore, Boats & Bridges, WW2) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/01/2023 - 3:01pm -

May 1943. "Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyards, Baltimore, Maryland. Portraits of the workers who turn out 'Liberty' ship cargo transports, during lunch hour or on rest period." 4x5 inch acetate negative by Arthur Siegel for the Office of War Information. View full size. Juan de la cruz is awesomeThe photo with "What is being said"? is different from the original "Let's Do Launch". Either Mr. de la Cruz has astounding Photoshop skills or it is the second in a series of pix. Either way it is a personality plus photo. [I added the photo to show what they were laughing at. - Dave] Short-lived but crucialThe Birmingham-Fairfield Shipyard existed for less than five years. It was one of two yards (the other in Portland, Oregon) constructed under the 1941 Emergency Shipbuilding Program. The emergency? Even though the U.S. was still officially neutral, it had to react to the severe losses of the British Merchant Navy in the Battle of the Atlantic. The Baltimore yard built Liberty Ships, eventually 384 of them, along with LSTs (Landing Ship, Tanks) and Victory ships. What is being saidWould love to know what is causing all the smiles. What is the conversation. If I had the editing skills, I'd add balloons to each of people with, starting from right to left: "Say what?" "Can't be true!" "He really did that?" "Yup, I saw him -- " And then I run out of conversation. Someone else, with better imagination, can carry on. Dave - Thank you for adding it. Wish I could take credit for it, but I can't. It is as fun a photo as the original. Lots of smiles. And I really wish I could hear the comments! Brown bagsFrom what I can see, they all brown bag their lunch. I wonder why none of them has a black, domed top, metal lunchbox with a handle? [Because when a metal lunchbox falls on your head from 50 feet up, it hurts. - Dave] Point taken. The other observation I have is about the guy sitting fourth from the right, including the man sitting on the bottom step. I'm pretty sure he was a football lineman. He's a big guy and he's wearing what appears to be a varsity letter on his sweater. Waxed paperWhen I was a kid we didn't have plastic sandwich bags. A sandwich wrapped in wax paper worked just fine. At the lunch table, I could lay it flat for a clean place to lay my lunch out on. Occasionally, I'll still wrap a sandwich in wax paper. The S.S. John W. Brownwas assembled at the Baltimore shipyard in 1942, and is one of two surviving fully operational Liberty Ships preserved in the United States. It is docked in Baltimore, and open for tours and living history cruises. https://www.ssjohnwbrown.org/ Looks like Central CastingEach one of these guys looks like some character actor. Especially the fellow in the white sweater, I'm sure I've seen him in a Bowery Boys picture. Good bunch of guysThere's lots of nice body language in this shot. I especially like the fellow, lower center, leaning back into the legs of the guy behind him, who is gesturing with a touch to the shoulder. And, of course, they are of different races -- in a time that racial segregation was widely legal and widely practiced. VarietyThat's quite a collection of headgear. The man with the bill-less cap probably is wearing it backward, not because it was the style but possibly because he wears a welder's mask when he's working. Today you would probably see uniform OSHA-approved hard hats. And you wouldn't see any cable-knit sweaters. (The Gallery, Arthur Siegel, Baltimore, Boats & Bridges, WW2)
Dredge-Boat: 1864
... same day? [The sunken ships look to be two different boats. - Dave] Spuds It is stunning to see a machine in the Civil War ... the ones that built the Panama Canal. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Civil War) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/17/2009 - 2:32am -

James River, Va. "Army of the James. Butler's dredge-boat, sunk by a Confederate shell on Thanksgiving Day, 1864." Wet plate glass negative. View full size. Rack and Pinion AnchorMy guess is the square "pole" in the rear is cranked down to anchor the stern of the dredge in the while the front end scoops. Steel towerI am wondering where this picture was taken. The tower in the top left corner of the picture seems very unusual. It hardly resembles any type of structure that I have seen in other pictures taken during the Civil War. Can anyone help identify this structure? [It's a signal tower. Made of wood, not steel. Click below to enlarge. - Dave] USS OnondagaI believe that's the monitor USS Onondaga in the upper right. Your earlier post shows what could possibly be a wrecked ship on the river bank (look over the stern). Could these two photos be from the same area of the James River on the same day? [The sunken ships look to be two different boats. - Dave] SpudsIt is stunning to see a machine in the Civil War that embodies all the elements still used in dredges today. The vertical timbers are called spuds, which are lowered to the bottom to hold the machine in place. There were three of them, one at the stern (right end of photo) and two port and starboard at the bow, only one visible. Same as today. The angled timber at the left is the dipper stick, which has the bucket or dipper at the other end. Note the gear teeth for the bucket crowd. It's a steam shovel, very like the ones that built the Panama Canal. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Civil War)
Gangway for Andy: 1900
... the replacements built until 1930-31. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Chicago, DPC) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/15/2014 - 9:16am -

Chicago circa 1900. "12th Street bascule bridge." Andy about to overtake A.B. Ward on the Chicago River. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative. View full size. Clean AirAhhhhh. Wishing for the clean air of the good old days. A.B. WardThe A.B. Ward was built in 1866 and mostly destroyed in a boiler explosion in 1881 with the loss of three crew. She was rebuilt and abandoned in 1911. The Ultimate Bedtime StoryScuffy tows Mary Anne to her new home in Chicago's First Ward. Few huesI don't think it would be much work to colorize this photo. Grey, black, brown. A coal powered worldThat's the way it looked. Too bad that most of the relatively clean-burning anthracite in the US is now gone. The bulk of what we have left is dirty brown lignite, so our coal powered future will be much murkier than our past. Is it OK to Toot My Own Horn?An image from my book Midstream: The Chicago River 1999-2010 showing the same bridge as it looked recently. More photographs can be seen at www.richardwasserman.net Clever photographerHe got the smoke to all blow one way. Beautiful photo, BTW. Marine TrafficOne of my favorite Detroit Publishing photographs, this view reveals a fascinating glimpse of the varied and heavy marine traffic on the Chicago River early in the last century. The A.B. Ward, built 1866 by the Miller Brothers shipyard, Chicago's earliest major shipbuilder, is shown in the employ of the Y&L Coal Company, which specialized in bunkering vessels on the river and its two branches. The contraption she tows is a crane barge that would hoist the buckets visible broadside to awaiting craft to have their contents of coal tipped into their bunkers. The Andy was built by E.A. Heath at Benton Harbor, Michigan, for that city's Graham & Morton Transportation Company, a major steamboat operator between Chicago and the lower East Shore of Lake Michigan, for harbor work in that town, and named for Morton's son Andrew. In 1911 the Texas Company would build a major refinery at Lockport at the terminus of the Chicago Sanitary & Ship Canal, and the firm employed the Andy to shuttle tank barges between there and Chicago. In December that year, she was crushed by ice at the refinery and a total loss. In the distance between the Ward's tow and the dredge on the east bank one can make out the I.M. Weston, built 1883 at Grand Haven, Michigan, by Scottish emigre shipbuilder and naval architect Duncan Robertson. In 1900 she became the property of the Drainage Canal Amusement Company (an odd name, to be sure) and, her superstructure cut down to pass beneath that waterways bridges, she gave excursion from 12th Street (today's Roosevelt Road) along the Drainage Canal and back in what was then bucolic greenery. The Weston burned a total loss in 1902 at Summit, Illinois, on the canal. SquishedI'd like to put a Penny under the rocker of that bridge, bet it'd be flatter than one run over by a Locomotive! Are you sure...that's not the River Styx? Chicago ReversalJust an aside--1900 was also the year they reversed the course of the Chicago River so that it no longer emptied into Lake Michigan and instead, deposited waste water downstream. Radial Brick ChimneysThose brick chimneys are quite impressive. They even put a little design flair into those back in the day as well. Nice! This is the OLD B&OCT bridgeThe photographer was probably standing on or near the 12th Street Bridge; the pictured bridge was a long double-leaf railroad bridge that crossed the river at a very shallow angle to access Chicago's Grand Central Station. Double-leaf drawbridges proved problematic for heavy steam locomotives, and the bridge's location limited river navigation. The pictured bridge was removed when the river channel was straightened in the 1920s, and the bridges disfromage shows are the replacements built until 1930-31. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Chicago, DPC)
Gotham: 1915
... sand in the barge? On the river I see no sail-powered boats. So even though we're still very much in the age of animal power, wind ... side of Main St, at 40.7036N 73.99045W. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, NYC, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/17/2012 - 10:39pm -

New York circa 1915. "Brooklyn Bridge, East River and skyline." The Woolworth Building stars in this Lower Manhattan view, with the Singer, Bankers Trust, Hudson Terminal, Municipal and Park Row buildings as understudies. 5x7 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. How it looked in 1927When Harold Lloyd filmed Speedy in 1927 from this vantage point he captured the Standard Oil Building (near Battery Park to the left), and the Transportation Building (to the left of the Woolworth Building), two buildings that do not appear in this image. Intermodal xportationSo many kinds of transportation here, in between eras. The bridge has more streetcars than horse buggies, and no autos that I can make out. So were these electrified streetcars with overhead power? In the foreground is what is now Empire Fulton Ferry State Park. There are horse-drawn wagons loading or unloading the boxcars in the foreground. Is that sand in the barge? On the river I see no sail-powered boats. So even though we're still very much in the age of animal power, wind power is pretty much a thing of the past. Great photo for mixing smaller and larger scales. Lightning Rods?I notice several structures have rod-like structures. It seems 1915 would be a bit early for anything other than Morse-based radio, so I'm wondering if those are lightning rods. Nice angle on the bridge and city. Anyone know the likely photographer vantage point? [By 1915, New York's skyscrapers had dozens of Marconi masts, for both marine and terrestrial telegraphy as well as wireless telephone, and hundreds of flagpoles. - Dave] So neat and clean The little bit of rail road at bottom center looks so neat and clean it could almost be part of someones "N" scale layout. The only activity in that area is the loading/unloading of the two cars on the most distant track. Team tracksThe rail cars being loaded/unloaded are on what the railroad industry called a team track, in reference to the teams of horses required to handle the boxcar lading. The tracks served businesses that had no direct rail service to their doors, and were owned by a railroad in most cases. Team tracks are very scarce today. Pulling loads and empties scattered throughout a yard is a very time consuming and expensive proposition, and railroads have generally opted out of business of this nature. Had the opportunity to work the old Milwaukee Road Railroad Reed Street team track yard in Milwaukee, Wisconsin many years ago. We handled mostly fresh produce from California, destined to brokers who sold the stuff to local supermarkets. One of the brokers might have an iced URTX reefer consigned to them show up, and would send a couple of fellows with a truck to unload it. They did it just like the guys in the picture: one bag or carton at a time. The only thing missingis the bat signal in the sky. 1923 - 1925New York Stock Exchange Addition from 1922 is there. Enlarged 195 Broadway from 1923 is there. Transportation Building from 1927 is not there. More like 1922195 Broadway (AT&T or whatever they called it-- the white bldg just right of midspan of the bridge) has been expanded north to Fulton St, so can't be much before 1922; the Cotton Exchange at 60 Beaver St isn't there, so not later than 1923. (The Cotton Exchange is the building with the columned top and blank east wall near the left edge of the 1960 aerial.) Must have been taken from the tower of the building that's still there on the east side of Main St, at 40.7036N 73.99045W. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, NYC, Railroads)
Tashmoo Too: 1901
... help from the dock. The Detroit River excursion boats performed this operation many times per day, without tugboats or bow ... Due to the very fast current in the Detroit River, boats normally dock facing upstream to this day. We rode the later BobLo ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/02/2012 - 3:16pm -

Detroit circa 1901. "Steamer Tashmoo leaving wharf." Another look at the popular excursion steamer with a capacity crowd of day trippers. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Tippy TashmooOK, everybody rush over to the port side and wave to the folks ashore -- kersplash! Hold FastSkipper is waiting to let go the stern line I believe. ObservationsPassengers' only "flotation devices" appear to be their wooden deck chairs. No fencing around the dock area. Ah, the good old days when people didn't sue like crazy. Bicycles were apparently quite popular then. Mostly men on the dock -- did they all send their sweeties off for the day? Something oddSomeone tried to scratch out the shadow of the flag from the negative (near bottom left). Women and Children First!I can see only 4 lifeboats on the port side of the ship, assume there are 4 more on the starboard side for a total of 8. Looking at the number of passengers on the ship, this seems to be a possible miscalculation of "Titanic" proportions. Ladies FirstChivalry seems to have been strong in Detroit. I count only two or three examples of the fairer sex awaiting the next steamer. I imagine the ratio would be far different today. Day Trip The Tashmoo is leaving the Detroit River wharf & is headed for the Belle Isle Park down river from Detroit. Canada is on the other side of the Detroit River. Passengers purchase a 1-day ticket (round trip) to Belle Isle (island). This excursion has been going on at least 110 years. Lots of fun & memories for those who take the trip. Dangerous linesAside from numerous other concerns (by our standards) check out how close the people on the dock are standing to the straining stern line. If that piece of cordage ever snapped it would have whipped across the dock and cut off folks at their knees! Even in 1901 you gotta wonder who was supervising the line handling. The Tashmoo's Date With Doomhttp://apps.detnews.com/apps/history/index.php?id=22 SpringlineMagnificent boat! The photo demonstrates a once standard method of ship handling, the springline. A line is run from a cleat at the stern to a dock piling. The ship ("boat" on the Great Lakes) then "backs against the spring", pulling the stern toward the dock, and causing the bow to swing out into the river. The boat had been docked in the nearer curved slip, and at this point has been swung out almost enough to ring engine ahead and cast off the springline. If the line was doubled around the piling, it could be cast off from the boat's deck, without help from the dock. The Detroit River excursion boats performed this operation many times per day, without tugboats or bow thrusters. A similar setup could be used to get the boat docked. Due to the very fast current in the Detroit River, boats normally dock facing upstream to this day. We rode the later BobLo steamers, Ste. Claire + Columbia, in the early 1980's, and watched this operation done to perfection. These boats were similar to Tashmoo, but had a single propeller instead of Tashmoo's sidewheels,and lacked her sharp prow, making them less elegant and efficient, but more manageable. As with most excursion steamers, the engine room was completely visible, exposed in a well. I got invited down to the engine room with my very young daughter, who still remembers it clearly. My wife's mother spoke fondly of riding the Tashmoo, which wasn't one of the BobLo boats. It normally ran north (at very high speed) from Detroit to Port Huron, with a stop at Tashmoo Park near Algonac. Hoist the Colors!Note the union jack on the foremast. Tashmoo MemoriesAs poor as our fatherless family of ten were in the early 1930s, we did get to ride both the Tashmoo and Put-In Bay boats. When I was 11 or 12, at the target range on Put-In Bay Island I actually shot the stuffed alligator that was on the floor for decor. No one got mad. They just told me to shoot at the targets. Do wish more people knew how beautiful Detroit used to be. Stern LineIt sorta looks like a line is connected to the pier and under tension at the corner of the close pier, running back and around the corner piling. It is positioned such that if it ran to a cleat on the ship somewhere behind the piling it would act as described in assisting the ship to lever itself, with the assist of the current, or perhaps the port wheel, in getting the ship (boat) away from the dock and underway. While in the Navy, we were instructed that the difference between a ship and a boat was that a ship could carry and launch a boat, something a boat cannot do. Don't think that included carrying a dinghy or the like. Don't think the size or type of water factors into the description. Tashmoo HullTake away some of the superstructure and you would have a most beautiful racing steam yacht. I find the design of that hull most attractive. It is interesting that in the previous Tashmoo photo, two vessels are at the same wharf and apparently boarding their passenger near the bow in each case. TurningI don't believe the stern line is still secure. I think the left wheel is turning slow ahead to hold against the dock. That allows the current to swing the bow out into the channel. Let the river do the work. Tashmoo ParkThe steamer Tashmoo's regular run was to Tashmoo Park on Harstens Island at the mouth of the St. Clair River. Some of the park structures still stand. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Detroit Photos, DPC)
Bananas to Baltimore: 1905
... help. How they get here now They still arrive on boats, of course, but in a carefully controlled inert atmosphere (usually ... photographer, A. Aubery Bodine, took photos of banana boats being unloaded in the 1950's in nearly the same location as this, with no ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/08/2014 - 1:03pm -

Baltimore, Maryland, circa 1905. "Unloading banana steamer." A teeming scene that calls to mind the paintings of Brueghel, if Brueghel ever did bananas. Note the damage from the Great Fire of 1904. 8x10 glass negative. View full size. Big MikeThese bananas are the variety known as Gros Michel or "Big Mike." They were a larger, heartier, tastier banana than the Cavendish variety that everyone eats today, and hardly any special shipping methods were needed. Just stack them and go. Unfortunately, since cultivated bananas are genetically identical to one another, by the 1950s essentially all Gros Michel bananas were wiped out by one Panamanian fungal disease. The Cavendish was a suitable replacement as it could grow in the same soils as the Gros Michel, but it requires more delicate handling during shipping. The Cavendish itself is steadily being wiped out by a similar fungus and we may need to look for another replacement in the not too distant future. Spiders, Oh My!Mackenzie, your family history is probably not far off. I had an ex who discovered a scary-looking spider in a shipment of bananas in the middle of Nebraska of all places about ten years ago. He thought it was dead and went to poke it, and to his surprise, it was alive! Fortunately for him, he was not bitten. I would imagine the threat of spiders and other creepy crawlies would be even greater before shipments passed through inspection. I don't blame your ancestors for being a little scared one bit! Always have a spare.I like the extra anchor lashed to the railing on the lower left of the frame.I wonder how much it weighs. NabiscoThe original NBC, the National Biscuit Company, makers of Uneeda Biscuits and more importantly, Mallomars. Hey, Mister Tally ManSomeone tell the two gents with ledgers (looks like) in the small screened shed to knock one banana off the day's tally, thanks to the one guy in the bunch eating the inventory, in the foreground looking at the camera. The William Heyser seen on one building was an oyster distributor still in business in 1929, as noted by an ad in my desktop copy of a 1929 Baltimore business publication marking the city's 200th anniversary: Heyser’s Oysters Baltimore’s Leading Brand The William Heyser Co. Raw Oysters 2201-09 Boston St, Baltimore, Md. This reminds me of a road projectThree or four guys doing the heavy lifting while a hundred guys watch. NabiscoFirst known as the National Biscuit Company, makers of fine hardtack biscuits. Bananas from a boatBy the time they shipped them to Baltimore, they must have been all brown and slimy. I think the evidence supports this. [As opposed to the way bananas get to America now? - Dave] Do they still ship them all the way to Baltimore? Is that a Banana in your handOr are you just... Oh, never mind, it IS a Banana. Quality ControlNice to see the gent here on the left foreground tasting the produce to make sure that indeed it is a banana. Don't dally you men, the talleys are correct and Harry Ketler's Express boys are in a hurry. re: BrueghelDave, I'm impressed! Your comparison to Brueghel is dead on. May I suggest a novel to you: Headlong, by Michael Frayn. http://www.themanbookerprize.com/prize/books/80 300 accidents waiting to happenI am speaking of all those bananas and peels on the deck. A slapstick comedian's dream. Looking SouthwestThis view is looking Southwest from a pier located on Pratt Street. My guess is that it is Pier 3 which is now the location of Baltimore's Aquarium. United Fruit Company (Chiquita Brand) would later build a large Banana handling plant on the Light St. side of the harbor. On a side note, Baltimore rebuilt itself after the fire. The mayor politely but firmly declining all offers of outside help. How they get here nowThey still arrive on boats, of course, but in a carefully controlled inert atmosphere (usually nitrogen-rich, always oxygen-poor). Banana ships today are among the more specialized transport vessels. [Plain old air could be considered "nitrogen rich and oxygen poor." - Dave] Well, there is a pretty faint difference between rich and poor, as regards oxygen. The troposphere is about 21% oxygen, on average. Meanwhile, OSHA defines air below 19.5% as oxygen-deficient. It's a razor edge that we breathe on, and seldom even think about. But we are talking a sledgehammer beyond that razor. The high parameter for oxygen in modern banana transport is about 4%. If you do not follow the proper ventilation protocol, you will literally suffocate seconds after entering the hold. And look at the guy... eating a banana while the other guys do all the work! The B.B.B.W.U. (Baltimore Brotherhood of Banana Workers Union) will hear about this! All star castIs that Corey Feldman and Eddie Murphy in the wagon?! Daylight comeand me wanna go home. WatchersI think the guys "watching" are buyers. Satisfaction GuaranteedBy our Quality Control Department and On-Site QC Manager! Testing the ShipmentMan in foreground: "Gotta make sure they're really ready to eat." Banana MythA good chunk of my genealogy includes generations of Eastern Shore watermen and Baltimore stevedores. The fear among all banana handlers was that tarantulas would be hiding in the bunches. I have no idea how real or factual this fear was, but it's still talked about at family reunions. Did anyone else think of this?They guy looking at the camera, snacking on a banana, lower left. 1 Timothy 5:18 For the scripture saith, "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn." and "The laborer is worthy of his wages." Sampling the merchandiseGuy in the bottom left. You can always tell the accountants -- starched white shirts and ties by the gangplank, best dressed by far, and looking very pleased with themselves! James Bond?I had no idea that Pierce Brosnan (Lower Center) liked Bananas so much?! Banana "Myth"My brother-in-law, who was produce manager for many years in one of Canada's largest grocery chains, was often confronted with six- and eight-legged critters that accompanied fruit boxes, including many tropical spiders and roaches. Banana boxes produced some of the largest and scariest spiders because of the nooks and crannies that they can hide in. Many were deceased but some were not. One piece of advice from his long years of experience is NEVER, ever, EVER bring home vegetable boxes for moving or storage. You DO NOT want infestations of 4-inch flying roaches. Now & ThenI didn't know where to post this, so here it is: A neat page I found- taking old photographs from the Smithsonian's collection, and holding them so they fit into place for a current photograph. http://jasonepowell.com/ And he gives Shorpy credit for discovery of some of the photos! The BasinA back-to-front review: National Biscuit building in the distance lasted into the '70's as a rowdy saloon known as Elmer's. The ancient peak-roofed structures facing us, fronted on Light St., a major north south street. The two Bay steamers were laying over for their nearby terminals, which lined along Light Street. The mostly new-looking structures on the right, faced Pratt Street. The city has a strange, open quality about it, a result of the recent Baltimore Fire of 1904, which gutted the business district east of Light St. down to the waterfront. The brick foundation closest to the banana boat is likely remains of that conflagration. A famous Baltimore photographer, A. Aubery Bodine, took photos of banana boats being unloaded in the 1950's in nearly the same location as this, with no difference between them. A Baltimore and Ohio RR "Fruit Pier" was established in south Baltimore in the 50's, which largely replaced the practice shown here. The area in this photo was known to generations of Baltimoreans as the Basin; today it's the yuppified, allegedly upscale Inner Harbor. I can't even imagineHow that place could smell. HumorI would love to be in on the joke they're sharing. Bolgiano's Seed Store[stanton_square's contributions to Shorpy tend to be of the Joe Friday type: "All we want are the facts." On occasion this blogger stumbles across documents which have both 1) historically relevant facts and 2) overt racism or sexism. In such cases it is sometimes difficult to decide what is worth transcribing. The following 1903 Washington Post article contains such a passage. While I decided to transcribe this passage, I feel obligated to point out the back-handed anti-immigrant racism contained in the first paragraph. The second article, from the American Poultry Advocate, relates the disastrous business impact of the Baltimore fire of 1904 and contains an odd usage of the word 'wonderfully.'] J. Bolgiano & Son, founded 1818. Bolgiano's Seed Store was located at the corner of Pratt and Light. Several heirloom tomato varieties grown today are descended from Bolgiano stock including: Greater Baltimore, John Baer, and IXL Extremely Early. Washington Post, May 17 1903 English names are not the only ones that have been handed down from Revolutionary times, and often a name that seems to indicate foreign blood represents an old American family. This is illustrated in the firm name of F.W. Bolgiano & Co., of this city, an offspring of a firm of like name established in 1818 in Baltimore. It is Italian in origin, but no longer represents Italian stock more than English. The name is known throughout the country to purchasers of seeds, which the firm grows and sells in many parts of the United State and imports from Europe. … The firm grows seeds largely in Frederick County, Maryland, and supplies some of the largest seeds houses with certain varieties of seed. The firm now has business connections in more than a dozen States, and customers in nearly every State in the Union and Canada. American Poultry Advocate, 1904 It is more than probable that every reader of this paper has heard of the wonderfully disastrous fire which so recently burned the heart out of the city of Baltimore. Unless you just happened to know some one who was living or doing business in Baltimore, it is likely that you gave the fire hardly more than a passing thought. But what do you think it means to the people of Baltimore? What do you thing it means for instance, to J. Bolgiano & Sons, the seedsmen who have for eighty-seven years been doing business In the fated city? In all that long period they have never before suffered from fire. Indeed, they felt perfectly safe this time, for when the fire first started it was more than ten city squares away from them. Later, and when they thought they were endangered — though the fire was still six squares from them — they employed two hundred hands and fifty drays and began the removal of their large retail seed stock to one of their warehouses a long distance from the fire, and where they felt everything would be safe. It transpired, however, that by a shifting of the winds the fire ate relentlessly away until both retail stores, offices, packing rooms and warehouses were destroyed. Bolgianos made a brave fight to save the orders and seeds for their thousands of customers, but fate was against them. The orders already booked and the lists of names of multiplied thousands of customers all over the world were lost in the twinkle of an eye. With absolutely nothing to work with, nothing to aid them except their fair name and excellent reputation, the Bolgianos have set to work with firm hands and brave hearts to rebuild their business. They have already laid in a large stock of the very best farm and garden seeds, notwithstanding the short seed crop of the past season, and will be able to fill orders as usual. Since all their advance orders and names of customers are burned, they have very little to begin on. Will those of our readers who ordered from Bolgiano & Sons write a postal card at once, simply giving your name and postofflce address? Do this whether you are an old or new customer of theirs. Send them your name anyhow, so that they may send you their catalogue another season. Simply address the card to J. Bolgiano & Sons, Baltimore, Md. Market Growers Journal, 1915, Advertisement. Originator's stock — the world-famous Tomato "John Baer." The earliest and best Tomato on earth." Bolgiano's "Long Lost" Lettuce. Excels All Others: On the market, as a Shipper, as a Keeper, in Quality, in Sweetness, in Flavor, in Color, in Profits, in Reliability, in Hardiness. The Town, Women's Civic League, 1916, Advertisement. A rich deep velvety green lawn is assured by planting Bolgiano's Druid Hill Park Velvet Green Lawn Grass Seed Canning Age, Vol 1. 1920. Glory Tomato, yielding better than 20 tons per acre. Pittsburgh Pickle, raised by expert grower. Bolgiano Tomato. Washington Post, Oct 29, 1920. J. Bolgiano & Son Fail. Seed Firm Assents to Bankruptcy and Appointment of Receiver. J. Bolgiano & Son, wholesale and retail seed growers and distributers, today assented to proceedings in the United Sates court adjudging the firm bankrupt and placing it in the hands of receivers. The seed house was established more than 100 years ago by the great-grandfather of Charles J. Bolgiano, present head of the firm, and is engaged in marketing the seed products of more than 10,000 acres of land in Canada, as well as seeds from ten states of the American Union, Holland, France, England, the Canary Islands and other foreign countries. "Hawaii" and bananasI recall reading James Michener's "Hawaii", when the pregnant Jerusha Hale (played by Julie Andrews, in the film version) is aboard ship for the gruelling journey to Hawaii. In order to keep her strength up, she is forced to eat bananas which, by this time in the journey are nearly liquid in their black, greasy skins. She's so disgusted with them that she finally throws them overboard. When she arrives in Hawaii, she is offered bananas and doesn't realize that the yellow fruit is the same thing... Dock SmellIn response to Darnuad's comment: my childhood memories of the harbor involve the enveloping odor of SPICES. McCormick's was there, and it was the best-smelling place I've ever been. Anti-immigrant racismAs one whose name is reminiscent of English blood, I don't find the mere mention of my name as offensive, nor would I think Mr Bolgiano found anything backhanded or racist in his story. He was probably thrilled to get the free publicity. Ship NameDoes anyone know the name of this ship? Thanks james@thebeckhams.us (The Gallery, Baltimore, Boats & Bridges, DPC)
Happy-Go-Rickey: 1960
... his 55th birthday and he is doing OK. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Kids, News Photo Archive) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/08/2023 - 4:46pm -

    UPDATE: It's October 2, 1960, and the boy is "doomed youngster" Rickey Stowell. In a sequel to this photo, we're back in Richmond, California, circa 1960. Several 3-packs of "100% Combed Cotton Boys' Briefs" are being handed over. There must be a story here, but we don't know what it is. 4x5 acetate negative from the News Photo Archive. View full size. Rickey Stowell 1952-2009George Ferencz and other commenters reveal the story behind these photos on our Facebook page. The year is 1960 and the boy is "Doomed Youngster" Rickey Stowell. The PatchI'm looking at that patch on the officer's shoulder. Is he with the Angel Police or what? I wonder as I wanderAs my eyes moved over each face and fluttering hand in this photo, I made special note of three things. One: The lady whose face is partially visible in the top left corner appears to be crying. Or perhaps only perspiring. She even has a tissue crumpled in her left hand, while I'm pretty sure that's her right hand resting on the grinning boy's right arm. Two: The little blond girl whose eyes peek just above the stack of briefs may be thinking something along the lines of, "George Bailey, I'll love you till the day I die!" Three: The police officer needs a good dentist. I understand In 1967 my son was born with the same health issue and prognosis as Rickey. We were told he wouldn't live long enough to begin first grade. He made it to his 35th birthday before the barely functioning kidney was removed and he went on dialysis. Shortly after his 47th birthday he received a donor kidney. He just had his 55th birthday and he is doing OK. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Kids, News Photo Archive)
Factoryville: 1910
... the photo is after 1901 and before 1915. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Cleveland, DPC, Factories, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/09/2014 - 5:10pm -

An uncaptioned industrial scene from the early 1900s. What is this gritty city? Detroit Publishing glass negative. View full size. Rungs on the smokestackAre those (barely visible) rungs on the right side of the smokestack? If so, what a harrowing climb that would have been. Also, why would anyone need/want to climb that smokestack in the first place? Cleveland, OHThe Stowe-Fuller Co. in the lower right is the clue. Cleveland?I'm gonna guess Cleveland. The Stowe-Fuller Company was based there. Henkel's Flour was out of Detroit, but I think there was an outpost in Cleveland, too. Gritty CityCleveland. Stowe-Fuller CoLooks like the origin may be Cleveland. Could be the Cuyahoga River. There's much railroad infrastructure along that river still. DetroitJudging from the Henkel Flour mill, I'd guess Detroit MI. DetroitI'm going to take a wild guess and say Detroit, Michigan. That looks like Henkel's Flour mill sign in the background. Before the river caught fire (I think?)Cleveland. Was my first guess based on looks alone, but this picture of the Henkel's Flour elevator would seem to confirm it: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/det1994021768/PP/ I also found info indicating that there was indeed a Stowe-Fuller Co. in Cleveland. Stowe and Fuller Co.Cleveland, OH? ClevelandCould that be the Cuyahoga? On 11/27/1899, the Stowe-Fuller Co filed a U.S. federal trademark registration for a brick called Alumnite. Wow! The cityIt's Cleveland. It's ...Cleveland! ClevelandStowe-Fuller seems to have been a Cleveland Ohio Cement and Brick maker so I'll guess Cleveland? Cleveland?The Stowe Fuller name is all over google as a Cleveland business. Where Are We?Detroit? Henkel's Flour mill was there. Detroit?Since there is a Henkel's Flour building and since the negative has a Detroit Publishing source, I would guess that it is Detroit. FactoryvilleThe Flats. Cleveland, Ohio. The old Superior Viaduct can be seen crossing the Cuyahoga River off in the backgound. On Lake ErieCleveland, Ohio. Henkel's Flour had a grain elevator on the river and another photo is attached showing the freighter North Star tied up next to their dock. Also, theh Stowe-Fuller Co. was based in Cleveland too. The Stowes tell itCleveland, Ohio Looks like it might be Detroithttp://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270836777233&item... Stowe-Fuller FirebrickThat would be Cleveland, Ohio, no ? ClevelandHere's another angle on the Henkel's sign. On the far right is an ad to visit the Likly and Rockett showroom at 405 Superior Ave. Taking an Educated Guessat Cleveland, based on the Stowe-Fuller Company building in the lower-right corner of the picture. Why this is Cleveland The clue is the Stowe-Fuller Co., who made fire brick among other products, on the river bank. Possible I.D.I think it is Cleveland, Ohio. Henkel's FlourQuick search revealed the plant was located in Detroit on Atwater Street. Also known as Commercial Milling Co. Detroit's Commercial Milling Co.A search for "Henkel's Flour" (seen from the reverse of the sign in the distance) returns results for the Commercial Milling Co. from Detroit. I tried searching for Stowe-Fuller Co. too, but did not retrieve many results. Cleveland, OhioPossible taken at the same time as Detroit Publishing Co. no. 500408? http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/det.4a25417/ Based on that picture, which shows a warehouse at 405 West Superior Road, the Henkels factory was at the tip of the elbow in the Cuyahoga river where Carter and Scranton Roads meet today, and this picture would have been taken from about where Route 10, Carnegie Avenue, crosses the Cuyahoga. Use Henke's FlourAlong with Pillsbury, Henke's Flour was produced in Minneapolis. The faint image of a stone bridge in the distance also looks like one still standing in Minneapolis. Google leads me to think it's ClevelandBoth Fuller-Stowe and Henkel's Flour seem to have been located there. Cleveland OhioWhat do I win? ClevelandCleveland, shot northward from Franklin Ave., just west of where the big Cleveland Union Terminal RR viaduct would be built in the 1920's. Here is a streetview from almost the exact location. It was shot on Franklin Ave, just east of W 25th street: https://maps.google.com/?ll=41.488721,-81.705558&spn=0.007756,0.016512&t... Streetview is difficult, as there is now thick vegetation between Franklin Ave and the river. The coal dumper was Erie RR (NYPANO). The farthest flour mill is still there, modified. The low swing bridge is Center St., still in daily use. The stone part of the Old Superior Viaduct still stands. The replacement Detroit Superior viaduct would cross about where the Erie coal dumper was. Henkel's Flour building still thereThe Henkels flour building is still there - you can see where the sign was taken off the roof. And the swing bridge just past it on the opposite bank is still there too, it looks like - you can see it in red behind the overpass. View Larger Map Absolutely ClevelandAs a Clevelander, here's what I can add: The 1910 Cleveland City Directory showed Henkel's Flour mill at 1636 Merwin Ave., and Stowe-Fuller nearby at 1722 Merwin Ave. The Center Street swing bridge in the river was built in 1901. Construction of the Detroit-Superior High Level Bridge, shown in an earlier aerial photo, was substantially complete in 1917. There is no sign of that construction project. So, the general date range of the photo is after 1901 and before 1915. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Cleveland, DPC, Factories, Railroads)
Sea Urchin: 1909
... 1909. Boston, Massachusetts. "Truant hanging around boats in the harbor during school hours." Photgraph by Lewis Wickes Hine. ... into the water much. The Bad Seed Hanging around boats and drinking, by the looks of it. "Truant"?? That was a ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/05/2012 - 6:21pm -

October 1909. Boston, Massachusetts. "Truant hanging around boats in the harbor during school hours." Photgraph by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size. Poor kid!He never knew the joys of being strapped into a car seat and carted off to daycare. Someone call the copsAnd pack this kid off to nursery school! Is that a kidOr a hobbit? Sure FootedJudging from those feet, the lad doesn't fall into the water much. The Bad SeedHanging around boats and drinking, by the looks of it. "Truant"??That was a stretch, even for Lewis Hine. The man saw delinquency and vice everywhere he looked. Who knewBob Dylan was that old? (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Boston, Kids, Lewis Hine)
Roebling Bridge: 1941
... connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Cincinnati Photos) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/04/2022 - 2:41pm -

Spring 1941. "View under Roebling Suspension Bridge of Cincinnati from Kentucky side of the Ohio River. Waterfront showing numerous business houses: Colter Grocers, Cincinnati Grain & Hay, King Bag, Queen City Rag & Paper and others." 4x5 inch acetate negative. View full size. Lucky findSomeone posted a photo on Google Maps from almost the same angle. The king and queen are gone. The only thing that appears to still be there is the building with the dunce hat roof on the left. Colourized (by machine)Here's a take on what the original might have looked like in colour, as interpreted by your friendly neighbourhood AI at palette.fm. The AI can get colour details wrong but this result worked out pretty well. [The u in colour and neighbourhood are there on purpose. I'm Canadian.] First DraftCompleted in 1867, Roebling's bridge in Cincinnati was the longest suspension bridge in the world at 1,057 feet. Later that year, he was selected to build an even longer suspension connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Cincinnati Photos)
Owego: 1901
... the trackage seen in this picture. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, Railroads, Small Towns) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/28/2022 - 10:39pm -

Tioga County, New York, circa 1901. "General view -- Owego, N.Y., and Susquehanna River." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Photographic Company. View full size. Where's the People?Here's the bridge, here's the steeple. If you're looking for the people, they might all be at Kenyon's for the savin's. Owego forwardThis isn't quite the view, but anything closer to the original is blocked by trees. The bridge is different, but it still seems to be using the original piers. The tracks have been replaced by a state road, NY-96. Right down the road!Owego is a quant little town with a lot of hidden gems. The bridge was rebuilt about 20 years back and is architectually beautiful. Thanks for sharing this photo! Ticket to ride?Did we miss the train or is it pulling into the station? Hmmmm... Thank goodness!We've avoided another Menomonie, Wisconsin. To remove confusion, in 1813 the (I assume state) legislature had the towns of Owego and Tioga switch names so Owego village would be in the same-named town. We have no knot to untangle here. Mom still lives hereShe grew up in the area and still lives in Owego. I visit a few times a year. Lovely town with lots of original buildings and architecture. Most of the building shown are still there. Owego RailroadsThe tracks very visible in this view were of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. Also running through the town was the Erie Railroad, and those tracks are still present and in operation. The Erie's tracks ran some distance north and through the town itself, so not visible in this picture. In 1958, the Lackawanna and Erie came to an agreement where the Lackawanna would operate over the Erie's tracks from Binghamton to Buffalo, thus abandoning the trackage seen in this picture. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, Railroads, Small Towns)
C&O Canal (Colorized)c: 1925
... dam that created sufficient depth in the basin for the boats from the canal. The spit of land that now hosts the Thompson Boathouse was meant to be a transshipment point between boats using the Potomac and the canal boats. The canal was closed by a flood in ... 
 
Posted by Dennis Klassen - 02/06/2011 - 7:08pm -

Glass Negative from the National Photo Company (Library Of Congress). View full size. location and dateThis is a great picture! It actually shows the Rock Creek basin for the C&O Canal. Note the Pennsylvania Ave. bridge over Rock Creek in the background. The canal proper begins at lock #1 which empties into Rock Creek a little ways down from the bridge (not visible upstream an on the left in this photo). The spit of land on the left was built by the C&O Canal Company and extended Rock Creek down to where the present mouth of the creek is. The original mouth was at K St. below Lock #1. At the new artificial mouth (behind the photographer) was tidelock and a low tumbling dam that created sufficient depth in the basin for the boats from the canal. The spit of land that now hosts the Thompson Boathouse was meant to be a transshipment point between boats using the Potomac and the canal boats. The canal was closed by a flood in March 1924 so I would date this photo c. 1920. actual location and dateThis is indeed a great picture. But, it is looking westbound and shows the Key Bridge in the background, not the Pa Ave bridge and everything else described previously by kmgrayphd. This picture is taken from the footbridge over the canal that leads to the Dean & Deluca courtyard today. The footbridge in the foreground leads to 33rd street and the brick building on the right still exists today. A close look and you can see the 34th street footbridge as well. A small building at the left of the 34th street footbridge may be Henry Foxall's old "city house", or it may have been torn down already by this point and the building there just a brief intermediary. Due to the existence of the Key Bridge, this photo is no earlier than 1924. Correction to my previous comment and more informationI was wrong in identifying this as the Rock Creek Basin (as I did in a previous posting). It is indeed the canal in Georgetown upstream from the Wisconsin Avenue Bridge. However, the date is most likely 1923 as Key Bridge is in the background and appears to have been completed--it even has lamps on it. 1923 was the year that Key Bridge was completed. The canal was never opened to navigation in 1924 due to a late-March flood that hit before the boating season began, and a subsequent decision not to repair and reopen it. Thus 1923 was the last year for boating on the canal and the first year for Key Bridge, so the photograph would seem to be from 1923. It should be noted, however, that the 5-mile Georgetown level (from the Dam 1 Inlet beside Lock 5 to Rock Creek) was watered after the canal closed to navigation. That repair allowed the C&O Canal Co. to continue to sell water to the industries in Georgetown, which helped pay for the minimal employees retained until the canal was sold by receivers to the government in 1938. The canvas awning over the tiller deck and crew cabin, and the board for passing between the boat and the land, indicate that these boats were in use. So: It is not entirely impossible that they were in the canal in Georgetown in December, 1923, when it closed for the winter (no one knowing it would never reopen). Such boats could have been re-floated for some period of time in 1924 and subsequently until eventually broken up for salvage. It is known that some boats in the last decades of the canal were run by families too poor to have a winter residence and who resided year-around on their boat, Georgetown being one of the places they did so. (Boats & Bridges, Colorized Photos)
Pleasantville: 1910
... US Navy destroyers behind the wharves. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, Florida, Pensacola) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/06/2019 - 9:07pm -

Circa 1910 comes this most agreeable vista. Who'll be the first commenter to put a name to a place? (Hint: Half the answer is already here.) View full size. UPDATE: As many commenters correctly surmised, the city is Pensacola, Florida. The original caption: "Tarragona Street wharf, Pensacola, Florida." Louisville, KYHome of Hillerich & Bradsby and the former Belknap Hardware Company. The Lewis Bear Co.Your place in Tampa Florida to get a Gonzalo Cigar Half a Chance ..."Bay" St. Louis, Mississippi? Lovely city on the GulfIt's Pensacola, Florida. Here's a photo with the Court of Record still under construction. And while I don't see any dogs lying about, Uneeda Biscuit is here. Good ViewBuena Vista, California. And it is ...San Francisco? I'll hazard a guessPensacola, Florida? PensacolaI can say without a shadow of a doubt this is Pensacola, Florida. The structure in the bottom left is currently the T.T. Wentworth Jr Florida State Museum. It was built in 1907, however, and served as Pensacola City Hall from 1907 - 1985. I don't know wherethis is but suddenly I feel like I needa Biscuit. Chula Vista?Chula Vista, California? PleasantvilleI'm thinking Chula Vista, California. A GuessPensacola, FL [Holding up hand]Port of Tampa? Tampa?The building just to the left of the Coca-Cola billboard building says Tampa, Fla. [Should have stopped at the billboard! - Dave] Some thoughtsWell, I don't see the half of the name, but I do see that this is the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. Cannot find a map of that system on line, but it did serve Mobile Alabama and Pensacola Florida. Pensacola, FloridaNice photo. The Lewis Bear Company building mentioned Tampa, Florida. That company got me to Pensacola and after that I found the T. T. Wentworth, Jr. Florida State Museum which is in the lower left of this picture. Don't ask me where the cannons went. The Louisville and Nashville Railroad went to Pensacola, but not to Tampa at that time, so that information helped, too. Is it ...Pensacola, Florida? Pensacola FloridaFor Sure! That is the old City Hall in the lower left - now a museum. And the city isSan Francisco? Tampa, FloridaShot in the dark. The Lewis Bear CompanyLewis Bear Company was started in a town that has a water front layout like this -- Pensacola. The building across the street from the official looking building in the foreground could be the one in their 1899 ad. L. & N.R.R. Louisville & Nashville Railroad. I learn SO much on this site! More entertaining AND educational than normal websurfing. PensacolaI will guess Pensacola, Florida, because of "The Lewis Bear Company" on the white building just to the right of the center. It was founded in 1876 in Pensacola. PleasantvilleNever mind that, what about the cannons? Has to be ...Louisville, Kentucky. I'd guessSpanish architecture, L&N Rail Road, and an ad for the Lewis Bear Co leads me to think Florida add in the comment about the agreeable vista and I'm going with Buena Vista, Florida. Even then, a major Navy base.Notice the two early destroyers steaming along the waterfront. The one in the lead (on the right) could be either USS Smith, DD 17, commissioned in November 1909, or USS Lamson, DD 18. According to Friedman's "US Destroyers," these two (built by Cramp in Philadelphia) were the only ones with the No. 2 and 3 funnels paired. The photo shows the original low funnels; they were increased in height after sea trials. The ship on the left is one of two built in Bath, Maine, either Flusser (DD 20) or Reid (DD 21). All these were commissioned in 1909 and belong to the last group of coal fired destroyers built for the US Navy, displacement about 700 tons, and later called the "flivvers" (lightweights) once 1000-ton destroyers became normal in the run-up to World War I. Pensa ... That towerOn the right -- what's it for? [Looks like a fire bell. - Dave] Split-level wharfThe railway docks have been built with a trestled ramp which raised the freight cars up to a higher level for loading directly from the ship when at high tide. A lower level track was on the dock itself, for low tide loading. I've never seen this before. Almost the view from my window!I am seeing this a few days too late to be the first to answer, but I am currently sitting in my office with my windows facing that view, but I am one building to the right of where that picture was taken -- my office window faces the TT Wentworth Museum and the park. I have bricks from the warehouse by the water tower in the picture from when it was demolished back in about 2003, I used them to build a small paver patio in my yard. Pleasantville 1910 and the NavyI see two very early US Navy destroyers behind the wharves. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, Florida, Pensacola)
Upstairs, Downstairs: 1907
... risers? I'd guess the contractor knows. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/29/2012 - 1:27pm -

Circa 1907. "Cliff stairway, High Bridge, Kentucky." Oops, forgot my car keys, brb. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Cliff now?Is this in the now-Norfolk Southern Rathole Division between Kentucky and Tennessee? High Bridge is quite a site. My wife and I have been over it a couple of times on J611 and 1218 excursons. I understand in the old days the railway ran trips out to the gorge and participants enjoyed picnics and hikes down to the river...and now, thanks to Shorpy, I can see how they got down to the river. Wow, quite a climb! I wonder where the railway bridge is from here? Those rocksTruly a geologist's dream. I'm CertainVery few tried to slide down those bannisters! And it wouldn't be just fear of splinters that would hold them back. TanglefootTwo wondering questions come to mind - did anyone every catch their foot at the top and roll all the way down to the bottom (rollin', rollin' rollin - Rawhide) - and conversely, did anyone ever have a heart attack climbing UP those stairs? If I lived there, I'd take the first train out! Not the Only OneThere's a stairway like that at Duke Creek Falls in Georgia. You don't want to be doing it more than once in a day - or a weekend for that matter. Still there?Looking at satellite photos, it's hard to tell. Long flightThose have got to be the longest flights of stairs I have eve rseen. Rollin, rollin, rollin, is right. Those stairways are totally cool, and ridiculously unsafe. It must be a code violation to construct a stairway today with such long uninterrupted runs. I wonder if anyone did trip at the top of a landing? Porch & Deck EnamelI remember as a kid being handed a scraper, cans of paint and a brush. I was then pointed at the back porch and heard "get started". There went spring break. This thing would have definitely killed my entire summer vacation. Scary enoughScary enough in good weather, but in rain. Forget it. Trouble is, it could start to rain along the way, as that is along way. And ice would be even worse. Yikes. Bridge and StairsMy Official Railway Guide 1893 reprint lists this location as being on the Queen & Crescent System, which included the Cincinnati, New Orleans & Texas Pacific, so it would have been incorporated into the Southern Railway System by the time of the photo, and today would indeed be on Norfolk Southern's Rathole Division. I would imagine that this photo was taken from the railway bridge. The stairs might be for access between the depot and the river. Today's Americans With Disabilities Act compliance officer would definitely not approve. Calling Stan and Ollie.We have a piano to deliver. Stairway to EternityAlas, the boards are long gone: http://binged.it/yL2sg9 Watch that first step!If the stairs were constructed to today's building codes, typically a landing would be required for every twelve feet of height. Good place to break a fall if you started tumbling down, and would definitely provide a nice spot to catch your breath on the climb back up! Master CarpentryBefore I thought about Ollie and Stan and the piano and the cop and the mailman Charlie Hall I was awestruck with the skills in carpentry that went into the building of this stairway. Oh, my aching kneesThe people at the top of the photo don't look like youngsters, but I'm thinking of the guys who BUILT this thing. How the heck did they get those stairs on that cliff? I wonder how many injuries were sustained by those who erected this thing. Not recommended for acrophobicsNot recommended for acrophobics, despite the apparently solid construction. Bing Maps has some great aerial images of this area for comparison at: http://tinyurl.com/6tsu9mg Be sure to zoom in on the bridge and click the "Bird's eye" option--then click-and-drag, play with the rotate button,etc. to bring up several different views, including one with a train on the bridge. That rich, bottom land soil is tempting for agriculture, but I think my house would stand high on pilings were I to build on that flood plain! Counting stepsIs there an official—or conjectural—estimate of the number of risers? I'd guess the contractor knows. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC)
Warner & Tamble: 1942
... you, you'll see some old-style Mississippi excursion boats, I'm sure for charter. Don't you see it??? Dude, I'm ... the William T. Warner. (The Gallery, Arthur Rothstein, Boats & Bridges, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Memphis) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/24/2022 - 1:26pm -

January 1942. "Memphis, Tennessee. Cars parked on Mississippi River levee." Medium format acetate negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Office of War Information. View full size. They took their Chevy to the leveeNot sure why so many cars would be needed in Memphis just as the United States enters World War II. Today, this area looks gentrified. If you look behind you, you'll see some old-style Mississippi excursion boats, I'm sure for charter. Don't you see it???Dude, I'm driving the dark colored coupe parked on the levee! Rear Window (on the view)The building and levee parking were still there at least into the mid-1970's. https://www.flickr.com/photos/joespake/6199845462/ Rollin' on the RiverThis scene, in that era, was part of the history of labor-management relations in the United States. According to Michael Honey's 1993 book "Southern Labor and Black Civil Rights: Organizing Memphis Workers," in the late 30s and early 40s Russell Warner and G.H. Tamble, who had run liquor during Prohibition, used violence to keep waterfront workers at their company from unionizing (or exercising other legal rights, including wage and hour laws). They were especially brutal toward their company's black employees. After Robert Cotton filed a claim against the company for back wages, managers asked him to come to a "conference." He did, but he was never seen alive again. Other waterfront worksites were organized, but not Warner and Tamble. But from 1928 to 1973, Warner and Tamble did own a towboat formally known as the Mary Elizabeth, which is claimed to have been the inspiration for John Fogarty's "Proud Mary." How would you get rid of a levee?DeeGee's comment about the building and levee parking still being there into the mid-1970's made me take another look. The levee is still there, just no longer used the way Warner & Tamble used it. I spotted this interesting survivor. Re: Rear Window (on the view)That's even the same boat in the 1970s picture, the William T. Warner. (The Gallery, Arthur Rothstein, Boats & Bridges, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Memphis)
Dry Dock: 1910
... with smaller ships close in - like destroyers or torpedo boats - that the main battery couldn't depress low enough to hit. I love ... so are not as reliable by themselves. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, NYC) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/08/2012 - 2:03pm -

Circa 1910. "Brooklyn Navy Yard, dry dock No. 4." The battleship is unidentified, but probably not for long. Detroit Publishing glass negative. View full size. "Pocket Battleship"These vintage warship pictures are fascinating. So this is the USS North Dakota, eh? BB-29, caught with her pants down, as it were. I know little about old battleships, but to my eye this one appears kind of small. Looking at the turrets and gun muzzles in particular, plus the apparent overall size. Since my knowledge is limited I would have guessed this to be a heavy cruiser. I wonder what its dimensions were? Back in my PA days I used to visit the USS Olympia in Philly. I loved the lavish wood paneling in the wardroom and the brass fixtures in the engine room. And I've always liked the "reverse" bow profile of those turn of the century ships. Great stuff! BattleshipsThis ship is either the Delaware, BB-28, or the North Dakota, BB-29. The distinguishing characteristic is the arrangement of the cage masts and funnels: in the order mast-funnel-mast-funnel. Also, the secondary battery is located in casements on the second deck along the sides of the ship. North DakotaIt could very well be the USS North Dakota, BB-29. According to Wikipedia it suffered an oil-tank explosion and subsequent fire, and this could be a photo of it being refitted and fixed up after said incident. USS North DakotaThis is the USS North Dakota. She and her sister-ship, USS Delaware, had a second funnel behind the mainmast while the next two dreadnoughts in the US Navy, USS Florida and USS Utah, had two funnels inside of the masts. The USS North Dakota also had three stripes on the second funnel whereas the USS Delaware only had two. I'm still trying to ID the pre-dreadnought docked beyond the warehouse. USS FloridaThis could be the USS Florida (BB30) which was launched in May of 1910. The USS New York (BB34) and USS Arizona (BB39) were launched subsequently in 1912 and 1915, respectively. [This ship looks like it's been around the block a few times. - Dave] Or around the Horn a few times. I should've noticed that. Sisters, Not Twins Delaware and North Dakota looked the same from the outside, but the former had reciprocating engines and the latter had turbines. Reciprocating engines had better fuel econmy in this period (before reduction gears) while turbines were less vibration prone and could produce more power in the same volume. In this case the engines seem to have been rated the same and therefore the piston engines' better efficiency seemed to make them an obvious choice, leading to a few later US battleships being engined with recips. The British converted to turbines in Dreadnought (1906) and never looked back. NoDakLooks like USS North Dakota (BB-29) to me. Brooklyn Navy Yard 2011 I took this photo yesterday from the same spot as the original. There have been crews here attempting to clean up the area around this dry dock and make it into more of an attraction. The water hasn't been drained for years, but the dry dock on the other side of the building on the left (featured in a previous post) is one of the oldest active dry docks in the country. The Navy Yards is an amazing place to work and to visit. Tours are offered every weekend and it's a great thing to check out if you are in the NYC area. Delaware Class BBChecking through the photos I could find, I believe this is either the Delaware (BB28, launched February, 1909, commissioned April, 1910) or North Dakota (BB29, November, 1908, April, 1910). One identifier to me were the low mounted casement 5 inch guns. Also of interest and something I had not seen before is the large below water port towards the bow. This I believe is the starboard 21 inch torpedo tube. USS Delaware/USS North DakotaI think it's either the Delaware (BB-28) or the North Dakota (BB-29). The bridge and forecastle match the Delaware class. They were both commissioned in April 1910 and went on a cruise to Europe that November, so it could be either. Can anyone identify the battleship in the right background? The other battleshipLooking at the photo I notice that the turret does not have the squared, boxy look turrets have in other classes but rather angle upwards from gun ports to the rear of the turret. Looking at photos of the various battleship classes circa 1910 shows only the South Carolina class (South Carolina, BB26 and Michigan, BB27) having this angled turret armor. The South Carolina class was the first to have the cage type masts and also the first to superimpose the turrets, ie, putting a turret directly behind and above the other changing battleship appearance to what we are most familar with. An Amazing PictureI have been through many dry docks in my military service but this amazing on many aspects. One being the year and the size of the ship. Modernization and technology was starting to take effect as we know it. Dry docking 1910 and 2011 -- not much difference. Whoa! That's a lot of bricks! Fire damageThe USS North Dakota was at the Brooklyn Navy Yard at least twice in 1910 - in June and again in October. On September 8, 1910, an oil explosion on board killed three sailors, and put the ship at risk. Six members of the crew were awarded Medals of Honor for their heroism in the immediate aftermath of the explosion. And today it looks likeIt just so happens I took a tour of the old Brooklyn Navy Yard a few months ago. I believe that this is either the same dry dock or the one next to it. The "innards" cranes, tracks, etc... have been replaced over time. Additional photos of the dry dock in its present state are here. UmmmIf this is the Brooklyn Navy Yard, why is th Williamsburg Bridge on the LEFT? Shouldn't it be on the right? Or has the yard shrunk about a mile in intervening years? [The camera is facing northeast into Wallabout Bay, and the bridge is where you'd expect it to be -- straight ahead and a little to the left. - Dave] Ship in the right backgroundThe shape of the turret makes me think it could be a Pennsylvania/Tennessee class armored cruiser, not a battleship. Hard to tell. Navy Yard tenant nowI have a studio overlooking this dry dock. It is no longer in use and there are cranes surrounding it that must have been added after this photo. My studio is in the building to in the left of the photo second floor 5th and 6th window from the end. The Navy YardShortly after September 11, 2001, I looked at some warehouse space in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The guy that was showing me around had bought the property shortly before. One of the features that he thought might impress me was that it was bomb proof. It seems the Navy built the 6 story structure as an ammo depot during WW2. AvastIt looks like this modern metal marvel has two old school crow's nests. The question not answeredWhy are there no identifying markers on the bow? Was it typical not to mark the ships? Details First the Crow's Nests are probably just that. Remember these ships didn't have radar, so the only way to detect any other ship or objects in the water was visually and the best place to detect things visually is not from the bridge but from the highest point on the ship, in this case the top of the cage mast. You'd send lookouts up, and either have high powered binoculars up there already or send them up with them. As far as identifying markings on the bow, the don't appear to be in use during this period, at least not in the U.S. Navy. In fact I don't believe they were in use for battleships at the time of Pearl Harbor. I'm given to understand that they'd have their names on the stern in brass letters, but that was pretty much the only obvious identification from off the ship. Battleship in backgroundMy first guess was way off base. Especially since there is only one aft turret. I'm glad now that one did not get posted. With one aft turret, two gun positions near the stern (the boxy squares) and a gap between the upgrade cage mast and the rear stack, this is a Connecticut class battleship. I notice a band at the top of the rear stack, and assume this is an identifier but I did not see a photo to pinpoint which of the six ships this might be. Dakota or Delaware The USS North Dakota had a large open chock built into the side of the ship behind the hawse pipe. The Delaware did not. This is the Delaware. The ship in the background is a Connecticut class battleship. Cannons - still in use in 1910?Even with the turret mounted big guns, a bit of old school Naval design seems to have remained in place; are those cannon sticking out the sides?? re: Cannons - still in use in 1910?The guns on the side are the ship's secondary armament. In this case they are fourteen 5" guns in casemates. The guns were placed there to deal with smaller ships close in - like destroyers or torpedo boats - that the main battery couldn't depress low enough to hit. I love Shorpy commentsI always learn something when I read through the comments and I especially enjoy the lack of trolling. Even when someone is corrected it is usually done with manners and grace. Additional reason to identify ship as DELAWAREIn looking at photos of DELAWARE and NORTH DAKOTA while in this configuration at navsource.org, I spotted an additional reason to identify the ship as DELAWARE. A close look shows that the pole mast atop the after cage mast is mounted on the *forward* side of the mast on DELAWARE and on the *aft* side on NORTH DAKOTA. This ship appears to have the pole on the fore side, hence more likely to be DELAWARE. Funnel stripes can vary from year to year so are not as reliable by themselves. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, NYC)
Tashmoo Trippers: 1900
... blocks melting on the dock, bicycles, parasols, buildings, boats... this is one wonderful, busy picture. The lady on the top deck below ... legislation requiring "lifeboats for all" put a batch of boats on her top deck. She capsized that same year while loading passengers ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/13/2012 - 8:18pm -

Detroit, Michigan, circa 1900. "Excursionists on steamer Tashmoo." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. LifeboatsAmazing photo, so much detail. It would be interesting to know the capacity of the lifeboats compared to the number of passengers. What's that lady doing?I've been enjoying Shorpy's new submittals every day for a few months, and I would say this one is probably my favorite to date. So many intriguing faces and expressions, making me wonder what each person's life was like that year, that moment. So many great hats! The coal(?) carts, ice blocks melting on the dock, bicycles, parasols, buildings, boats... this is one wonderful, busy picture. The lady on the top deck below the pilot house is either stretching or throwing a fit. I love it. Hats off to Dave and anyone else who contributes to finding, restoring, and posting these great pictures. Tashmoo's date with doomhttp://apps.detnews.com/apps/history/index.php?id=22 According to the story, Tashmoo went into service in 1900. Wonder if this photo was the first cruise? So many peopleAnd only a handful seem to be aware of the photographer. Bee in her bonnetPerhaps that lady is the origin of the expression. Great photo! Announcement.Commenters claiming to see excursionists on cellphones will be escorted overboard, posthaste. Four so far! Re: lifeboatsThe Tashmoo was rated for 3500 passengers, but according to the Ship Inspection Regulations of 1900, a vessel of her size (1344 tons) was required to carry only six launchable lifeboats. Hissy fitThe lady on the right of the woman throwing the fit is thinking "OOOOOOH, I guess we shouldn't have mentioned the number of lifeboats on board!" A lookerThe woman seated on the top deck, toward the front, holding the umbrella (seated) is BEAUTIFUL !!! KerchiefedSeveral of the men are wearing kerchiefs around their necks. There's one above the word "Tashmoo" in the caption with another one almost directly over him. Another on the top deck, almost all the way to the right with his arm on the railing. Are they to keep their collars clean? Absorb sweat. I'm also intrigued by the two women below and to the right of the pilothouse in their print dresses. They look so out of place. Lifeboats The last voyage of the Tashmoo, as related in John Howard's link, shows why riverboats and small-lake steamers didn't need a full complement of lifeboats. Despite incurring a "Titanic" wound to the hull, the captain and crew were able to reach a wharf where all passengers were safely debarked before the vessel settled on the bottom. White LineThis is Detroit. Where are the black passengers? Were they prohibited from boarding in 1900? [This was back before the Great Migration. Not that many black folks in Detroit. - Dave] Lovely dayGreat collection of bikes, too. Do you think the group of white-coated boys is a band, or a bunch of porters? They have a lot of onlookers. And the Band Stood AroundThere's a 16 member band gathered on the dock. I spy a couple horns resting on the ground and a large bass drum and cymbal. As only part of the crowd is paying the band any attention I'd guess that the band just arrived and is getting ready to begin playing. Skinny & PointedThe bow sure seems skinny and pointy to me. I'm more accustomed to ferries having a blunt shape at each end. [This is an excursion steamer, not a ferry. - Dave] Lifeboats may be somewhat overratedNo doubt many Shorpyites are aware of the story of the SS Eastland. A Great Lakes steamer roughly contemporary with the Tashmoo, she was marginally stable to begin with, and became critically topheavy after the post-Titanic legislation requiring "lifeboats for all" put a batch of boats on her top deck. She capsized that same year while loading passengers in Chicago and over eight hundred died. I think there have only been two major shipwrecks in which there was enough time that all the passengers were (or could have been) evacuated by lifeboat - the Titanic, and the Andrea Doria*. The Lusitania, Empress of Ireland, Estonia, Dona Paz and others sank so fast that boats were almost irrelevant to the loss of life. Tell the passengers that, though. * Now need to include the Costa Concordia! A Jaunty Rake"A hat's not a HAT till it's tilted." Lots of style in this photo. Sharp! Tashmoo ParkMany of these folks are heading for Tashmoo Park, an amusment park in Algonac, MI. The steamer stopped there during trips between Detroit and Port Huron. Tashmoo Park made the news this summer when a diver found a message in a bottle from 1915. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Detroit Photos, DPC)
Oswego: 1901
... Got a dude on a crosstree (?) rear left. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/30/2022 - 8:06pm -

"Down the river -- Oswego, N.Y." Circa 1901, the steam tug Charley Ferris on the Oswego River. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Photographic Company. View full size. Busy shorelineA terrific view of a less-familiar American shoreline (Lake Ontario). And busy! A tugboat, a two-masted schooner, a yacht, barges, rowboats, a jetty, railroad tracks, warehouses, and best of all: a lighthouse and a ship under full sail, both on the horizon. No automobiles. She's bleeding pretty bad, Cappy.What a cool picture. Pretty calm day from the looks of it. The schooner off in the distance is just ghosting along. The iron fastenings on "Charley Ferris" are really rusting thru the paint -- bleeding. I see the smokestack from galley stove (small pipe with cap to the left of the main smokestack) but I can't figure out what the pipe coming from the box forward of the wheelhouse leading up and thru the forward glass is. If it's for heat coming from the engine room, I'd think you'd have small deck grates in the floor of the cabin since it's above the engine. If it's a small outside wood or coal stove, the flue pipe is awful short and the smoke would hamper the vision for the man at the wheel ... unless they've removed the flue pipe because when the photo was taken it was summer?? Puzzling. Still a place of commerceBelow is the Oswego River flowing into Lake Ontario today. The small lighthouse and the ground it stood on are gone. In the 1901 photo there is a flag flying at right. I'm betting it is at Fort Ontario, top right in the photo below. The 1901 photo is an idyllic scene. But one thing I noticed made me think, "No, oh hell no!" AloftGot a dude on a crosstree (?) rear left. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, Railroads)
King Bag, Queen Rag: 1941
... grit Here is the view today. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Cincinnati Photos) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/03/2022 - 4:34pm -

Spring 1941. "View under Roebling Suspension Bridge of Cincinnati from Kentucky side of the Ohio River. Waterfront showing numerous business houses: King Bag Company, Queen City Rag & Paper Company and others." 4x5 inch acetate negative for the FSA. View full size. Gee?? No: G&EThat would be the Cincinnati Gas and Electric building, on the left (view cut off by the bridge). It's still around. The building to the right, the Cincinnati and Suburban Bell Telphone Building, isn't (replaced by a formidable mass named Atrium Two). If fate could only save one of these, I think it made the right choice. Roebling before and afterIt is impossible to overestimate the importance of John A. Roebling in the history of American bridge building and civil engineering. Suspension bridges were his specialty. Before the Cincinnati project, he completed the first railway suspension bridge (1855), across the Niagara River just below the Falls. Soon after, he built Pittsburgh's Sixth Street Bridge (1859). The Cincinnati bridge that now bears his name took eleven years to complete (1867) due to work stopping during the Civil War. Finally came the most celebrated bridge ever built, the Brooklyn Bridge over New York's East River. Roebling deserves credit for the design, though he died (of tetanus caused by an accident at the site) six months before construction began. His son, Washington Roebling (who had worked on the Cincinnati bridge), finished the project. More green, less gritHere is the view today. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Cincinnati Photos)
D-Day: New York
... this day so well. Odd Trivia There are a couple of boats trading on the Great Lakes today that were at the Normandy invasion. One ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/06/2013 - 10:25am -

New York, June 6, 1944. ALLIED ARMIES LAND ON COAST OF FRANCE. GREAT INVASION OF CONTINENT BEGINS. "D-Day. Crowd watching the news line on the New York Times building at Times Square." Photo by Howard Hollem or Edward Meyer for the Office of War Information. View full size. Unidentified ObjectDoes anyone know what the curved metal object with letters on it is? It appears to be on top of a car on the right. [DeSoto "Sky View" taxicab sign. - Dave] Internet, 1944is what this could have been titled. The scrolling electric sign was as good as it got then, and I am sure those folks were fairly amazed to see it. I wonder what it took to program it? My great-uncle went in at D Day +60 (August 7) as a replacement in the 2nd Infantry Division (L Company, 23rd Infantry Regiment); he was seriously wounded at Brest, France, a month later, died in 1956...and I was named for him. That was never far from my mind when I served in Iraq in 2004 at the same age he was when he earned his Purple Heart and (I believe) a Bronze Star. To all those who went in on D-Day...and throughout WWII, I stand and salute. So what about that moving sign?According to various sources the NY Times installed the first moving "news ticker" in 1928, using 14,800 electric bulbs. Given the technology of the day, I can only guess that each bulb required a relay, which would have to click on and off almost instantly to momentarily light its bulb, as the text scrolls along. This must have been a maintenance challenge (there seems to be a few extra bulbs lit, and some brighter ones that may just have been replaced). They may have used or even invented the "matrix" technique still used today for LCD displays, which uses "crosspoint" wiring to greatly reduce the number of lines going from the elements to the control system, but my mind still boggles at the number of wires remaining, and what kind of electro-mechanical system translated "operator input" to the streaming text. If only Shorpy's world-wide readership included a retired electro-mechanical sign technician! Just the technology of the news line was something...Before zooming in to see the image full size, on first glance the guy on the left and the guy 2nd from the right were in a posture not to different than someone holding a cellphone to the ear. Of course it's clear they were dragging on fags, sucking on coffin nails, drawing down on Pall Malls while taking in the portentous news. As someone not born until 12 years after the war was over - I am fascinated by what day to day life in the US was like, mobilized for war. Of course I grew up knowing it was a success, but at that very moment, who knew how this was going to work out - the intensity of the moment, even for folks in the street in Times Square, must have been incredible. Pausing to rememberMy brother landed D-Day plus 12 and my uncle D-Day plus 20. They were lucky, I guess, and returned to us to live out long lives. Great photo. Really profound. 6-6-44Yet to be born, a twinkle in my father's eye as he dropped from the sky into Caen with the Canadians early that morning. RIP Dad. 23,740 days later Kind of Gladwe can't see many faces in the crowd. We'd have to start wondering what they were thinking -- Is my son there? My dad? My husband? My brother? Funny but I cannot summon up any memory of D-Day. VE and VJ Days, and the dropping of the two A-bombs are sharp and clear, but not D-Day. I think perhaps that it might relate to what happened in early May. I was out riding my trike when a Western Union messenger rode up on his bike and went into the three-family apartment in which I lived. I heard a terrible scream through the open windows of the first-floor unit. All the neighbors (women since the men were in the military or working) flocked to the apartment with screams continuing for some time. I learned that the woman's son had been killed in action. I did not totally understand the horror, but I was sad because the young man had been very nice to the punk kid airplane nut from the third floor, even letting me hold his model planes. The first-floor family were an elderly couple, with the one child, who had become a fighter pilot in the Pacific. The husband walked with heavy braces and crutches, and, as I later learned, they just quit and gave up life. They moved within days and we never heard from them again. I think that I was in a bit of a void for a while. Walking to churchOn January 6, 1944, I was 6 years old in Fort Smith, Arkansas, part of a young generation which at the time had no knowledge of a condition known as peace. On that day, my mother received a phone call from a fellow church member who was calling everyone in the congregation to say that the invasion was under way. This was the signal to come to the church to pray. Our family; mother, father and two boys walked to the church to pray for the safety and success of our "American Boys" on that day. DeSoto Sky ViewThose great old DeSoto cabs had a sliding roof panel to let passengers see the views above them while being carried through the Manhattan canyons. The skyscraper with the clock housed the Paramount Theatre, a wonderful place to visit for a movie and a live stage show. I saw Phil Spitalny and his "All-Girl Orchestra featuring Evelyn and her Magic Violin" there with my family. The movie was "Miss Susie Slagle's," starring Veronica Lake and Sonny Tufts. Bright Lights, Big SignRadio CoverageThe National Archives in College Park, Maryland has recordings of the entire NBC and CBS broadcast day from D-Day and anyone can go in and listen to them. It's a very good way to get a sense of what the day was like for people at home listening on the radio as events unfolded. News ZipperFrom a 2005 NYT article on the Zipper: The Motograph News Bulletin, to use its original formal name, began operation on Nov. 6, 1928, election night, as a band of 14,800 light bulbs that extended 380 feet long and 5 feet high around the fourth floor of what was then the Times Tower. It was installed for The New York Times by Frank C. Reilly, according to an article in The Times, which identified Mr. Reilly as the inventor of electric signs with moving letters. Inside the control room, three cables poured energy into transformers. The hookup to all the bulbs totaled 88,000 soldered connections. Messages from a ticker came to a desk beside a cabinet like the case that contained type used by old-time compositors. The cabinet contained thin slabs called letter elements. An operator composed the message, letter by letter, in a frame. The frame, when filled with the letters and spaces that spelled out a news item, was inserted in a magazine at one end of a track. A chain conveyor moved the track, and each letter in the frame brushed a number of electrical contacts. Each contact set a light flashing on Broadway. There were more than 39,000 brushes, which had to undergo maintenance each month. The frame with the letter elements passed up and overhead, forming an endless circuit. Mr. Reilly calculated that there were 261,925,664 flashes an hour. D-DayJune 6, 1944, I was 16 years old and in Basic Training with the the US Maritime Service at Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. Many of us teenagers had close relatives in the military and wished we were there with them to fight the Axis. A month later, I was in a North Atlantic convoy assigned to a 20 mm anti-aircraft gun hoping that a Nazi plane would dare to fly over. "I'd show 'em." Of course I didn't tell this to my shipmates. skyview cabI believe this is the light-up sign on top of the Sky-View Cab Company. It looks like neon. I was watching an old movie from the forties (?) on TCM and I noticed these cabs. They had a sunroof cut into the roof of the cab so the passengers in the back seat could look up and see the buildings. I can't remember the movie, but the plot involved the passenger looking up and seeing something relevant to the story line. It must have been a gimmick for the cab company. It also must have been one of the early sunroofs in a car! More SkyviewThe Skyview NYC Taxicab that the tipster may have seen on TCM was in the musical "Anchors Aweigh". The scene where Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly are Standing up and looking out at the city in Betty Garrett's Skyview cab. Those DeSoto Skyview Cabs were sold exclusively through James Waters Chrysler Agency in Long Island City, Queens. The price for a new one was about $1100. I once heard a story that he was Walter Chrysler's Son-in-Law but I can't confirm it. The Skyview cabs were all over the placewhen I lived in NYC from 1941 - 44. They were stretched DeSotos with a couple of fold-up seats and the roof had glass so that one could see the tall buildings. There was also a radio built into the armrest on the right. The driver turned it on and the passenger controlled the rest. I had many rides in those cabs. Hovercraft at D-Day@sjack: I don't mean to rain on your parade, and I certainly don't wish to denigrate the memory of your father and his courageous service to our nation in World War II, but I'm quite sure he didn't lower tanks onto hovercraft for the D-Day invasion of Normandy. The US Army did not make use of hovercraft until Viet Nam, and then it was only on an experimental basis. As your comment is titled, memories are funny sometimes. Perhaps your dad talked about loading tanks onto landing craft, not hovercraft, like the LST (landing ship tank) or smaller versions like the LCU (landing craft utility), which were flat-hulled vessels that could approach fairly close to the beach and lower a ramp on the bow, allowing troops and vehicles to exit. The Bronx is up but the Battery's down"New York, New York, A Helluva Town" was sung in the Broadway "On the Town" but for the film changed to "New York, New York, A Wonderful Town" because of those archaic Hollywood codes at that time. Los Angeles may have our Dodgers but they don't have our songs or our Skyview Cabs. RememberingDuring my early teen's in the 1950's I was invited along on several fishing trips with 3 WWII veterans. One had been an Army Ranger, one a sailor who had been on the Murmansk Run, and the third a paratrooper. You can imagine the banter among those guys. The Ranger was in the D-Day invasion and had been wounded in the buttocks. The Navy vet always asked him how he could have sustained that injury advancing from the beach. Curiously, the paratrooper never spoke any particulars of his service. They're gone now, but I remember them being nice to this kid. Thanks guys. UnawareJune 6, 1944 - I was happily gestating in my mother's womb and would be born during the Battle of the Bulge (no relation to mom's condition). My dad, drafted in 1940 into the 7th Cavalry (yes, Custer's old outfit) had been converted into armor and was preparing to sail overseas to a place called Leyte Gulf in the Philippines where he would be wounded and spend the rest of the war, plus another year, in Letterman Hospital in S.F. Until his death in 1996 he could remember most of his company's buddies names and the names of their horses. More on radio coverageThe NBC and CBS D-Day broadcasts are available at the Internet Archive. NBC: http://archive.org/details/NBCCompleteBroadcastDDay CBS: http://archive.org/details/Complete_Broadcast_Day_D-Day That woundHow your Ranger probably caught that one: We were taught in training that buttocks wounds were very common; moving forward under fire without decent cover, one crawls. It is most difficult to accomplish this without making your buttocks the highest point of your body! Let us never forget the men of D-Day.An awful lot of them gave up their tomorrows so we could enjoy our todays. 'On The Town'Is the movie 'Mr. Mel' is thinking of; 'Anchors Aweigh' is set in Hollywood. Right Stars, wrong movie. 'Lest We Forget'A line from Ford's 'She wore a Yellow Ribbon' that fits this day so well. Odd TriviaThere are a couple of boats trading on the Great Lakes today that were at the Normandy invasion. One still carries the battle ribbons with stars on her bridge wings. One other point is that the Times building was of very attractive design before it was covered up with billboards. Communiqué No. 1I followed the NBC link provided by hlupak604 and listened to some of the radio coverage and heard, more than once, the short text of Communiqué No. 1 from Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force, which appears to form the basis for the scrolling text on the news zipper. It runs as follows: "Under the command of General Eisenhower, allied naval forces, supported by strong air forces, began landing allied armies this morning on the northern coast of France." Thanks! Uncle SamMy uncle Sam (no pun intended) landed at Omaha Beach, and immediately sustained an injury to his head. He was fitted with a metal plate to replace the part of his skull that he lost. Needless to say, his fighting days were over. However, he went on to be become an accomplished auto mechanic. Family, friends, and neighbors all asked him for automotive advice. He passed away last year at the age of 90. Thanks, Uncle Sam! - because of your sacrifices, I am free today to write this. Yeah, I remember.Although we didn't know it at the time, my brother was in the sand of Utah Beach just then. He survived the war. I remember vividly the headlines in The Detroit Times that afternoon, "WE WIN BEACHES". Due to the time difference, of course, there was plenty of fresh news of the invasion in the afternoon paper. I've been a news junkie since. May we never forgethow brave these men were. My uncle fought in Okinawa in 1945, unfortunately he never made it out alive. I still have the last letter he wrote to his "beloved mama", what a sweet soul he was. Bless them one and all. Memories are funny sometimesMy father was on a supply ship in the English Channel on D Day, lowering tanks into hovercraft that were being sent to French beach heads. Many, many, times I tried to discuss his experiences that day but he never really had much to say. He said that on D Day he was "on the water" (in the Channel) and they were pretty much working constantly getting the tanks loaded and shipped. They slept whenever they could he said. He landed at Utah beach (but didn't say when) and moved up the coast doing whatever was asked (he was in a supply unit) until he got to Belgium. And that was pretty much all I got out of him. His shared memories of the battle of the Bulge were even more meager ("it was very cold"). I'm jealous of people whose fathers discussed their war experiences; mine just didn't seem to want to share. Cold for JuneI realize most people dressed up in public back then, but most of the women in the photo are wearing overcoats. It must have been cold in New York that June day in 1944. Hovercraft tanks, sort ofOne of many unique innovations for the D Day invasion was the "Duplex Drive" tank, essentially a standard Sherman tank which was fitted with an inflatable, collapsible canvas screen and twin screw props which would enable the tank to float like a boat and wade ashore. Unfortunately, the contraption worked best in calm water, something that was in short supply off the Normandy coast that day. I remember a buddy of mine whose dad had served with the US Navy at the invasion re-telling his dad's stories of the DD tanks being dropped off in deeper, rough water due to enemy fire and sinking like rocks. Fortunately enough of the tanks were able to make it on shore to provide badly needed armor support for the ground troops, and the tanks were deemed successful enough to serve in the invasion of Southern France two months later, as well as during numerous river crossing operations during the remainder of 1944 and 1945. Good article with photos of the tanks: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DD_tank Full messageI believe the full message read: "ALLIES LAND ON NORTHERN COAST OF FRANCE UNDER STRONG AIR COVER" (The Gallery, Howard Hollem, NYC, WW2)
Titanic Tots: 1912
... love to hear your comments. Dale (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Fires, Floods etc., G.G. Bain, Kids) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/04/2012 - 2:14pm -

April 22, 1912. New York. Lolo (Michel) and Edmond Navratil, survivors of the Titanic disaster whose father went down with the ship. View full size. Lolo, the last remaining male survivor of the Titanic, died in 2001. G.G. Bain Collection. TitanicI was looking at these kids and wondered how much they could remember, I found this: On the night of the sinking, Michel, Sr., helped by another passenger, dressed his sons and took them to the boat deck. "My father entered our cabin where we were sleeping. He dressed me very warmly and took me in his arms. A stranger did the same for my brother. When I think of it now, I am very moved. They knew they were going to die." Michel, Jr., recalled. The boys were put into collapsible D, the last lifeboat successfully launched from the ship. Michel Sr. went down with the ship. TitanicCouldn't help but notice the toy being held by the boy on the right . . . Toy...Jim Pence wrote: "Couldn't help but notice the toy being held by the boy on the right . . ." Yeah, probably the only compensation White Star ever awarded these orphans... Toy BoatAnyone find it a little macabre that the kid orphaned by a shipwreck is playing with a toy boat? [At least it's not a scale-model iceberg. - Dave] Titanic SurvivorWanted to pass this sad note along, "Barbara West Dainton, believed to be one of the last two survivors from the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, has died in England at age 96." That would leave only Elizabeth Gladys "Millvina" Dean of Southampton, England, who was 2 months old at the time of the Titanic sinking, is now the disaster's only remaining survivor, according to the Titanic Historical Society. I recently finished a photo/video on the sinking ... using much information from the Society .. it is definitely a must-visit website. http://www.titanichistoricalsociety.org/ Also, the youtube piece I produced is located at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwUb0BEkECM if you have chance .. take a look, would love to hear your comments. Dale (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Fires, Floods etc., G.G. Bain, Kids)
Owego Again: 1901
... be all thin, lanky, and unattractive. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/29/2022 - 2:04pm -

Tioga County, New York, circa 1901. "Bridge over the Susquehanna at Owego." With another message from J.C. Kenyon. 8x10 glass negative, Detroit Photographic Company. View full size. You want it, you got itJoel C. Kenyon -- And despite what you learned in school about drugs leading to an early death, Mr. Kenyon carried on until age 84 (tho presumably he gave up his graffitiing ways somewhat earlier). For those of you - be you plump or svelte - curious as to where he plied his drug trade, or where he spent the gains of such, both his elixir emporium at 5 Lake and his house (below) seem to be extant. Owego, Oswego, OtsegoWe can thank Dave for some silent unconfusing. On the Library of Congress website, this photo has the DPC caption "Bridge over the Susquehanna, Oswego, N.Y." The LOC's own caption is "Bridge over the Susquehanna, Oswego [i.e. Owego], N.Y." But Oswego and Owego are a hundred miles apart, and Oswego is a hundred miles northwest of the source of the Susquehanna, which flows out of Otsego Lake at Cooperstown. Otsego Lake is a hundred miles from Owego (you can follow the Susquehanna there). The confusion preceded DPC: a painting by Xanthus Russell Smith is called "View on the Susquehanna above Oswego." But if you're above Oswego you're in Lake Ontario. To complicate matters further, in April 2022, a different Smith painting was sold at auction: it was listed as "View of Susquehanna River above Owego." [Also note the note here: "Misidentified as Oswego, N.Y., until 2010." - Dave] Come to me, my plump beautyIn the July 20, 1894, edition of the Shenandoah Evening Herald, druggist J. C. Kenyon, of Owego, N.Y., recommended women use Paskola ... so they won't be all thin, lanky, and unattractive. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, Railroads)
Steam Players: 1907
... a sight it must have been to see all those big paddlewheel boats! I grew up in a Mississippi River town. There was an old paddlewheel boat ... photo. Teeny tiny and gigantic! Those three small boats in the foreground give some scale to the Queen in her magnificence. I ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/04/2015 - 11:38pm -

The Ohio River circa 1907. "Along the levee at Cincinnati." The Coney Island Co. sidewheeler Island Queen and her retinue. 8x10 glass negative. View full size. The side wheeler just moved up riverGoogle street view. [That was a sternwheeler, originally the steam towboat John W. Hubbard, built in 1936. It was moved to Newport in 2014. -tterrace] Nooner!Taking a short nap on the riverbank next to the barge? Side wheelersWhat a sight it must have been to see all those big paddlewheel boats! I grew up in a Mississippi River town. There was an old paddlewheel boat rotting on the shore when I was a kid. It always set my mind dreaming of the days in this photo. Teeny tiny and gigantic!Those three small boats in the foreground give some scale to the Queen in her magnificence. I once lived in a houseboat like the closest one, but the teeniest one looks no bigger than a camper! And the warehouses look mobile as well! Bridge to KentuckyThat's the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge in the background. Built in the 1860's and still used today. Roebling also designed the Brooklyn Bridge. "This way to join the Paddlewheel Navy" says StanOllie is noticing the mud on his shoes and saying "Here's another nice mess you've gotten me into." What a great comedy team they were! More hogging chainsMore hogging chains in evidence. This time even on the floating pier. Version 1.0This is the first of two boats named Island Queen. It was built at the Cincinnati Marine Railway Company in 1896, 281.4 feet long, 42.6 feet wide. Destroyed by fire in 1922. SS TrystI wonder what was the function of the small, curtained vessel moored near the shore. It lacks the stovepipe of a 'live aboard'. Cleopatra's mini-barge? (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Cincinnati Photos, DPC)
James Lee: 1900
... Natoma; since then the line has bought and chartered many boats, until in 1879 they built the famous steamer James Lee. They now own and run, three boats, named as follows: The James Lee, Coahoma and Dean Adams. These boats are ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/14/2012 - 11:49am -

On the Mississippi circa 1900. "The levee at Memphis. Sidewheeler James Lee." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Miles Per OatI wonder, in terms of 1900 income versus 2011 income, how much it cost to feed and care for a horse? Is our gas cheaper, compared to what we typically earn, or were those "eats like a horse" creatures less expensive? For sure, there was not a choice of compact models that ate less, though that white one in the middle of the social circle, seems to have been fed less than his peers. [The benchmark measurement, going back to the days of the Spanish Armada, was Mules Per Galleon. - Dave] RO/ROSeems like James Lee is equipped for Roll on/ Roll off operation. Both similarites and differences compared to modern times are notable. Just like today, the "intermodal" tractors deliver their trailers to the dock, where the trailers only are rolled onto the ship. Note the carts ranged along the starboard side forward on the main deck. The "Tractors" (in this case they seem to be mules) stay on shore. We don't get to see the loading, which must have been interesting to say the least. An engineering peculiarity of the ship is the side paddle wheels far aft. Is it to make room for vehicle access on the main deck, or is it to take advantage of the higher value of the wake fraction (a source of hydrodynamic efficiency) to be expected where the boundary layer is thickest? Or is there a fancier explanation (shape of the wake at cruising speed, say?) It's anyone's guess because those who knew for sure are definitely dead now. Steamer James Lee Commercial and Statistical Review of the City of Memphis, Tenn., 1883. Lee Line Steamers When the Lee Line of steamers was first started from Friars Point to Memphis, in 1867, by Capt. Jas. Lee, Sr., it was predicted by many that the enterprise would prove a failure. That such a prediction was at fault, is evidenced by the fact that to-day the trade brought to the city is of far more value and has done more to promote the general welfare and prosperity of the community than that of any other steamboat line that enters this port. … The first boat entered in this trade was the Natoma; since then the line has bought and chartered many boats, until in 1879 they built the famous steamer James Lee. They now own and run, three boats, named as follows: The James Lee, Coahoma and Dean Adams. These boats are all very fast and are kept in good order, and the very best of repair. … Over $200,000 per annum is expended by this line for fuel, wages, repairs and supplies. We give below, the following description of the boats now owned and run by the line: The steamer James Lee is 241 feet long, 35 feet beam and 32 feet floor, depth of hold 7 ½ feet. She has two cylinders 22 inches in diameter, with a 7 foot stroke; 4 steel boilers, 28 feet long and 44 inches in diameter. She is particularly noted for her speed, has very large and elegant staterooms and is a superior packet in every particular. … Update: There were two James Lee steamboats operated by the Lee Line. The first, described above, operated 1879-1894 while the second, pictured in the original Shorpy post, was launched in 1898. She was crushed by ice floes on the Mississippi River at Memphis in January 1918. Hay is for HorsesOwning a horse was an expensive proposition. Not only did you have to feed the thing copious amounts of oats and hay, you had to pay for shoeing, vet costs, stable fees, etc. Most city folks didn't own their own horses but rather went to local livery stables to hire a horse and buggy/wagon when they needed one, much as modern big city dwellers frequently don't own their own cars but rent one when really needed. As far back as October 9, 1910, the New York Times ran an article titled "Auto Vs. Horse" comparing the costs of a horse and buggy to those associated with an automobile (a Maxwell Model Q to be specific). The results: it cost 1.5 cents per passenger mile for the auto versus 1.8 cents for the horse and buggy. The auto was 15 percent cheaper. Jordan Is a Hard Road to TravelI've often thought about how interesting it would be for all of our current modes of transportation to be replaced instantaneously with the transports of 100 or more years ago. I have to laugh when I think of the I-465 loop in Indianapolis loaded with a ton of horses and buggies hurrying to workplaces in the morning. The idea sounds like a lot of fun to me, though I do think that it would cost a lot more to feed a horse than it did 100 years ago. Think of all the farm ground formerly used to grow feed for horses that is now suburban housing developments. I'm scared to think what it costs to keep a horse fed these days with all our agricultural cutbacks across the country. Here's a stanza, though, from a late '20s song "Jordan Is a Hard Road to Travel," by Grand Ole Opry pioneer Uncle Dave Macon. Uncle Dave was a mule train driver before he become a country music star and always swore by mule and horse-pulled transportation: "I don't know, but I b'lieve I'm right, The auto's ruined the country; Let's go back to the horse and buggy, And try to save some money." Miraculous curvesVery graceful. Looks like there wasn't a straight piece of lumber in any of the horizontal sections of these boats, in spite of their design for use on flat water. Compared to them, the industrial-looking tows of today look like boxcars. Same day as this picturehttps://www.shorpy.com/node/10574?size=_original The James Lee is in the left background. Also the bridge can be seen in both pictures. InflammableThis is a conflagration just waiting to happen, and it did with horrifying frequency on river boats such as these. The boats themselves are almost completely made of wood, and are driven by spark-spewing coal-fired steam engines - adding bales of hay, cotton, wooden crates, carts, and the inevitable careless smoking patrons only adds to the danger. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, Memphis)
Rigged: 1900
... splintered projectiles into the bottoms of the overhanging boats. Floating boats would be handy should you win second place in a gunnery duel. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/11/2022 - 10:32am -

Circa 1900. "Cruiser U.S.S. Newark." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Photographic Company. View full size. Ramming speedThe reason the Newark didn't have a clipper-type curved bow is that she sported an armored ram just below the waterline. Many of the U.S. Navy's early steel warships included this design feature, which was of dubious value in actual combat. They aren't called "sail-ors" for nothing.Many of us I think might be amazed that a frontline ship in the USN in the 20th Century would still have auxiliary sail. Well be amazed. Stepping on!Having worked on several square-rigged vessels when I was younger, I can honestly say standing on the foot-ropes and making your way out to the end of the yard on the t'gallant (topgallant, third yard up) to furl or let loose sail is fun. We'd wear safety harnesses ... these men didn't. For safety, you'd let the others already out there know that you were about to "step on" -- the added weight lifts the closest guy to you up a bit and can be bit of a surprise if he isn't expecting it. High Wire ActI wonder how many men got their aerial training in the U. S. Navy before resigning to join Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus. Me timbers would be shiveringYou know what? I'll pass on climbing up that mast to even the lowest spar and then walking out along a rope so I can balance on that rope while working with heavy sail canvas. I think I'll just stay down here and swab a deck. RiggingAs a 12 year old, I would have loved to go climbing up to the top. By the time I got to my 20s, and was doing a lot of sailing, climbing the rigging had lost its allure. Nice!This is the nicest-looking thing called 'Newark' that I have ever seen. Of course, the views from the coal bunker and the powder magazines were probably less gratifying. Pointy endsI've long wondered why the bow in those days was nearly vertical and what kind of thinking went into that design. Prior sailing ships always had a sloping bow as did later Navy vessels. But this era had a much different profile. ... and I have my own harrowing tale of touching the very top of USS Gridley while in the Long Beach shipyard, circa 1983. Old fashionedClimbing the masts and manoeuvring the sails is still part of the training of the Italian Navy academy cadets. Here the future officers undergoing exercise aboard Vessel Amerigo Vespucci. Royal Caribbean whiteProbably not the most practical color for a naval vessel, especially when crowned with ochre topsides and bituminous black smoke. Practicality is not paramount in 1900: the iron men of the secondary gun crews need no armor protection below the waist. The roof armor of the casemates is angled to deflect splintered projectiles into the bottoms of the overhanging boats. Floating boats would be handy should you win second place in a gunnery duel. Where's the soot?Amazing how the mainmast is not totally soot-covered from being located immediately behind the stacks - the crew must keep busy keeping the mainmast and mizzenmast (and all the related yards, sails and crow's nests) clean! Mighty Sailing AdventureThese comments and amazing photo reminded me of the incredible Cinemiracle movie from 1957 called 'Windjammer' - a Norwegian cadet training ship built at the turn of the 20thC. If you haven't seen it and admire the romance, crew skills and beauty of sailing ships, I thoroughly recommend getting a copy on Bluray (make to sure to get the latter restoration ca 2017 version) (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC)
Three Brooklyn Bridges: 1908
... but the results look better to me. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, G.G. Bain, NYC) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/19/2012 - 3:42pm -

Feb. 22, 1908. "Three New York-Brooklyn bridges from Brooklyn." An amazingly detailed panorama of New York recorded by George Grantham Bain. Our 3100 pixel wide version (view full size), detailed as it is, is less than a quarter the size of the hi-res scan of the original 8x10 inch glass negative. From the left: Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge (under construction) and Williamsburg Bridge. Two BucksIf you look under the Brooklyn Bridge on the left hand side of the picture, there's a sign on the pier that says "2.00 to Boston". It would be interesting to know what that would cost nowadays. And I agree with Mr. Mel - a great picture! [In full, the sign says "Neptune Line via Fall River $2.00 to Boston." - Dave] Like 3DThe clarity and depth of this picture is exceptional, especially the tall apartment houses like the one above the Shorpy watermark, and the shorter one to right of it, in the front. We've all seen some great photos here, but this is one of the best. I'm still trying to take it all in. Columbia HeightsThe pillared porch (lower left of both photos) is about 148 Columbia Heights. Which seems to be one of the few areas in the picture not cleared out for the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. View Larger Map Not much traffic...Must have been a winter day. Note the snow along the roads. A fascinating image to study for little details like that. [Another subtle clue to winterness is the first word of the photo caption. - Dave] Going UpTall structure going up on the horizon. I wonder if that's the Metropolitan Life Tower. Tallest building in the world from its completion in 1909 until 1913. It's in about the right spot but may be too wide. Just a guess. Still StandingI love Google map embeds. The building with the prominent quoins in the foreground is still standing at the corner of Clark and Willow. It looks like it retains the original fire escape and railing. They ought to get a copy of this photo for their lobby! Amazingly enoughThe whole block of houses still seems to be intact. A Queens Bridge Too!Way in the background, above the gas tanks in Manhattan, is the Queensboro Bridge under construction. SuperbMy gast is absolutely flabbered. Such detail; so well done. Denny Gill Chugiak, Alaska Where are the people?Where are all the people? Looking back on old NY pics, the streets always seem to be filled with people (traffic, cart vendors etc.) It is February and it looks like daylight so I imagine that this pic would not have been taken that early in the day so where have all the people gone. [They're probably indoors, seeing as how it's Saturday and freezing outside. I see two horses and a man and a woman. - Dave] Minor Footnote in HistoryThe Robert Gair Company Factory in the distance is where corrugated cardboard boxes were invented by mistake. Another ClueJudging from the flags, smoke/steam, and drying clothes on the lines (frozen undies, hooray!) it sure seems like the wind is blowing hard. Too unpleasant to go outside if you don't have to, but you have to do your laundry when you have a chance! Brooklyn BridgesAmazing photo... One of my favourites on here... Brooklyn lifeThe picture makes we wish I could just zoom in and see what life is like at that point in time in all those windows. A time machine would be nice. ModernThe Robert Gair Company building looks surprisingly modern, like something I'd imagine people might've built in the 1950-60s. Beautiful pictureI bought this picture from your gallery to give to a friend who lives in Brooklyn, and when it came in, I was amazed at the clarity. She absolutely fell in love with it. Thank you for making her happy. Robert Gair He was one of the first to build with concrete. It resulted in a building that didn't shake from his machinery making boxes and bags. Wow!Talk about a time machine! Why would they take a picture like this? I would think that it would be rather brutal to lug all that equipment onto a roof somewhere in winter and have to wait for the exposure. Some dedication! I'm glad George made the effort. [Exposure time for an 8x10 plate outdoors in 1908 would not have been very long. A few seconds at the most. - Dave] Glass negativesThese old photos from glass negatives look better than the old photos that are from film. Also better than any digital camera today. I know those cameras were cumbersome but the results look better to me. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, G.G. Bain, NYC)
Their New Home: 1971
... were on the water had docks, and kept their sail or motor boats docked right at their home. Those of us who lived off water also had boats and docked them with neighbors who had extra space their dock, or they ... 
 
Posted by tterrace - 01/18/2010 - 10:49pm -

A Kodachrome moment in November 1971, shortly after my sister and her family, newly transplanted from Diamond Bar in Southern California, moved into their new home in the Bahia section of Novato. I'm not quite sure how you'd describe the architectural style, but that was it in Bahia. Here I've captured my brother-in-law getting gardening advice from my father, who's hauled us up from Larkspur in our 1966 Rambler Classic wagon. The other vehicle I'm sure needs no introduction. My nephew Dave, age six, strolls out into the cul-de-sac. Antennas at the left are for San Francisco radio station KCBS. View full size. Agricultural Amazing. The gambrel roofs on both the house and garage are more reminiscent of an Amish hay barn than a Marin County tract home. Dutch treatWe had a house a lot like this in Florida. Gambrel roof and kind of a Dutch dairy-cow motif inside. I guess you could call it cheesy! I'd call itA barn. Or two barns. Not to everyone's taste I suppose, but it was the 70s. The Autumn of '71There are Thanksgiving Pilgrims, an Indian and a ship in the windows. My mom would decorate the windows for the holidays (often with our help) when I was a kid in the 60s. There were stencil kits, "frost" spray, and these cardboard cutouts. Paging Dr. Lileks To the Shorpy ICU, stat! The Story of Bahia (Novato)Bahia History Bahia was a "water oriented" community. It had a deep lagoon and a channel which was dredged to the Petaluma River. The original homes were designed to resemble a New England Village, with the weathered gray siding and the white framed windows. It was quite a paradise for the kids growing up there in the late 60s through the 80s. People whose houses were on the water had docks, and kept their sail or motor boats docked right at their home. Those of us who lived off water also had boats and docked them with neighbors who had extra space their dock, or they were hauled out and kept out of sight in a side yard. There was lots of open space in the oak studded hills, and the kids could climb trees, build tree forts, slide down the hills on cardboard. They could swim or fish in the lagoon, learn to sail or water ski with friends who had ski boats. Alas, the planning for this community was not well thought out. The channel and lagoon were downstream from the river and had no natural water flow towards the river, so it silted up quite badly. Dredging became more and more expensive, and the home owners had trouble affording the repeated dredging projects. More development was proposed and consideration was given to putting in a lock, to prevent the silt build up. But no one could agree with what should be done. Meanwhile new environmental regulations came into being, regarding contaminants in the spoils from dredging, and controlling where the spoils could be deposited. This became an even more expensive proposition. Lawsuits were filed, neighbors were against neighbors, and meanwhile the lagoon was silting up. People had to take out their boats, their docks became useless, except as a deck. Today the main lagoon is a salt marsh, and the people who live there can enjoy the marsh wildlife. Much of the surrounding property was bought up for Marin County Open Space, so there are still hills to hike in, and wildflowers and nature to enjoy. No more tree forts or cardboard sliding though. Below is a quote regarding the present day Bahia Neighborhood. "Geography - Neighborhoods About Bahia The community of Bahia is located in Novato on the East side of hwy 101 exiting Atherton. Bahia consists of 288 homes built in 4 stages during the 1960s and 1970s. The community is located in northeast Novato, close to the Petaluma river. Residents of the Bahia enjoy a clubhouse, pool, and two tennis courts. A deep water lagoon on the eastern side of the neighborhood provides birdwatching for local residents. Rush Creek and Novato Open Space Preserves), containing the only known occurrence of a blue oak woodland salt marsh ecotone in California, borders the community. This Open Space area offers multi-use trails for hiking, biking, equestrian riding, dog walking, wildlife and bird watching. Bahia is a nature lover's paradise!" Oh, and Bahia is on Facebook: I grew up in Bahia (in Novato - not San Rafael!) http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=47031241875 More, more, please.I like it! I want to see inside this house. I'm hoping to find a reproduction churn and spinning wheel. This modest little barn-style house in California is certainly preferable to the bloated Mediterranean McMansions that blight the landscape here in the desert Southwest. Just saying. EmmaH from the Edge of Texas Ex NovatoanI lived in Novato at the time, moving to Petaluma in October 1971. Bahia was new in 1971. My brother and I drove though it a couple of times. The KCBS towers were near the old Midway Drive-In, which closed about 20 years ago. The towers disappeared within the past five or so. Probably deck materialAs a SoCal carpenter of that era, I can remember putting up a lot of siding houses with what we called T-111, the name of the 5/8ths thick plywood with the grooves you see here. There were several other wood exteriors like shingles, board and batt, tongue and groove, lapped siding, but the most prevalent was the T-111 since it was the most cost effective in terms of material and labor. And for the bundled redwood dropped just off the driveway, it is more likely intended for a narrow deck, given the long 2x material for the decking and rail cap. While the 2x2s in the center were typically used for the deck railing stiles. If it were for fencing, you'd see a lot of 1x in there. Just guessing though. And out backDid they they keep the riding mower in a garden shed that was a quarter-scale replica of a split-level ranch? Danger! Flammable!With the wood panel siding and the wood shingle roof, it's like a giant match head, just waiting for an ember from a wildfire to light it. As for architectural styles, to the left and behind this house there appears to be a square, flat-roofed house, another early '70s style. I'd sure like to see this address in Google Street View, to see if this house still stands. FencingThere's the redwood fence awaiting construction on the "lawn." 38 years agoThis was the month I was born. Neat! Door openI see that garage door left open and can only hear my dad yelling, "Who left the garage door open? What? Were you raised in a barn?!" Were you born in a barn?No, but I grew up in one! Close the doorMy parents often reminded my brothers and me to close the door, as we were not "living in a barn." Bahia styleThere were variations in the Bahia roof configurations, some flat at the very top, and there was at least one conventionally-eaved, but the whole development had a unified style: When styles collide.Dutch Colonial meets California Ranch. Ugh. I think I found itIs it 2705 Tiki Road? Looking at the various map sites, I figured that the house faces either south or southwest, putting the KCBS transmitter behind it. The house at 2705 Tiki has the right layout, and faces southwest. One of the real estate sites estimates its value at $518,000, and says it is 1,472 square feet, built in 1971. There's no Google Street View, but here it is in Bing Maps Bird's Eye View. [Perhaps, much later tonight or very early tomorrow, someone could drive by with a camera and bang on the windows. Don't forget to ask for a phone number! - Dave] (Addendum from the Shorpy Worldwide Interactive legal team: DO NOT drive by. DO NOT bang on windows.) Dutch Meets Valley Girl...as in, "Oh my Gawd! It's, like, weird!" I grew up right down the street from here!Cool photo. Now I'll have to go dig up some of our house in Bahia when my parents bought it new back in 1972. I like how there's absolutely no landscaping whatsoever. I walk my dogs there!Those towers are still there! Kodachrome!Sweet! Oh, how I miss it. Nice job. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, tterrapix)
Two Belles: 1906
... Very cool It's amazing how close to the shore these boats came to the shore. How deep could the water be? 10 feet? Then the boats further down the shore look like they are landed right up on the beach. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/01/2012 - 1:38pm -

The Mississippi River circa 1906. "Steamboat landing at Vicksburg. Sternwheeler Belle of Calhoun and sidewheeler Belle of the Bends." Our second look at these river packets. Detroit Publishing Company glass negative. View full size. A picture is worth... a thousand words, but this one is worth at least a dozen pictures. An amazing photo from which can be extracted a multitude of wonderful stand-alone shots. Such as: Waiting for some automation!Really brings home the feeling of, "Tote dat barge, Lift dat bale!" Delta QueenI live in Louisiana and my mom used to paint oils of these old paddle wheelers. Her friends used to call her "Delta Queen" for her love of these old vessels. Thanks for the memories! Her paintings were right on! Very coolIt's amazing how close to the shore these boats came to the shore. How deep could the water be? 10 feet? Then the boats further down the shore look like they are landed right up on the beach. Great photo of the old American industrial machine working. The life of a Belle. The Belle of Calhoun was a 181-foot sternwheeler built at Carondelet, Illinois, in 1895. Named for Miss Anna Wood, who was crowned the Belle of Calhoun County, Illinois. Sank three times in her career, finally burned at Alton in the winter of 1930-1931. Belle of the Bends was a 210-foot sidewheeler. Built in 1898 at the Howard Yard in Jeffersonville, Indiana. Converted to an excursion boat at Cairo and renamed Liberty circa 1918. Dismantled in October 1919. The levee todayThe Vicksburg levee today, anchored to the south by a casino "boat." The quick and the dead? Is that far left ship beached or swamped? It's deck looks too steep to still be afloat. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, Horses, Vicksburg)
« first‹ prev…3 [4]5…next ›last »
Syndicate content  Shorpy.com is a vintage photography site featuring thousands of high-definition images. The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago. Contact us | Privacy policy | Accessibility Statement | Site © 2024 Shorpy Inc.