Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Str. Sprague on the Ohio River, 1959

Here are a couple of photos of the old towboat Sprague, the largest such boat ever to run the inland rivers. They were sent to me by my brother, Cliff Richie, who took them probably in 1959, when the Sprague visited Pittsburgh for the city's bicentennial.




Yeah, the boat was big, more than 300 feet long. For comparison, a coal barge is only 195 feet.

If you want a quick history of the Sprague, here is one site.

And here, courtesy of C.R. Neale, is a clipping of a newspaper article when the Sprague was being towed backed to its home base on the Mississippi River.


The last I heard, the sternwheel was sitting alone on the banks of the Mississippi.




1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Nice post,being a "old timer" I like to see stories like this one.I believe the tow boat in the first photo is the M/V Leigh or the Cornell,and the last photo maybe the Southern or Peace.Maybe, old Barry can help out.Be nice to know if any old timers are reading this. Keep up the good work.