Sometimes I go searching for something and I don’t find it, but the journey becomes interesting (and a little scary) in of itself. In this case, I went looking for the Sidaway Bridge, further up one of the tributaries of the Cuyahoga River, after reading about it online, and besides being fascinated by its structure,…
Tag: Boats
Lock Number 14, Illinois and Michigan Canal, LaSalle, Illinois
I have long been interested in the investigation of how Chicago passed St. Louis by in terms of economic power. I have also long felt that the discussion in St. Louis has existed at a very low intellectual level, usually focusing on the person’s own confirmation biases and background. In reality, if one tries to…
South Riverfront Near the Wreck of the Intrepid, October 2021
I went down to the South Riverfront bright and early on Saturday and cut through the flood wall. The sun was shining across the Mississippi River. The water level is still low, but I think it has been rising a bit since the last time I looked. I had come to see if I could…
Sister Marie Charles Park
Down below Bellerive Park, which I’ve looked at before, and is nowhere near the country club of the same name, is Sister Marie Charles Park. It’s one of the last places you can access the Mississippi River in St. Louis outside of The Levee.
Riverboat, Docked on the Levee
You don’t see this much any more down on the Levee. It’s neat to see, but the ranks of riverboats once seen along here will never happen again.
Goldenrod Showboat Up For Auction Saturday
Update: The Goldenrod Showboat was destroyed by fire in October of 2017 while docked in Hardin County, Illinois. I was contacted by a supporter of the effort to save the Goldenrod Showboat concerning the last potential chance to save the boat on Saturday, May 18: “Today I received the news that the not-for-profit organization lost…
The Inaugural Gets A Reprieve
Update: I went back in October of 2021 to view the wreckage. While the haul road built to cart away the steel from the Inaugural was completed, salvage operations look to have stopped due to the rise in the river level in recent weeks.? It looks like only a couple of chunks have been removed,…
The Riverfront, 1967
A reader was kind enough to give me several photos of her family’s trip on the Huck Finn back in the late 1960’s. It’s fascinating to see that the riverfront was already by that time largely cleared of buildings, just as it is today. The traces of St. Louis once being a great river town…
Old Erosion Mat, NOT The Bones of the Montana
Note: I originally published these photographs as the wreckage of an old steamboat, but my readers have helpfully pointed out my mistake! The wood structure actually prevents erosion, and was placed there on purpose. I left the original, incorrect text below for reference. Chris Naffziger, August 29, 2014 Searching up and down the Missouri River,…
Shots of USS Inaugural
Update: I went back in February of 2013 and in October of 2021. Much ado has been made about how the forlorn wreck of the USS Inaugural, a minesweeper that survived World War II only to sink in the Mississippi in the Great Flood of 1993, is now easily viewable just south of the MacArthur…