overall: 10 in x 29 in x 6 in; 25.4 cm x 73.66 cm x 15.24 cm
Object Name:
boat, river
model, river boat
Other Terms:
boat, river; Maritime
Date made:
1970
Description:
The sternwheel steamer <I>Valley Belle</I> was built as a packet boat at Harmar, Ohio, in 1883. It measured 127.4’ long by 22.9’ in beam and a shallow 3.4’ in draft. As a packet delivering people, cargo and the mails, the <I>Belle</I> worked for decades along several rivers from the Ohio to the Kanawha in West Virginia. In 1891, the <I>Belle</I> transported 8,320 tons of cargo and 6,241 passengers along the Ohio River.
In 1917, the <I>Valley Belle</I> was operating along the Ohio River between Marietta and Middleport, Ohio. In March 1919 it was purchased by Billy Bryant of the famous showboating family. Bryant had just built a fancy new showboat and needed a larger towboat than they owned to tow it.
The <I>Belle</I> towed <I>Bryant’s New Showboat</I> for several years down the Kanawha, Ohio, Monongahela, Illinois, and Mississippi Rivers before being replaced by a smaller boat. Competition from movie theaters had shortened the range of the showboats, which were forced to go to ever-smaller and more remote towns for willing audiences. The <I>Belle</I> continued to tow on various rivers until 1943, when it sank in the Ohio River at Kanauga, Oh. Its career as a wooden-hulled river steamer in nearly continuous use for 60 years is unmatched.
Related event:
The Development of the Industrial United States Search this
