The steamer ''Chautauqua Belle'' is an authentic

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

-style sternwheel

steamboat A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the ship prefix, prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S ...

owned and operated by U.S. Steam Lines Ltd, operating on

Chautauqua Lake Chautauqua Lake is located entirely within Chautauqua County, New York, United States. The lake is approximately long and wide at its greatest width. The surface area is approximately . The maximum depth is about . The shoreline is about of wh ...

Western New York Western New York (WNY) is the westernmost region of the U.S. state of New York. The eastern boundary of the region is not consistently defined by state agencies or those who call themselves "Western New Yorkers". Almost all sources agree WNY in ...

History

Originally financed and built by Captain James Webster, the vessel was constructed on site in

Mayville, New York Mayville is a village in Chautauqua County, New York, United States. The population was 1,477 at the 2020 census, 13.7% less than in the 2010 census. Mayville is in the town of Chautauqua and is the county seat of Chautauqua County. The village ...

, between 1974 and 1976. The ''Chautauqua Belle'' was launched in 1976 as part of Chautauqua County's celebration of the

United States Bicentennial The United States Bicentennial was a series of celebrations and observances during the mid-1970s that paid tribute to historical events leading up to the creation of the United States of America as an independent republic. It was a central event ...

. The ''Chautauqua Belle'' is one of only five operating authentic passenger sternwheel steamboats left in all of North America. The other four vessels are the ''

Virginia V Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

'', in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

; '' Minne-Ha-Ha'' at Lake George, New York, operating on Lake George; the ''

Belle of Louisville ''Belle of Louisville'' is a steamboat owned and operated by the city of Louisville, Kentucky, and moored at its downtown wharf next to the Riverfront Plaza/Belvedere during its annual operational period. The steamboat claims itself the "most wid ...

'' in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

, operating on the Ohio River; and the ''Natchez'' in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, Louisiana, operating on the Mississippi River. The ''Chautauqua Belle'' and the ''

Natchez Natchez may refer to: Places * Natchez, Alabama, United States * Natchez, Indiana, United States * Natchez, Louisiana, United States * Natchez, Mississippi, a city in southwestern Mississippi, United States * Grand Village of the Natchez, a site o ...

'' were designed by the

naval architect This is the top category for all articles related to architecture and its practitioners. {{Commons category, Architecture occupations Design occupations Architecture, Occupations ...

Captain Alan Bates of Louisville, Kentucky.

Specifications

The ''Chautauqua Belle'' is long and wide, and weighs 70 tons fully loaded. She has a 100-horsepower Scotch steam boiler aboard which supplies steam at to the two 20 horsepower

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...

s which turn her paddlewheel. She has a 60-horsepower Uniflow marine steam engine manufactured by Skinner Engine Company which is attached via a belt drive to a 30 kilowatt generator to provide her electricity needs. Her top speed is {{convert, 7, mph. The engines were built for the ''Chautauqua Belle'' by Harry McBride in 1975. She has a mechanical steering system with cable operation of two

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally aircraft, air or watercraft, water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to ...

s mounted on the stern ahead of her

paddlewheel A paddle wheel is a form of waterwheel or impeller in which a number of paddles are set around the periphery of the wheel. It has several uses, of which some are: * Very low-lift water pumping, such as flooding paddy fields at no more than about ...

. Her design features many of the architectural details lost to the modern boat builder, like cambered decks to shed water from her roof and a sheer line to evenly distribute the weight of the boilers, engines and paddlewheel. Features such as her gingerbread trim and wedding cake stacked superstructure are indigenous to the Mississippi River-styled steamboat. This style of deck layout, which became the pinnacle of all steamboat architecture, was pioneered by Henry Shreve and his steamboat ''Washington'' of 1824. The vessel featured a barge-like hull which allowed the steamboat to carry immense weight while maintaining a shallow draft for navigation on the shallow inland rivers.

External links

Official website
1976 ships Paddle steamers of the United States