Streckfus Steamers
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Streckfus Steamers was a company started in 1910 by John Streckfus Sr. (1856–1925) born in
Edgington, Illinois Edgington is an unincorporated community in Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. Edgington is located on Illinois Route 192, southwest of Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsul ...
. He started a steam
packet Packet may refer to: * A small container or pouch ** Packet (container), a small single use container ** Cigarette packet ** Sugar packet * Network packet, a formatted unit of data carried by a packet-mode computer network * Packet radio, a form ...
business in the 1880s, but transitioned his fleet to the river excursion business around the turn of the century. In 1907, he incorporated Streckfus Steamers to raise capital and expand his riverboat excursion business. A few years later, the firm acquired the Diamond Jo Line, a steamboat packet company. The most active period started after the first World War. Bandleader
Fate Marable Fate Marable (December 2, 1890 – January 16, 1947) was an American jazz pianist and bandleader. Early life Marable was born in Paducah, Kentucky to James and Elizabeth Lillian (Wharton) Marable, a piano teacher. Fate had five siblings, includin ...
recruited many musicians from New Orleans during this period, including Louis Armstrong. Streckfus Steamers expanded the number of excursion boats, acquired or converted larger boats, and hired more bands. After the death of the patriarch in 1925, the eldest son Joseph took over the company, and was assisted by his three brothers.


Family history

The principal of Streckfus Steamers was John Streckfus Sr., the son of Balthazar (18111881) and Anna Mary (Schaab) Streckfus, both immigrants to the United States from
Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
. In 1850, the couple sailed for the United States with their two daughters, Barbara and Catherine. Before their ship arrived in New Orleans, Theresa gave birth to their first son, Michael. The Streckfus family eventually settled in
Edgington, Illinois Edgington is an unincorporated community in Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. Edgington is located on Illinois Route 192, southwest of Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsul ...
, but Balthazar later established his wagon shop in nearby
Rock Island, Illinois Rock Island is a city in and the county seat of Rock Island County, Illinois, Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. The original Rock Island, from which the city name is derived, is now called Rock Island Arsenal, Arsenal Island. The popul ...
in 1868. The family also had a grocery business. John Streckfus married Theresa Bartemeier in 1880. Theresa bore nine children, and all of the surviving children worked on the riverboats. Balthazar had been commuting from Edgington to his shop in Rock Island. His sons built a house for him in the late-1860s to facilitate a shorter journey to work. The Streckfus House still stands at 908 4th Avenue (as of October 2017), and the brick Italianate house has been designated as a Rock Island Landmark. John and Theresa Streckfus had four sons who were later licensed as captains: Joseph Leo (1887–1960), Roy Michael (1888–1968), John Nicholas (1891–1948), and Verne Walter (1895–1984). Joseph took over Streckfus Steamers in 1925 after the death of his father. Of this second Streckfus generation, he also was the most engaged with the music side of the business. There are at least two descendants of the Streckfus family who are active as river boat captains, at least through 2005. At that time, Captain Lisa Streckfus piloted the ''
Delta Queen The ''Delta Queen'' is an American sternwheel steamboat. She is known for cruising the major rivers that constitute the tributaries of the Mississippi River, particularly in the American South, although she began service in California on the ...
'' on the Mississippi River. She is the daughter of riverboat captain, Bill Streckfus, and great-granddaughter of the family's first riverboat captain, John Streckfus Sr. Lisa's cousin, Sister Mary Manthey, is also a Mississippi River steamboat captain.


Packet service

John Streckfus bought his first steamboat in 1889 for $10,000. '' Verne Swain'', a small steamer, measuring just 120-feet in length and 22-feet in width, was constructed in
Stillwater, Minnesota Stillwater is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Washington County. It is in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, on the west bank of the St. Croix River (Wisconsin-Minnesota), St. Croix River, across from H ...
at the Swain Shipyard. ''Verne Swain'' ran every day with several stops between
Davenport Davenport may refer to: Places Australia *Davenport, Northern Territory, a locality * Hundred of Davenport, cadastral unit in South Australia **Davenport, South Australia, suburb of Port Augusta **District Council of Davenport, former local govern ...
and
Clinton Clinton is an English toponymic surname, indicating one's ancestors came from English places called Glympton or Glinton.Hanks, P. & Hodges, F. ''A Dictionary of Surnames''. Oxford University Press, 1988 Clinton has frequently been used as a given ...
Iowa, making a three-hour, one-way trip, then departed Clinton in the afternoon and returned to Davenport every evening. The steamer featured a narrow profile of just 22-feet, but was 120-feet in length. By 1891, Streckfus had acquired his own operator’s license and the title of Captain, whereas before, he had contracted for established operators to manage his steamers, and later he earned an engineer’s license. The same year, he bought his second steamboat, the ''Freddie'', a triple-decked, 73-foot sternwheeler with a 16-foot beam. He transported freight and passengers on both the Mississippi and the Ohio Rivers, though eventually, he ran his packets on the Mississippi, north of St.Louis. Though he gained a reputation for punctuality and efficiency, he complained about the meager profits his packets earned running freight on the rivers.Kenney (2005), pp. 1516.


Early excursion service

By 1901, Streckfus changed his business model. Rather than using his slow paddle-wheelers to compete with the railroads for the freight business, he started transitioning to the excursion business. He tested this idea around 1900 when he installed a
calliope In Greek mythology, Calliope ( ; grc, Καλλιόπη, Kalliópē, beautiful-voiced) is the Muse who presides over eloquence and epic poetry; so called from the ecstatic harmony of her voice. Hesiod and Ovid called her the "Chief of all Muses" ...
on the ''City of Winona''. The next year he increased his investment in the new venture with $25,000 in capital to convert a packet into a floating entertainment venue. According to his own design, Streckfus commissioned work on a 175-foot steamboat with a capacity to hold 2,000 passengers, sleeping berths for the crew and the entertainers, a 100 x 27 foot maple dance floor, a bar, a dining room, and electric lights. His first custom-built excursion boat he named the ''J.S.'' Howard Shipyard of
Jeffersonville, Indiana Jeffersonville is a city and the county seat of Clark County, Indiana, Clark County, Indiana, United States, situated along the Ohio River. Locally, the city is often referred to by the abbreviated name Jeff. It lies directly across the Ohio River ...
built the steamboat according to this new design. ''J.S.'' was the first steamboat in service on the Mississippi built especially for excursions. The 1901 excursions on the ''J.S.'' also corresponds to the first regular dance bands hired by Streckfus. Though the ''J.S.'' spent much of its time in
St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
and
St. Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...
, it
tramp A tramp is a long-term homeless person who travels from place to place as a vagrant, traditionally walking all year round. Etymology Tramp is derived from a Middle English verb meaning to "walk with heavy footsteps" (''cf.'' modern English ''t ...
ed on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. While cruising the Mississippi near LaCrosse, WI on the night of June 25, 1910, Streckfus lost his custom-built steamer, the ''J.S.'', to a fire allegedly ignited by a drunken and disorderly passenger. Streckfus started offering passenger service on his paddle-wheelers as a part of a new business model, balancing his business between moving freight and moving people.


Reorganization

John Streckfus organized the Streckfus Steamers Line in order to raise capital for an expansion of his steamboat excursion business. This was a closely held company, accepting investments only from members of the Streckfus family. He had started as a freight hauler who had sold passenger tickets, but his new company's main business was the excursion trade, though he also accepted freight about his steamboats.


The Diamond Jo Line

Moving freight on steamboats had already been dying as a business for a few decades, but this extended an opportunity. Since the packet business was unprofitable, this implied that many steamboat owners were motivated sellers. John Streckfus, who had seen his custom-built ''J.S.'' go up in flames, purchased a packet fleet from the
Diamond Jo Line Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the Chemical stability, chemically stable form of car ...
. He applied new capital raised by Streckfus Steamers to purchase of four ships. These included the ''Dubuque'' and three damaged riverboats: ''Sidney'', a 221-foot sternwheeler; ''St. Paul'', a 300-foot side-wheeler; and another side-wheeler, the 264-foot ''Quincy''.Kenney (2005), p. 19. Included in this February 3, 1911 acquisition were docks, shipyards and warehouses. Streckfus Steamers paid $200,000 for all of these ships and land-based assets. Low water on the Mississippi River often sidelined the erstwhile packets for the next five seasons, but Streckfus bided his time by more bond issues and stock sales. He and his sons converted the ''St. Paul'', which was fitted to run excursions between by 1917, when it tramped between St. Louis and St. Paul. However, Streckfus business was executed at an inconvenient time: the Mississippi River was low due to droughts, and he would not be able to run regular excursions for about five years. Some years later, by the 1920s, the Streckfus patriarch had four sons to captain his fleet: Joseph, Vern, Roy, and John Streckfus Jr.


SS ''St. Paul''

John Streckus chose for his first conversion the largest of the Diamond Jo steamers, the 300-foot ''St. Paul''. The company ran the first excursion for the ''St. Paul'' in 1917, and the next year it tramped between St. Louis and its namesake city on the Mississippi. The cabin was fitted with electric lights and fans. In its third season, the steamer ran aground on a sandbar, though this may have been the only mishap of the season. During the 1920s, Streckfus tramped it a bit further south, between the
Quad Cities The Quad Cities is a region of cities (originally four, see History) in the U.S. states of Iowa and Illinois: Davenport and Bettendorf in southeastern Iowa, and Rock Island, Moline and East Moline in northwestern Illinois. These cities are t ...
and
Cape Girardeau, Missouri Cape Girardeau ( , french: Cap-Girardeau ; colloquially referred to as "Cape") is a city in Cape Girardeau and Scott Counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. At the 2020 census, the population was 39,540. The city is one of two principal citie ...
areas. The next decade, the large steamer plied the Ohio River until it 1930 rebuild. Rechristened ''Senator'', it ran excursions for just a few more years.


''J.S. Deluxe''

In 1919, Streckfus Steamers executed the second conversion from their Diamond Jo fleet, the packet ''Quincy''. The company developed different ships for different markets, and the ''J.S. Deluxe'' catered to wealthy people from St. Louis. The company hired white musicians to perform on this steamer. ''J.S. Deluxe'' continued to serve the upscale market in the St. Louis area until the ''President'' took over in 1934.Kenney (2005), p. 20.


''Capitol''

The ''Capitol'' was born from the old sternwheeler, the ''Dubuque''. It did not require as much water depth as other ships in their fleet, so Streckfus Steamers put it into use in the Upper Mississippi, while it served local cruises at New Orleans in the winter. Fate Marable performed on the ''Capital'' starting in 1920, leading a band which included
Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...
, Boyd Adkins, Norman Brashear, Warren “Baby” Dodds, David Jones, Henry Kimball, and
Johnny St. Cyr Johnny St. Cyr (April 17, 1890 – June 17, 1966) was an American jazz banjoist and guitarist. For banjo his by far most used type in records at least was the six string one. On a famous “action photo” with Jelly Roll Morton’s Red Hot Pepp ...
. Starting around 1924, the trumpeter Ed Allen led the Whispering Gold Band aboard the S.S. ''Capitol'' and stayed with Streckfus Steamers for about two years before moving to New York City. “Papa” Celestine brought his band to the ''Capitol'' around 1926.
Sidney Desvigne Sidney Desvigne (September 11, 1893 – December 2, 1959) was an American jazz trumpeter. Desvigne played in a large number of noted 1910s and 1920s-era New Orleans Jazz ensembles, including Leonard Bechet's Silver Bell Band, the Maple Leaf Orc ...
who had previously played corner in Ed Allen’s band aboard the ''Capitol'', left Streckfus Steamers for two years to lead his own band on the ''
Island Queen The ''Island Queen'' was a series of two American sidewheeler steamboats built in 1896 and 1925 respectively. Both vessels were passenger carriers cruising along the Mississippi and Ohio rivers as both an excursion boat and tramp steamer. The fi ...
''. He returned to Streckfus Steamers, this time as a bandleader of the Sidney Desvigne’s S.S. Capitol Orchestra. Walter “Fats” Pinchon followed Sidney Desvigne to the ''Island Queen'' and back. Eventually, the conservatory-trained pianist headed his own group, the last New Orleans band to have regular employment with Streckfus Steamers.


''Sidney''

The ''Sidney'' is a steamboat first built in
West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...
between 1880 and 1881. On March 10, 1881, a breach in the steam line scalded fourteen people and killed four others. Diamond Jo Line acquired the steamer the next year for about $23,000, after which it ran the Mississippi River between St. Louis and St. Paul. Streckfus purchased the ''Sidney'' in 1911, a 221-foot sternwheeler from the Diamond Jo Line after the steam packet had been damaged by rocks while cruising on the Mississippi River. After repairs and refitting, he assigned the ''Sidney'' to winter excursions in the New Orleans area for about a decade. There was a 1921 rebuild, after which it was rechristened ''Washington''. Louis Armstrong performed aboard ''Sidney'';
Erroll Garner Erroll Louis Garner (June 15, 1921 – January 2, 1977) was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his swing playing and ballads. His instrumental ballad "Misty", his best-known composition, has become a jazz standard. It was first rec ...
performed aboard ''Washington''. Fate Marable started his first New Orleans band on the ''Sidney'' in 1918, starting his expanded responsibilities as bandleader and talent scout, duties he would continue until his retirement in 1940. He scouted and hired Louis Armstrong, as well as Warren “Baby” Dodds, George “Pops” Foster, and Johnny St. Cyr.


Later acquisitions

By the late-1930s, Streckfus Steamers had an inventory of aging steamboats with wooden hulls. The
United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...
was enforcing stricter standards for riverboats, so the company built its last two excursion boatsthe ''President'' and the SS ''Admiral''with steel hulls.


''President''

In 1933, Streckfus Steamers bought the steamboat ''Cincinnati'', a steel-hulled packet built in 1924. ''Cincinnati'', true to its name, ran freight between the Queen City and Louisville, Kentucky. The company installed twenty-four watertight compartments into the existing steel hull and rebuilt a superstructure in steel, and expanded to five decks. The new excursion steamer was dubbed ''President'', and Streckfus Steamers dispatched it up the Ohio River to serve Pittsburgh during the depression. Eventually, ''President'' replaced the ''J.S. Deluxe'' for excursions catering to wealthy people in the St. Louis market. The ship commenced carrying excursion passenger in July 1934 out of St. Louis, with bands led by Fate Marable and
Charlie Creath Charles Cyril Creath (December 30, 1890, Ironton, Missouri – October 23, 1951, Chicago, Illinois) was an American jazz trumpeter, saxophonist, accordionist, and bandleader. Creath played in traveling circuses and in theater bands in the dec ...
. The ''S.S. President'' could accommodate 3,100 passengers and continued service for many years after riverboat excursions diminished in popularity after
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. It was a venue for the
New Orleans Jazz Festival The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (commonly called Jazz Fest or Jazzfest) is an annual celebration of local music and culture held at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, Louisiana. Jazz Fest attracts thousands of visitors to New ...
, and hosted performers such as
Pete Fountain Pierre Dewey LaFontaine Jr. (July 3, 1930 – August 6, 2016), known professionally as Pete Fountain, was an American jazz clarinetist. Early life and education LaFontaine was born to Pierre, Sr. and Madeline, in a small Creole cottage-style fr ...
and Louis Cottrell’s Dixieland Jazz Band. In 1944, Streckfus Steamers moved the President from St. Louis to New Orleans. The company overhauled the ''President’s'' motive power, switching to diesel propulsion in 1978, before selling the ship to the New Orleans Steamboat company in 1981.


SS ''Admiral''

The SS ''Admiral'' was the first of the Streckfus fleet to be built with a metal superstructure on a steel hull. Originally the 1907 ''Albatross'', a railroad ferry, Streckfus Steamers stripped it down to the steel hull and rebuilt it with a steel superstructure and an Art Deco finish. The company docked on the Mississippi River in St. Louis, at the foot of Washington Avenue. SS ''Admiral'' commenced excursions in 1940, featuring an air-conditioned cabin and a large ballroom with maple flooring. The top deck, also known as the fifth deck, allowed guests to access close-up views of the riverbank sights through coin-operated telescopes. In 1973, the company removed the steam engine and converted SS ''Admiral'' to diesel power. Streckfus Steamers ran excursions on the SS ''Admiral'' through the 1978 season, and retired the ship in 1979 due to weakness in its hull. The company sold the ship to John E. Connelly in 1981.


Riverboat jazz


Early riverboat music

John Streckfus started hiring musicians in 1901, when he engaged a friend to scout talent, which resulted in the first live musical entertainment, an African-American trio from
Des Moines Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...
playing
banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...
,
guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
, and
mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...
. By 1903, Streckfus employed a house band to play popular music, a quartet which included a drummer, trumpeter, violinist, and a pianist. Charles Mills was the piano player, an African-American performing with three white musicians. Mills remained with Streckfus until 1907, when he planned to seek musical opportunities in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. Mills told
Fate Marable Fate Marable (December 2, 1890 – January 16, 1947) was an American jazz pianist and bandleader. Early life Marable was born in Paducah, Kentucky to James and Elizabeth Lillian (Wharton) Marable, a piano teacher. Fate had five siblings, includin ...
about his plans. The seventeen year-old piano player from
Paducah, Kentucky Paducah ( ) is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of McCracken County, Kentucky. The largest city in the Jackson Purchase region, it is located at the confluence of the Tennessee and the Ohio rivers, halfway between St. Louis, Missour ...
solicited employment from an agent of the company when a Streckfus excursion boat docked in his hometown. Streckfus hired Marable to play a steam
calliope In Greek mythology, Calliope ( ; grc, Καλλιόπη, Kalliópē, beautiful-voiced) is the Muse who presides over eloquence and epic poetry; so called from the ecstatic harmony of her voice. Hesiod and Ovid called her the "Chief of all Muses" ...
and to play piano in the boat’s dance bands.Kenney (2005), p. 38. Marable first played piano for Streckfus on the ''J.S.'', playing in a duo with Emil Flindt, a white violist. Marable continued as a performer on the company's flagship until its conflagration in 1910. The calliope was not just a musical instrument, it was an advertising medium for Streckfus Steamers. Its music carried for miles, announcing the presence of an excursion boat plying the river. People gathered at the docks, listening the calliope playing and some bought excursion tickets. Later, Streckfus allowed Marable to hire his own musicians. Around 1918, Marable assembled his own orchestra for the ''Sidney'', including many from New Orleans: George "Pops" Foster (bass), Warren "Baby" Dodds (drums), Johnny St. Cyr (banjo), David Jones and Norman Mason (saxophone), Lorenzo Brashear (trombone), and Boyd Atkins (violin).


After World War I

John Streckfus Sr. and his two brothers were amateur musicians and formed specific ideas about what kind of music his guests would hear. Often, one of the brothers attended rehearsals, marking the tempo with a watch to ensure 60 beats per minute for the slow tunes, and 90 beats per minute for the fast ones. While Louis Armstrong played for Fate Marable's band, he observed Joseph Streckfus smiling, laughing, and tapping to the beat.Bergreen, pp. 150153. However, another account indicates that Joseph Streckfus made music evaluations with considerations beyond his own sense of taste. According to trumpeter Henry “Red” Allen, Joseph Streckfus expected different tempi depending on where they played: St. Louis dancers liked a faster beat than the dancers in New Orleans. John Streckfus demanded strict decorum on his steamships. Though he sold alcoholic drinks, he tolerated neither gambling nor drunkenness from his passengers or his musicians. Marable made a perfect fit as a bandleader since he enforced these rules, and he imposed the same exacting standards for studying, rehearsing, and playing music. Marable sometimes took extreme measures to make a point, as when he fired musicians. Sometimes he left a hatchet on a musician's chair, in order to him know that "he gave them the axe." Another trick was telling the whole group (except for one musician) to come to rehearsal an hour early. Musicians on Streckfus Steamers did not achieve star status during their tenure. John Streckfus established a policy of standard wages. At one point, he offered band members $35 per week, plus room and board (or $65 per week without room and board). He lowered compensation in 1919 to $37.50 per weeknon-inclusive of room and boardalbeit with much shorter work schedules. Seven years later, the company increased pay to $45 per week and added $5 weekly retention bonuses, but without room and board. A few exceptional musicians were allowed to improvise for a few bars. One exception was Louis Armstrong. The Streckfus family and Marable otherwise insisted that the performers play the arrangements as written. However, this prompted expressive and gifted musicians like Armstrong to advance his career elsewhere. In the period after World War I, John Streckfus followed the expansion of
Jim Crow The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...
practices, segregating his musicians and his passengers. In 1920, Streckfus Steamers began running Monday night cruises for African-American audiences out of St. Louis. On the other hand, according to Louis Armstrong, Fate Marable’s band was the first African American group to play music on the Mississippi riverboats.


In Popular Culture

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 ...
lore and riverboat culture feature prominently in the music of
John Hartford John Cowan Hartford (December 30, 1937 – June 4, 2001) was an American folk, country, and bluegrass composer and musician known for his mastery of the fiddle and banjo, as well as for his witty lyrics, unique vocal style, and extensive kno ...
. A former Streckfus musician (and later chief engineer of the
Delta Queen The ''Delta Queen'' is an American sternwheel steamboat. She is known for cruising the major rivers that constitute the tributaries of the Mississippi River, particularly in the American South, although she began service in California on the ...
) Mike O’Leary is the subject of Hartford's song "Let Him Go on Mama" on the Grammy-winning
Mark Twang ''Mark Twang'' is a 1976 album by American bluegrass singer-songwriter and instrumentalist John Hartford. Much of his songs for the album were inspired by Hartford's experiences working on a riverboat, notably "Julia Belle Swain, The Julia Belle Sw ...
album (1976).


References


Further reading

* Meyer, Dolores (1967). "Excursion Steamboating on the Mississippi with Streckfus Steamers, Inc." (St. Louis: St. Louis University) unpublished dissertation. Available at the Herman T. Pott National Inland Waterways Library, a special collection sponsored by the St. Louis Mercantile Library Association.


External links


Riverboats and Jazz.
Tulane University, Howard-Tilton Memorial Library.
The Streckfus Steamboat Line.
Tulane University, Riverboats & Jazz.

Online Steamboat Museum
A Brief Look at American Riverboat Musical Styles.
University of Arkansas-Little Rock
A Guide to the William F. and Betty Streckfus Carroll Collection.
The St. Louis Mercantile Library Association, 2010.
J. S. Deluxe (steamboat)
Indiana Memory Digital Collections {{Authority control Entertainment companies established in 1910 Defunct transportation companies of the United States American jazz Steamboats of the Mississippi River Steamboats of the Ohio River Paddle steamers River cruise companies 1910 establishments in Illinois 1978 disestablishments in Missouri Entertainment companies disestablished in 1978 Transportation companies based in Illinois American companies disestablished in 1978