The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1910-01-29
NEW STYLE BOAlS.
PROPOSED TO BE USED BY MIS-
SISSIPPi VALLEY TRANS
roRTATIoN COMPANY.
To Be Available in All Stages of Wa.
ter and Equipped With Mod.
ern Facilities fer Trans
ferring Freight.

st. Louis. Jan. 2S-Drawings mad
from the engineers plans of the new
boats to be used by the Mississippi.
Valley Transportation Company hav'
been received and show remarE
able divergence from the type of boat
with which river men are familiar.
There are two types shown by these
lrawings-one towboat and the
'other freight barge At first glance
one notices the towboat is a side
wheeler, radically different from the
Sprague and other sternwheel boats
now in use. The absence of the hig'
lcabins and immense smokestacks for
ward. and the substitution for them
Iof low, stout. raking smoke stack
like that of an ocean steamship, nest
catches the eye.
The hull of the boat, as it appears
in these drawings, is shaped like that
of yacht, running out gracefully for
ward so that it displaces the water
with the least effort The cabins with
ample accommodations for the Off
GERS and crew. rest on she main deck,
where ordinarily in the old-fashioned
river boat would be the boilers, and
the pilot house, looking more like the
pilot house of an ocean liner than a
river boat. is Immediately above the
forward cabins. Back Of this is to be
seen the hatch covering the fuel hop
per, for all the fuel will be taken
aboard from a chute overhead as it
taken on by the locomotive tender,
.hus saving time and labor.
The engines, which do not appear
in the picture, lie horizontally and
are double compound, very fast WORK
ny engines, the. wheels being de
signed to turn forty revolutions a
minute. Steam capstans and bits for
ward and aft show that the towboat
IS designed either to lash up with her
,ow ahead of her by the present sys.
EN-, or to tow it on a long line astern
~ the system used on the Great
Lakes and other rivers. 1t is possible
it will be used to tow by the one
method down stream and the other
Up.
In spite OF hes difference from the
current type, the new towboat mas
everything in her favor in her appear
lance. She looks trim, powerful, fast
and efficient and more like a boat
than like a floating boarding house
which the old type always resembled
The freight barge, which is shown in
he same drawings, is a long. broad
steel barge, absolutely lacking in the
;uperstructure. even in the shed root
which is used in the old Crescent
barge, Her deck is cut by a frequent
succession of matches, through which
every part of the hold can be used
The holds in the bow AMI stern indi
cate the fact there is a small cabin a
each end for work and storage ant
for the crew.
Two steam capstans at each en'
are placed on board to work the der
ricks and the tow lines. On the af
end of the boat Is a steel whee
house, for these barges will b.
! equipped with rudders. This hous'
will also contain an engine and steam
boiler; the engine for operating TIL
freight derricks; the boiler serving
also the eapstan engines.
1t is the intention of the compan
to employ special derricks at tn
docks to handle cargo, brit as the ten
minals are not yet installed. thes
first barges are equipped with thre
tall masts. each reaching up GO fee
/ from the deck and swinging two Il
foot booms from each mast for liftin
the freight over the side or taking i
on board from high bank. Thes
will he operated by winches driven b
the boiler in ire re"r.
Like the towbOa'. this barge has
yacht like bow and stern, which wi
run into and ont from the water wit
very little effort 1t is built of stee
throughout and appears very stront
serViceable, and bearing out all thu
has been said by the company !
describing the new fleet which the
have promised the people of the Mi
sissippi Valley
! The towboat pictured here is t
cost $4,000 and barges of this typ
$4,000 each. This barge is designe
to carry 1000 tons on feet of WI
, ter and 1900 tons on 4 feet Til
towboat has 1000 H. P. and is 150xG
iand draws 80 inches with her fuel @