Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1939-06-29
SOMETHING I'VE NOT
FORGOTTEN
(Py w IT Ria ke)


I will first name some of the
steamboats, that have piled the old
Muskingum river. First will name
those that ran between GAINESVILLE
and Pittsburgh: Emma Graham,
which had red shutters at all doors );
July No. one and two, also had red
shutters; Carrie Brook, buff shut
ters; Hyland Mary, Anna Laura,
Lorena. GAINESVILLE and Marietta
trade: First boat that comes to
mind was the Seeker, next ]. H.
Best, these two boats had green
shutters; then comes the Lizzie
Cassel, L. c. Mccormick, H. F. De-
vaul and Zannetta. The H. D. Mum
son was built by M. G. Knox e Son
in 1898, for A. G. Scott, w. T.
Blake and William Bell. The writ
er is the only one now living, and |
think I am the last master and
pilot who owned and operated a
steamboat on the Muskingum riv-
er. We built the boat for the
GAINESVILLE and Marietta trade, and
ran in the trade several months
long enough to convince us that
steamboat business was thing OF
the past, SO we went south with her
and entered the Green river, Ky,
trade. We handled railroad ties in
the winter and ran in summer as a
tramp steamer, sometimes making
some money and sometimes not
(more often not).
After about three years of this
kind of experiences, We sold the
boat to the U. S. government, and
came back to Ohio. | must say here
that we had quite little experience
in those three years. We were on
the Cumberland, Green, Tennessee
and Mississippi rivers, and let me
say we had some great steamboat
races. The Munson never took any
boat wheel waves and most always
we could pass boat so fast that 1t
was not interesting. The Munson
was the first compound engine boat
built on the Ohio river and she was
a great success and is still running
in the government service under the
name of Search.
When | commenced to name the
boats l could remember l got side
tracked. l will now name boats be-
tween McConnelsville and Zanes-
Vile: Mink No. 1 and 2, Bessie Siler,
Valley Gem, and Jewel. Between
Beverly and Marietta: Tjax, pro-
peller; j. H. Hubel, Valley Bell, S.
r. Vanmeter, Harry Knox. Burnside,
George Strecker, r. B. Kindle and
Sonoma. Now l will give names Of
some of the smaller boats, mostly
propellers: Syron, North Star, Hat
tie Bliss, c. F. Shepard, Della, Olivet,
and U. S. Merril, Bessie Smith,
Frank Pitman, Vega, Wildwood and
last but not least, was the Perry
Smith, which was owned by Capt.
James Martin and Isaac Humphrey,
and ran for years between Stockport
and GAINESVILLE. This boat, pro-
peller, had a strange fascination for
me as l was just boy in those days
and we boys always looked for a
good time, Monday, Wednesday and
Friday evenings, for the Perry
Smith was sure to come in and she
was almost sure to have so to 100
barrels of salt, and we could get to
roll that salt into Bent Lanes
warehouse, and sometimes Capt.
Martin would give penny. But
here it was that the writer first got
to know the late Capt George
Wallace for he and Isaac Humphrey
were the crew. Mr.. Humphrey was
a giant in size and one of the
strongest men l ever saw. He would
pick up a barrel of salt and put it
on the skids to be rolled into the
and the hold of the boat