The Wyandotte herald. (Wyandotte, Mich.) 1879-1943, 1940-12-13
Lure of the River
Outrivals Seas
For 4 Brothers
All Are Famous Mississippi
Excursion Shippers, as
Were Forebears.

ST. LOUIS.-The four Streckfu5
brothers, who operate steamboats,
up and down the Mississippi valley.
find the lure of the river as strong
as the call of the sea ever was for
Sinbad.
The Streckfus brothers, Captain
John, Captain Joe. Captain Roy and
Captain Verne. have been on the
river all their lives For years they.
and their father before them, have
kept their boats plying the great
waterway while other passenger
traffic has almost vanished.
The brothers are known at every
landing place on the Mississippi and
Ohio and, true to the traditional easy
familiarity of the river, are always
called by their first names by crew
members. Being of retiring disposi-
tons, however, they are not so wen
known ashore
Owned Many Boats.
The fascination the river has for
us speaks for ITSELF" Captain Roy
said. when boy my father slowed
away on a boat that passed his
home in Rock Island, Ill. He bought
his first packet, the Freddie, shortly
after he was married In 1873. He
followed the river AZ years before he
died in 1925.
He owned a number Of packet
boats which he operated on the
upper Mississippi. Later he tried to
operate four large packet boats up
and down the river from New Or
leans to ST. Paul and on the Ohio
to Pittsburgh.
when he realized that speed in
transportation of freight and pas
Senger was the order of the day"
Captain Roy said, ''he knew the
packet business was dead. He ripped
out the staterooms of his boats anc
converted them all into excursion
boats. He had the first such craft or
the inland waters. Now we operata
excursion boats exclusively.
I'VE four brothers grew up on TIE
river" he said, land l don't think
any of us ever had the slightest
temptation to leave it. My son, !
Curran, has passed his examina-
tons leading to a captains certiG-
cate and he'll undoubtedly stick witt
the river"
Operate Four Craft.
The brothers at present operate
four large craft. In the summer, TIE
Capitol, .captained by Roy, runs ex-
cursions out of ST. Paul, Mimi. CAP
tain Verne's boat, the President. or.
crates between Louisiana, Mo, and
Red Wing. MINI. The Senator is 90
the Ohio at Pittsburgh.
Captain John has command of tie
new Streamlined. air-conditioned Ad-
miral, the largest and most moderu
craft on the river, which operates
out of ST. Louis. The ship is 1886 feet
long. 1t has five decks, three OF
them enclosed in steel and glass ana
two of them aforementioned. 1t was
more than three years in the build =
ing
MAYBE the family atmosphere
about the boats has had something
to do with keeping us going while
other firms have failed" Captain
Roy said. My father developed a
clean atmosphere on his boats, lack
ing In some of the earlier packets
when gambling was rampant, by al
ways having some member of his
family aboard.
Its been our policy" he ex-
planned, ito put the money we make
back into the business and make it
grow. That's our sole idea in &C
curing the Admiral. Keeping the
river life alive, providing jobs fos
people seems to be appreciated.
Especially by the black people
he said. They seem somehow t.
belong on the river"