Model of Snagboat <I>Charles H. West</I>
date: label: Date made
content: 1966
notes: label: Description
content: Introduced in the early 19th century, snag boats were designed to clear trees, stumps, and other obstructions from navigable rivers and channels. Most were in the form of a catamaran, with two parallel hulls between which trees were hauled in, cut up, and disposed of on land.
label: Description
content: Designed by the Army Corps of Engineers, the federal agency responsible for maintaining the national waterways, <I>Charles H. West</I> was built at Nashville, Tenn., in 1933-34 by the Nashville Bridge Co. at a cost of $227,260.48. It measured 170’ in length and 38’ in beam but only drew 4’-6” of water. Instead of a catamaran design, the West had a normal, shallow sternwheeler hull. At the flat or scow bow, two A-frames hauled snags up a ramp for disposal. It cleared snags along the lower Mississippi River for many years.
label: Description
content: In 1969, the <I>West</I> was sold to a private party and converted to the restaurant boat <I>Lt. Robert E. Lee</I> in St. Louis, Mo. the following year. The name was fitting. Although best known as a Confederate general, in the late 1830s, Lee had been an officer in the Corps of Engineers. His work installing pilings and wing dams had helped the Mississippi currents to clear silt and keep open the main St. Louis landing.
label: Description
content: Moored on the Mississippi near the St. Louis Arch, the <I>Lee</I> was a successful restaurant until a 1993 flood devastated the waterfront. After several failed attempts to reopen, the vessel was auctioned on December 19, 2008, for $200,000. Its new owners plan to renovate and reopen the famous ship once again as a restaurant and nightclub in St. Louis.
topic: label: related event
content: The Great Depression and World War II
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Maritime
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content: Energy & Power
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content: Work
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content: Industry & Manufacturing
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content: Transportation
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content: On the Water exhibit
label: Exhibition
content: On the Water
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: National Museum of American History. On the Water exhibition website
label: Related Web Publication
content: http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TR.326538
label: catalog number
content: 326538
label: accession number
content: 265606
objectType: label: Object Name
content: ship
label: Object Name
content: ship model
label: Object Name
content: model, ship
label: Other Terms
content: ship; Maritime; Snag Boat
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metals (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 16 1/2 in x 50 in x 10 in; 41.91 cm x 127 cm x 25.4 cm