Posted October 16, 200618 yr http://www.tallstacks.com/index.html Tall Stacks Music Arts & Heritage Festival happened October 4-8 on the Cincinnati Riverfront. The event includes an assembly of riverboats, which offer cruises throughout the event. I believe there were 16 boats this year (maybe 17). There are also a ton of musical acts including jazz, rock, gospel, bluegrass, folk and blues. Al Green, Ricky Scaggs, Wilco, Buddy Guy and the Blind Boys of Alabama were among the many acts. There are also historical-type things that attract a lot of school field trips. This usually comes around every 3 or 4 years, and it's a big production. Attendance numbers haven't been released yet, but it was packed every day I was there. The photos near the end were taken on a Friday afternoon, and you can see how many people were there. The first shots were taken the night before the festival opened. The other shots are from Friday, October 6. All of these were taken from the fringes of the festival itself. I didn't take any photos from inside the festival itself. I wanted to hear the music and walk around and stuff and not be burdened by a camera. I'm sure there will be plenty of photos from inside the festival posted by other forumers. Tuesday, October 3 Cincinnati Public Landing and the Serpentine Wall. A car, for some reason. Friday, October 6 From Mount Echo Park. A working river. Friday, October 6 From Newport on the Levee and the Purple People Bridge. Goodbye from Cincinnati... ...on the banks of the mighty Ohio....
October 16, 200618 yr Great shots! I love real steamboats, and there are precious few of them still around. There are some diesel-powered riverboats that actually use paddle wheels for propulsion, because they're better-suited to shallow water than propellers. Most day-tourist boats, though, are diesel-powered and propeller-driven, with fake paddle wheels that sort of drag along behind. With a real sternwheeler you get a sense of the power at work when you stand at the stern above the wheel and look down. Paddle wheels are less efficient than propellers, but they sure are impressive to watch at work.
October 16, 200618 yr Excellent shots! "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
October 16, 200618 yr Ah, wonderful stuff! And that last shot - wow, just beautiful. Of course, I'm a sucker for colorful skies, the river and the Roebling, so how could that not be my favorite shot? Thank you so much for the pictures! I love real steamboats, and there are precious few of them still around. There are some diesel-powered riverboats that actually use paddle wheels for propulsion, because they're better-suited to shallow water than propellers. Most day-tourist boats, though, are diesel-powered and propeller-driven, with fake paddle wheels that sort of drag along behind. I think most of the boats here were diesel engines powering the paddlewheels, but we did a dinner cruise on the Natchez, which is a true steam-powered ship, where the crew communicates by telegraphy and everything. That's an impressive machine...
October 16, 200618 yr Fantastic, Kevin! I have finally uploaded my photos but haven't had a chance to make a thread yet.
October 16, 200618 yr Great shots, QCS I looks cool in the pics, I can't wait for QCS II to fill in the skyline!
October 16, 200618 yr I think most of the boats here were diesel engines powering the paddlewheels, but we did a dinner cruise on the Natchez, which is a true steam-powered ship, where the crew communicates by telegraphy and everything. That's an impressive machine... Natchez is huge. I made a reservation once in New Orleans for an evening cruise, but when the time came they made some lame excuse like channel dredging for cancelling the trip. I think they probably didn't sell enough tickets for that evening to justify the cost of operating her. I've seen her on the river, and she's magnificent. Delta Queen and Belle of Louisville are real, too, although Delta Queen was built for operation on the Scramento River in California, and differs in design from the boats that were built on the Ohio and Mississippi. When I rode the Belle some years ago, she was highly authentic except for a rather obnoxious diesel generator that provided electricity. The engineer controlled the engines with the original manual/mechanical controls and got his instructions from the bridge via the traditional telegraph. I'll stop now. </babble>
October 16, 200618 yr Visiting Tall Stacks piqued my interest in a history that I have taken for granted....the development of steamboats and steamboating on western rivers. Two good books on this: Steamboats on the Western Rivers by Louis C. Hunter, published in the 1940s and still a classic on the topic. This book discusses the economics and operations of steamboats as well as technical details. A more recent book, published in 2004: The Western River Steamboat, by Adam L Kane. This book is based in part on steamboat archeology, which is a promising new field as there are a lot of steamboat wrecks, preserved in silted-up oxbows, and is more on the technical details of steamboat construction. A work of industrial archeology as well as history. One learns that the early sternwheels had the wheels inside the hull, and that the Ohio Valley was the center of steamboat manufacturing due to proximity of iron (though built of wood steamboats used a lot of iron). Apparenlty St Louis first started building boats only in the 1840s. The buisness side was interesting as steamboat manufacturing was not verticaly integrated; differnt companys where responsible for different aspects of the construction. Typically, one company built the hull and superstructure, another did the engines and mechanicals, while a third did the finish carpentry, glazing, painting and gilding.
October 16, 200618 yr ^ C-Paw > any other college logo. I haven't been to Mt. Echo in forever. I love that view.
October 17, 200618 yr Thanks, all. RiverViewer...I agree about that last shot. It's currently my desktop. I think the ones near the end turned out better, especially the ones shot to the north and too the east. The colors on those look better. Some of the other ones--even the skyline shot--look washed out.
Create an account or sign in to comment