Posted May 3, 200817 yr Steamer Belle of Louisville in 1971 jmecklenborg's steamboat photos in "Picture of the Day" set me to dredging the archives again. Here's what I dug up: Belle of Louisville was built as the Idlewild in 1914 at Pittsburgh by James Rees & Sons, pioneers in the use of steel hulls on North American river steamers. She was built for the West Memphis Packet Company and worked as a passenger ferry between Memphis and West Memphis. I went along on a day cruise from Louisville to New Albany, Indiana and return in August, 1971. Old Louisville Waterworks Burned-out dredge McAlpine Lock & Dam
May 3, 200817 yr Awesome. "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
May 3, 200817 yr Nice pics, but what were people wearing in the 70's?? Lawd! Don't giggle, my dear, until you've checked out the Shaker Square fashion scene:
May 3, 200817 yr touche! Another fashion hot mess! I've said it before, people in the 70s just didn't know how to coordinate!
May 4, 200817 yr It was just a different sense of style (or lack thereof) Great photos by the way. Wait a few years and look at how people dress today and your hair will curl. Today's fashions are pretty unusual as well. Personally I am horrified by the 80s.
May 5, 200817 yr I think the Idlewilde had a Cincinnati connection, being associated with cruises from Coney Island.
May 5, 200817 yr touche! Another fashion hot mess! I've said it before, people in the 70s just didn't know how to coordinate! It was just a different sense of style (or lack thereof) Great photos by the way. Wait a few years and look at how people dress today and your hair will curl. Today's fashions are pretty unusual as well. Personally I am horrified by the 80s. Yeah. I thought I was pretty fashionable in the 70s. I don't think any photos have survived, and that's a good thing!
May 5, 200817 yr I believe the Delta Queen is the only overnight steamer cruising America's inland waterways, but there are still a few steam day-trippers like the Belle of Louisville around. And the Amry Corps of Engineers still operates a few steam-powered dredges of 1920's vintage, I saw one dredging around a wicket dam (also of 1920's vintage) in Paducah back in 2006.
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