The Tombigbee River Steamboats: Rollodores, Dead Heads and Side-Wheelers

by Rufus Ward

Overview

The Tombigbee River flows through the history of Alabama and Mississippi, connecting the Black Prairie cotton belt of northeast Mississippi and west Alabama to Mobile and the Gulf of Mexico. In the early 1800s, it became the regional artery of commerce and trade, with steamboats carrying cotton to the port of Mobile and then returning upriver with farm supplies and consumer goods. Today, the "rollodores," who rolled cotton bales down slides to the decks of boats; the sunken logs, or "dead heads," that could sink a boat if struck; and the "side-wheeler" model steamboats have all but vanished. The Tombigbee River Steamboats brings this forgotten era back to life through accounts of the steamboats, their crews and their trials, such as the haunting story of the steamer Eliza Battle, which burned and sank on a freezing, flooded river.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781596292857
Publisher:	History Press, The
Publication date:	08/17/2010
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Rufus Ward has been active in the fields of history and historic preservation for more than thirty-five years. He divides his time between lectures on history-related topics and consulting on cultural projects. He also writes a weekly history column for the Commercial Dispatch in Columbus, Mississippi. He is an advisor emeritus to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, having previously represented the state of Mississippi on its board of advisors. Rufus, a retired prosecuting attorney, resides in a Victorian home in West Point, Mississippi, with his wife Karen and bird dog Eliza Faye. Ward's past honors include the Calvin Brown Award from the Mississippi Association of Professional Archaeologists and a Resolution of Commendation from the board of trustees of the Mississippi Department of Archives & History.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements 7

Introduction: The Tombigbee River 11

Chapter 1 The Beginnings: Pirogues, Keelboats and Flats 15

Chapter 2 The First Steamboats 23

Chapter 3 Evolution of the Tombigbee Steamboat 29

Chapter 4 The Crews 41

Chapter 5 Floating Palaces 53

Chapter 6 The Eliza Battle 69

Chapter 7 War Time and the Alice Vivian 93

Chapter 8 Railroads and Revival 103

Chapter 9 Vienna and the Turn of the Century 117

Chapter 10 End of an Era 123

Appendix 1 Trip Statement of the Steamer Liberty 137

Appendix 2 The 1877-1881 Hargrove Shipping Records 141

Appendix 3 Tombigbee Drawbridges 145

Appendix 4 A Directory of Steamboats on the Upper Tombigbee 147

Appendix 5 Important Landings on the Little Tombigbee 197

Notes 201

Bibliography 213

About the Author 223