What a wonderful trip to follow Mark Twain's Mississippi River adventures! Paddle wheelers, showboats, "rafters" and the romance of the river are all part of the history of river transportation and entertainment in years past. The one hundred year old graphic ad above for with the schedule of arrivals and departures for the steamship "Columbia" revives the aforesaid adventures and brings them to our own Delaware River. Trips to Burlington Island, Bristol, and Philadelphia were all part of river travel in years gone by. Unfortunately, as can be seen tin the news article below accidents were an integral part of river travel. Boilers were also known to have exploded and took the lives of many river riders. In August, 1901, a few years earlier than the Columbia, the steamer "Trenton" burned to the water line, and more than 20 people died and countless were injured. The good and the bad all fall under the category of the "romance of the river." Another fascinating river era was the rafts that once plied the Delaware. The Delaware Inn, which still stands on the shores of the Delaware off Lamberton Street and in the process of preservation, sure contains delightful stories of the rugged canal boat operators who were an integral part of Trenton river history.
3 comments:
Tom - Love your articles about the river! By the way, the third graphic/picture did not appear - is it my computer or what? Lakeside Girl
Hi, Tom,
In our teens we were all River Rats. We fished daily and learned the rhythm of the tides. Outside of private boaters, the only regular traffic was the daily coal barges that came up from Philly to the Duck Island power plant, and the occasional oil barges.
As we grew older we learned to appreciate the submarine races on the hill below the Bride Tavern.
BTW, the site has been having many problems, none of which are yours. Google frequently plays with settings on the server side.
I can see no blog posts beneath this one - the page is totally blank.
I cannot see the Capcha images on my Internet Explorer 10 browser, so I have to switch over to Firefox to comment. It's all part of the ongoing Browser Wars.
Got it! The Delaware Inn is the third graphic/picture - great old photo. Thanks - Lakeside Girl
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