Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Goodbye To The Steamboat "Delta Queen"

This is a photo from the Net, not one I took, of the legendary "Delta Queen" steamboat cruising majestically on the Mississippi River. When she docked at Vicksburg, I could not get a good shot because of the strange position she tied up on the west side of her sister the "American Queen". On November 3, 2008 I took these photos of the steamboats "American Queen" and "Delta Queen" at the Vicksburg river landing. The barely visible "Delta Queen" is moored to the far side of the "American Queen" in the foreground, and this is the last stop she made going downriver to her retirement in New Orleans. It was sad to see this famous steamboat's last call here. Many people including me came to see her and bid her farewell. Thankfully the modern luxury steamboat "American Queen" will still continue to operate up and down the Mississippi River and stop at Vicksburg as usual and perhaps one day the "Mississippi Queen" will resume operation. All passengers on the "Delta Queen" boarded the "American Queen" to finish their trip downriver to New Orleans. This welcome sign is painted on the flood wall at the riverfront landing where Mississippi River steamboats tie up to shore still as they have done so since the 1820's. The river gage marks on the flood wall at the river front in Vicksburg show the high record levels the Mississippi River reached in certain years.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

This picture is of the American Queen Steamboat. The Delta Queen is tied up behind her. The Mississippi Queen hasn't cruised since 2006. The MQ is now tied up in NOLA along side the DQ. The AQ has been returned to MARAD and is now tied up across the river in NOLA along the River Walk. The AQ won't run again unless new investors come forward as Majestic America Line is no longer operating. The DQ won't cruise until she too gets not only a new owner but an exemption to the SOLAS passed in congress. You may want to do fact checking at steamboats.org. It is a steamboat, not a "steambost" and please check your age in your profile. Great pic. Enjoyed it.

Jon said...

Note to Anonymous: corrections made. Thanks for visiting and for your feedback. My age in my profile is correct because I am a reincarnation of my ancestor who came to Mississippi in a previous century.

Barbara said...

I don't know but when seeing this kind of steamboats (we also have some sort of steamboats but much, much smaller ones), the story of Huckleberry Finn comes into my mind. But I do not remember whether such a boat occurs in the story...

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing with us.. Nice blog..


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