J. B. Finley (Towboat, 1899-1918)

Summary

• BOAT DESCRIPTION: Sternwheel
• BOAT TYPE: Towboat
• BUILT: 1899 at Elizabeth, Pennsylvania (hull and cabin); completed at Marietta, Ohio
• FINAL DISPOSITION: Burned on August 2, 1918 at Paducah, Kentucky
• OWNERS: Combine; Aluminum Ore Company (1917)
• OFFICERS & CREW: Jim Rowley (pilot, 1901); Henry Nye (pilot, 1901); Captain W.M. Crow (master, 1902); Captain Frank Hyatt (master, 1916)
• RIVERS: Ohio River; Monongahela River; Mississippi River
• OTHER INFORMATION: Ways - T1228; She was the third boat built at the Elizabeth Marine Ways Company. Built by the Pittsburgh Transportation Company. One source says that she was named Transporter when completed at Marietta and renamed J.B. Finley (the name of the president of the Combine) when she went into the Combine. In December 1901 she brought 36 empties from Cincinnati to Middleport, Ohio with 4.5 feet on the marks, a record. On May 2, 1902 while downbound with 38 loads of coal and three of steel rails, she broke a rocker arm and hit the shore at Horse Shoe Bend on the Mississippi River. She lost 19 loads. In December 1902, she took a tow of 24 loaded coalboats and four loaded barges over the falls at Louisville. She carried about 675,000 bushels (25,000 tons) of coal with 21 feet on the marks. This was considered to be the biggest tow ever to run the falls; she saved 23 hours locking time. In August 1903, she had a big spill at Hog Point on the lower Ohio River when she lost 22 loads of coal and three loaded model barges in one smash. The models were loaded with steel rails. In March 1903 while coming up from New Orleans with empties, a smallpox epidemic struck on board. By the time she got to Louisville, seven of the crew had smallpox and she was laid up and fumigated. In December 1911, she was brought to the marine ways at Elizabeth, Pennsylvania for a general overhauling. In April 1917, she was caught aground on a Mississippi sandbar. She was pulled off by the Chisca and then had to be docked at Paducah. She was getting repairs at the Paducah marine ways when she burned in 1918
• PHOTO DESCRIPTION: Pushing a tow