Iron Age (Towboat, 1880-1909)

Summary

• BOAT DESCRIPTION: Sternwheel
• BOAT TYPE: Towboat
• BUILT: 1880 at Freedom, Pennsylvania (hull) and completed at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• FINAL DISPOSITION: Dismantled at Elizabeth, Pennsylvania in April, 1909
• OWNERS: Gray's Iron Line; Combine (1900)
• OFFICERS & CREW: Captain Charles Leiving (master, 1880); W.B. Dunlap (clerk, 1880); Story and Marks (engineers, 1880); Armstrong and Wilson (mates, 1880); Robert McLaughlin (steward, 1880); John Moore (pilot, 1880); Jesse Mannah (pilot, 1880); Captain W.C. Gray (master, 1898); Job Whysal (pilot, 1898); Charles R. Nadal (pilot, 1898); Captain John McDavid (master, 1903); Captain Al. Eckler (master, 1904)
• RIVERS: Ohio River; Mississippi River
• OTHER INFORMATION: Ways - T1196; James Elliott was in charge of her construction. She was equipped with an electric arc light; this was the first illumination of this type seen on the upper Mississippi at Keokuk and elsewhere. She was built to replace the Iron Mountain. On December 3, 1898 she got in a storm at Island 95 and lost two models, five barges and two flats, all of which contained cargo. On January 5, 1903 she caught fire at Moundsville, West Virginia due to defective wiring and lost her pilot house. In 1905 she received a new stroke from the Iron Duke
• PHOTO DESCRIPTION: Pushing coal barges on the Ohio River