James Rumsey (Towboat, 1903-1934)

Summary

• BOAT DESCRIPTION: Screw propeller
• BOAT TYPE: Towboat
• BUILT: 1903 at Charleston, West Virginia by Ward
• BECAME: Steve Click, Jr. (1934)
• FINAL DISPOSITION: Sold to the Louisville Sand and Gravel Company and renamed, 1934
• OWNERS: U.S. Engineering Department
• OFFICERS & CREW: Captain William A. Wright (master, 1904); Charles Lashner (chief engineer, 1904); Captain Walter Johnson (master); Captain Hiram Roush (master, 1925); Captain Earl Barrows (master, 1932)
• RIVERS: Kanawha River
• OTHER INFORMATION: Ways - T1337; In 1909 a pushing and backing contest took place between the James Rumsey and the towboat D.T. Lane. The Rumsey was supposed to push the D.T. Lane upstream against her full power. The Rumsey was able to push her upstream against the Lane's full power, a strong current and a downstream wind. The boats changed position and the Rumsey was again able to overpower the D.T. Lane. The Rumsey was a tunnel-hull screw boat and thus demonstrated the superiority of modern engineering and the supremacy of that new type of boat, according to one writer. For rivermen, nothing was definitely decided by this contest. The Rumsey was the first boat through the new Marmet Lock on the Kanawha River in September, 1932