Mississippi (Inspection boat, 1922-1961)

Summary

• BOAT DESCRIPTION: Sternwheel
• BOAT TYPE: Inspection boat
• BUILT: 1899 at Dubuque, Iowa
• FORMERLY: Leota
• BECAME: Becky Thatcher
• FINAL DISPOSITION: Sold in 1961, renamed and became a floating restaurant-museum at the St. Louis levee
• OWNERS: U.S. Engineers
• RIVERS: Mississippi River
• OTHER INFORMATION: Ways - 3976; 3977; Rebuilt from the towboat Leota, circa 1922, at New Orleans and renamed Mississippi. She served as the U.S. Mississippi River inspection boat until 1927 when she was taken to Ayer and Lord Marine Ways in Paducah where cabins, etc. were placed over a new hull. The hull was made by Howard Ship Yard in Jeffersonville, Indiana. From that time she was used in inspection and levee work on the Mississippi. She was sold in 1961 when the U.S. Engineers at Memphis got a new diesel-prop inspection boat