Sonoma (Packet, 1881-1913)

Summary

• BOAT DESCRIPTION: Sternwheel
• BOAT TYPE: Packet
• BUILT: 1881 at Harmar, Ohio at the Knox Yard
• FINAL DISPOSITION: On May 3, 1913, she hooked a snag while backing out of a Kentucky River landing one mile above Glen Mary in Henry County. She turned over and sank
• OWNERS: Captain Edmund B. Cooper; Captain E.W. Webster
• OFFICERS & CREW: Captain E.W. Webster (master, 1913); Captain George Beaver (pilot); Captain W.H. Smith (clerk); John Murphy (clerk); George McElhose (engineer)
• RIVERS: Muskingham River; Kentucky River; Ohio River
• OTHER INFORMATION: Ways - 5139; Captain Cooper ran her on the Ohio River, Parkersburg-Belleville. In December 1892 she ran daily on the Muskingum River, Marietta-Beverly. She also made some trips on the Big Sandy River. In 1897, Captain Webster enlarged her at Parkersburg. She made daily trips Marietta-Beverly from 1893 to 1909. From 1909 to 1910, she ran Marietta-McConnelsville. She sank, while downbound, at Lem Lawrence's landing between Beverly and Luke's Chute on April 19, 1910. The Lorena took her freight and the towboat Darling pumped her out. In 1911 she ran excursions and substituted for the H.K. Bedford in the Pittsburgh-Parkersburg trade. On May 12, 1905, she took Theodore E. Burton, chairman of the Congressional Rivers and Harbors Committee, plus ten others up the Muskingum River, 10 miles from Marietta. By 1913, the Sonoma was in the Madison-Frankfort trade and she sank in May of that year. Captain Webster (master at the time) quit the river after the sinking