Kate Adams (Packet, 1898-1927)

Photographer

Mendall, Tony

Summary

• BOAT DESCRIPTION: Sidewheel
• BOAT TYPE: Packet
• BUILT: Jeffersonville, Indiana by Howard 1888
• FINAL DISPOSITION: Burned at the Memphis wharf, January 8, 1927
• OWNERS: Memphis and Arkansas City Packet Company (later named Memphis, Helena and Rosedale Packet Company circa 1919)
• OFFICERS & CREW: Captain Grant Marsh (master, 1900-1902); Captain Robert Agnew (1900-1904?); Captain William Hodge and son W. J. "Billy" Hodge (pilots); Captain W. J. "Billy" Hodge (master, fall 1913-April 1920); Captain Jeff Hicks (master, February 1923); summer 1925: Captain A. A. Powell (master), W. Hamilton Dukes (purser); Captain Jerry McDavid (master, spring 1926); Captain Gus Phillips (master, late summer 1926)
• RIVERS: Ohio River; Mississippi River; White River
• OTHER INFORMATION: Ways - 3217; Original price $43,570, $11,000 for the cabin and $32,750 for the hull, wheels, and outfit. She was built by Howard under subcontract to James Rees and Sons of Pittsburgh. This Kate Adams ran the same schedule as the two earlier boats by that name: Memphis, Tennessee to Arkansas City, Arkansas and back, Monday and Thursday at 4:00 p.m., returning Tuesday and Friday, 6:00 p.m. By 1919 her schedule was extended to Rosedale, Mississippi, and in 1922, to Greenville, Mississippi when the Lee Line took over the Memphis-Rosedale mail contract. On June 29, 1917 she was stranded at Helena, Arkansas until refloated on October 12, 1918 by John Eichleay Company, Pittsburgh. In February 1923, she made a Mardi Gras trip from Memphis to New Orleans with new fancy-topped stacks under the command of Jeff Hicks; she made another in spring 1926, Captain Jerry McDavid. In spring 1925, she was altered at Paducah, Kentucky, cotton guards covered over and bull rails, stationarys and hinged stacks added. She went into Pittsburgh-Cincinnati trade that summer, Captain A. A. Powell. In Memphis, fall 1926 she was renovated to take part in the filming of Uncle Tom's Cabin; during the filming she was called La Belle Riviere and traveled south to the Ouachita and Black Rivers in Louisiana, Captain Gus Phillips in command. After being restored at Memphis at enormous expense, she burned at the levee there on January 8, 1927
• PHOTO DESCRIPTION: On the boatways at Helena, Arkansas