Belle of Calhoun (Packet, 1895-1931)

Summary

• BOAT DESCRIPTION: Sternwheel
• BOAT TYPE: Packet
• BUILT: At the Carondelet marine ways and completed at the St. Louis wharf in 1895
• BECAME: Julia in May, 1899; original name restored in 1905
• FINAL DISPOSITION: Burned in winter 1930-1931 at Alton Slough
• OWNERS: Original owner St. Louis and Clarksville Packet Company, Frederick W. Schwartz (president); Captain T.B. Sims owned her in 1897; 1898 owned by J.W. Fristoe, Frank P. Hearne and Captain Byrd Burton; May 1899 sold to Memphis and Vicksburg Packet Company; name changed to Julia; 1905 owned by the St. Louis and Calhoun Packet Corporation, Captain Lee Cummings and name reverted to Belle of Calhoun; 1913 owned by Captain H.W. Sebastian
• OFFICERS & CREW: Original crew, 1895, Captain Aaron Hall (master), Joe Chatterton and Harry H. Monaghan (pilots), Edward Young (first clerk), Zollie Block (second clerk), Oliver Cotrell (chief engineer) and William Tracy (mate). H.S. Ruby (pilot); 1913, Captain George Carvell (master), Captain Roy Watson (master), William Blaine (steward); 1914 and 1915, Selby Crader (pilot); 1915, William Bush (pilot); 1917, Captain Ed Nowland (master)
• RIVERS: Mississippi River; Illinois River
• OTHER INFORMATION: Ways - 0516; The Belle Of Calhoun was named for Miss Anna Wood, chosen as the "belle of Calhoun County, Illinois" in a contest run by the Hardin Herald. She later married Zollie Block. In 1895 the Waterways Journal ran a contest for the most popular packet crew members out of St. Louis. The Belle Of Calhoun hauled off all honors. On May 27, 1896 she was badly damaged by the tornado at St. Louis and sank up to the cabin; was raised and repaired. October 1914 she sank four miles above Alton with 4,700 barrels of apples. Her head was on shore and the stern in 20 feet. About 800 barrels were lost. Again she was raised and repaired. In October 1929 she once again sank about three miles above Hannibal, Missouri and was raised
• PHOTO DESCRIPTION: Cargo on shore