Illinois (Packet/towboat, 1901-1930)

Summary

• BOAT DESCRIPTION: Sternwheel
• BOAT TYPE: Packet/towboat
• BUILT: 1888 as the Reindeer, condemned in 1901 and rebuilt at Quincy, Illinois then renamed Illinois
• FORMERLY: Reindeer, 1888
• FINAL DISPOSITION: Burned and sank, September 30, 1930
• OWNERS: 1901: Illinois State Fish Commission; 1913: Alton Division of the Naval Reserves; 1925: New St. Louis & Calhoun Packet Company; 1929: Phillips Brothers
• OFFICERS & CREW: 1913: Captain Alex Lamont (85 years old) (master), Tom Parker (pilot), Lt. J.B. Mansfield (commander)
• RIVERS: Illinois River; Wood River; Mississippi River
• OTHER INFORMATION: Ways - 2737; The Illinois State Fish Commission operated her until 1913. She was used as a VIP entertainment boat. In 1913, Governor Dunn ordered her detached on the grounds that certain convivial politicians and their no less convivial ladies had abused the uses for which the boat had been intended. She was then turned over to the Alton Division of the Naval Reserves. In 1925 under new ownership she was used as both a packet and towboat. On September 30, 1930 she burned and sank mid-river above the mouth of Wood River, Alton, Illinois. There was a rumor she had been in use as a distillery with a moonshine still aboard and that she had been cut adrift when the Federals were about to arrive
• PHOTO DESCRIPTION: At shore