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May 2, 2005 -- Vol. 5 Issue 18 Written by Jack R. Simpson (unless otherwise noted), owner of J.R. Simpson & Associates, Inc. and contributing editor to The Waterways Journal.
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 In This Newsletter:
Quote of the Week
“Being ‘over the hill’ is much better than being under it.” A Personal Note From Jack
 As it relates to water resource development funding in the U.S., news reports and editorials sometimes get perplexing. But they shouldn’t. Those who are for it are critical of those who are not. Those who are against it speak out loudly and are critical of not only the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers but of Congress. One of the “aginners” is the “Washington Post”, which on April 24 ran an editorial criticizing what it called the U.S. Senate’s hypocrisy. It started by saying, “Congress is spitting fire about China’s allegedly unfair trade practices, which it blames for the enormous U.S. trade deficit.” Then it says the deficit is “much a reflection of Congress’s habit of spending more than it raises in taxes, which contributes to the dearth of national savings. For the latest example of shameless congressional port consider a bill recently marked up in the Senate to lavish at least $10 billion on the Army Corps of Engineers.” The “Post” likes nothing about the Corps of Engineers and is not bashful about saying so. It raves about the Upper Mississippi/Illinois River modernization and maintenance project and projected costs at $1.7 billion, as just one example. The “Post” also supports Corps reform. Supporters of Corps reform want to render the Corps ineffective by taking away project evaluations, re-programming of project funds, et al. They would love to split up Corps responsibilities among several other agencies, none of which has the experience to handle them, and they would love to have a more environmentally leaning commission to pass final judgment on Corps projects. So far, Congress has rejected an amendment to bring that about in the current Water Resources Development Act. Like other “aginners” the “Post” makes no mention of the skimpy budgets with which the Corps has had to operate over the past 30 years, while at the same time following the dictates of Congress. It makes no mention that because of those skimpy budgets there is a huge maintenance-project backlog. So the truth is that no matter why the Senate has decided that a figure around $10 billion for the Corps might be appropriate, it is hypocritical because the “Post” believes that it is. We know that Congress spends every year huge amounts of money on projects of no proven worth. But when the nation’s waterway infrastructure is at risk, we think the Senate is right. When the General Accounting Office tells us that water transportation brings in around $15 billion annually in customs money and inland waterways only get $5 billion or less in return, we think the Senate is right. And when we know that about 12-13 percent of all domestic cargo is hauled on inland waterways at a cost of about 2-3 percent of the transportation bill, we think the Senate is right. (This figure discounts the Great Lakes). It is merely a matter of which side of the question one is on. We know where the “Post” stands. So we must always consider the source. As for the trade deficit, we cannot remember when U.S. trade negotiators ever were able to come out on top in foreign trade negotiations. They always end up giving away the store, and the U.S. taxpayer generally picks up the tab. Newsletter News
As it pertains to last week’s story about the Great Rivers Towboat Festival at Grafton, readers can also go to Google.com and search, using “Grafton Towboat Festival” as key words. The festival committee is still trying to obtain financing for a web site. Anyone care to be a sponsor? Contact me. — Jack For Those Inclined To Pray
 Join our Prayer Circle so that you can tap into the prayerful support of the circle members. Membership and prayer requests are open to everyone. The activity of the Prayer Circle is confined totally outside of our weekly newsletter. With the exception of this segment, all contact is made, ultimately, through jacksimpson@littleriverbooks.com. To learn about the prayer circle click here. Web Site News
Sometimes with the introduction of “mystery boats” we do not put the boat in the Boat Photo Center immediately. While a mystery boat may be seen in the HTML version of our newsletter, it will not go into the Photo Center until we can attach a name to it. If we do it too early, we “spill the beans.” Advertising
Your classified ad can go in this space for $10 for one week, $20 for two weeks, $25 for three weeks, and $30 for four weeks. For details click here. On The Waterfront
NEWS FLASH: Unmanned Towboat Goes Over Lock On Allegheny River The PittsburghChannel.com reported on May 2 (today) that a small, unmanned towboat “went over a lock early Monday on the Allegheny River near Tarentum, Pa. Authorities say they don’t know who owns the boat, which went over the lock about 12:30 a.m. (Editor’s note: We are trying to learn more from our friends in the area.) Corps Announces Plan For Missouri River Dam Releases (A May 2 release from the Corps.) Omaha, Neb — A plan to protect endangered species, meet downstream flow needs and conserve additional water in the main stem Missouri River reservoirs was announced by the Army Corps of Engineers today. The “steady release — flow to target” plan will set releases from Gavins Point Dam at 23,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) today as the interior least terns and piping plovers begin to nest on sandbars below Fort Randall and Gavins Point dams. The two birds are listed for protection under the Endangered Species Act. Compared with last year’s regulation, the Corps’ efforts are expected to conserve an additional 500,000 acre feet of water in the three upstream reservoirs. This amounts to about 1 foot of elevation. In coordination with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Corps will begin aggressive deterrent actions to encourage the birds to nest on high elevation sandbars. These deterrent actions may include metallic streamers, owl decoys, and visual obstruction barriers such as tree fabric placed on the low lying sandbars. The Corps will reduce flows two out of three days, provided releases below 23,000 cfs will meet downstream project purposes. This cycling operation will conserve additional water while discouraging the birds from nesting too low. The cycling will end near the end of the month when eggs have hatched and mobile chicks are susceptible to being stranded and flooded. A steady release of 23,000 cfs will be maintained until an increase is required to meet downstream flow targets. Because the reservoirs are low and the navigation industry has indicated it will not be using the reach from Omaha to Sioux City, the two days of reduced releases in the cycle will be set to meet only the flow targets at Omaha and Nebraska City, Neb., and Kansas City. While there will not be enough flow above Omaha to support navigation, there will be enough for all the drinking water and power plant intakes and most river recreation facilities. However, some of these marinas and boat ramps may experience problems with access to the river until the cycling operation ends in late May. “This operational strategy achieves the goals of the Governor’s Summit to conserve additional water while complying with the 2003 Amended Biological Opinion and meeting the authorized purposes,” said Brig. Gen. William Grisoli, Northwestern Division Engineer. “The Corps and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will continue to work closely throughout the operational season to conserve water during the ongoing drought.” Towboats, Barges Headed For Argentina “The Waterways Journal” reported today (May 2) that last week 30 barges and two towboats were loaded onto a seagoing barge (at the Francis Road Container Terminal in the Industrial Canal in New Orleans) for delivery to Argentina. The shipment is the second to the three-year old Fluviomar International, S.A. of for Buenos Aries for use on the Parana/Paraguay River System, said project manager Bill Kinzeler II. The firm already has taken delivery of 27 hopper barges and two towboats. Kinzeler’s firm is Running Rivers LLC of Louisville, Ky., which located the barges and made preparation for the shipping. One of the boats was the 4,800 line boat Penny Eckstein, formerly of Marquette Transportation. The other was the 800 hp. Miss Michelle from Moveable Towing, Larose, La. Of the 30 barges, 28 were hopper barges (1979-81 vintage mostly from Ingram Barge Company and Heartland Transportation) that will be used to move grain and fertilizer. Two tank barges, were obtained from Kirby Inland Marine, are scheduled to carry diesel and soybean oil. The vessels were loaded aboard the 454 by 100-foot semi-submersible Boabarge 16 from Seaspan of Vancouver, B.C., and towed by Atlantic Towing’s 7,200 hp. tug Atlantic Hickory. The trip is expected to take 38 days. (Editor’s note: How much does it take to convince the “aginners” that maybe we really do have to modernize our waterways? Not every sale of vessels to foreign countries is bad. Industry has to flex as situations demand. But our waterways must be reliable.) advertisement
The River School - Deck and engineer licenses, radar observer, tankerman, fire and water safety courses, video programs. Travel classes in convenient locations. (800) 238-7113 www.riverschool.com Tug/Barge Hits Reef In Hudson, Spills Unknown Quantity of Gasoline MidHudsonNews.com reports that on April 28 a tug/barge struck a reef in the Hudson River at Diamond Point off New Hamburg, rupturing two compartments and spilling an unknown quantity of gasoline. The barge, B-35, was in tow of the Bruce A. McAllister of McAllister Towing. The destination was the Port of Albany, N.Y. The barge was owned by Buchard Company. The crew, MidHudsonNews reported, was able to stop the spill, while high winds helped to speed up evaporation. Another barge was sent to the site to offload the gasoline. Corps Agrees To Temporary Fix For Indian Reservation Water Supply South Dakota U.S. senators say the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has agreed to keep water flowing to the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation by moving the intake to a deeper part of Lake Oahe (a Missouri River impoundment). The Eagle Butte intake is nearly out of the water. It will be moved to another location about four miles downstream. Lake Oahe stretches from central South Dakota into North Dakota. It’s about 28 feet below normal after six years of drought. The Corps says the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe still needs a long-term fix. Crane Collapses On Three Barges, Kills One Man, Injures Another The Associated Press reported on April 26 that a barge-mounted crane that was preparing to drive a concrete piling into the water off a bridge linking suburban Fort Myers, Fla., and Sanibel Island, collapsed across three barges, killing one construction worker and injuring another. The three barges were holding two other cranes. Killed was Kent A. Crappell, 54, Morgan City, La. John T. Collins, 57, of Carabelle, was injured. Collins was standing on a barge when he was hurt. He was admitted at a local hospital in good condition. Both men worked for Boh Bros. Construction Co. John Izzie, 67, a towboat captain watching from a nearby boat launch, said it appeared that the crane operator was having difficulty lining up the piling in San Carlos Bay. Witnesses said the ground crew was attempting to attach a 100-foot piling to a 60-foot section that had already been driven when the piling cracked and broke. The crane was able to hold the broken piling temporarily but it cracked and broke again. The Lee County Sheriff’s Office released a report saying that Crappell swung the crane away from where a ground crew was working. Crappell was being hailed as a hero. The Occupational Safety & Health Administration is investigating the incident. A report is expected in about six months. Four Rescued After Tanker-Boat Collision The 101-foot crewboat Rene I and the tanker 784-foot tanker Genmar Strength collided in the Sabine Channel just before noon on April 28, “The Waterways Journal” reports. A Coast Guard boat from Station Sabine, Texas, rescued three men from the channel, while the crew of a Sabine pilot boat rescued a fourth man. The collision took place between the jetties where the channel enters the Gulf of Mexico. The Rene I capsized and sank. Coast Guardsmen rescued two crew from the water near the boat. They found a third crewman unconscious on the capsized boat. All four of the men were taken to local hospitals. Congressional Panel Endorses Navigation-Hazards Bill The “Asbury Park Press” reported on April 28 that a key Congressional panel had endorsed a bill to identify submerged objects that could imperil navigation on U.S. Waterways. The bill then headed to the full House. The bill is designed to prevent a repeat of the November 26, 2004, spill that dumped 260,000 gallons of oil into the Delaware River near West Deptford, N.J. Investigators believe the Athos I tanker struck at least one of three large submerged objects, “Asbury Park Press” reported. The bill’s chief sponsor is Rep. Frank A. LoBiondo (R-MN.J.). Co-sponsors are Reps. Robert E. Andrews (D-N.Y.), and H. James Saxton (R-N.J.). The bill would (1) encourage the use of double-hull tankers by adjusting liability requirements on those with single hulls; (2) Update the oil spill contingency plan for Delaware River and Bay to ensure protection of environmentally sensitive habitats and locations; and (3) create a pilot project on the Delaware River and Bay to test techniques to recover submerged oil. Boat Photo Center
Mystery Site Cleared Up:  On April 4 we published a picture in the newsletter and Photo Center of the Craig E. Philip passing (at about Ohio River Mile 329) a structure that photographer Hugh Davis thought might be the old C&O fuel stand. His wife thought it was the old Russell, Ky., water intake. Joe Brown, known to many of you as Towboat Joe, has sent two pictures to try clarify matters.   Says Joe, “Here's a photo of the C&O fuel stand and about 100 feet above it is the C&O industrial intake which some may mistake for the City of Russell water intake.” If we haven’t shuffled our notes too much, it appears that Hugh was correct. It is the C&O fuel stand. The facilities are located just below Russell.
Another Mystery Explained: In our April 25 issue, we showed the St Helier II locking through…but where? Read on. Regarding the St Helier II: I think I know where the picture was taken. It looks to me like it shows the St Helier [II] at a lock in France. Best wishes from Germany, Hape Kraus (Editor’s note: Hape is correct as far as he goes. But which lock? Read on.) Also Regarding the St Helier II: I'm guessing last week's mystery picture is of a French barge as that badge on the front looks suspiciously like a French tri-color, and I'd guess it's on one of the canals there in France. It looks too narrow to be a major river like the Seine. It also may have an Isle of Jersey connection as the name of the boat is a town on that island. Hugh Davis (Editor’s note: And Hugh is almost correct. Read on.) What We Learned From The Photographer:  The St Helier II, as shown, is a 700-ton barge on the Seine in France, submitted by David Edwards-May of Seyssinet, France. David is an editor for Euromapping, the company that published the map book that we described in the same issue. Note the lace curtains in the bow cabin. At times barges accommodate paying guests in quarters such as these. On this particular boat, one of the crew lives in those forward quarters. The barge is shown at the Ablon Lock, the second upstream from Paris.
(Editor’s note: Our thanks to David, we can really zero in on the lock site. He provided an extract from the strip map of the Seine in his guide “Inland Waterways of France.”) Another Mystery Solved:  In our April 25 issue of B&B we also ran a mystery boat submitted by Dan Owen and the Boat Photo Museum. Below Dan solves the mystery for us. The picture will now show up in the Boat Photo Center with a complete description and attribution.
From Dan: This is the U.S. Army experimental towboat LTI-2194 on trial runs January 22, 1954, at Neville Island, Pa., where it was built by Dravo Corporation. As can be seen by the wheelwash, the boat is turning in its own axis. The boat had "sinusoidal vertical axis propellers", a glorified term for eggbeaters for propulsion. The boat spent a good deal of its career tied up for mechanical refinements. It operated on the Ohio River under charter to Mississippi Valley Barge Line Company, St. Louis. It was later sold to Sioux City & New Orleans Barge Lines, Inc., Houston, who installed a conventional stern. Book Beat
“Quimby’s Cruising Guide” Now Available!  We will be able to have our supply of “Quimby’s Cruising Guide” in hand within a couple days. So if you are inclined to buy one, now is a good time. Just click here to see the pricing, which has not gone up from our price of $35 + S&H.Though our supply keeps disappearing, the Kathy Flippo’s VHS tapes about the Elizabeth Ann on the Upper Mississippi are still available. It’s a good deal. Fr^e DVD of “At The Water's Edge” (1999 Tall Stacks Event at Cincinnati) and copy of “Grab a Bush” included for $15.00 + S&H. Call Jack at 314-921-4419 to order by Visa or Mastercard. Read a detailed description of Kathy Flippo's "Between Locks 14 & 2 on the UMR Aboard The M/v Elizabeth Ann." "North America Inland Waterways Map and Index” Now Available!  Little River Books is now taking orders for “North America Inland Waterways Map and Index”, which was compiled by David Edwards-May, et al, of Euromapping in Seyssinet, France, with a lot of collaboration with North American people and sources. The 27 x 39-inch colored map that simply folds out from this 64 page book (and folds back in just as easily) is exciting. It covers from Sioux City, Iowa, head of Missouri River navigation to the west, eastward to the Atlantic Coast. Plus it has lots of insets of special areas like the Pacific Northwest, New York/New Jersey area, Southern Florida, etc. Two pages of source materials reveal from where material was gleaned but also provide a gold mine of materials to be searched by the diligent researcher. Our price of $26 plus S&H is virtually the same if you send to France for it. We have a limited supply but will re-order as demand requires. The book should be a great tool for anyone interested in waterways, professionally or otherwise.
Tow Talkin'
May 2, 2005 By Kathy Flippo My “Inland River Record” book collection is not complete. I have the 1953-54 and the 1955 editions and then skip up to 1980. To fill in the blanks I turn to Dan Owen at the Boat Photo Museum who is also the editor of the IRR. The beginning of the end of the Commercial towboats towing barge loads of automobiles from the Evansville, Indiana, Chrysler plant was when that plant was closed and a new one was built out on I-44 in St. Louis. But a new innovation developed in the transportation of autos. Someone got the bright idea that the big flat empty surface of an empty petroleum barge would be ideal for transporting cars. The autos were driven to the St. Louis city front and then rolled onto the petroleum barges. Couldn't drive them on because of the danger…to continue reading this column, click here. See you on the Web, Jack Little River Books jacksimpson@littleriverbooks.com Don't forget to visit our website!  |
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