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June 5, 2006 -- Vol. 6 Issue 23 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:
Thought For The Week
Speaking of the newly released study about failures of the New Orleans flood protection system, Chief of Engineers Lt. Gen. Carl A. Strock said during an interview, “We missed something in the design.” [meaning] particularly in the construction of the drainage canal flood walls that caused so much of the flooding, as reported in the “St. Louis Post-Dispatch.” 
Editorial Comment From Jack
 It is disappointing to hear that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers did not take into account the tendency of the soil in the [New Orleans] area to sink over time. Chief of Engineers Lt. Gen. Carl A. Strock has pretty much said the same thing President Harry S. Truman once said, “The buck stops here.” Levees and canals and flood walls of one kind or another have been in construction in the New Orleans area for more than 300 years. Having known for years that the dead are buried above ground in New Orleans, one would think that “sinking” ground would have been one of the major considerations, particularly in the minds of civil engineers. So yes, it is disappointing that so many hundreds of engineers over the decades have overlooked such a key factor. Perhaps not all of them did. The study was compiled by some 150 engineers, scientists, and other experts from government, academia, and industry across the nation and world, serving on an Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force (IPET), commissioned by Gen. Strock. One of the major findings was that the Corps has had difficulty keeping up with the fast-changing world of geotechnical engineering and does not share critical information among its many parts. I hope Corps critics are not too exuberant over this conclusion, because I see the lack of “information sharing” among many organizations across the wide spectrum of government at all levels. Congress itself is a master at missing key points and failing to reach sound decisions because information critical to important decisions was never shared. We see it among schools across the nation. The Corps may accept the blame; what else could it do? Try to pass the buck? The criticism of the Corps is somewhat lessened by the fact that the study did not find the agency negligent or guilty of malfeasance. But the Corps did fail to take into account the sinking soil, a fact made more critical when it was announced last week that the soil is sinking much faster than once believed. I think the sinking soil in New Orleans has been a topic of discussion often in the city’s restaurants, bars, girlie shows, etc., wherever people congregate. It was not a secret. Gen. Strock, like a good soldier, takes a lot on his shoulders when he said, “We missed something in the design.” Have engineers been missing it for many decades? Or have some taken it into consideration but never bothered to tell their colleagues? It’s now academic. The problem still needs solving, and the question is, “What to do?” New Orleans is not a two-, or five-, or 10-year project that is restricted to a few miles or a few thousand feet, a project where all critical factors are known and understood. These are common throughout the nation. New Orleans and its 350-mile levee and canal system has been under construction for upwards of three centuries, and failure to recognize the nature of the soil, obvious as it may seem to us, falls on a whole lot of shoulders, including hundreds (perhaps thousands) of engineers that are dead and buried. There is a great deal that has gone right with the Corps for a long time — far more success than failure, I believe. But the agency doesn’t always get credit for its good work. And then there are always those in government, federal, state and local, who stood in the way of financial support in the effort to build a good system. But in the end, it turned out not to be a system at all but a conglomeration of piece-meal, patchwork construction projects, many of them not contributing properly to the whole.
For Those Inclined To Pray
 For those desiring prayer support for themselves or others, we invite you to join our Prayer Circle, which allows you to submit requests, thereby tapping into prayerful support of our 40 Circle members. There is power in prayer. Membership in the Circle and/or the submission of prayer requests is open to anyone and freë. Request lists are sent out via email, generally, on the day they are received. Come join us!
Newsletter News
The “On The Waterfront” section will be reduced considerably this week due to other materials we have included further down in the letter, among that material comment by readers about the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. We received them before the Task Force report was released.
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On The Waterfront
Corps Takes Blame For Levee Failures in New Orleans Region The big news this week has pretty much been spelled out in our editorial. It involves the report by 150 members of the Corps-appointed Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force (IPET). The report required nine volumes and 6,113 pages. In it are included many major points, but as reported in the “St. Louis Post-Dispatch,” they include Corps statements saying, (1) “Its levees around the city were not built to handle a hurricane anywhere near the size of Katrina, (2) Engineers did not take into account the tendency of the soil in the area to sink over time, and (3) Katrina would have caused massive flooding even if the flood walls had held.” The “experts” served in IPET, commissioned by Chief of Engineers Lt. Gen. Carl A. Strock. It also concluded that the Corps ignored warnings from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration that the system should have been built with standards required to protect against a stronger hurricane. This information will be (or already has been) headlined across the nation as the blame game continues for the degree of devastation caused by Katrina. The bottom line is that the area remains vulnerable to any storm with surge and wave conditions like those of Hurricane Katrina.
You can contact the editor dírectly at jacksimpson@littleriverbooks.com.
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From Our Readers
Re: Captain Rick Perrill Died Captain Rick Perrill died Sunday, May 28th. Awaiting autopsy. He was a pilot for Queen City Riverboats in Dayton, Ky. We mourn his death and celebrate his life. We will miss you my friend! Tish
Re: In Search of Tugboat History (Editor’s note: The following letter and responses to it are published, despite their length, because the subject matter, we believe, is of interest to river historians in general. The author has given us permission to reproduce his query.) Dear Mr. Owen [of the Boat Photo Museum] I read with interest the recent article in the St. Louis Post Dispatch “Boat People” concerning your interest in tugboats in the St. Louis area and beyond. I was hoping you might be able to help me solve a mystery, but I don’t have many clues to work with. I work for a natural gas pipeline company called Mississippi River Transmission Corporation (MRT), established in 1929 to serve St. Louis. From about 1950 to 1970 our company had a President by the name of William Marbury, who apparently had a love for anything concerning the Mississippi River and riverboats. At one time he owned a yacht docked on the St. Louis riverfront called “Miss Rifco”. Sometime during the period Mr. Marbury was President (probably between 1950 and 1956), he acquired a large steering wheel from a tugboat that reportedly was being dismantled on the St. Louis riverfront. The wheel is about 56 inches in diameter, and is displayed in the lobby of our office. From 1957 through 1961 the wheel was pictured on the cover of MRT’s Annual Report to shareholders. Unfortunately we don’t know the name of the tugboat or tugboat company, and this is our mystery. We were hoping you might have some historical records or suggested research that might give us some idea of the tugboat’s identity. Our only real lead seems to be Mr. Marbury’s name, which might be associated with a tugboat company or St. Louis riverboat lore during the 1950 to 1956 period of time. I don’t think this is likely to be relevant, but the company owned two drilling barges around 1957 called the “Ray Terry” and the “Roscoe Hobbs” through our part ownership of the “Bluewater Drilling Co.” This company was located in Louisiana. (I don’t know if drilling barges even had steering wheels similar to the one we have.) If there is anything you can tell us, we would love to hear from you. Bob Trost (Unofficial Company Historian!!) 800 325-4005 (Ext. 7451) To Bob Trost: On just about every large oldtime pilotwheel I have seen there is a company name or boat name stamped into the metal that is used to keep the spokes together. Look over your pilotwheel closely for anything like that; it could even be on the backside. The time frame mentioned does not really provide a clue unless you can narrow it down to a single year. I will forward your message to “Bitts and Bytes”, a weekly newsletter about the river on the Internet. Perhaps one of its thousands of readers may know more about your pilotwheel. Dan Owen (Editor’s final note: So now we turn over the mystery to our more than 1,000 B&B readers, hoping that perhaps one or two in the St. Louis area will be able to solve the mystery.)
Re: Defending The Corps I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for coming to the defense of the Corps so often. No system is perfect, but I do believe the Corps has more good in it than bad. I also feel that nothing has been neglected on purpose, from the Corps’ perspective. I know Corps employees in New Orleans that believe the Corps did the city wrong. I also know residents who were Bush supporters before, but are now jealous of the money spent in Iraq because they think things should be moving as quickly (construction wise) in New Orleans. They seem to be in denial that this was inevitable, that the Corps and Bush should be doing more for THEM. They (residents) have known for at least 20 years that the levies wouldn’t protect above a category 3 hurricane. AND, Corps employees knew the budget was never there, as well as, why. I’m sure they would feel differently if they weren’t residents and “victims” of Katrina. I bet they have no idea how ignored and second-class the victims in Alabama and Mississippi feel. They suffered actual hurricane damage. NOLA suffered water damage from the levy breach. I understand that their lives came to stand-stills and that all is now time defined by pre and post Katrina. I just don’t understand how they (New Orleans) feel that Bush owes them, which is in essence saying that the taxpayers owe them. Anonymous (Editor’s note: The writer provided his/her name but it was omitted at the discretion of B&B.)
Re: Not Defending The Corps There is only one problem with the Corps of Engineers; they do not have a lick of common sense to go along with all their supposed smarts. They never have and probably never will! The only ones that have any sense are the men on the lock walls not the ones doing the planning for projects and problems of the moment! Anonymous (Editor’s note: As Yogi Berra might say, “Everyone who doesn’t agree with us is bound to disagree.” But we welcome their emails.)
Re: National Gateway Sorry to give you a bum steer with the boat monicker. Reader Henleben is correct. The boat in my picture looks like it’s not more than about 30 feet wide, judging by the height of a doorway compared with the horizontal equivalent of that distance, multiplied by four or five. The National Gateway was 44 feet wide, so it’s clear that I gave the wrong name to the boat in the picture. I’m still 99 percent sure that it was a National Marine Service boat, and I remember it as one of their smaller boats. I’m not sure when I started calling it the National Gateway, but I should have looked it up in the “Inland River Record” and looked at the dimensions of their boats. I still have my 1967 “Inland River Record,” and I looked up, just now, the National Marine Service boats of 1967, the same year I took the picture. They’re all named National Something-Or-Other, so they’re all in the same part of the book. After looking at the dimensions, I’m about 85 percent sure, now, that it’s the National Voyager in the picture. There are three NMS boats 26 or 30 feet wide, but the name National Voyager sort of rings a bell. The National Voyager is now called the Coal Express, and there’s one photo of it, by John Miller, in your photo center. It might be the same boat as the one in my picture, but I can’t tell for sure. If you want to keep the picture in the gallery with the “corrected” name, that would be OK, but if you want to remove the picture, that would be OK too. Mike Murphy (Editor’s note: Due to the poor detail, I have removed it from the Photo Center. As time goes on and server space gets more precious, I may have to start removing boat pictures that are badly out of focus or reduce the number of some boats when have we so many shots of them. I don’t look forward to that.)
Boat Photo Center
 Enjoy the additional 20 boat photos we have posted in the Photo Center this week. They include: Three pictures of the W. W. Dyer and three of the Crimson Gem from Joe E. Brown; two of the Darin Adrian, the Andi Boyd, and the Loree Eckstein from Charles A. Perrin; Robert C. Loedding and Karla Bludworth from Ron Richardson; three of the David L. Fields from David Chase; three newer views of the Carl L. Johnson from Brent Maletic; the Mv. Warrior from the Boat Photo Museum; and the Susan Frances from Tom Waller. Dan Owen has provided more detail on the Mv. Warrior and the scene in which it appears. “This is a photo of the Warrior & Gulf Navigation Company towboat Warrior, not the present one, but the one built in 1928, that I am sending for display at the new National Maritime Museum of the Gulf of Mexico which is being built at Mobile. They wanted a photo of an older tow on a river near Mobile and this is what I sent them.  To all of you pilots: This is how they handled tows on the Warrior-Tombigbee until they got those newer boats in the 1970s. A load on each side, both upstream and downstream. This had to make handling really bad, both in steering and backing. When those newer 1,800 hp. boats came out, they started doing set-overs in the locks, because those boats were easier to handle.”
Dan Owen Click here to see the latest pictures.
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Recipe Box
ROTEL SUPREME 1 can Rotel tomatoes 1 lb. hamburger 1 lb. sausage 1 box Velveta cheese 1 large onion 1 can Cream of Mushroom soup 1 cup of milk 1 container of sliced fresh mushrooms In a skillet brown meats. In a saucepan melt cheese with milk and soup. When melted add chopped onions, mushrooms and Rotel. Then drain meat and add to mixture. Stir and remove from heat. Add with chips and eat!!! Makes a meal by itself!!! Submitted by: Joyce Cochran-Loyd Do you have a good recipe you’d like to share? Submit your recipes here!
The Book Beat
Some people really appreciate historic detail in books. Others enjoy books that keep the reader turning pages. What is most appreciated, we think, are books that do both. Among them we would like to recommend “Rivers of Kentucky,” “River of Conflict, River of Dreams” and “Backing Hard Into River History.”  Rivers of Kentucky - by David and Lalie Dick265 pages plus bibliography. Hard cover. This is believed to be the first comprehensive study of the entire system of Kentucky's flowing streams. Gurney Norman says, "Rivers of Kentucky" is a treasure-trove of information and lore about this North American place called Kentucky. It is an atlas, a compendium, a guidebook and a story collection all rolled into one." This book is also about the people who live along the waterways, and it keeps you reading till the last page. The writings of this husband/wife team have a gentle touch that makes the book a pleasure to read, and it reflects their deep respect for the people of the Kentucky land. We recommend it highly. Usually same-day shipping! 
List Price: $22.00 Our Price: $19.00 (6 in stock) You Save: $3.00 (13.6%) 
River of Conflict, River of Dreams by Biloine Whiting Young 310 pages. Soft cover. Nonfiction. From the back cover: “From the days the Indians traveled in birch bark canoes to today’s cargo shipped in mammoth barges, the Upper Mississippi River has been at the center of regional life and history. The Mississippi was the highway into America’s frontier. Immigrants followed the river northward, displacing the Dakota and Ojibwe peoples. Because the river was there for fur traders and Galena’s lead minors were able to move their goods to market, passenger steamboats, those romantic floating palaces, connected the river towns, lumbermen made fortunes floating pine logs to the south; and Minneapolis became the flour milling capitol of the world. Each river community, from the Twin Cities to those located four hundred miles to the south, owed its economic existence to the Upper Mississippi River.” This book is a grand collection of historic facts, and comes highly recommended. Usually same-day shipping! Our Price: $17.95  Backing Hard Into River History - by James V. Swift384 pages. 198 illustrations. Hard cover. Nonfiction. This book is the first in an open-ended series being published by the publisher's Little River Books Division. It covers the last 100 years of river development and the towing industry; the 112-year history of The Waterways Journal, known affectionately as the "riverman's bible"; and the author's 60-year love affair with both. It explains clearly the value of the nation's inland waterways and the benefits derived from them. Usually same-day shipping! List Price: $29.95 Our Price: $20.00 
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New Self-Publishing Book Coming Our announcement about the forthcoming book “$elf-Publish for Profit” (by avoiding the booby traps) has caught the eyes of some observers who wondered what the release-date retail price would be. The retail price will be $19.50 plus S&H. That price will kick in the day the book is released, which give you plenty of time to order a copy at the reduced price. From now until then, as we announced last week, we will offer the book at $15 plus S&H, which represents a $4.50 discount or a 23 percent savings on your money in just two or three months. It is our belief that an author can save himself literally thousands of dollars by avoiding publishing mistakes that many have already made, and we cite cases to prove it. By avoiding difficulties an author can stay in control of his/her own financial destiny by being in charge of the new book from beginning to end. “$elf-publish for Profit” is written by Jack R. Simpson and based upon 50 years of journalism and publishing experience. The book presently is in the hands of the editors. It is expected to go to the printers in a matter of weeks. To reserve your copy of “$elf-Publish for Profit” and save $4.50 just pay for your copy in advance so that when the books arrive, yours will be among the first shipped. You can send a chëck payable to Little River Books to 2175 Huntington Dr., Florissant, Mo., 63033-1227. The amount should include one $5 S&H fee and $15 for each book you order. You can also phone the author at 314/921-4419 and order by using your MasterCard or Visa. Make sure we know where to send it.
Get More Visitors To Your Web Site - Join The U.S. Inland Waterways Site Ring!
This is a web ring owned by Little River Books. It is dedicated to those who work, rest, or play on the inland waterways of the United States. Owners of river-related commercial or private sites can apply to join, bringing together as many waterways related sites as possible. Sign up (F-R-E-E), put the code on your page, and watch your hits skyrocket! Let’s see if we can make this one of the biggest and best river site rings on the web. Benefit from other river sites’ traffic and gain new visitors. If you sell a river-related product on your site, this is the ring for you! (You must copy and past the site ring graphic onto your web site as soon as your site is approved.) Chëck out the sites currently in the ring and their hit statistics as a dírect result of being in the site ring.
Tow Talkin'
June 5, 2006 By Kathy Flippo  Looked out my office window the other evening and WHOA! That wasn’t the Mvs. Trojan, Saratoga, Pixie Rose or even the Andrea Leigh coming up Beaver Slough. That was a BIG boat! Knew it was an ARTCO by the trim on her stacks, but between the dike and the rail cars on ADM’s siding, I couldn’t read the name board. Not a problem as I ran down the stairs, hopped in my ’burban and drove a couple blocks over to ARTCO’s 3rd Street dock. My mystery big boat was the Mv. Cooperative Vanguard. She’d come up with 15 barges and apparently left them at the Camanche Fleet. Then, since the river is still up a bit, she took a short cut to the Murray Island Fleet via Beaver Slough. Being able to see stuff like this is one of the joys I get from living in South Clinton where I am a fourth generation kid.
ADM is buying out 100 homes in my neighborhood, mine included, so they can build a corn-based plastic manufacturing plant. I fought this move now for couple of months but push has come to shove and I found a house Friday that I could live with if ADM agreed…to continue reading, click here. See you on the Web, Jack Little River Books jacksimpson@littleriverbooks.com Don't forget to visit our web site! |
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