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October 31, 2005 -- Vol. 5 Issue 44 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:
Ever Wonder
If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress? A Personal Note From Jack
 An Update on VINs
The general picture has not changed as it relates to the issue of damaged cars being given clean titles and shipped off around the nation to be sold to unsuspecting customers. However, it was announced in the “St. Louis Post-Dispatch” on October 26, just two days after our comments on the subject appeared that Missouri has released the VIN numbers for 265 cars registered in Missouri. Our comments had nothing to do with it, of course, but the timing was a surprise. Once outfitted with clean titles, auction companies sell them, and repair shops fix them. Some then go to car dealers and sold to unsuspecting customers. It is said that the Michigan’s Attorney General Mike Cox was the first to break the secrecy this month when he posted VINs for 2,532 vehicles registered in his state at http://www.michigan.gov/ag/. Both Cox and Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon issued statements indicating that “buyers have the right to know exactly what they are purchasing.” Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan still has not taken action. Her spokesperson Melissa Merz said the state would decide what to do after reviewing the state’s open records laws. They are “balancing privacy interests against other interests in the case,” she said. Our comment: Does any business justifiably have privacy interests when the clear intent is to defraud the consumer? Would Illinois decide not to publish tobacco companies, because of privacy interests, when records show that smoking is hazardous to health? One wonders if Illinois will decide that it will not list VINs because such exposure might damage auto dealer sales. Let’s not forget, it is the National Automobile Dealers Association that is urging the establishment of a national database where consumers can find out if the cars they want to buy were damaged. Wages On The Gulf Most likely you’ve all read about the labor shortages being experienced on the Gulf after hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit. The problems stem from lots of factors, many related to migrating workers, mainly Mexico. The complaint by locals is that workers are abandoning their jobs and gravitating to higher-paying Katrina debris cleanup jobs, financed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Well, why wouldn’t they? In its usually brilliant style, the feds waived a portion of the Davis-Bacon Act right after the hurricanes hit. That portion said that construction workers being paid with federal money would have to accept wages prevalent in the local job market. Well, as you can imagine, the wages soared in some cases, and immigrant workers began pouring in from everywhere. Now, responding to congressional pressure — I’m sure congressional delegates were pressured by the Gulf Coast companies who felt they were being hurt by the waiver — the feds announced on October 27 that they are canceling the waiver, effective November 8. This, locals believe, will stop the heavy migration into the hurricane-stricken areas of workers from a variety of places. It is amazing that the feds couldn’t see far enough ahead to know this would happen. On the other hand, they believed that the waiver would help get reconstruction done more quickly and at a savings to the government. This Davis-Bacon Act issue is far from new. When I was a young man in South Dakota, my uncle, a curb-and-gutter cement man, always complained about it. When federal highway projects started in the area, the out-of-state contractors would bring in their own crews and also do some local hiring. We assumed the wages of their own crews were higher and set in (no pun intended) concrete. The contractors always wanted to pay the local hires at the same wages they paid their own workers. Fair is fair, they probably thought. But the local powers that be interfered, and before long it would be announced that the local hires would continue to be paid at the local rates prevalent before the federal job came to pass. Well, the pay rates in Aberdeen, S.D., were rotten, if I do say so myself. When I was discharged from the Navy in 1955, I immediately enrolled to begin college courses again. Since the schedule called for school to commence in a month or so, I was looking around for work to earn a few pesos. Would you believe that the going rate was about a dollar an hour! I installed an entire tile floor in the basement of a Sears store and earned $20 total. And believe it or not, I had worked for that same store before joining the Navy in 1952 and was (at 18) receiving about 60 cents an hour. College students who were native American and managed to get jobs at the Indian Bureau got $5 an hour. I realize that everyone has his own point of view in this matter. But my question involves wages of workers brought in by the contractor. Did they continue to get their regular (higher) wages, which would certainly arouse ire among the locals hired, or did they, too, have to get paid less, which, as you can imagine, would tick them off royally. I know labor issues are not always as simple as they seem, but this particular one has been going on for many years. One labor agency, reporting about the Gulf situation, said labor contractors were promising a pot of gold for everyone who wanted to go to the hurricane-stricken area to work. What they found was that they had no facilities at which to stay. The agency said many were just hauled into the area, allowed to work for a few weeks, then abandoned. Some got paid less than promised and some didn’t get paid at all. Newsletter News
This week we will include less regular news, because our readers have emailed myriad responses to queries. We have some interesting pictures that tie into those responses, so it should make good reading. As I have said so many times, your personal responses add much to the newsletter. We invite them always. For Those Inclined To Pray
 We have modified the steps for joining our Prayer Circle. If you visit the Prayer Circle link on at www.littleriverbooks.com, you will find that those who sign up are completely anonymous. We do not ask for first names nor states of residence. Joining is as simple as providing an email address to which we can send future prayer requests. Each prayer request list includes a link for including requests.
By joining our Prayer Circle, you can tap into the prayerful support of circle members wherever they are. Membership and prayer requests are open to everyone. 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
Covington, Ky., Declares Landing Barges Surplus To Attract Buyer Covington Landing, a floating entertainment complex atop two barges at the foot of Madison Avenue is a white elephant, and the city has declared the complex surplus, hoping it might lead to a sale. Bids to demolish the complex were too high. A major leak that developed on June has resulted in $3,000 a month in costs to the city to keep the barges pumped out. A potential investor put the cost of repair at about $500,000, “The Cincinnati Enquirer” said. And then there are the costs of getting the complex away from its current mooring and moving it, both of which are obstacles to a sale. Over the years, tenants who used the complex left. The original owners declared bankruptcy in 1992. The riverboat portion of the setup was sold to become a gambling casino in Missouri in 1993. The floating portion of the complex above water is just fine. It’s just the two barges, welded together, that constitute a fixer-upper. Corps Backs Water-Release Plan The “St. Louis Post-Dispatch” reported that on October 24 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers agreed to a spring-rise plan for the Missouri River to help the ailing pallid sturgeon. The agency plans to release water in March and in May. However, the Corps said it will not release the water unless rain and snow relieve the drought in the basin. The Corps’ plan was staunchly opposed by Missouri farmers and barge operators. The agency is planning meetings in September to fine-tune its plan. A Bit Off Beat At Little St. George Island, Fla., a historic lighthouse has collapsed after a hurricane left it leaning about 10 percent. In 1995, Hurricane Opal caused the 74-foot tall brick lighthouse tilt. The structure was discovered collapsed on October 21, 2005. Threatened Wooden Dam Replaced by Rock Dam At Taunton, Mass., the 173-year-old wooden dam that threatened to collapse during high water was replaced by a rock dam, finished October 22, and then the old structure was torn down. Work on the dam had begun October 21. The threat of flooding caused the evacuation of 2,000 residents. Gambling Boat News Two recent developments at St. Louis: The Casino Queen may soon receive approval to locate in a moat rather than operate on the river; and the company that intended the buy the President Casino (operating under bankruptcy protection) has withdrawn its intention to purchase the casino because, as we understand it, it had no assurances that the state of Missouri would issue it an operating permit. 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 From Our Readers
I have been reading your web page for a while and am wondering if you may know how or where I can find more info on a Corps of Engineers fellow by the name of James L. Sherman. Mr. Sherman was an engineer on the General Bernard, and he also built the Sherman House here in Cassville, Wis. We are running the house as a Bed and Breakfast. From what we have found out, this took place in about 1856. Any info would be appreciated. Jean Bessert Riverview Bed & Breakfast Jan McDonald’s Query About Mystery Barge Draws Several Replies (Editor’s note: We had fun with this one. Four pictures of such vessels already existed in our Photo Center, all having been posted by Capt. Jeff L. Yates: two of the Commercial Clipper (see thumbnail below), one of the Commercial Express and one of the Commercial Ohioan. Replies from our readers follow.) Strictly a guess here, but could that possibly be one of those tows that transported Plymouth automobiles? Darned if I can remember where I read it, but somewhere out there on the Internet I recall reading about new cars being transported on the Ohio River by barge. Hugh Davis  There’s no question. This is either the Commercial Clipper or Commercial Express, one of several multi-deck towboat and barge combo units operated for many years by Commercial Barge Line, hauling new cars from the Chrysler auto assembly plant at Evansville, Ind.
These two, virtually identical vessels were built by St. Louis Ship in 1947 and when coupled to their companion barges, measured 525 feet long by 35 feet wide and only drew 5.5 feet. Though only twin screw, they each had four engines, two per shaft, generating a total of approximately 2,000 hp. From what I recall, they were rather noisy contraptions with a very small pilothouse mounted on stilts, off to the port side of the upper deck. These two boats and several others in the unusual Commercial Barge Line auto transport fleet are on record in the B&B photo archives. There were other non-traditional looking boats in this fleet at the time, one the Commercial Courier, had a similar hull and deck design but the pilothouse was round and looked like something from a surplus Navy vessel. Then the Commercial Ohioan and Commercial Dixie were former Navy mine sweepers, converted to river service at Paducah Marine Ways in 1949 with push knees that looked like a bunch of pipes welded together to form a square surface for facing up to their barges. Capt. Jeff L. Yates It’s the Commercial Clipper, used to transport new autos. I got this photo (commercial-clipper2) from a 1950 edition of the Ohio River Handbook. Here’s a couple more I have collected. I plan to build a model of it someday. Towboat Joe www.towboatjoe.com (Editor’s note: Joe has sent several interesting pictures, which will be in the Photo Center under Commercial Clipper. One of the pictures appears here.) I think it’s one of the auto-hauler barges. Ernie Wright You have a choice in the mystery boat in the photo section. It is either the Commercial Clipper or Commercial Express, nearly duplicate car carriers built especially for that purpose. Dan In response to the mystery boat in the latest Bitts & Bytes: that is the Commercial Clipper, owned by Commercial Barge Line, and was used to tow automobiles. They also had a sister to the Commercial Clipper if my memory serves me right. John Miller (Editor’s note: By now you know the sister vessel was the Commercial Express. Jeff Yates indicated that if he could see the antenna on the vessel, he could determine exactly which of the two it was.) Boat Photo Center
A few heads got together in recent days, including those of Dan Owen and C. R. Neale III, to discuss and share pictures of the Mv. Chrissy K. We are including some of their comments because of their historic value. We are combining data from the two emails we have on the subject. It seems Neale sent Owen a picture of the Chrissy K and mentioned that the pilothouse on the boat had been switched with another vessel. That got the gray matter turning over. Owen replied: None of us would have been the wiser with that low pilothouse on the Chrissy K until C. R. Neale III spoke up. I did some checking, and the pilothouse on the Chrissy K is sure enough the one off the Crescent City, and the latter’s pilothouse is shown plopped on the Chrissy K. Few folks may “disremember” [quotes ours] that the Chrissy K came out as the Craig M, with the same style pilothouse until rebuilt with a higher one so the guys at the sticks could see over those big Seley empty alumina barges she towed southward out of Clarington.  To “undisremember” [quotes ours] you guys, attached is a photo of the Craig M as built. So another loophole is closed.
This photo was taken by Joe Digby, deceased, my late father-in-law, someplace on the Illinois River, I guess. It is undated. Dan Owen This week we have another 11 photos for your enjoyment, some helping to unravel mysteries. They include: three varying shots of the Commercial Clipper and one of the Lee Synnott from Joe Brown (Towboat Joe); a picture of the Habitat for Humanity barge pushed by the Virginia Ingram from Nancy Mihalek; a steel barge designed for hauling automobiles, courtesy of Little River Books and “The Waterways Journal”; another picture of the Lee Synnott, when it was at the time unidentified, from Jesse Lybarger; the Mv. Craig M, photographed by the late Joe Digby and made available by the Boat Photo Museum; the Chalmette Ferry up on the ground following hurricane Katrina from Capt. Butch Bartholomew; and Southern’s Mv. Bobby Jones from John Miller. 
Recipe Box
If you are a towboat cook, home chef, backyard barbecuer, tailgater, or know anybody who is, please pass the word along to submit recipes! Book Beat
“The Inland River Record” The 2006 “Inland River Record” is due to be released about mid-November. Therefore, we have suspended sales of the 2005 edition unless the buyer insists on having it. We are making up a list of those desiring to purchase the 2006 edition as soon as it is available. You can give us your name, email address and phone number via email at any time and we will contact you when we can start delivering and to consummate the sale. The price, we’re told by the publisher, will remain the same, $37.50 plus S&H from the WJ. We market it for $32.50 plus S&H. Book Feature This week I have been reminded once again about the important book “Backing Hard Into River History.” Questions about the Commercial Clipper led me directly into its pages and picture sections. The author, the late James V. Swift, spent 60 years gathering material for that book, and I spent almost two years preparing it for publication. It is not a book that will become obsolete, because it deals with a 100-year span of river history. Like most history books, its material is always valid. About “Backing Hard” author river author Kathy Flippo wrote:  “The WJ is the weekly heartbeat of America’s inland waterways, and Jim has collected all the ‘good stuff’ into one book. I guarantee, you won’t be able to put it down.”
“Backing Hard” is really three stories (or books) in one. It describes 100 years of navigation development on the inland waterways, ranging from the old packets to the modern towboats and lots of technical developments along the way. Page after page of pictures depict the changes in technology, the fleets of big companies, etc. Another portion is the story of “The Waterways Journal” which originated in St. Louis in 1887 and has remained there through today. A third section follows the author’s career as it relates to his 60 years of covering river news for the WJ. It truly is an historic book and a must for everyone’s bookshelf. Further, priced at $20 + S&H, it is a good gift for river friends. The regular retail price on the book is $29.95, so you stand to see a $10 savings. Many of the questions about historic vessels are answered right in “Backing Hard,” and it contains several appendices loaded with additional river information, for example, how many boats were built during World War II at inland yards is documented in pages of tables, telling generally the area where built and vessel descriptions. There is a section showing pictures of boats produced in riverbank shipyards and ferried down the river by the “Catfish Navy” — private pilots hired by the Coast Guard. Swift’s list of other books to read is invaluable if you are seeking to learn about river history. Dozens and dozens of high quality pictures were provided from WJ files to make it more valuable. 384 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! Our Price: $20.00 
The Gift Shop
Models And Caps Discontinued Because Cherokee Barge and Boat has announced interest in advertising its multitude of river-related products in our newsletter and perhaps on our web site, we have discontinued handling the scant choice of barge models and the American Steamboater caps that we previously carried in our gift shop. These products will be available in a larger variety from Cherokee, so it will actually be more convenient for those desiring to buy models. By ordering directly from Cherokee, customers can get the precise selection with boat and company name, type of barges, etc. that they want. This is a service we could not offer.  Westport Barometer/Thermometer/HygrometerAneroid movement. Fully adjustable barometer movement with inch and millibar scales. Barometer movements are calibrated for altitudes to 1,500’ above sea level. Thermometer and hygrometer are pre-adjusted in a temperature-controlled environment. $125.99 Tow Talkin'
October 31, 2005 By Kathy Flippo  Have a real treat coming down the Upper Mississippi River in response to the trick Katrina pulled in Louisiana. Habitat for Humanity in St. Paul, Minnesota built three houses that are being shipped in an open hopper barge, with a special banner flying on it declaring the contents to be Habitat houses. Ingram’s Mv. Virginia Ingram has it in her tow.
Steel City Marine Transport is on the move up here with the Mv. Gregory David towing coal from the Cora Terminal dock near Cora, Illinois, Mile 98.5 on the UMR. That dock accommodates coal and coke with an open storage capacity of 1,000,000 tons that they can move at the rate of 5,700 tons per hour. Their switch boat, the Mv. Red Lightning, works the 100 -barge capacity fleet and keeps five barges at the dock for loading. The Gregory David was built in 1973 by Dravo Corp. at Neville Island, Pa. She is 140 feet by 42 feet, with a pair…to continue reading, 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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