Sprague (towboat)

Sprague, built at Dubuque, Iowa's Iowa Iron Works in 1901 by Captain Peter Sprague for the Monongahela River Consolidated Coal and Coke Company, was the world's largest steam powered sternwheeler towboat.[1] She was nicknamed Big Mama,[2] and was capable of pushing 56 coal barges at once. In 1907, Sprague set a world's all-time record for towing: 60 barges of coal, weighing 67,307 tons, covering an area of 6+1⁄2 acres, and measuring 925 feet (282 m) by 312 feet (95 m).[3] She was decommissioned as a towboat in 1948.

Sprague
Sprague, Vicksburg.
History
United States
NameSprague
BuilderPeter Sprague
In service1902
Out of service1948
Nickname(s)Big Mama
FateDestroyed by fire, 15 April 1974
General characteristics
TypeTowboat
Length276 ft (84 m)
Beam61 ft (19 m)
Draft7.4 ft (2.3 m)
Installed power2,079 hp (1,550 kW)
Propulsioncoal-fired steam

Legacy
Mural of the Sprague on Vicksburg floodwall

After decommissioning, Sprague became a museum on the Vicksburg, Mississippi, waterfront. For many years the long-running melodrama Gold in the Hills was performed there. The boat burned in Vicksburg on 15 April 1974,[4] and as of 2019, pieces still remain in Vicksburg, Mississippi.[5]

A model of Sprague is in the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium in Dubuque, Iowa. The model was made in 1908 by Elizabeth Marine Ways a steamboat yard in Elizabeth, Pennsylvania, and was put on show at the Pittsburgh Exposition of 1908.[6] Another model of Sprague can be found in the Portland Museum in the Portland neighborhood of Louisville, KY.[7]

The Friends of the Sprague organization sponsored a mural entitled The Big Mama of the Mississippi as one of the Vicksburg Riverfront Murals. It was dedicated on 23 March 2007.[8]

References
  1. "The Builders". Features & Exhibits. National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium. Retrieved 26 November 2010.
  2. "Big Mama". Pennsylvania Jack. Retrieved 24 January 2010.
  3. "Steamboat Navigation". Mississippi River Navigation. United States Army Corps of Engineers. Archived from the original on 29 January 2010. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
  4. "A Mississippi Sidewheeler Is Burned at Her Moorings". The New York Times. 17 April 1974. Retrieved 18 December 2012. (subscription required)
  5. "Remains of the SPRAGUE". Steamboats.org. Retrieved 26 November 2010.
  6. Mohney, Jay. W. "Steamboat Building in Elizabeth, PA". elizabethmarineways.com. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  7. "Home". Portland Museum. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
  8. "Vicksburg Riverfront Mural "The Big Mama of the Mississippi"". Retrieved 18 December 2012.
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