The Ohio River is a 981-mile-long (1,579 km) river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illinois. It is the third largest river by discharge volume in the United States and the largest tributary by volume of the north-south flowing Mississippi River, which divides the eastern from western United States. It is also the 6th oldest river on the North American continent. The river flows through or along the border of six states, and its drainage basin includes parts of 14 states. Through its largest tributary, the Tennessee River, the basin includes several states of the southeastern U.S. It is the source of drinking water for five million people.
A steamboat is a boat that is propelled primarily by steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S or PS ; however, these designations are most often used for steamships.
A pusher, pusher craft, pusher boat, pusher tug, or towboat, is a boat designed for pushing barges or car floats. In the United States, the industries that use these vessels refer to them as towboats. These vessels are characterized by a square bow, a shallow draft, and typically have knees, which are large plates mounted to the bow for pushing barges of various heights. These boats usually operate on rivers and inland waterways. Multiple barges lashed together, or a boat and any barges lashed to it, are referred to as a "tow" and can have dozens of barges. Many of these vessels, especially the long distance, or long haul boats, include living quarters for the crew.
A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine that drives paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses were wheelers driven by animals or humans.
Belle of Louisville is a steamboat owned and operated by the city of Louisville, Kentucky, and moored at its downtown wharf next to the Riverfront Plaza/Belvedere during its annual operational period. The steamboat claims itself the "most widely traveled river steamboat in American history." Belle of Louisville's offices are aboard Mayor Andrew Broaddus, and also appears on the list of National Historic Landmarks.
The Delta Queen is an American sternwheel steamboat. She is known for cruising the major rivers that constitute the tributaries of the Mississippi River, particularly in the American South, although she began service in California on the Sacramento River delta for which she gets her name. She was docked in Chattanooga, Tennessee and served as a floating hotel until purchased by the newly formed Delta Queen Steamboat Company. She was towed to Houma, Louisiana, in March 2015 for refurbishing to her original condition.
The Port of Savannah is a major U.S. seaport located at Savannah, Georgia. As of 2021, the port was the third busiest seaport in the United States. Its facilities for oceangoing vessels line both sides of the Savannah River and are approximately 18 miles (29 km) from the Atlantic Ocean. Operated by the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA), the Port of Savannah competes primarily with the Port of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina to the northeast, and the Port of Jacksonville in Jacksonville, Florida to the south. The GPA operates one other Atlantic seaport in Georgia, the Port of Brunswick. The state also manages three interior ports linked to the Gulf of Mexico: Port Bainbridge, Port Columbus, and a facility at Cordele, Georgia linked by rail to the Port of Savannah. In the 1950s, the Port of Savannah was the only facility to see an increase in trade while the country experienced a decline in trade of 5%. It was chaired and led by engineer Dr. Blake Van Leer.
Caesars Southern Indiana is a casino hotel in Southern Indiana. Opened in 1998, it is owned by Vici Properties and operated by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, using the Caesars name under license from Caesars Entertainment. It is located outside the community of Elizabeth, Indiana at the Harrison County line, across the Ohio River from Louisville, Kentucky. This is the closest casino to Louisville because casino gambling is not allowed in neighboring Floyd County. Locals often simply call it "The Boat", a reference to the former riverboat that was the main focus of the complex.
American Cruise Lines, Inc. is the largest river and small-ship cruise line in the U.S.A. with its headquarters in Guilford, Connecticut, United States. The Line operates nineteen small U.S. flagged cruise ships along the Eastern Seaboard and Western Seaboard as well as the Mississippi, Ohio, Cumberland, and Tennessee Rivers and the Columbia-Snake river system in the United States.
Tall Stacks, formally known as the Tall Stacks Music, Arts, and Heritage Festival, was a festival held every three or four years in the Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, area, which celebrated the city's heritage of the riverboat. The sixth edition was held on October 4 to 8, 2006. The festival typically featured a number of vintage and replica steamboats from across the eastern United States, which docked along the Ohio River shoreline in Cincinnati and across the river in Covington and Newport, Kentucky.
American Queen is a Louisiana-built river steamship said to be the largest river steamboat ever built. Although the American Queen's stern paddlewheel is indeed powered by a steam engine, her secondary propulsion, in case of an emergency and for maneuverability around tight areas where the paddle wheel can not navigate, comes from a set of diesel-electric propellers known as Z-drives on either side of the sternwheel. She has 222 state rooms for a capacity of 436 guests and a crew of 160. She is 418 feet (127 m) long and 89 feet (27 m) wide.
The Great Steamboat Race is an annual steamboat race, taking place the Wednesday before the first Saturday of May, three days before the Kentucky Derby, as part of the Kentucky Derby Festival. The race was first run in 1963 and it takes place on the Ohio River in the span that runs between Louisville, Kentucky and Jeffersonville, Indiana. Until 2009, the race was traditionally between the Belle of Louisville and the Delta Queen, although other steamboats have participated. Since 2009, the Delta Queen has not participated due to ownership and legal issues, and the Belle of Cincinnati has taken its place in the competition. In 2012, the Belle of Louisville and Belle of Cincinnati were joined in the race by the American Queen.
Natchez has been the name of several steamboats, and four naval vessels, each named after the city of Natchez, Mississippi or the Natchez people. The current one has been in operation since 1975. The previous Natchez were all operated in the nineteenth century, most by Captain Thomas P. Leathers. Each of the steamboats since Leathers' first had as its ensign a cotton bale between its stacks.
Mayor Andrew Broaddus is a lifesaving station built by the United States Life-Saving Service located in Louisville, Kentucky, off the corner of River Road and Fourth Street. She is named in honor of Andrew Broaddus (1900–1972), a former mayor of Louisville (1953–1957). Her historic purpose was to protect travelers on the Ohio River from the Falls of the Ohio, with rescue crews for those who fell victim to the rapids. Louisville was the first place where a lifesaving station was placed in western waters. The first lifestation in Louisville was in 1881, with Mayor Andrew Broaddus as the third. A National Historic Landmark, she is the only surviving floating lifesaving station of the US Life-Saving Service.
President is a steamboat that currently lies dismantled in Effingham, Illinois, United States. Originally named Cincinnati, it was built in 1924 and is the only remaining "Western Rivers" style sidewheel river excursion steamboat in the United States. She was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and declared a National Historic Landmark in 1989, although these designations were revoked in 2011. Her home ports have been Cincinnati, Ohio; New Orleans, Louisiana; Vicksburg, Mississippi; St. Louis, Missouri; and Davenport, Iowa.
The Lucy Walker steamboat disaster was an 1844 steamboat accident caused by the explosion of the boilers of the steamboat Lucy Walker near New Albany, Indiana, on the Ohio River. The explosion occurred on the afternoon of Wednesday, October 23, 1844, when the steamer's three boilers exploded, set the vessel on fire, and sank it. It was one of a number of similar accidents of early 19th-century riverine transportation that led to important federal legislation and safety regulations. The vessel's owner was a Native American; her crew were African-American slaves, and her passengers represented a cross-section of frontier travelers.
Padelford Riverboats, established in 1969, is the sole provider of river boat cruises within the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area in the Twin Cities of the U.S. State of Minnesota. Padelford boats cruise on the Mississippi River and celebrate the history of the region.
American Duchess is a river cruise paddlewheeler owned by American Cruise Lines. The vessel entered the overnight cruise market as the third addition to the now-defunct American Queen Steamboat Company fleet and was advertised as being the most luxurious option of the line's vessels. The riverboat's itineraries include routes on the Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee, Cumberland and Illinois Rivers.
The Belle of Cincinnati is an American sternwheel steamboat. She was built in 1991, originally named Emerald Lady and was used as a floating casino in Burlington, Iowa.
Public transportation in Savannah, Georgia, is available for all four main modes of transport—air, bus, ferry and rail—assisting residents and visitors without their own vehicle to travel around much of Savannah's 113 square miles (290 km2).
United States
The previous incarnation of the Georgia Queen, pictured in 2010, now in service in Louisville, Kentucky