Sprague (towboat)

Sprague

History
United States
Name	Sprague
Builder	Peter Sprague
In service	1902
Out of service	1948
Nickname(s)	Big Mama
Fate	Destroyed by fire, 15 April 1974
General characteristics
Type	Towboat
Length	276 ft (84 m)
Beam	61 ft (19 m)
Draft	7.4 ft (2.3 m)
Installed power	2,079 hp (1,550 kW)
Propulsion	coal-fired steam

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.[4]

Legacy

After decommissioning, the Sprague became a museum on the Vicksburg, Mississippi, waterfront, and restoration was initiated in 1972 using funds appropriated by the Mississippi Legislature.[5][6] For many years the long-running melodrama Gold in the Hills was performed on the towboat.[6]

Restoration had begun, but on April 15, 1974, the upper decks of the towboat burned while moored at Vicksburg.[7] In 1975, the Sprague was moved to dry dock north of Vicksburg while negotiations for restoration funding proceeded.[6]

On April 15, 1977, the Sprague was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).[8] With restoration funding approved, the Sprague was moved from dry dock in March 1979 to a mooring site on the Yazoo River Diversion Canal north of Vicksburg.[6] However, before restoration contracts were awarded, the Sprague sank at the mooring site,[6] and restoration efforts were abandoned. The smokestacks and paddlewheel were removed, and in 1981, the Army Corps of Engineers demolished what was left of the Sprague using dynamite before clearing the metal debris from the canal.[4] The Sprague was delisted from the NRHP on May 15, 1987.[8]

As of 2019, pieces of the Sprague were still evident in Vicksburg, Mississippi.[9]

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.[10] Another model of Sprague can be found in the Portland Museum in the Portland neighborhood of Louisville, KY.[11]

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 March 23, 2007.[12]

References

1. "The Builders". Features & Exhibits. National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium. Archived from the original on 25 February 2012. 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. Cherba, Connie; Harold, Harold (January 2015). "When "Big Mama" Ruled the Rivers" (PDF). bigrivermagazine.com. Retrieved 17 August 2024.
5. "National Register of Historic Places Inventory -- Nomination Form|Sprague" (PDF). apps.mdah.ms.gov. April 1974. Retrieved 17 August 2024.
6. "Sprague, the 'Big Mama', getting sent up the river|Oct 12, 1981, page 3 - Clarion-Ledger at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 17 August 2024.
7. "A Mississippi Sidewheeler Is Burned at Her Moorings". The New York Times. 17 April 1974. Retrieved 18 December 2012. (subscription required)
8. "MDAH Historic Inventory Resources Fact Sheet|The Sprague". www.apps.mdah.ms.gov. Retrieved 17 August 2024.
9. "Remains of the SPRAGUE". Steamboats.org. Retrieved 26 November 2010.
10. Mohney, Jay. W. "Steamboat Building in Elizabeth, PA". elizabethmarineways.com. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
11. "Home". Portland Museum. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
12. "Vicksburg Riverfront Mural "The Big Mama of the Mississippi"". Retrieved 18 December 2012.