Ways Packet Directory, 18481994: Passenger Steamboats of the Mississippi River System since the Advent of Photography in Mid-Continent America [Paperback]

The first Mississippi steamboat was a packet, theNew Orleans, a sidewheeler built at Pittsburgh in 1811, designed for the New Orleans-Natchez trade. Packets dominated during the first forty years of steam, providing the quickest passenger transportation throughout mid-continent America. The packets remained fairly numerous even into the first two decades of the twentieth century when old age or calamity overtook them. By the 1930s, the flock was severely depleted, and today the packet is extinct. Containing almost 6,000 entries,Ways Packet Directoryincludes a majority of combination passenger and freight steamers, but includes in a broader sense all types of passenger carriers propelled by steam that plied the waters of the Mississippi System. Each entry describes its steamboat by rig, class, engines, boilers, the shipyard where and when built, along with tidbits of historical interest on its use, demise, and/or conversion.

The first Mississippi steamboat was a packet, theNew Orleans, a sidewheeler built at Pittsburgh in 1811, designed for the New Orleans-Natchez trade. Packets dominated during the first forty years of steam, providing the quickest passenger transportation throughout mid-continent America.

“This is not a reading book, but rather a reference work. Even so, the marvelous introduction, the lengthy captions in the photo collection, and the various letters and special notes in the boat bios are captivating and enlightening.”—Seaways‘ Ships in Scalemagazine

“The 620-page book attempts to list the history of every packet that traveled the Mississippi River system from 1848 to the present…. The book is a 69-year labor of love…. Fred Way is the world’s foremost authority on river life.”—The Marietta Times

“The number of steamboats ending their careers by disaster is startling in our current safety-conscious era; lãÌ