Framed or unframed, desk size to sofa size, printed by us in Arizona and Alabama since 2007. Explore now.
Shorpy is funded by you. Patreon contributors get an ad-free experience.
Learn more.
The Mississippi River circa 1900. "The levee at Memphis. Sidewheeler James Lee." In addition to the sternwheelers Harry Lee and City of St. Joseph. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
James Lee: Built in 1898 at Jeffersonville, Indiana for the Lee Line of Memphis. 230-foot sidewheel packet. Converted to an excursion boat in 1917. Destroyed by ice, winter 1917-1918.
Harry Lee: A split sternwheel packet boat built at Clarington, Ohio in 1899. 169 feet. Sank once and raised in 1911. Burned in 1914 at Memphis.
City of St. Joseph: 162-foot sternwheeler built in 1901 at St. Joseph, Missouri. A boiler explosion in 1911 killed 18 crewmen. Renamed Eclipse in 1916. Lost on a snag in 1925 at Osceola, Arkansas.
There is a lady walking away in this photo. She has a simple dress on so I'm assuming she would have been a worker? She is still fashionable enough to have the poofy sleeves of the era. Looks like the dress has buttons or some sort of detail all the way down her back. She is also wearing a black veil or shawl over her head and shoulders. Neat.
Must have named the closest paddle wheelers.
On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5