STLToday.com

Home > Buy historic photos & newspaper pages
Look Back: Golden Eagle steamboat, 1947
Date: 5/18/2012 Album ID: 1472259
Photos by Post-Dispatch staff photographers
Slideshow icon View Slideshow
The early morning of May 18, 1947, was dark but quiet, the Mississippi River 10 feet below flood stage. The Golden Eagle was bound for Nashville, Tenn., from its St. Louis home via the Ohio and Cumberland rivers. Most of its 91 passengers and crew were asleep when the drifting boat smacked into submerged rocks near Grand Tower Island, opening a gash on its port side.
Capt. William H. Buck Leyhe of St. Louis at the wheel of the Golden Eagle steamboat in April 1939. Leyhe's father and uncle established the Eagle Packet Co., and Leyhe began working on the Mississippi River when he was 18. He was company president for many years and sold the company in 1946. He was a passenger aboard the Golden Eagle, the company's last steamboat, when it sank near Tower Island in the Mississippi River on May 18, 1947. Among its owners on that day was Herman Pott, St. Louis boatbuilder. Leyhe died in 1956 in St. Louis at 83. (Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
The Golden Eagle pulls away from the St. Louis levee on May 14, 1940, for a trip down the Mississippi River. The Golden Eagle, a coal-fired sternwheeler, was the last wooden-hulled excursion boat on the river. It was built in 1904 to haul cotton. Eagle Packet Co. was the last St. Louis-based steamboat company that offered passenger service to other cities. (Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
The Golden Eagle heads downstream at St. Louis on May 14, 1940. To the left are the smokestacks of the Union Electric Co. plant at Cahokia. (Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
The Golden Eagle moored on the St. Louis riverfront in May 1946. It didn't run for several years during World War II because wartime supply restrictions blocked needed upgrades to the boilers. The coal-burning steamboat was on a trip to Nasvhille, Tenn., via the Ohio and Cumberland rivers, when it sank at Grand Tower Island 80 miles below St. Louis on May 18, 1947. (Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
The crippled Golden Eagle settled and listing in the Mississippi River at Grand Tower Island after sunrise on May 18, 1947. The steamboat sank shortly after it struck submerged rocks at 2:20 a.m. All 91 passengers and crew members reached the island by gangplank, and were rescued later that day by a towboat. (Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
An aerial view of the striken Golden Eagle at Grand Tower Island in the Mississippi River on May 19, 1947. The steamboat had left the St. Louis levee two days before a seven-day round trip to and from Nashville, Tenn. (Edward J. Burkhardt/Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
Retired Capt. William Buck Leyhe, who had sold Eagle Packet Co. the year before, waits for rescue on Grand Tower Island after the Golden Eagle sank. He was a passenger on its trip to Nashville, Tenn. (Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
Passengers pass time on Grand Tower Island until they were picked up by a passing towboat. (Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
Capt. Nathan Smith of Normandy, Mo., the pilot of the Golden Eagle when it sank on May 18, 1947, as he prepared to testify two days later at a Coast Guard hearing on the accident in downtown St. Louis. (Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers crews dismantle the wreck of the Golden Eagle on May 28, 1947, to eliminate its hazard to river navigation. (Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
Students tour the pilot house of the Golden Eagle on display at the U.S. Army Engineers base at the foot of Arsenal Street on Jan. 4, 1948. The Missouri History Museum had it on display from 1962 to 1996, and preserves it in storage. (Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
Ruth Ferris, assistant curator at the Missouri Historical Society (now the History Museum), displays the steering wheel in the Golden Eagle pilot house as it went on display in the museum on May 2, 1962. It was part of the museum's River Room. (Lloyd Spainhower/Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
MyCapture, Inc. - A Second Street Media, Inc. Solution
© MyCapture, Inc. - A Second Street Media, Inc. Solution All rights reserved.

FAQ | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Order Status