IAGenWeb - Scott County
MISSISSIPPI RIVER FOLK BACKGROUND
NEWT LONG Next Seasons Boats
Captain Newt Long was a caller at the Times office today and he was asked about the future of the steamboating business. He said that although the prospects was not the best for next season's trade his new boat was never the less being built rapidly for entrance into the trade upon the opening of navigation next spring. The boat in question will be 185 feet long, 30 feet on the bottom and 38 feet on the deck. The old Boardmen machinery has been bored out and thoroughly overhauled. She will have two new fire box boiler 24 feet long, capable of carrying 250 pounds of steam. Her cabin work is being done by a Mr. Ismak of Cincinnati who is an expert ship carpenter. The new boat will have a speed of fifteen miles an hour and will be well able to take of all the business and freight given her.
The captain also said that the cabin of the Jo Long is being remodeled and she will come out in the spring brightened with two coats of white lead and zinc. The natty little craft entered the trade on May 2nd, 1896. and ran 29 trips in that month, 30 in September, 30 in October and 7 in November, making 176 trips in all, there being but two trips lost in all that time, and each occasion being the result of an accident. This is a truly remarkable record.
Source: Daily Times, Davenport, Ia., 26 Dec 1896, p. 2.