U.S.S. Inaugural

[the_p0ssum]

Lots more pics here. The pic there of it beached also notes...

"Betsy Ann final fate Meramec River, Mo., 1952-53. As a boat club, it got stranded on shore and the hull was twisted beyond repair. See Packet Directory, page 35."

The Golden Eagle River Museum in Bee Tree Park allegedly has her pilot wheel.

Her bell is in Natchez, MS. That thread also has other pics.

[t7]

I know someone who lives a couple minutes from there, if I visit them in the future I'll try to remember to stop by and see what's left of the boat.

[archinstl]

Here are some photos I took of the Betsy Ann on Tuesday, from the Possum Woods side; I was a little disappointed, as the river was not down as far as I would have thought.
I drove over to the other side (off the Soccer Park/Yarnell Road intersection), but did not venture down the bank - I was only wearing flip-flops and was unsure of the footing going down the steep bank.
I'm also a little disappointed in my memory - I noted the pix of the final fate of the steamer mentioned 1952-53; I'd swear I saw it in the '40s. I could find absolutely nada on the "Meramec Power Boat Club," save a mention of it being an inactive organization name.

If the pix are kinda small, I apologize; my first time loading somehere. My camera is just an ancient 5.0 Canon point-and-shoot.
Apparently I can add only 3 pix - so there will be 3 more in a following post.

[archinstl]

Two more:
Apparently left-clicking will enlarge them.

[crazydrummerdude]

Cool. I'm tempted to go down and check it out myself..

[t7]

I was driving nearby and went to check it out for a couple of minutes. Access is really easy - there's a paved walking path that goes right under the I-44 overpass and a little dirt trail leads directly from the path to what remains of the Betsy Ann. You can walk right onto the concrete part of the wreckage, but there's basically nothing to see. Everything is covered in overgrowth and half of it is still underwater at the river's current level.

[archinstl]

Hey - Thanks!
I guess I'll try again in a bit; I can't believe I missed the dirt trail from the paved path.
Maybe more will be exposed as Winter draws nearer and the level continues to drop.
I recall at one time, years ago, that some kind of machinery was visible in an open hatch. Again, that was many years ago.

[Mandi Milenko]

Cool! Speaking of shipwrecks, the Montana is REALLY easy to get to right now....

[t7]

Another article with a picture

Have you visited there recently, Mandi? I'm wondering where the best place to park would be and the closest place I see is near the shooting range.

[Mandi Milenko]

You can actually drive all the way down to the river. Just go past thr barriers and follow the old road. I go there a few times a week. It's one of my favorite spots to go that's close to my house. You can actually get from there to the rock road by driving under those bridges on the old roads. Granted, you can do that with earth city too, but that's funner

[t7]

Sweet, I didn't notice that at first.

[memory_machine]

If you haven't seen the wreck of the Inaugeral, now would be a good time. What with the low river level and all. http://www.bigmapblog.com/misc/inaugural/

Get out there, climb on it, and take some pics! I'm not in the STL right now, and would love to see them.

[ropingk]

its still ashamne for a lady like that to just be left to rust away sad sad sad

[Mandi Milenko]

The Mississippi River will drop to below zero next week. Shit's about to get crazy! It's not actually below zero, there's a whole technical thing I'm not even going to try to explain..

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metr ... 1d452.html

Old article and from Tennessee, but it could happen here too for sure!!

http://thecabin.net/stories/092099/sty_0920990008.html

[Nicotti]

If you haven't seen the wreck of the Inaugeral, now would be a good time. What with the low river level and all. http://www.bigmapblog.com/misc/inaugural/

Get out there, climb on it, and take some pics! I'm not in the STL right now, and would love to see them.

It looks like the water is only 1.5 to 2 ft down from when Mandi and I were there during the winter.
http://www.undergroundozarks.com/forum/ ... c&start=30