-Steamboat
Photo Company, Alan L. Bates Collection
The "duckpond," or open space forward of the towboat A.R. Budd, was only used for downstream movements.
By ALAN L. BATES
to New Orleans and converted it to oil instant. In anotherinstantthe throttle was
The A.R. Budd wasbuilt atthe Hammitt fuel. The Defense Plant Corporation took closedand we headed for cover.
Yard at Marietta, Ohio, in 1906. It had a it over and ran it during World War II,
But
back
to
the
A.R.
wood hull 145.2feet long by 26.7 feetwide and sold it to Bisso in 1946. A hurricane Budd/Costanzo/Kongo.Prior to 1940 the
by 5.2 feet deep,and the enginesfrom the blew it to piecesin 1947.
boatstuckto businessandhauledcoal for its
Frank Gilmore with 17-inch diameterand
So, for 47 years this fine towboat did variousowners,oftenin the old-time woodsix-foot stroke. Peter Budd organizedthe good servicefor a number of owners.The en coalboats,which were26 feetwide. That
Diamond Coal & Coke Company,and the reasonfor its shift from the familiar Ohio 26.7-foot hull width of the A.R. Budd made
boat was named for his son. GeorgeW. to the southernreachesof the Mississippi the boatideal for duckpondtowing.
Budd, Peter'sbrother,wasthe famed river in November 1942 was to convert the
Our picture of it showssucha towpasseditor for the Cincinnati Enquirer from Willard V. King, an immense sidewheel ing under a bridge, possiblyat Sewickley,
the late 19th century until the 1920s.
railway transfer boat owned by the Pa.The towis made up in the 'duck pond'
The A.R. Budd was sold to Hillman Missouri Pacific, into an oil barge. We style,so called becauseof the open space
Coal & Coke Companyin 1919and com- were along on that trip. At New Orleans, forward of the towboat. This technique
pound engines were placed on it. They steamwas raised on the Willard V. King was used for downstream movements
proved to be too heavy,and were replaced for power while the boilers on the Kongo only. The towboat's function was to conby a set with the odd dimensionsof 175/8-were washed. We and the captain's son trol the tow, not to push it, so much of the
inch diameter and 61/2-foot stroke. visited the engineroom on the ferry and time it backed or drifted and allowed the
Hillman sold the boat to the Costanzo admired those godawful big engines,the current to movethe fleet, sort of a continCoal Companyin 1931. It was extensively largesteither of us had ever seen.
uous flanking movement. This tow conrebuilt in 1932 and got four new boilers.
"I wonder what would happen..." the sistsof 12 coalboatsand a fuel flat. A careIn 1940 it became the Kongo (see the captain's son said, as he dropped the fill scrutiny revealsthe runboards for the
September 1, 2003, WJ), owned by the levers and crackedthe throttle. There was wheelbarrowsfrom the flat overone of the
Kosmos Cement Company,and operated a loud "WHOOSH!" as the entire fleet drivers (the bargesflanking the duckpond)
by Capt. Leo Birch McBride, who took it moved 15 feet up the Mississippiin an
-SEE DUCKPOND PAGE
25
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