Goebel was a German immigrant to our area in 1856 who set up a photographic studio in our town.
John J Buse was an avid collector of documents and clippings of his town.
Goebel and his assistant (and successor) John Gossler eventually gave Buse over two thousand photos which Buse then dutifully captioned.
These eventually, with the help of John's son, became two historical books for our county.
In the book are several pertaining to natural and man made disasters in our area.
I will leave John's caption to tell the story.
Every once in a while, when the river is low, they still find sections of old river boats.
Sepia Saturday
We drove by St. Charles last week!
ReplyDeleteDid you wave?
DeleteWhat a waste, the boat of course, not the whiskey in barrels....LOL
ReplyDeleteSurely they could have made a raft out of the barrels!
DeleteHoorah for the captain - managing to get the boat to relative safety, saving both passengers and cargo if not the poor boat.
ReplyDeleteAnd some of the currents can be crazy on that river.
DeleteHoly Smokes! That boat looks absolutely crumpled!
ReplyDeleteLooks like it broke it's back or something.
DeleteIt looks like the boat wouldn't have fit under the bridge. It's good nobody was hurt.
ReplyDeleteThe prospective is a little weird but there was plenty of room above.
DeleteThe captions are wonderful. Oh I wish I could bring myself to properly caption my old photographs - it would be doing a service for the future. I must redouble my efforts.
ReplyDeleteYou must get junior involved, you need a good assistant.
DeleteAs Alan said, that photo is a lesson in captioning. An interesting old photo, both from the point of the boat and also the bridge over such a wide stretch of water.
ReplyDeleteI keep hoping to develop as good a record in captioning, but I never do.
DeleteA sad day, but an excellent photograph.
ReplyDeletegoing back and looking at the history of our big rivers and steamboats, it is amazing how many there were and how few (if any) still survive.
DeleteAbsolutely classic photograph, and as you say, the caption tells it all.
ReplyDeleteand there is something about it being in the authors hand writing that makes it better.
DeleteYou get the prize for best picture as far as I'm concerned. What a disaster!
ReplyDeleteMany years ago they rescued one from the river and moved it to dry land and made a restaurant out of it.
DeleteIt lasted for a long time, but eventually burned down.
I love the people casually sitting on the railing. Going down with the ship! Each a captain in their own mind.
ReplyDeleteProbably the ones tasked with unloading the boat as much as possible.
Delete