The riverboat captain is a storyteller. Captain Don Sanders shares the stories of his long association with the river — from discovery to a way of love and life. This a part of a long and continuing story.
By Capt. Don Sanders
Special to NKyTribune
Cincinnati historian and world traveler Bonnie Speeg sent a note this past week: “I just emailed you a PDF of the ‘Telescope Journey to Cincinnati by Steamboat in 1844-45.’ What a pleasure reviewing all the extensive steamboat material.”
The telescope Ms. Speeg mentioned is the 1845 Merz and Mahler Telescope, presently housed at the Cincinnati Observatory Center, one of the oldest operating telescopes in the world. The telescope came to Cincinnati 180 years ago from Munich, Germany.
“When the telescope arrived in Cincinnati, it was the largest in the United States,” she added.
Packed in 14 wooden boxes, including European astronomy books, much of the travel of the cumbersome and delicate optical instrument was by water. First, aboard a ship crossing the Atlantic on a 6,000-mile journey to the Port of New Orleans, and then another 1,425 miles by steamboat to Cincinnati, with an unexpected layover at Smithland, Kentucky, at the Mouth of the Cumberland River.
The concept for the telescope became the brainchild of Cincinnati astronomer Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel. In June 1842, Mitchel traveled alone from New York to Liverpool, England, where he purchased the Merz & Mahler Telescope for $10,000 using money he raised selling $25 shares to residents of the Queen City. In 1842, $25 had the buying power of roughly $830 in today’s overly inflated currency.
After an extended three-month sea journey, the telescope arrived in New Orleans, then the fourth-largest seaport in the world. Ahead lay the treacherous Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. Snags, sandbars, currents, low water, not to mention the possibilities of exploding boilers, fires, collisions, and even the occasional river pirate.
The newly constructed steamboat, YORKTOWN, commanded by Cincinnatian and Captain Thomas Jefferson “TJ” Haldeman, became Mitchel’s choice to deliver his precious cargo home to the Middle Ohio River Valley.
In Captain Frederick Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994, the YORKTOWN (5890) was a sidewheel packet with a wooden hull, built in Cincy in 1844. Overall, she was 182 X 31 X 8, with 24-inch high-pressure cylinders having a 9-foot piston stroke. In April 1846, the YORKTOWN brought news of the beginning of the Mexican War to Cincinnati. The YORKTOWN was also one of the first steamboats to feature a Texas Deck, providing additional cabin space — an 1840s innovation.
Captain Thomas Jefferson Haldeman (1804-1874), a native of Kentucky, moved to Cincinnati in 1829, where he soon became interested in steamboats, as they were the most exciting and often more profitable enterprise of that era. Soon, he partnered with Captain George Washington Walker (1817-1903), a Cincinnatian by birth, who began his river career as a boat builder and steamboat joiner.
Haldeman and Walker’s first steamboat venture was the sidewheeler MAIL, built in 1844 and burned at St. Louis in 1848. Capt. Way has little to say about the MAIL other than it was a wooden-hulled packet of 211 tons. Another source revealed that the partners sold the MAIL after one year and joined other investors to build the larger packet EXPRESS MAIL. The YORKTOWN was their next steamboat adventure.
After about 20 years, Captain Haldeman retired from commanding steamboats. He became the first boiler inspector in the bustling Port of Cincinnati. Haldeman was also a leading advocate for boiler safety at a time when steam plant explosions and fires resulted in numerous casualties and injuries annually on the Mississippi River System. Not long after leaving the packetboat trade, Haldeman joined his longtime partner Walker again. Using the money they earned from steamboating, the partners went into the papermaking business north of Cincinnati and remained in that trade for the rest of their lives.
With Captain TJ Haldeman’s extensive steamboat experience and fluvial proficiency, he and his newly constructed YORKTOWN were the perfect team to carry the Merz & Mahler Telescope on the arduous journey from the Crescent City to the Queen City, beginning in December 1844. After a delayed departure, the YORKTOWN wound upstream over 950 miles against the might of the Mississippi River before turning into the Ohio River at Cairo Point. After only 63 more miles, low water and protruding sandbars at the Mouth of the Cumberland adjacent to the small, but turbulent town of Smithland, Kentucky, the steamer ground to a halt.
Unable to continue the journey further, Cap’n TJ lightened the YORKTOWN of much of its cargo, including the irreplaceable Merz & Mahler Telescope, and stored it ashore in the back of a waterfront building, which may have been the Gower House Tavern, a historical landmark still standing in Smithland. With the steamer made lighter, it reversed course and returned to New Orleans. Thankfully for all concerned and posterity, no one tampered with the precious cargo left in the back room of the saloon and boarding house. A few weeks later, the YORKTOWN returned to Smithland, retrieved its errant consignment, and delivered it safely to Cincinnati.
Historian Bonnie Speeg best describes the conclusion of the voyage of the YORKTOWN’s delivery:
“The YORKTOWN with the Merz and Mahler Telescope aboard arrived on the expansive, busy Ohio Riverfront landing in Cincinnati on Monday, January 20, 1845. The numerous delays in arriving gave Captain T.J. Haldeman and co-captain George Washington Walker the unexpected advantage of avoiding a Cincinnati fire that occurred the day before its arrival, which would have destroyed the telescope. Captain Haldeman delivered the telescope to Cincinnati one day after the disastrous fire in College Hall, which burned to the ground on Sunday, January 19; thus, the telescope was spared from burning alive. The telescope arrived on the riverfront and was received safely by the anxious and waiting hands of astronomer Mitchel, who eventually installed it in the observatory he had built on Mt. Adams. The Cincinnati Astronomical Society minutes proclaim the telescope rested ‘in the hands of the Society.”
Bonnie further notes that “it was without dispute that Captain T. J. Haldeman’s river skills brought the YORKTOWN and the telescope safely to Cincinnati. Captain Haldeman was rewarded by being made an honorary member of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society.”
Cincinnati businessman and entrepreneur Nicholas Longworth donated four acres of land at the top of Mt. Ida for the observatory to house the telescope. On November 9, 1843, former U.S. President John Quincy Adams delivered the dedication address and laid the cornerstone for the building. Mt. Ida was renamed Mt. Adams in his honor. In 1873, to escape the increasing pollution of downtown Cincinnati, the telescope was relocated to Mt. Lookout, five miles east of the city limits at that time.
The Merz and Mahler Telescope may still be seen at the Cincinnati Observatory, also known as the Mt. Lookout Observatory, 180 years after its safe delivery aboard the Steamer YORKTOWN under the careful command of Captain Thomas Jefferson Haldeman and his partner, Captain George Washington Walker, both of whom rest eternally in Cincinnati’s Spring Grove Cemetery.
Captain Don Sanders is a river man. He has been a riverboat captain with the Delta Queen Steamboat Company and with Rising Star Casino. He learned to fly an airplane before he learned to drive a “machine” and became a captain in the USAF. He is an adventurer, a historian and a storyteller. Now, he is a columnist for the NKyTribune, sharing his stories of growing up in Covington and his stories of the river. Hang on for the ride — the river never looked so good.
Purchase Captain Don Sanders’ The River book
Capt. Don Sanders The River: River Rat to steamboatman, riding ‘magic river spell’ to 65-year adventure is now available for $29.95 plus handling and applicable taxes. This beautiful, hardback, published by the Northern Kentucky Tribune, is 264-pages of riveting storytelling, replete with hundreds of pictures from Capt. Don’s collection — and reflects his meticulous journaling, unmatched storytelling, and his appreciation for detail. This historically significant book is perfect for the collections of every devotee of the river.
You may purchase your book by mail from the Northern Kentucky Tribune — or you may find the book for sale at all Roebling Books locations and at the Behringer Crawford Museum and the St. Elizabeth Healthcare gift shops.
Click here to order your Captain Don Sanders’ ‘The River’ now.