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
My head’s spinning round and round. It’s hard to think while waiting for news of an unexpected development after an early morning email nearly knocked me out of bed. What a way to start the day! While I wait for more details on the matter, which I haven’t heard yet, I’ll pass along some recent updates from aboard the paddlewheeler CLYDE.
Downstream, below Aurora Bend on the Middle Ohio River, Captain Jacob “Jake” Orcutt recently spent his time off the towboats he normally pilots to rebuild the exterior of the pilothouse of the stern paddlewheeler CLYDE, my old boat.
For those who don’t know, the CLYDE is an authentic 50-foot replica of the first iron-hulled steamboat built on the Upper Mississippi River. The original CLYDE, built in 1870 at the Iowa Iron Works, Dubuque, Iowa, came out of the boatyard as a sidewheel raftboat. But five years later, new owners rebuilt her as a sternwheeler. The reconfigured CLYDE guided great rafts of first-growth Wisconsin White Pine logs from the Mouth of the Chippewa River south to sawmills as far downstream as St. Louis.
Among the licensed pilots and engineers aboard the Wisconsin-serving “rafter” were members of the Newcomb family. Later, in 1990, Ed Newcomb, a descendant of the original steamboatmen and a self-proclaimed “boatyard carpenter,” began constructing a reduced version of his ancestor’s raftboat. After Ed’s son grew into manhood to seek interests of his own, the CLYDE lost half its crew. During the Spring of 2012, I spied the now-for-sale delightful paddlewheeler on social media and ended up buying her.
With the help of Everett Dameron, a Covington hometown “boat nerd,” we brought the CLYDE under its paddlewheel power, covering some 1,300 river miles from Alma, Wisconsin, to Aurora Bend, including enough fluvial adventures to satisfy most thrill-seekers a lifetime.
Following a too-quickly-passing eight years of ownership, I sold the CLYDE South to the Upper Tennessee River, somewhere past Suck Creek, to where it would have spent its last days, mouldering away had not Captain Jake, a Cincinnati harbor towboat pilot, rescued the once spunky sternwheel and returned her to the very dock she shared during my stint of ownership. Since then, Jake’s gradually been getting the CLYDE back in shape.
“I want her to look just like she did, Cap’n Don, when you had her,” he promised soon after the paddlewheeler returned.
Besides restoring the nationally known sternwheeler’s rightful historical name, CLYDE, honoring the original 1870s Upper Mississippi rafter, Jake has made numerous improvements to his boat, a little bit at a time. His latest project was the renovation of the exterior of the pilothouse, which suffered damage after a Tennessee moving company rep hacked the “knowledge box” all around its base with a “saws-all” before setting the shed-like structure onto CLYDE’s bow before hauling the heavy boat away from its natural element.
Cap’n Jake’s first step was the removal of the original vinyl clapboard siding. Vinyl siding? Please note that the CLYDE is a large-scale model of the original steam-powered rafter it commemorates. Consequently, many of the vessel’s adornments, meant to replicate the original mid-19th-century accoutrements, do not function as realistically as their indigenous counterparts. After replacing the wooden substructure, CLYDE’s skipper restored the recommended underlayment. Then, instead of using vinyl clapboard-style siding, Jake employed sheets of wooden beadboard, which gave the pilothouse a clean, new look — especially after applying a coat of ultra-white paint specifically designed for maritime construction use.
Once Captain Orcutt completed his pilothouse renewal, he untied his much nicer-looking boat and paddled up the Ohio River to show his work to friends. During a stop at a marina located on another tributary of the Ohio, Jake emailed me a photo of the CLYDE moored in a slip too short for the boat. “She’s the biggest boat in the marina,” the message revealed.
Soon after, long shadows darkened the inland cove announcing departure time for the CLYDE. Along the way home, the sternwheeler passed the ship-like overnight passenger vessel AMERICAN MELODY. Jake and the pilot — whose name he forgot to ask — talked over the marine radio. The MELODY pilot revealed that he once steered the CLYDE on the Upper Mississippi River for builder Ed Newcomb.
“It’s sure a small world,” Jake commented on one of his last messages before leaving the broad Ohio and turning up the creek towards CLYDE’s home base.
Easing into Slip #16 on Bravo Dock around 9:45 p.m., Captain Jake “shut ‘er down,” making sure everything was in its proper place before gathering up whatever needed to go home with him before climbing the long, steep ramp to the parking lot; another day gone. Within a year or so, only CLYDE’s logbook will remember such a busy day.
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.