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
The Cincinnati River Roots celebration is about to be recorded in the history books today, following a spectacular week of festivities. Soon after a bout of thunder showers last Tuesday, the summer’s persistent heat dropped to more autumn-like temperatures more suited for October.
Although Roots officially began this previous Wednesday, the show really started as soon as the steamboat NATCHEZ departed New Orleans, her hometown, bound for the Middle Ohio River.
Last Sunday’s column described the carrying on as the famed riverboat passed her namesake town, Natchez, Mississippi, with whistle hoots and old-timey tunes belting out on the recently-restored steam calliope. The calliope was once the pride of the Streckfus excursion Steamer SIDNEY, a celebrated steamboat that helped carry the jazz style of music out of New Orleans to audiences along the Mississippi River and beyond.
Following a rebuild in 1921, the SIDNEY was renamed the WASHINGTON and continued operating through part of the 1937 season before being dismantled at St. Louis the following year. The story of Thomas J. Nichols’ calliope from the SIDNEY/WASHINGTON is a story unto itself, needing its own telling at another time.
Along the Lower Mississippi River, the NATCHEZ flew until she turned “hard a’ stabbard” and entered the Ohio River at Cairo, Illinois, before passing Metropolis, Brookport, and Paducah. At Cannelton Lock, on Saturday evening, October 4, 2025, just after 10:00 PM, local river historian Jack Brown caught the NATCHEZ entering the lower lock chamber in a dazzling night shot with lights a’ blazing.
Some years ago, the NATCHEZ earned the sobriquet, “Racehorse of the Rivers,” for her amazing capacity to achieve speeds exceeding practically all other passenger-carrying vessels on the Mighty Mississipi and its tributaries.
By Sunday, the following morning, the highbred was already knocking on the door of McAlpine Lock in Louisville, the home of the Western Rivers’ oldest operating steamboat, the stalwart Steamer BELLE OF LOUISVILLE. By the time the NATCHEZ was out of McAlpine Lock and through the Louisville and Portland Canal, the BELLE was also underway, heading for Cincinnati and River Roots festivities.
All along the shores of the Ohio River, automobiles slowed down to watch the progress of the two sternwheels churning their way upstream. Some wondered if they were about to witness the beginning of a steamboat race until the NATCHEZ easily slid, with impunity, around the Louisville boat. One local wag, when hearing the BELLE OF LOUISVILLE would never stand a chance against the NATCHEZ in a race, commented: “The BELLE’s just saving her stuff for an official challenge.”
Meanwhile, less than a hundred miles upstream at Rising Sun and Aurora, Indiana, steamboat aficionado Barb Anderson and I stayed glued to our electronic devices and ship-finding apps to keep track of the approaching steamboats. Soon, all my attention focused on the faster NATCHEZ while plotting her estimated time of arrival (ETA) to Markland Lock, some 25 miles below Rising Sun, and the last lock before Cincy.
At the speed the New Orleans racer was averaging, she’d pass Barb’s southern-style Riviera Inn, located just above my last commercial command, the casinoboat GRAND VICTORIA II, two and a half hours after departing Markland Lock. Aurora Bend was yet another hour upriver. After calculating the ETAs for the NATCHEZ, I shared them on several social media pages to inform as many readers as possible to hurry to the river to witness a rare occurrence: the passing of not just one, but ultimately two authentic historical steamboats.
Sunday, October 6, just happened to be Barb Anderson’s birthday. She’s also Facebook friends with Captain Matt Dow, Director of Marine Operations for the NATCHEZ and a virtuoso on the SIDNEY and Frisbie calliopes. From correspondence shared between Barb and me, I knew that Cap’n Matt planned a special tune for her on the “steam-powered piano.” Meanwhile, Cap’n Matt and I also shared electronic notes, and I understood he and his musical apprentice, Watchman Chris Heard, had a couple of surprise tunes for me when the steamboat passed Aurora.
Unbeknownst to either Barb or Cap’n Matt, my son Jesse and I drove to Rising Sun to observe the passing of the NATCHEZ through the stretch of the Ohio River that I called home for sixteen years on the GRAND VIC. At just four minutes before 7:00 PM, Sunday, October 5, 2025, the pilot, Captain Bert Suarez, blew a salute on the NATCHEZ whistle as Cap’n Dow began “Happy Birthday” on one of the two calliopes. On shore, near the Rising Sun boat ramp, Jesse and I videoed the scene. But as soon as the NATCHEZ passed, we hopped into our machine and headed for a vantage point to watch the steamboat pass Aurora in the approaching darkness.
Arriving at Lesko Park, below the big bend at Aurora, Captain Jake Orcutt and Captain Ron Abdon had their boats, the CLYDE and the L’IL ATTABOY, waiting offshore for the NATCHEZ to arrive. Several minutes later, a voice in the darkness announced, “Here she comes,” as the bright lights of the NATCHEZ penetrated the dusk. I informed Cap’n Matt that I would be waving a flashlight. Moments later, I received, “We’re going to light her up, Cap,” as the first notes cleared the condensation from the Frisbie’s brass whistles, causing the lights to illuminate the steam plumes in an array of colors.
Within a few seconds, the memorable notes of Al Jolson’s 1920 song, “Avalon,” came across the water from the instrument to where I stood watching and remembering the times Captain Clarke C. “Doc” Hawley played it whenever he had a notion I was within earshot. As a young deckhand on the Steamer AVALON in 1960, on chilly evenings, I often stood in the steam emitted by that boat’s calliope whistles to keep warm while “the doctor” played to attract guests to the excursion boat for its Moonlight Cruise. In the intervening years following our time together on the AVALON, Cap’n Doc always played “my song” for me on that “infernal steam-powered contraption” called a calliope.
As the last notes of “Avalon” faded from the steep hills forming a deep bowl around my adopted community, another familiar tune reached the Aurora shore. It penetrated the furthest valleys carved into the hillsides. Cap’n Matt, on the SIDNEY calliope, enriched the darkness with another melody which Captain Hawley also played for me, “Alice Blue Gown,” a 1919 ditty inspired by Alice Roosevelt Longworth’s signature blue satin gown.
As the last inflection of the vaporous tones of the calliope faded into whispers in the night, and the NATCHEZ rounded the unseen bend above town, I informed Captain Dow, “So beautiful. Thank you. Cap’n Doc couldn’t have done better.”
Cap’n Matt replied:” Chris did ‘Avalon,’ and I played ‘Alice Blue Gown’ just for you, Sir — we do our best to make Capt. Hawley proud.”
Me: “You, Chris, crew, and the Steamer NATCHEZ put on a helluva show. Surprisingly, so many folks on shore were excited to see a steamboat passing. Thanks for bringing your lovely steamboat all this way to make people happy.”
Cap’n Matt: “That’s what steamboatin’ is all about. I’m happy to be able to do that for everyone I can.”
Me: “You folks do it so well. I saw it myself, both in Rising Sun and here at Aurora Bend. What I witnessed wasn’t just another day; it was history made before my eyes. Thanks again to you and all your crew.”
Cap’n Matt: “Thank you, Cap, that means a lot to me coming from a riverman like you. We came up under Captain Hawley, and are doing our best to keep this tradition, and his legacy, going.”
By the time the last words flowed between Captain Matt Dow and me, the CLYDE and L’IL ATTABOY were safely deep into the bight of Aurora Bend to avoid the wake of the “Race of the Rivers.” By the time my son Jesse photographed me in the darkness, standing by a guardrail in Lesko Park, the palatial Steamer NATCHEZ was but a small glimmer of light far into the bend.
The following day, Monday, October 6, 2025, around 3:15 PM, Captain Pete O’Connell, pilot aboard the BELLE OF LOUISVILLE, called my phone and disclosed, “We’re just around the bend and will be passing Rising Sun soon. Sorry, but we don’t have a calliope player onboard.”
Jesse and I were already parked by the boat ramp on the Indiana side, directly across the Ohio River from the Rabbit Hash, Kentucky, General Store, waiting for the BELLE, which spent the night tied up at Patriot, IN, several miles downstream. As the BELLE passed, Jesse and I made a photographic record of her blowing a salute on her ancient cast-iron, thunderous steam whistle, waking every baby and senior napping on both sides of the river. As soon as she passed, we hopped into the car and were waiting when the BELLE arrived, more than an hour later. Again, Cap’n Pete and I communicated by text messages before he thrilled everyone in the Aurora Bend section of the Middle Ohio River with a rousing salute on the BELLE’s “baby-waker.”
Both historic steamboats arrived safely in Cincinnati for the River Roots celebration, which is winding down today. Since last Wednesday, these boats and several others from all points on the Western Rivers have entertained and delighted thousands of folks fortunate enough to take a boat ride, and countless others who enjoyed them from afar. Hopefully, River Roots was a BIG success, all around, and it happens again. And if it does, hopefully, the most famous steamboat in the world, the Steamer DELTA QUEEN, is among the participants. After all, as a confident, wise man recently told me, “Nothing is impossible.”
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.
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