One-hundred-thirty years ago today, Thomas W Poe died (31 Dec 1881) while on a trip from St Louis to Pittsburgh aboard the str Fearless.  In 1880, Capt Thomas W Poe bought the str Fearless to transport grain between Kansas City and St Louis. 

The str Fearless was a large heavy-draft Mississippi River stern-wheel tow boat built in Pittsburg PA in 1865 according to Benjamin M Laughlin.  It was 160 x 30′ rated at 395 tons with two engines (20″x8′) and five boilers (26′ x 40″)- with a working steam pressure of 150lbs.   When it sank on August 26, 1882 in the Missouri River about 40 miles from its mouth near Lower Bonhomme Island, the boat was owned by the Kansas City Barge Line.  The captain of the boat at the time it sank is unknown.

Happy New year.

Copyright © 2011 Francis W Nash
All Rights Reserved

Tags: capt thomas w poe, missouri river, missouri river steamboat, steamer fearless

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 31st, 2011 at 10:25 am and is filed under History of Georgetown PA, Missouri River Commerce, River history, Steamer Captains. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.