The Big Mama of the Mississippi
by Maria Coulson
Title
The Big Mama of the Mississippi
Artist
Maria Coulson
Medium
Photograph - Digital Art, Fine Art Phototgraphy
Description
Riverfront mural by renowned artist Robert Dafford in Vicksburg, Mississippi.
The largest and most powerful stern wheel towboat ever launched (318 feet long, 61 feet wide), the steamer Sprague, was constructed in 1901 by the Dubuque Boat and Boiler Works in Iowa for the Monongehela River Consolidated Coal and Coke Company.
The Sprague broke the record for towing when, in 1907, it pushed the largest tow of barges handled by a steam-powered vessel- 60 units, 1,125 feet long, 312 feet wide, and 67,307 tons. Unfortunately it also broke the record for the most tows lost- 53,200 tons of coal above Osceola, Arkansas.
In April 1927, the steamer transported human cargo during the massive Mississippi River flood, rescuing an estimated 20,000 people bringing them to Vicksburg.
In 1948, the steamboat was decommissioned at Memphis having traveled a distance equal to forty times around the equator and was to be scraped. A reprieve came from the citizens of Vicksburg who purchased the Sprague for use as a floating theater for the melodrama Gold in the Hills and as the home of a river-related museum and the Vicksburg Yacht Club.
Affectionately called "Big Mama," the Sprague burned in 1974 and eventually sank in 1979
Proceeds from the sale of this photograph goes to help orphaned and abandoned children in Colombia South America.
Uploaded
March 17th, 2021
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