20.00
35
AVALON
Built Memphis, Tenn., 1914 Length, 157 ft. 260 toris
Of four passenger steamboats still plying the Mississippi System, three are day
excursion boats. The Avalon, though the smallest, most nearly resembles her many
ancestors on these waters. She is a two-deck, twin-stack, sternwheel boat and had,
until a recent modernization, the coal-fired return-flue boilers of western river
tradition. Also, she is a tramp excursion boat-one which migrates from port to
port along the Mississippi, Ohio, Missouri, and lesser streams, offering anything
from a one-night stand to a week of daytime and moonlight excursions. Her career
has been versatile in the extreme. Originally built as the ferryboat Idlewild, she ran
across the Mississippi at Memphis. Later she served as a packet and as a towboat
before settling down to excursion work. Her current owners renamed her Avalon
in honor of a larger predecessor.
CAPTAIN FREDERICK WAY COLLECTION
