|
 It could be said that
the Delta Queen Steamboat Company can trace its roots
to a warm June 22, 1890. Not in Cincinnati, long the
heart
of Steamboatin'® in America, nor in New
Orleans, long associated with Steamboatin' as its
largest Southern port. No, it was in Nashville,
Tenn., on the Cumberland River, where a
newly-licensed
river
pilot, Capt. Gordon Christopher Greene, attended an
auction to buy a steamboat.
On the advice of a wise old roustabout, he chose the
H.K. Bedford and thus created the Greene Line
Steamers, entering it into service on the upper Ohio
and Kanawha rivers. His young bride, Mary Becker Greene,
soon began standing watch in the pilot house with him,
and rapidly learned the river. Capt. Mary became one
of the first licensed women pilots. The Greene Line
expanded as more vessels were added to the fleet, and
"home" for the fledgling Greene family was
almost always aboard one of their boats.
Capt.
Gordon's savvy as a businessman allowed the Greene Line
to thrive and survive many financial, political and
commercial obstacles that would spring up. Skillfully
merging with his rivals, building a reputation for customer
service and always delivering what it promised, the
Greene Line triumphed as more and more steamboats retired
from the river. Even as railways and trucking lines
carried an increasingly larger percentage of freight
once consigned to steamboats, the Greene Line kept its
share of cargo.
 Realizing, though, that freight would not always sustain
the line, Capt. Gordon expanded his operations to include
passengers as well. At Capt. Mary's suggestion, he inaugurated
a special charter down the Ohio River to the St. Louis
World's fair. It was such a success that he scheduled
several more during the fair's duration.
Capt. Gordon passed away in 1927 and was succeeded
by his son, Capt. Chris, who shared his father's business
acumen. Capt. Mary, now legendary as a river hostess,
established the company's renowned standards for hospitality
and passenger care. Capt. Chris passed away unexpectedly
at a young age. His brother, Capt. Tom Greene, took
over the reins and guided the Greene Line into the stormy
days of World War II.
With a population on the home front starved for affordable
wartime getaways that didn't involve travel on trains
crowded with troops, overnight Steamboatin' vacations
aboard the Greene Line vessels were wildly popular.
The company steamed out of the war years strong and
robust. Capt. Tom cast his eye around for a new luxury
steamboat to augment the often filled-to-capacity Gordon
C. Greene — and found it in California!
 The
river steamers Delta Queen® and Delta King
were part of the Navy's large "mothball fleet"
near the Sacramento River. Both had served gallantly
during the war, functioning as troop carriers in San
Francisco Bay. The Delta Queen even served as
an elegant hostess for delegates to the United Nations
Founding Conference, and at one point, was a floating
gun installation, covering famed Alcatraz Penitentiary
during a prisoner uprising.
For a bid of slightly more than $47,000, Capt. Tom
acquired the Delta Queen at government auction.
(Interestingly, he was shortly thereafter offered the
Delta King by the winner of its bid, who had
been unaware he was buying a river paddlewheeler instead
of an ocean-going freighter he was hoping for!) Considering
it had cost nearly $1 million to build and outfit each
of the sister boats, the Greene Line Steamers had a
real bargain.
 But
the Delta Queen was thousands of miles away from
the Mississippi River system. Under the supervision
of Capt. Fred Way, long a friend of the Greene family,
the Delta Queen was boarded up like a giant piano
box and was towed down the California coast, through
the Panama Canal, across the Gulf of Mexico and up the
Mississippi. Under its own power, it steamed proudly
upriver to Cincinnati and then to Pittsburgh, where
it underwent a thorough refurbishment.
In 1948, the Delta Queen joined the Greene Line's
fleet and took her place on the Mississippi system.
Capt. Mary Greene, affectionately known to riverfolk
as "Ma" Greene, still active on the river,
moved into a specially outfitted suite on the Cabin
Deck. She passed away several months later, having served
55 years on the river. Shortly after that, Capt. Tom
died of an unexpected heart attack in 1950. His wife,
Letha Greene, took over the company.
 An
economic downturn in the late '50s threatened the company
and Mrs. Greene sold all the vessels in the Greene Line's
fleet, except for the Delta Queen. Soon it became
apparent that she would have to shut down operations
entirely. But Steamboatin's a resilient American institution,
and a California businessman, Richard Simonton, enamored
with his vacations on the Delta Queen, stepped
in and rescued the company.
He hired a brilliant young publicist named Betty Blake
to help revitalize national interest in paddlewheel
vacations on America's heartland rivers. She was so
successful that by the mid-1960s, the Greene Line had
paid off its entire debt, including the mortgage on
the Delta Queen. But just as things were looking
particularly rosy, Congress passed an American version
of the international Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) convention.
The days of substantially wooden passenger vessels were
numbered. And the Delta Queen, with its rich
woodwork, was among them.
Betty Blake organized a nationwide "Save the Queen"
campaign. Petitions flooded the halls of Congress and
ultimately, she and Steamboatin's many supporters triumphed.
The Delta Queen continues to operate under a
special congressional exception to SOLAS legislation
to this day.
But to assure Steamboatin's continuity, the company
began plans for an all-steel steamboat. Acquired by
Overseas National Airways in 1969 and renamed the Delta
Queen Steamboat Company in 1974, the steamboat line
began construction on the largest steamboat the world
had ever seen. The magnificent Mississippi Queen®
featured a sleek white exterior, designed by James Gardner,
designer of the Queen Elizabeth II. She was launched
during the American Bicentennial in 1976 and proudly
took her place alongside her venerable sister.
In the 1980s, the company was purchased by millionaire
Sam Zell of Chicago. Its headquarters were moved from
Cincinnati to a vintage, turn-of-the-century bulk cargo
warehouse on the New Orleans riverfront, where the first-ever
steamboat passenger terminal was constructed. Here,
in 1990, the company's centennial was celebrated. In
the early '90s, The Delta Queen Steamboat Company acquired
the troubled American Hawaii Cruises line and
its grand, historic ocean liners, the SS Independence
and the SS Constitution. A Chicago-based parent
company, American Classic Voyages, was formed to administer
services shared by both cruise lines.
Steamboatin' proved one of America's most popular modes
of leisure travel. Boasting an occupancy rate and repeat
passenger percentages that were the envy of the cruise
industry, it became evident that another steamboat was
needed for the fleet. The grand American Queen®
was launched in 1995 to meet the demand for folks seeking
the all-American Steamboatin' experience.
In 1999, the Delta Queen Steamboat Company acquired
an abandoned, incomplete vessel originally started as
a Louisiana casino boat. Redesigned, it, like its older
sister, was towed through the Panama Canal, this time
in the opposite direction. In the summer of 2000, the
adventurous Columbia Queen began service in the
Pacific Northwest on the Columbia, Snake and Willamette
rivers.
An unusually ambitious building program by American
Classic Voyages in the late 1990s, made possible in
part by the success of Steamboatin', caused financial
strains on the company, which, when coupled with the
terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, threatened
the continuation of Steamboatin' on America's rivers.
But once again, the fans of Steamboatin' flocked to
preserve its legacy. Under new ownership of Delaware
North Company, the legendary Delta Queen, the
magnificent Mississippi Queen and the grand American
Queen continue their service on the river. Back
in charge of the company are Steamboaters who know,
love and understand its significance and respect its
long, distinguished legacy. "Blue water is out,
brown water is in!" is our motto.
Yes, Steamboatin' endures, just as it has through floods,
wars, political opposition and financial challenges.
Because of river enthusiasts' affection for this cherished
institution, Steamboatin' will always be a fixture on
America's heartland rivers. And today's Steamboaters
will proudly keep those big, red paddlewheels churnin',
their wake beating out the rhythm of an American way
of life that is kept alive only by the elegant paddlewheelers
of the Delta Queen Steamboat Company.
© The Delta Queen
Steamboat Company, Inc. 2006 |
