Tacoma (Packet, 1883-1922)

BOAT DESCRIPTION: Sternwheel

BOAT TYPE: Packet

BUILT: 1883 at New Richmond, Ohio

FINAL DISPOSITION: Burned at Cincinnati on November 4, 1922

OWNERS: Ohio River Packet Company; Tacoma Transportation Company (1890); Cincinnati, Portsmouth, Big Sandy and Pomeroy Packet Company (1901); Captain Gordon C. Greene, Captain William E. Roe, Captain Maratin F. Noll, Junius Greenwood, and Captain Jesse P. Hughes (1904)

OFFICERS & CREW: William Cliff (pilot, 1883); Asa Reed (chief engineer, 1883); David Cheesman (clerk, 1883), Dave Scatterday (head clerk, 1896-?; purser, 1915); Captain Jesse P. Hughes (master)

RIVERS: Ohio River

OTHER INFORMATION: Ways - 5292; Known for her long, continuous operation as a packet and for never having a name change or alteration in appearance. She ran 39 years and was always based at Cincinnati. Built for the Cincinnati-Chilo trade. Her first trip was on September 28, 1883. In 1897 she was rebuilt and rechained at the Cincinnati Marine Ways. Around 1904, she was put in the Cincinnati-Pomeroy-Charleston trade and she remained in that trade for the rest of her lifetime. In 1908 she received a new hull and boilers. The Tacoma was lost in a fire in November 1922. That fire originated on the Morning Star and also consumed the Island Queen and the Chris Greene. Her machinery was rebuilt and then put on the second Chris Greene

PHOTO DESCRIPTION: Crew members seated or standing at a dining table in the main cabin on the Tacoma in August 1918: Jake Brooker, steward Jim Gross (standing), Captain (unidentified further), Mattie Millor (standing), mate Alex Shaw, Stogie White