Pieces of the Past: The Steamboat Columbia

Monday, July 27, 2009

The Steamboat Columbia

When I saw this picture of my mother standing by the Illinois River with the Steamboat Columbia in the background, it triggered a memory of her telling me about the steamboat sinking and many people being drowned. Neither she nor any of her family were aboard that boat, thank the good Lord. I decided to google the Columbia - and there it was. Isn't this age of technology awesome?

I saved the story then printed it out and scanned it. The tragedy happened on July 6, 1918 and there were 400 to 500 people on the boat.

It is interesting to read the article (click to enlarge) and realize the difference in responding to emergencies today compared to then. It speaks of a special train bringing all available doctors to the scene and a train taking the injured to hospitals.

1 comment:

LeslieJuly 28, 2009 at 10:54 AM
wow, isn't that something. Leif had an uncle that died while resucing many teens from an over turned boat. They said he saved many before going under from exhaustion. What a hero, huh.
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Old Pictures of the People in My Life

In this blog, I will post pictures from the past of the many people in my life who I love and have loved. The initial post and any that are labeled Pearce Family refer to my mother's family. Dan and Maggie Pearce had five children, Nelle, Nan, my mother, Harry (Ham), Leah and Ed. They took a lot of pictures and I plan to post many of them. My brother has sent me many pictures over the internet this past week - some of which I haven't seen - and this has prompted me to set up this blog to display those wonderful old photos.

I will also be posting pictures of my family, my husband's family, and our family. Those posts will be labeled by the family's name in the list on the sidebar. I hope this is something that will be enjoyed by anyone who looks in on

my blog.

I will try and tell as much as I can remember about people and places and events and of course much of it will be inaccurate but really just having the great old photographs to look at is fun in itself. And I do know who lots of the folks are.

Enjoy.