Red River Update: August 7

More Details Emerge

Tuesday, August 7, 2001

The level of the river fell a bit more on Monday evening, exposing the bitts on the boat’s starboard stern section.

Work continued primarily in two areas, mapping the hull structure just aft of the heavy timber trunk encasing the flywheel, and dredging and mapping around the paddlewheel on the port side of the boat. Both areas are crucial to understanding the vessel. Project team members have exposed and mapped the hull structure down to the keelson, keel and sister keels. The construction of this part of the boat should yield valuable clues to both her original design and adaptations made subsequently to fit her out as a steam vessel.

Working off on the port side, crews are uncovering and mapping the paddlewheel there. The wheel appears to be mostly intact and still in place, largely buried in the sandy river bottom. The paddlewheel is more conventional for a riverboat than her hull structure, but still shows some differences from the way wheels were constructed in the latter part of the 19^th century.

On Tuesday evening, Fort Towson Historic Site volunteers treated the Red River Wreck Project crew to dinner. The featured menu item was squirrel dunplings. The evening ended with a Civil War reenactor gun crew firing the fort’s replica 12-pounder Napoleon cannon, the standard field artillery piece used during the conflict. Dr. Laurel Breece, one of the project’s team leaders and an instructor at Long Beach City College, was persuaded to serve a loader on the gun’s crew, much to the amusement of her students and the rest of the team. The evening’s activities were in recognition of the LBCC group’s last day in the field. They will begin the long drive back to California on Wednesday.

This update is sponsored by the PAST Foundation and the Oklahoma Historical Society. It may be freely redistributed without modification for non-commercial purposes.

Sherman (foreground) helps dispose of some leftover squirrel dumplings.	Rick Talley (right) gets an impromptu lesson in handling Civil War artillery.	Dr. Laurel Breece of Long Beach City College warns her students of dire consequences if her picture ends up on the Internet.	Should've used a tripod for this one. . .