PPRC Photography Project: Missisippi Tows
Mississippi River Pilots and Their Crews
June 23 - August 31, 2009
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| Tony Stanbery, The Susie Cooney (AEP River Operations) Heads toward the Jefferson Barracks Bridge South of St. Louis, 6.48 x 8.64 inches, digital color print |
Read the Suburban Journals article on this Photography Project here.
This Photography Project features pictures taken by staff and crew from two companies: J.B. Marine, a St. Louis dry dock and barge repair service, and AEP River Operations, a large shipping concern with a port in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Most of the images selected for this exhibition reflect the beauty of the Mississippi River and the people who crew its working boats. Other photographs, however, document the gigantic scale of river operations. In many photos deckhands appear tiny against the huge locks and cargo barges they manage with apparent ease.
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| Derek Libbert, Deck Hand dwarfed by Lock at Racine, West Virginia, 6.48 x 8.64 inches, digital color print |
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St. Louis and Southeast Missouri are situated near the confluence of three major rivers, the Mississippi, the Missouri and the Ohio, making the St. Louis and Cape Girardeau harbors on the Mississippi major hubs for river traffic. The Mississippi is the third largest river in the world, after the Nile and the Amazon, yet for many people it is simply the main East/West dividing line of our country. But, for the men and women who work the river, it is a busy super highway — a major conduit by which they move the massive quantities of coal, oil, diesel fuel, steel, grain and other commodities that keep this country running smoothly. The importance of river transportation to our economy cannot be understated. Weighing in at between 1,600 and 1,900 tons, each one of the hundreds of barges that are towed on the river every day carries the equivalent of 19 railway cars or 52 semi-trucks of material.
River workers also think of the Mississippi as their community. Not the kind of neighborhood you and I might describe as our community, but their own 2350-mile long community of familiar boats, barges, river pilots, dock hands and lock workers. The community includes favorite riverside restaurants, refueling and supply spots, as well as their own police force — the U. S. Coast Guard.
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| Gene Mathews, Mike Radcliffe, Pilot Trainee, on the Mary Scheel, AEP River Operations, 6.48 x 8.64 inches, digital color print |
Most of the working craft that ply the Mississippi these days are 1000 to 10,500 horsepower boats that push ganged barges, known collectively as “tows.” St. Louis harbor is the spot on the river where large barge tows, from as far south as New Orleans, are broken down into smaller tows to travel up river to Minneapolis or ports in between. Below St. Louis the Mississippi is broad and flat—at one point up to three miles wide — and can accommodate 40 barge tows (rigged together 8 barges across and 5 long). Moving north from St. Louis, however, is far more complicated as river traffic must navigate locks, dams, bridges and gradually narrowing shipping lanes.
| Gene Massengill, The Carol Ann Parsonage’s Pilot, Donnie Rendleman, surrounded by navigational equipment, 6.48 x 8.64 inches, digital color print |
Navigating locks, reconnoitering bridge abutments and fending off huge tree trunks, junk cars and other trash that careens downriver requires skill, experience and extreme caution. Weather (high winds, ice storms, tornadoes and flooding, along with the occasional man-made accident, oil spills or bridge collisions) impacts the smooth running of river commerce, as well as the working lives of river crews. A typical crew consists of a captain, a pilot, two engineers, four deckhands and a cook. Most crews work 28-30 days on and 28-30 days off in 6 hour shifts. Their boats are equipped with state of the art navigation, communication and safety systems. Richard Riley, Captain of the Bruce Darst, an AEP River Operations boat, describes his daily routine as follows: “I am on watch 06:00 am ‘til 12:00 noon. In those 6-hours we have safety meetings with the crew; navigate the boat and barges up or down the river; make bridges, or go through locks & dams. There are a lot of things that can take place in a short 6-hour watch.” Gene Massengill, 1st Mate on various AEP boats, adds more detailed information: “Each watch has coffee made for the next watch to wake up to. With a fresh cup in my hand, I head straight to the deck locker to find my relief who is ready to pass on information about what happened during the last six hours. We also find out what might be happening during our watch — that could be anything from swapping tows with another boat, working locks or making landings...for safety there’s always two men on watch with the deck crew. One pilot and one engineer complete the crew that will be up until 6 a.m. We begin by checking the barges in our tow for water. The voids we check are separate compartments between the cargo box and the outer wall of a barge. We check each void every six hours for leaks or hull damage. We inspect our rigging (the equipment that holds all the barges together). We make sure all navigation lights are working and everything appears O.K. Back on the boat, we have regular clean-up chores, then more coffee. At 3 A.M. we go back on our tow to check the navigation lights again for safety. At 4 a.m. our cook starts her day preparing breakfast. At 5 a.m. we knock on our relief’s door. Shortly after they arrive at the galley, fresh coffee is brewed and breakfast is hot! When each finishes, they come to the deck locker with coffee in hand. We pass on information about what has been done and what changes might happen during the next six hours — then. . .we do it all over again, twice a day, every day for a month at a time.”
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Gene Massengill, The Carol Ann’s Cook Marty Smith, 6.48 x 8.64 |
Prior to this Project, I could not understand the lure of the Mississippi River. To me it was just the big, muddy, water barrier I had to cross (in bumper-to-bumper traffic) on my way to work, or the place where casinos on fake paddleboats pretend to float. The photographs for this Project made me “see” the true nature of the river. To a casual observer, the river may seem romantically beautiful or muddy and dangerous, but to a professional it is a powerful, if unpredictable, thoroughfare for commerce and a tight knit community of hardworking river boat crews. Now, when I cross the river, I strain to see which boats are running and what they are hauling.
-- Mel Watkin, Director
PPRC Photography Project
Exhibit Details:
PPRC Photography Project Gallery, June 23 - August 31, 2009
(South hall, third floor, Social Science/Business Building at UMSL)
Info. 314-516-5273 • Website: http://pprc.umsl.edu
Gallery hours: daily 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Opening Reception: June 23, noon to 1 p.m.
Gallery talks with Photography Project director Mel Watkin
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Cape Girardeau Public Library: June 23 - August 1, 2009
711 North Clark Street, Cape Girardeau, MO 63701
Info. 573-334-5279 • Website: http://capelibrary.org
Hours: 9 a.m. – 9 p.m. Mon.-Thurs. and 9a.m. - 5p.m. Fri. & Sat.
Opening Reception: June 23, 5:30 - 7 p.m.
Gallery talks with student participants, Mel Watkin, Photography Project director , Jeff Stover, Senior Port Captain, AEP River Operations and Paula Fetherston, Adult Services Coordinator, Cape Girardeau
Special Thanks:
This PPRC Photography Project exhibition was made possible by the Public Policy Research Center, the Missouri Arts Council (a state agency) and the National Endowment for the Arts. Special thanks to Advertiser’s Printing, Inc., former riverboat pilot “Mike” Turkovic, J. B. Marine, Inc., Jeff Stover, Senior Port Captain, AEP River Operations and the Cape Girardeau Public Library.
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