Save the Delta Queen: A private initiative to save the steamboat Delta Queen A private initiative to save the steamboat Delta Queen
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How important the Delta Queen is for little river towns

Sep 9, 2007

 An article in the Evansville Courier & Press (The Queen & her court – Riverboat gives people look at Ohio River towns) hauntingly shows how important the visits of the Majestic America Line boats are for little river towns like Grandview, Indiana. Every politician and company manager thinking of grounding the Delta Queen should be forced to read this eye-opening article to see what he is doing to the people living along the rivers when taking the Delta Queen away from them.

And it’s not about romantic feelings when a steamboat is coming ’round the bend. It’s about business and it’s about jobs – a lot of business and jobs for these river towns.

5 Comments »

5 Responses to “How important the Delta Queen is for little river towns”

  1. Charles Greene Says:

    Saving the Delta Queen is saving more than an old boat from overzealous regulation and bureaucrats. It is rescuing part of the very soul of America. Unlike modern cruise ships, the Delta Queen is no floating faux chateaux. Every part of her is steeped in actual American history in which she played a very real part.
    Boarding the Delta Queen for a cruise takes us face-to-face with a real America of a pace and time which we seem to have lost. No cell phones, ATM machines, blaring TV commercials, or commuting gridlock. This is no McCruise ship. It’s the real thing.

  2. James M Says:

    I think the arguments on this webpage would be taken a bit more seriously if references to the Civil War were not mentioned.

    Yes, the um, “Union” did fight against um, the “south”. We also fought the English. Native Americans too. Maybe it is one of them who is plotting to destroy your beautiful boat.

    If you want those “union”, aka, politically savey and up to date politicians, to vote in favor of your cultural tradition, you should consider changing that sort of dialogue. Northerners who seem to be in control of your situation will not respect your wishes after reading this page.

    There are many ways to get that boat preserved historically, either publicly or privately. I hope it goes well for your boat and the industry and enjoyment that it so obviously provides.

  3. Charles Greene Says:

    There is preservation of a “specimen in a jar” sort or the Delta King docked in Sacramento as a floating hotel. There is also a different type of preservation the Delta Queen has provided. Cruises of several days length which allow the detritus of of todays “culture” to be peeled away as layers of an onion.
    Carlos Castaneda used the phrase “stopping your world” which is what such a cruise does for us. We need the Delta Queen cruise to “stop our world” and recharge our inner compass. We do not need what has been done to the Delta King.

  4. Marilyn Killen (Wright) Says:

    My husband John and I spent our honeymoon on the Delta Queen from Sept 21/07 to Sept 28/07. When we left the steamboat we were both saddened to think she may sit at some dockside as a bed & breakfast, or restaurant like many have become. The Delta Queen has played many rolls over the past and has played a major part in the midwest history.
    While we were on board the U.S. coast guard came aboard and gave her a thorough check. The Delta passed the requirements and all of us cheered the Delta Crew and Captain for they take great pride in this vessel as all those that have travelled on her. To understand the Delta and the need for her to remain alive and well on the river you need to feel her as the paddle wheel turns, to walk her decks, to experience a trip down or up the Mississippi River, Ohio and to relive the history and to hear the passion in the voices of those that have travelled her up to 20 times and the towns cheer as we arrive. the sound of the calliope as we arrive. You can call it romance, but, to make a decision to have her tossed aside without the experience of spending some of your time on her listening to the water as it is driven by the stern wheel, to walk her decks and to listen to her as you fall asleep you are missing an experience of a lifetime. Dont loose this magnificient steamboat because the Mississippi and the waterways and the towns along the river will never be the same. 3 cheers for the Delta Queen, the Crew and the people that understand.

  5. Richard Downey Says:

    If I’m not mistaken, former president Jimmy Carter cruised on the Delta Queen several years ago. Maybe someone could enlist his aid for this worthy cause.