River Boats and Tugs, I need some help!

[rpage]

Hi all! I need some help on River Boats and Tugs from the late 1800's.

My wife and I are painting a huge mural for a new years eve dinner party. The mural is hung around the ball room and depicts a river scene of Pittsburgh, PA from the late 1800’s. It is from the perspective that you are on a river boat looking off at the river and sky line. Since Pittsburgh was a huge steel town and they used barges, I assume they used some sort of tug to push them.

What I am in need of is pictures or drawings of a river boat and tug from that time period. I am very new to boats in general so I am asking you experts in the boating world to see if someone can point me in the proper direction.

On a side note in case you might be wondering how large this mural is, it took 2 rolls of 12’ canvas 50 yards long, each. That’s right, 100 yards by 12’. It is huge!

Anyway, thanks in advance to anyone that can help us out!


Rick

[patmat2350]

Stern wheel river boats for sure, or "tow boats" even though they pushed!

I'm sure there are lots of experts around... but one for sure is John Fryant, who can be contacted through his "Paddlewheels and Props" riverboat plans website:
http://modelplans.steamboats.org/

No guarantee, but maybe you can sweet talk him into offering advice! (Maybe an invite to the ball? ;) )

[towboatjoe]

Here are some photos of boats typical of the turn of the century. The big excursion boats were virtually non-existant in the 1800's most passengers rode packet boats. Virtually all boats from the mid-1800's were convereted to tinclads during the civil war.

A good source for photos of boats dating back to the early 1800's would be the Murphy Library at the University of Wisconsin in La Crosse.
http://www.uwlax.edu/MurphyLibrary/

Here's another possible source for info.
http://www.steamboats.org/

[rpage]

Wow thanks for the help! What you guys posted gets me what I needed! I knew there were sailors on here that knew their paddle boats! :D

Thanks!!!

[green-boat]

My wife and I are painting a huge mural for a new years eve dinner party.
I don't want to burst your bubble but you realize that there is only 2 weeks left. :eek: :eek:

That is a LOT of canvas to cover.

[rpage]

Yeah we know! :D

The two largest pieces of canvas are pretty much done, with the exception of the railing that needs to be painted the length of the canvas. I printed out some of these pictures and my wife has painted the boats. I have not seen them yet (been busy at my normal job), but I will be going to help her this evening.

This is without a doubt a huge project. :) And it will be done by the end of this weekend. :D

[Umi_Ryuzuki]

We want pictures of your display when it is set up!

:cool:

[rpage]

The nice thing about this job, we dont have to hang the canvas! They have to get their people to hang it. I will try to get some shots of it. Not sure how well they will turn out with it laying in a parking garage. It will not get hung in place until December 31st. We are going to try and get down there for photos. I will post them if I get them!