The River: Two extraordinary men kept those steamboat fires burning, made life a little better

The riverboat captain is a storyteller. Captain Don Sanders shares the stories of his long association with the river — from discovery to a way of love and life. This a part of a long and continuing story.

By Capt. Don Sanders

Special to NKyTribune

A photograph of two begrimed, but attentive firemen shoveling coal into the fires beneath the boilers of a Mississippi River-style steamboat recently caught my attention. The picture came from my friend John Paul Wright, watchman, and former fireman of the steamboat BELLE OF LOUISVILLE.

First of all, I knew both the African American workmen portrayed at their jobs aboard the steamboat AVALON, which was the name of the Louisville boat when it was a “tramp” excursion boat from 1948 through 1961, before becoming the Belle of the Falls City.

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