Designed to Float in a Heavy Dew
The NELLIE and the JEAN, by W.E. Trout, III
ILLUSTRATION: This teapot on a raft plied
the Roanoke Navigation between Brookneal and Randolph in the 1880's. The
drawing (cleaned up with a computer by Lyle Browning) was made by the
steamboat's Captain, John William Harvey.
Steamboats have never been successful on Virginia's rivers above the fall
line. But you have to credit Charles Bruce with having the gumption to
build a shallow-draft steamboat back in the 1870's and when it wasn't
shallow enough to build another one.
The canal society goes out to river festivals and sets up a tent and table
mainly to talk to people who can tell us about canals and rivers. So we
were particularly excited to meet Mr. R. H. Dameron, now of course a
member of VC&NS, at Danville's Batteau Day in 1993. He told us about a
family heirloom, a drawing that his great-grandfather, John William
Harvey, made when he was Captain of a steamboat which once plied the
Staunton River between Brookneal and Randolph. It's an amazing drawing,
which makes you itch to build a replica and try it out.
Mr. Dameron showed the drawing to historian Herman Ginther, who has a
chapter on Bruce's steamboats in his book, Captain Staunton's River. The
original drawing is very fragile, faded and spotted, so Mr. Ginther made
an enlargement of it, carefully redrew it, and made several hand-colored
copies for his friends, including VC&NS. At our request. He offered to
make more copies for those who are especially interested, hand-colored and
suitable for framing, for $25 each. Just write Herman Ginther at 330
Virginia Avenue, Brookneal, VA 24528-3018.
At the same time, archaeologist Lyle Browning took our Xerox of the
original, scanned it into his computer, and cleaned it up to make the
illustration in this article. Thanks to Mr. Dameron, we have compared it
with original so we think we've got it right. Note the quaint teapot
boiler in the front, and an extension on the back which Mr. Dameron
explained was a float to keep the sternwheel from dragging in the
shallows.
Captain Harvey made the original drawing while the steamboat was moored at
the landing in Brookneal, perhaps in the 1880's. At that time Brookneal
was at the head of navigation on the Staunton (also called the Roanoke)
River in Campbell County, not far from the Bruce plantation, Staunton
Hill. The steamboat ran between Brookneal and Randolph in Charlotte
County, 31 ½ miles downriver, where cargo and passengers could be
transferred to the Richmond and Danville Railroad.
Captain Staunton's River (now, alas, out of print) has this to say about
Charles Bruce's steamboats (quoted with permission):
Charles Bruce, who built Staunton Hill, placed two small steamboats in
operation on the river. The boats operated upstream as far as Brookneal,
which was considered the head of navigation on the river for such vessels.
The sound of the steamboat whistle on the river was the signal for large
crowds of people to turn out and watch the boat come in for a landing. The
late Mrs. R. E. Gilliam of Brookneal said her grandfather, Dr. Hudnall,
purchased an organ in Danville and had it shipped to Randolph and up the
river to Brookneal on Bruce's steamboat.
In his Recollections, William Cabell Bruce of Staunton Hill wrote:
"His aim, he jocularly said, bearing in mind the shallow depths and
rocky reefs of the Staunton River, was to build a boat with as light a
draught as one of those Federal gun-boats, of the Civil War period, which
Abraham Lincoln asserted could run upon a heavy dew. Indeed, the Staunton
River was, perhaps, one of the shallow streams which Sunset Cox, the witty
member of the House of Representatives from New York, had in his thoughts
when he declared, or is reputed to have declared, after the Civil War, in
connection with a wasteful River and Harbor Bill enacted by Congress, that
such streams should be macadamized, if anything was to be made of them as
highways. But even after a considerable amount of Federal money had been
expended on the improvement of the navigation of the Staunton River, the
waters between Brookneal and Roanoke (Station) (now Randolph) were still
not deep enough, everywhere, at low-water mark, for the draught of my
father's steamboat. It was a small boat, and I remember little about it
now except that once, when a visitor, who was inspecting it, commented on
the tiny size of its kitchen, its cook wittily replied: "Yes, but it
is a kitchen in which dinner can be cooked before you can turn
around."
"Subsequently, my father built another small steamboat, to take the
place of the first, which had the proper draught; but it, too, was not a
pecuniary success."
Steamboat navigation came late in the development of navigation on the
upper Roanoke. The Roanoke Navigation Company improved the river for
batteau navigation, starting in 1815, and it reached its peak in 1828 when
over 351 miles of the Roanoke, Dan, Banister and Staunton were open for
navigation-the Staunton as far up as Salem, at present day Roanoke. The
worst part of the Staunton for boats was just above Brookneal, where
elaborate channels for batteaux were constructed along 11 ½ miles of the
falls. This is now the beautiful Staunton State Scenic River, enjoyed
today by canoeists and batteaumen who can still run the boat sluices. But
maintenance of this section was abandoned about 1840, leaving Brookneal as
the upriver head of navigation on the Staunton.
After the Civil War, in 1879-1889, The Corps of Engineers took over the
maintenance of the Staunton River from Brookneal down to Randolph. The
objective was to improve key sections of rivers which flowed from isolated
parts of the country, down to railway crossings. The Corps reported in
1879 that this part of the Staunton was "navigable by batteaux at all
times and at mean winter water by one steamer of 14" draft"- no
doubt Mr. Bruce's. The 1880 Corps report noted that Mr. Bruce had spent
$10,000 (probably his own money) in improving the navigation. Then in 1886
the Corps reported that Mr. Bruce had completed the JEAN, a (presumable
new) stern-wheeler 85' long; and the 1888 report stated that "One
steamer, Jean, of 91 feet length and 14 feet breadth, constructed to ply
between Brook Neal and Randolph, is engaged in Transportation on the
river." In 1889 the Corps dropped the project and reported that there
was then navigation for steamers of two-foot draft and 25 tons burden.
We wish the Corps had recorded more detail about Mr. Bruce's steamboat.
The name remembered in Brookneal is the Nellie, thought to have been
Bruce's first boat, the one discussed in William Cabell Bruce's
Recollections. The Corps report indicates that his second boat was the
Jean, 85 (or 91) feet long. Was the additional 6' length the float added
at the stern? So is Captain Harvey's drawing of the Nellie, or of the
Jean? Is there any more information out there? The Mariners Museum could
not find anything about Bruce's boats in its files. And what happened to
the boats after the 1800's? I vaguely remember reading somewhere that one
of them, probably the first boat, ended up in Norfolk, but that needs to
be checked.
Now, thanks to Mr. Dameron, we have some insight into a most amazing
steamboat, especially adapted for shallow-water work. The drawing probably
has enough detail to build a reasonable working replica. And it just
happens that there is a new Staunton River Battlefield State Park across
from Randolph. Focusing on the railway crossing, which was fortified
during the Civil War, and they have been in touch with the canal society
about interpreting the history of the river there, perhaps with a replica
of a batteau. And less than 20 miles downriver on Buggs Island Lake is
Staunton River State Park where hundreds of visitors congregate. Wouldn't
it be exciting to carry visitors from one park to another on the replica
of a boat which once navigated those same waters?
(Many thanks to R.H. Dameron, Herman Ginther and David Bruce for making
this article possibe.)
The preceding article
(reprinted here with the author's permission) was
originally published in
The Tiller, Vol. 17, Issue 3 - Fall 1996 by The Virginia
Canals and Navigating Society.
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