The days when steamboats whistled around the bend on
America’s great rivers are recalled by a reprint of the 1913
catalog of James Rees & Sons, Co., Pittsburgh, which is now
available.
With a brown and green cover, it looks just the way the original
must have, when it was leafed by businessmen whose firms carried
freight and passengers on the waters.
It is a very interesting paperbound volume, brought out by
Captain Frederick Way Jr., of Sewickley, Pa., and Gerald W.
Sutphin, of Huntington, W. Va. Capt. Way is America’s foremost
authority on Western river steamboats.
Steam men will be intrigued by the many photographs of the
vessels which applied this kind of power to water transportation,
plus technical drawings which were meant to inform potential
customers about what they were buying.
James Rees worked in steamboat machinery shops and started his
own business in 1854 in what is now Pittsburgh’s ‘Golden
Triangle’. He advocated steel hulls, and the firm became
international in scope, producing vessels for use in the U. S.,
South America, Africa, Europe and Asia.
Price of the book is $3.00. It can be ordered through Stemgas;
add 25 cents for mailing.
Steamer Buckeye State, built in 1878 for the Pittsburgh and
Cincinnati trade, by James Rees & Sons Co., shown in newly
published reprint of 1913 Rees catalog.
