Life on the Mississippi

Hello mechanical music lovers!  My wife and I just returned from
a two-day cruise on the Mississippi.  I thought I would report on the
mechanical music we encountered.

Several months ago my wife was in LeClaire, Iowa.  She heard a calliope
playing and tracked it down to the riverboat "Twilight".  We talked it
over and thought this would be a great way to celebrate our 25th
wedding anniversary, so we booked the cruise.

The Twilight looks like a steam riverboat from the 1800s, but is
actually a diesel-electric powered boat.  The calliope is run from
a forced air fan on the second deck of the stern of the boat with the
pipes mounted on the third deck stern.  The calliope is controlled
from a MIDI player in the bar on the third deck stern with the
bartender taking requests.  The calliope probably sounds better from
the shore than on the boat, but we enjoyed listening to it.

Our cruise route was from LeClaire to Dubuque, Iowa, about an eighty
mile trip upriver.  We departed at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday and, traveling
at 10 miles an hour through two locks, we did not arrive into Dubuque
until 6 p.m.  This route goes through the Upper Mississippi National
Wildlife and Fish Refuge.

Going thought this area you really feel like you are on a steamboat
back before the Civil War.  No man-made buildings but plenty of
forests, birds, wildlife and lots of backwater areas.  We were served
lunch, dinner and two snacks on the boat.   The captain gave a great
narration mixed with history, bird watching and modern operation on the
Mississippi.

Arriving in Dubuque we checked into the Grand Harbor hotel, which was
part of the cruise, and had the night to ourselves.  Dubuque is home to
the National Mississippi River Museum that is now featuring the Titanic
exhibit.  The cruise included admission to the museum and exhibit,
which we visited on Wednesday morning.  The museum has recently
acquired a Tangley Calliaphone calliope which they play at 12:30 and
3 p.m. every day.  The roll was loaded in the calliope, but our boat
left at 11:30 am, so we did not see it play.

On our trip down river we found the steamboat "American Queen" had
just tied up at Clinton.  She had her calliope going and it was fun
to listen to it aboard our boat as we passed.  I do not know anything
about the calliope on the American Queen, but she does have a steam
boiler that turns her paddle wheel so the calliope may be run by steam.

My wife and I had a great time on the Twilight.  The one or two day
cruises cost much less than the week long cruises offered by the other
boats.  For anyone into history, bird and wildlife watching, and just
a bit of mechanical music, we highly recommend a Twilight cruise on the
Mississippi.

Steamboat a com'n!  Hear the calliope?

Steve Goode