From the 2013 St. Paul Almanac Early in the morning on June 21, 2007, my son Cullen encountered a rowing scull, crewed by five young women in the Saint Paul Harbor and pinned by a heavy current of the Mississippi River. This crew team had misjudged the current and was trapped against the Padelford wharf…
Saint Paul’s Big River Journey
From the 2012 St. Paul Almanac “Can you kids be quiet for a minute? I think a towboat is trying to call me on the radio.” This morning the pilothouse of the Anson Northrup is packed to the gills and I am surrounded by elevenyear- olds. They are standing around my chair, crowded onto the…
High Water
From the 2011 St. Paul Almanac A grizzled old towboat mate of twenty-six named Steamboat Bill explained the dangers of working in high water to me in very simple, very direct terms. “Rule number-one is: Don’t fall in! If you fall in, you’re dead. It’s that simple. The current will drag you under and you’ll…
The RED Towboats under the Old High Bridge
From the 2010 St. Paul Almanac Robert E. Draine worked his whole life on the river. As a licensed steam and diesel engineer, he rode the old Blaske boats up and down the Upper Mississippi until he got the urge to be his own boss. He bought a little fleet of small towboats in 1971…