The "City of Shreveport" (Steamboat)

Sometimes the subject of an adjacent article on a newspaper page is as/more interesting than what is being researched. Such is the case with this find. In 1909, the Shreveport Transportation Company was chartered to revive river traffic on the Red. To that end, the company purchased the steamer Lucille, built in Alabama in 1908, and renamed it the "City of Shreveport." The last boat said to have made the S'port to New Orleans trip was the H. M. Carter in Feb-1907. 

Directory of River Packets in the Mobile-Alabama-Warrior-Tombigbee trades, 1818-1932, Page 266

Its maiden voyage, hailed a great success, initiated in N. O., began 30-Dec (rather than the advertised 28th, per a subsequent article) and returned 14-Jan-1910. The captain was George L. White, an experienced Red River pilot.

New Orleans Times-Democrat 21-Dec-1909, Page 13

Shreveport Times 26-Dec-1909, Page 2

New Orleans Times-Democrat 25-Dec-1909, Page 13

Among its reported cargo delivered to the Crescent City:

• 556 bales of cotton
• 353 sacks of cotton seed
• 127 barrels of syrup
• One piano
• A cow and calf

The jubilation was apparently short-lived however, as no evidence was found of any subsequent trips to/from the Port City. Perhaps at the time the Red was deemed too unpredictable for routine traffic, as an article a few days prior to the initial voyage mentioned recent rains brought the water level to a navigable stage, where previously it was not. By October 1910, the steamer was operating on the Ouachita River in northeast Louisiana; and continued to do so for all of 1911.

An example advertisement:

New Orleans Times-Democrat 07-Nov-1910, Page 13

The town of Jonesville, LA purchased the vessel in 1915. At the time, its service was said to have been discontinued two years prior, and the boat was "not in first class shape." Plans were to beach it in order to conduct repairs, then run it on the Black River. Whether this actually took place is not known, as mention again drops out of any Louisiana newspapers of the day.  

According to the Directory of River Packets... (referenced previously), the vessel burned in either 1919 or 1920.