Paddlewheel Steamboats on the Chipola River

The Jackson, the Farley, and other boats made the dangerous run.

by Dale Cox

The paddlewheel steamboat Chipola operated in 1911-1926.
State Archives of Florida/Memory Collection

Paddlewheel steamboats offered transportation, communication, and opportunities to communities across Northwest Florida long before the P&A (later the L&N and today the CSX) railroad was built across the region in 1881-1883.

While it is easy to see how the boats could operate successfully on the Apalachicola, Chattahoochee, and Choctawhatchee Rivers, the idea that they navigated the narrow and twisting channels of Holmes Creek and the Chipola River seems much more far-fetched. And yet, the splash of paddlewheels and shrill whines of steam whistles were heard on these streams as well.

Holmes Creek, for example, was navigated by sternwheelers from its confluence with the Choctawhatchee up to a landing just north of Vernon. They carried cotton, timber, turpentine rosin, and other commodities down to Pensacola via the Choctawhatchee River, Choctawhatchee Bay, and Santa Rosa Sound. Vernon actually became one of the world's top shipping points for gopher tortoises, which were considered a valuable food item in the 19th and early 20th centuries. 

The Chipola River in Northwest Florida

Marianna's location on the Chipola River sparked many to dream that it too could become a commercial port. Wooden barges and pole boats carried cotton, rice, sugar, lumber, and other commodities down the river from the earliest days of settlement in Jackson County. The Natural Bridge at today's Florida Caverns State Park was an important port facility. Commerce from the upper river was offloaded there and transferred to larger boats for the trip down to Apalachicola and St. Joseph.

It was not until 1860, however, that the first powered vessel made its way up to Marianna. The boat was the paddlewheel steamer Jackson, which was built in Pittsburg especially for the Chipola River trade:

LIGHT STEAMER.—A neat little steamer—the Jackson, of Marianna, Florida—is just completed and now loading at the Monongahela wharf for the South. The Jackson was built under the superintendence of Capt. Dan Fry, her commander, for the Marianna and Appalachicola Steamboat Company and is intended to navigate the Chipola river—a river never before navigated by steamboat.—She is of light draught, trimming on less than twelve inches, and having a capacity to stow away five hundred bales of cotton. Her cabin is very near and furnished in true southern style and has all the late improvements in her general outfit to make her the boat for the packet trade she is intended for.—(Pittsburg Despatch, July 11, 1860).

The boat's career was short. Just months after she reached Marianna the first time, Florida seceded from the Union and joined the Confederate States of America. U.S. warships blockaded Apalachicola and St. Joseph Bays, prompting Confederate forces to obstruct the Apalachicola River. They also placed heavy cannon along its banks to prevent the enemy from coming upstream.

The steamboat John W. Callahan sank in the lower Chipola
River near Wewahitchka in 1927.

The Jackson stopped her runs to Marianna and was placed under the control of the Confederate army. She was lost in an accident on the lower Apalachicola River late in the war.

The Reconstruction era arrived in 1865 with no boat available to navigate the shallow and twisting channel of the Chipola. The steamers that survived the war were too big. They drew too much water, and their lengths were too long to turn the river's sharp bends. The dream of turning Marianna into a river city was dampened but did not end.

As the community recovered from the economic devastation of the War Between the States or Civil War, attention soon turned to the building a new boat christened the Farley. The sternwheel boat made her first trip up the Chipola in March of 1872:

ARRIVAL OF THE FIRST STEAMER - The little steamer "Farley," built expressly to run on the Chipola river and points on the Chattahoochee and Flint made her first trip up to Marianna on the 16th ult., and created the wildest enthusiasm among the citizens. The Courier of the following Thursday is filled with accounts of pic-nics, dances, and all sorts of jubilees in her honor. - The ladies presented the Captain with a handsome flag for his little craft. "The Farley will no doubt prove a great convenience to the people of Jackson - (Tallahassee Weekly Floridian, April 2, 1872).

The Farley brought commercial river traffic back to Marianna for the first time in ten years. Like the Jackson before her, she could only travel the river during the winter and spring when water levels were high. Promoters, however, dreamed of opening the river year-round and appealed to the War Department which sent Thomas Robinson, Assistant Engineer, to inspect the Chipola and make recommendations:

The John W. Callahan, Jr. was the last commercial
paddlewheel steamer to operate on the Chipola River. She is
seen here passing beneath Victory Bridge at Chattahoochee
on its dedication day in 1922.

The Chipola River, flowing southward from Marianna to the “Dead Lakes,” an estimated distance of 65 miles, is a stream of 2½ feet per second, surface velocity (with the water 5 feet above low), a general depth of 5 feet at low water, and a width ranging from 60 to 200 feet. The obstructions are bridges, shoals, overhanging trees, and logs and snags in the channel. - (Report of Thomas Robinson, Assistant Engineer, included in Annual Report of the Secretary of War, Washington, DC, 1889, Page 1418).

Robinson placed the cost of the river at $48,300. The obstructions he found included the Marianna road and railroad bridges, a road bridge 14-miles south of Marianna, and six rock shoals. The largest of these was Calhoun County's well-known Look and Tremble Shoals:

This last shoal goes by the name of “Look and Tremble,” and is the chief impediment of the stream at low water. At a 5-foot stage of water no signs of the shoal are visible. To clear a low-water channel of 3 feet in depth and 60 feet in width through all of these shoals, I estimate that 8,000 cubic yards of rock must be removed, at an approximate cost of $22,000. - (Ibid.).

Look and Tremble is popular with outdoor enthusiasts today, but it was a severe hindrance to navigation in 1888. The bridges at Marianna were not replaced. Landings were at Turner's Landing on Spring Creek and at today's Hinson Conservation and Recreation Area just south of the railroad trestle remained in use.

The shoals, however, were cut. Channels deep enough and wide enough for small paddlewheel steamers to pass through were cut into the rock. The Look and Tremble cut is still visible on the east side of the rapids.

Another view of the John W. Callahan, Jr.

The steamer Chipola made her presence on the river in 1886. Able to carry 32-tons of cargo plus passengers, she navigated the narrow channel for three years before sinking at Magnolia Landing in 1889.

Other boats operated in the late 19th and early 20th-centuries. One of these was also named the Chipola and was launched at Apalachicola in 1911. The sternwheel boat operated until she struck a snag and sank in the lower river in 1926. She never made it as far up as Marianna.

Paddlewheel boats continued to operate on the Chipola River until the 1930s, but getting them up to Marianna remained a significant problem. The Annual Report of the Secretary of War for 1925, for example, includes discussion of an appropriation to open a 3-foot channel all the way from Dead Lakes to Marianna:

The improvement between the foot of the Dead Lakes and Look and Tremble Shoals is absolutely essential to a section of the State which is not provided with other means of transportation. Below Look and Tremble Shoals improvement has made it possible to maintain regular transportation throughout the entire year. No benefit has been derived from the expenditure above Look and Tremble Shoals. - (Annual Report of the Secretary of War, Washington, DC, 1925, pp. 715-716).

Service never was restored to Marianna, and the last commercial paddlewheel steamer to operate on the Chipola was the John W. Callahan, Jr. The boat remained in service until the early 1930s after her sister vessel - the John W. Callahan - sank near Wewahitchka in 1927. The Callahan, Jr. never came above the Dead Lakes so far as is known.

The emergence of modern trucks and highways ended the need for the boats, and they faded away into the mists of time.

Burning of the City of Eufaula at Neal's Landing, FL

Floating palace destroyed by fire.

by Dale Cox

The paddlewheel steamer City of Eufaula burned at
Neals Landing on February 11, 1921.
The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County.

Somewhere beneath the mud and water at Neals Landing rest the charred remains of one of the most elegant paddlewheel steamers ever to navigate the Chattahoochee River.

The City of Eufaula was a beautiful boat owned by the Planters and Merchants' Steamboat Company of Columbus, Georgia. The famed boatbuilder Sam J. Johnson built her hull at Apalachicola, signing the construction contract in August 1912. Launched and christened with champagne, the hull was towed to Columbus where construction of the decks, staterooms and other amenities was completed.

Powered by a sternwheel, the steamboat could carry more than 50 passengers and crew in addition to nearly 250 tons of cargo:

The City of Eufaula, built-in Columbus, had been in the river trade on the Chattahoochee between Columbus and lower river points for several years and the shrieking of its whistle had become a sound familiar to the ears of the people living along the course of the stream. - Columbus Ledger, February 13, 1921.

The City of Eufaula at a landing on the Chattahoochee River.
Dale Cox Collection

The boat operated successfully a little over eight years before disaster struck at Neals Landing on February 11, 1921. She was edged up to the steep riverbank taking on additional cargo when the crew noticed a smell of smoke:

No injuries were reported as a result of the disastrous blaze, but the fire had gained such headway and developed so rapidly until efforts to save the boat were fruitless, according to information brought to Columbus. A high river and a strong wind apparently encouraged the flames and soon after the discovery was made the vessel was almost enveloped, it was said. The City of Eufaula was bound for Columbus, but was laden with a comparatively light cargo, additional cargo was being taken at Neal’s Landing when the fire broke out. It was stated that the crew made a strong but vain effort to extinguish the fire, despite the headway of the flames and the disadvantage caused by the brisk wind. - Columbus Ledger, February 13, 1921.

The City of Eufaula is seen here taking on cargo. She was
doing the same at Neals Landing when the fire erupted.

The massive blaze was not the first for Neals Landing. The steamboat Eagle burned there in a fatal fire on January 29, 1854, and General Harrison suffered a boiler explosion near the landing that killed three men in 1842. Please click here to read more about the deadly sinking of the Eagle.

Perhaps the stretch of water was cursed by the Native Americans of Ekanachatte ("Red Ground")? The Muscogee (Creek) town stood on the site of Neal's Landing from circa 1763 to 1818. The extensive village was burned to the ground during the First Seminole War, and white settlers rushed in to claim the fertile fields and townsite.

The river landing is now part of Neals Landing Park, a recreation area off State Road 2 at the west end of the Chattahoochee River bridge. An interpretive panel near the boat ramp provides more information on the history of the site.

This map will help you find it:

The Very Jaws of Death: The Wreck of the Steamboat Eagle

A Nineteenth Century Tragedy at Neal's Landing

by Dale Cox

Site of the wreck of the steamboat Eagle.

Neal's Landing - One of the greatest tragedies in the history of Jackson County was the sinking of the steamboat Eagle in less than fifteen minutes on January 29, 1854.

The massive 150-foot boat was a true "floating palace" that rivaled the finest Mississippi riverboats of her day. Propelled by a big paddlewheel at her stern, she carried 200 tons of cargo plus her cargo and crew and was less than two years old when she left Columbus on January 28, 1854, in route down the Chattahoochee and Apalachicola Rivers to Apalachicola, Florida.

The Eagle carried 1,303 bales of cotton on that ill-fated trip and her cabins were filled with passengers, many of them children. She had just reduced speed as she approached Neal's Landing (spelled Neals Landing today) in the northeast corner of Jackson County, Florida, when the smell of smoke suddenly filled her decks.

The cause was never determined, but fire broke out on the boat that day. The flames were first discovered in an area behind the engine room and directly below the "Ladies' Cabin." The gleaming decks burst into flame and fire engulfed the Eagle so fast that crew and passengers alike were surrounded by walls of flame.

The pilot stayed at his post even as fire consumed his vessel. The engines were still running and he steered the bow of the Eagle for the Florida shore to help the crew and passengers get ashore. 

"The children and ladies had either to come down with ropes or be let fall from a height of 13 tiers of cotton bales into the arms of those below on the main deck," wrote one survivor, "then jump to shore."

The same eyewitness continued with a remarkable story of heroism:

...All speak in the highest praise of the conduct of my daughter, not 10 years old. She neither cried nor screamed, but stood upon a pile of cotton, holding one of her little cousins (boys) by each hand, exhorting them not to cry or jump, nor would she leave the burning wreck until she saw them safely landed; she then, in the most self-possessed manner, asked if there was any person that would save her?

One member of the crew yelled out "I will" and, at the risk of his own life, climbed the burning decks and "snatched her from the very jaws of death."

The mighty steamboat Eagle disappeared into the waters of the Chattahoochee within fifteen minutes. Nothing remained to be seen, according to eyewitnesses, but "a few blackened particles of cotton."

All of the people who could be saved were rescued within the first five minutes after the discovery of the fire. Four people - three men and one woman - died. All were members of the crew who remained aboard helping passengers escape until it was too late for them to save themselves.

The loss of the Eagle in financial terms was estimated at $100,000, a remarkable sum for the time. In fact, $100,000 in 1854 was the equivalent of $3,048,714.29 in 2019 dollars.

The estimate did not include a huge shipment of gold and silver being sent to Apalachicola by the banks of Columbus on behalf of the cotton merchants in that city. The season had been extremely profitable and the specie was on its way to be placed aboard an ocean-going vessel for shipment to New York.

Some of the money was recovered, but the banks never revealed how much was lost with the Eagle and remains buried in the mud on the bottom of the Chattahoochee River at Neal's Landing.

Midnight Duel at Neal's Landing in Jackson County, Florida

The Chattahoochee River at Neal's Landing.

The last known duel in Florida history took place at Neal's Landing in Jackson County on the night of March 7, 1878. 

No one was injured but newspapers of the time reported that "both men stood up bravely."

The landing is now the site of Neals Landing Park, a popular and pretty spot for fishing, picnicking, camping and other outdoor activities. In 1878, however, it was the center of a prosperous riverboat community. A hotel, stores and warehouses thrived along the low bluff, their success made possible by the paddlewheel steamboats that carried passengers and cargoes up and down the Chattahoochee River.

The incident at Neal's Landing was one of the last true duels ever to take place in the United States. 

These "affairs of honor" were fought according to the Code Duello, a set of rules that governed how such encounters should take place. The code offered a way for gentlemen to settle their disputes in personal combat and was intended to prevent arguments from growing into violent outbreaks or family feuds.

Neals Landing Park is just off State Road 2 in Jackson County.

The practice fell from favor in the years following the War Between the States (or Civil War) and was outlawed in most jurisdictions.

The Neal's Landing duel resulted from a dispute that grew between a young man of that community and a young man of Columbus, Georgia. The former had "written something unpleasant about the gentlemen of this city," reported the Columbus Daily Enquirer.

The newspaper did not identify either man but reported that the challenge was issued by the resident of Columbus. 

Each man chose a second to take his place should he fail to appear and the choice of weapons and location fell to the man from Neal's Landing:

...The seconds are well known in this city [i.e. Columbus], and once lived here. The challenged party named the time midnight, weapons shot guns, each barrel to be loaded with thirteen buck shot, distance twenty paces. - Columbus Daily Enquirer, March 12, 1878.

An interpretive kiosk placed by the Jackson County Tourist
Development Council and Jackson County Parks provides
more information on the history of Neal's Landing.

Proper dueling etiquette then required that the two men meet at the time and place appointed. Their seconds were to load and check the weapons. The participants would then stand back to back. Each would then step off the required distance to the count of an observer and upon reaching 10 paces each, turn and fire.

The two men lived up to the requirements of the Code Duello but the Neal's Landing duel ended with an unexpected twist. The two seconds were unwilling to see their friends shoot each other down so they took matters into their own hands:

...The seconds did a good work for the principals by mutually agreeing to load with nothing but powder, without the knowledge of the latter parties. We did not learn how many shots were exchanged, but no damage was done as no lead was used. Both men stood up bravely and the "affair of honor" was settled amicably. - Columbus Daily Enquirer, March 12, 1878.

The bloodless duel allowed each man to demonstrate his courage while the wise decision of the seconds to load the shotguns with blanks prevented a tragedy.

No trace remains of the once thriving little community at Neal's Landing. Visitors can learn more of the site's history from an interpretive kiosk placed there by Jackson County Parks and the Jackson County Tourist Development Council.

Neals Landing Park is located at 7001 FL-2, Bascom, Florida.

For a bit duel-related fun, enjoy this clip from The Andy Griffith Show: