The Bay Brothers Steamboats

The Bay Brothers, George, and William are known all over Western waters as leading steamboatmen on the Ohio river. [Their Mother, Elizabeth Bowen Bay’s probate papers are Elizabeth Bay daughter of Joel and Elizabeth Bowen died 3 Oct. 1859 aged 51y 9m 23d. Her probate papers are on familysearch.org film #103278451, pages 1-41 Gallia County, Ohio, which includes her will. She mentions sons George W. and William Bay and daughter Sarah.-mm]

They began this business in 1862 when Capt. Geo. Bay bought an old steam scow that had about run its days. He tried to run it from Ironton to Proctorville but sold it the first trip up when he got no further than Big Sandy after two days.

He had bought the rickety craft for $400 and sold it to a man by the name of Moore for $600. This profit encouraged him to keep at the business, and so he, in connection with his brother William, chartered other boats and went into the transportation business.

They built their first boat, the Minnie, in 1864. This little craft they ran for several years and then sold it. Next, they built the J. C. Crossley, which ran in Ironton and Proctorville trade for a long time, and was finally stoved up in the ice. Then they built the Scioto, which they ran for some years. It finally sunk and was raised but was torn up.

The Lizzie Johnson was the next boat built. This boat, after long service, was wrecked and rebuilt into the Rosedale. The Rosedale they sold after a while, and was running on a river in Arkansas when last heard from. Next, they built the City of Ironton, which was burned.

After this came the Minnie Bay, which sank. The next boat was the A. L. Norton, which ran for some years, and then was rebuilt into a towboat. Then came in order, Louise, now running; Volunteer, sold, South; Chevalier and Lizzie Bay, now running. Here are twelve boats the Bay Brothers have built, and they have two others in the process of construction.

The H. M. Stanley lies at our wharf, getting her finishing touches. The Stanley is one of the largest boats this company has built and it is an elegant boat, too. It has staterooms for 120 passengers. It will be a convenient boat in all its arrangements. Placing its machinery and some little carpentering work and painting is all it needs now to set it afloat for business. It will be out in a month or so.

The Bay Brothers have also under contract a steel hull steamer to be built after the style of the steamboats plying between Sandy Hook and New York. The craft’s hull will be 120 ft. long, 18 feet wide, and 6 ½ ft. hold. It will be built of what is known as the soft steel plate, 3-16 to 3/8 inches in thickness. The test for the steel shall be heating it to red heat, then putting it in cold water and bending the steel back on itself.

The boat will be a twin screw propeller with two four ft. wheels. It will have four engines, 11 by 11 inches, 250 revolutions per minute. It will have a single cabin, all above deck. The boilers and some parts of the machinery will be in the hull. Sweeny & Bro., Jeffersonville, Indiana, have the contract, and the boat is to be completed by next February. It will be run between Ironton and Huntington.

The Bay Brothers have now four boats of their own and one chartered, running. They cover the river from Cincinnati to Pittsburg – the Louise running from Cincinnati to Charleston and the Lizzie Bay from Charleston to Pittsburg. The other boats are running in local trade.

Thus the Bay Brothers have shown enterprise and ability in sustaining the vast interests of transportation in Ohio.

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BOATS OWNED BY THE BAYS

• A. L. NORTON
• B. T. ENOS
• BAY LINE
• BAY QUEEN
• BONANZA
• CHESAPEAKE
• CHEVALIER – blt. 1888
• CITY OF IRONTON
• ED B. SMITH
• FALCON
• FANNIE DUGAN
• GEORGIA BAY
• GREENWOOD
• GREYHOUND
• HANGING ROCK
• HENRY LOGAN
• H. M. STANLEY
• J. C. CROSSLEY
• KANAWHA
• KATE HENDERSON
• KATIE (was this same as Kate Henderson)
• LIZZIE BAY
• LIZZIE JOHNSTON – became the Rosedale
• LIZZIE JONES – was this same as Lizzie Johnston?
• LOOK-OUT
• LOUISA
• MINNIE BAY
• NORA BELLE
• QUEEN CITY
• RANGER
• ROSEDALE
• RUTH No. 1
• RUTH NO. 2
• SANDY VALLEY
• SAN JUAN
• SCIOTO
• SOUTH ????
• STELLA
• URANIA
• VIRGINIA
• VOLUNTEER

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B. T. Enos

I.R. Aug. 1, 1881 – Capt. Wm. Bay went to Gallipolis this week to purchase the new steamer, B. T. Enos, for the Portsmouth and Pomeroy Packet Co. No agreement upon the price could be had, and the purchase was not made.

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CHESAPEAKE

I. R. March 21, 1872 – CHESAPEAKE SOLD. – Yesterday, Messrs. Perry and Uriah Scott, and B. Butterfield sold their interest in the Chesapeake, amounting to two-thirds, to the proprietors of the steamer J. C.Crossley.  D. S. Murdock and Felix Brammer retain their former interest.  The price, as we hear, is at the rate of $17,000.  S. W. Dempsey is also interested in the purchase.  Wm. Bay took charge of the Chesapeake yesterday, which will continue in her old trade at present but will soon change to tri-weekly trips between Ironton and Racine.  It is now expected that Capt. Scott will turn his attention to getting stock for another new boat, built on a model he has perfected, to run between Ironton and Cincinnati.  So mote it be.

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Chevalier

I. R. July 19, 1888 – The latest new boat of the Bay Line Co., the Chevalier, passed down the river from Mason City last week to receive machinery at Portsmouth.  She is 132 x 22 ft., built light, and for speed: draught, 20 inches to 2 feet.  The boat will doubtless run in the Ironton and Proctorville trade.

City of Ironton

Ironton Evening Tribune, Sat., Oct. 8, 1949 – The City of Ironton was built in 1880.  Her engines were of the old Kanawha river towboat Kanawha.  Her record run between Portsmouth and Ironton, downstream, a distance of thirty miles, was two hours and fifteen minutes, upstream two hours and thirty minutes.  She was known as one of the fastest Ohio river packets.

When the noted trial of Dr. Gates of Proctorville was going on in Ironton in 1881, The City of Ironton carried the whole populace from Proctorville to Ironton.  Doctor Gates was accused of poisoning his wife.  There was high feeling among the residents, and friends and relatives quarreled over the trial and Dr. Gates guilt, or innocence.  When the doctor was freed of the charge, the crowd again boarded the boat for home and those that were in favor of Dr. Gates and his freedom sang hymns of joy, others shouted “Guilty.”

When the City of Ironton arrived at Proctorville and blew her whistle for the landing at one o’clock in the morning, cannons commenced to roar and cheering crowds greeted the doctor and those who returned.

Later the City of Ironton was sold by the Bay Brothers to the C. & O. Railroad and she ran daily out of Cincinnati to Ripley.  Later she was sold to interests in the South and there was destroyed by fire.  Her name was changed go Issaqueda, when she was taken into the Southern waters.

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Greyhound

I.R. June 06, 1901 – NEW STEAMER – Bay Bros.’ Beautiful new steamer, the Greyhound, promises to be one of the fastest on the river. She is a craft of 125 tons burden, 156 ft. Long, 26 feet in beam and 4 1/2 feet depth of hold. Her motive power is furnished by two 10-flue boilers, 23 feet long and 43 inches in diameter, and she is equipped with the machinery of the old Louise, one of the river greyhounds until her destruction by fire. Her mechanism allows a 14 stroke and a steam pressure of 182 pounds.

The cabin of the Greyhound is nicely finished, being the work of the late T. R. Hall, and has seven fine, large staterooms. The hull was finished by James Carter of Huntington, W. Va., the machinery was remodeled and adjusted by the Olive Foundry and Machine Company and the boilers made by the Marietta Boiler Works. The wheel is of the latest Staggered design and is the only one of the Ohio River made with (need end of this article)

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Henry Logan

• Ironton to Proctorville trade 1867.
• Ironton to Guyandotte Trade 1867.
• Built in Parkersburgh, WV.
• Ran for 6 years in this trade, up to 1862.
• I.R. Dec. 4, 1867 – Capt. Bay thanks all who helped get the steamer Logan afloat.

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J. C. Crossley

Ironton Register, Aug. 20, 1868

A New Local Packet. Capt. Bay appeared at the wharf yesterday with a beautiful little steamboat, just off from the Marine ways at Madison, Ind. She is entirely new with the exception of the engines. She will ply daily between Guyandotte and Greenupsburg. We commend her to our business men. The following from the Madison (Ind.) Courier tells all about it:

“We paid a visit this morning to Capt. Geo. W. BAY’S beautiful little craft, just finished at the Marine Ways, and find she is one of the most perfect little sternwheelers ever turned out from this city. The hull was built by Vance & Armstrong; the cabin by our distinguished fellow citizen and eminent cabin builder, John C. Crossley, Esq.; the boiler, machinery, &c. by the extensive machine shops of the Neal Manufacturing Company; the whole reflect great credit on the builders. The owners are so delighted with the fine finish of the cabin that they, in complement to the builder, have named her the J. C. Crossley. The Captain expects to make a trial trip up the river tomorrow night and hope to have a gay time. This beautiful little boat is intended to ply as a daylight packet between Greenupsburg and Guyandotte and is the finest boat ever in the trade. May the Captain’s shadow never grow less! May she make him lots of money, and hurry him back for a consort for her.”

Note: Greenupsburg is now called Greenup, Ky. and Guyandotte is in W. Va.

I. Journal Jan. 18, 1871 – Steamer J. C. Crossley is plying regularly between Greenupsburg and Pomeroy.

I. R. Dec. 7, 1871 – Board of Trade – Meeting Monday night, Dec. 4th, Fourth Vice Pres. Davis in the Chair.  The Committee on Local Packets reported verbally, that the work of the Committee was still in progress; that Capt. Bay proposed to put in the Crossley at $10,000 and one …(DO NOT HAVE END).

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Kate Henderson

Built in Parkersburgh, WV.

Ironton Register, Nov. 6, 1867 – Capt. Josiah BRAMMER, for many years a citizen of this place, has purchased an interest in the steamer Kate Henderson and placed her in the Portsmouth – Pomeroy Trade.

I. J. 2 Nov. 1870 – Capt. Geo. Bay has the Henderson now, Sam Hamilton is the accommodating commander.  She will continue in the Pomeroy and Portsmouth trade.

I. Journal Jan. 18, 1871 – Capt. Bay doesn’t own Kate Henderson anymore but calls with the Crossley once a day, save Sunday, when religious matters engage his attention.

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Lizzie Bay

I.R. March 03, 1887 – Capt. Wm. Bay has closed a contract with the Marine Railway Co., for a light sternwheel steamer to take the place of the Lizzie Bay, during low water.

I.R. August 29, 1895 – Fine Record – The Times-Star has this notice of the splendid record of the Bay Line. The Bay Line during its thirty years’ experience in operating lines of packets had a remarkable record. In all that time none of their boats have ever lost a passenger and they have carried millions of them. Neither have they cost their patrons a dollar for freight lost through accident or otherwise. It is doubtful if any other line can show such a record. In their accident to the Lizzie Bay, near Wheeling, May 29 last, they forwarded the entire cargo to its destination and paid its portion of the general average themselves instead of holding it for salvage as they had a right to do. No wonder the Bay line is popular with merchants and the shipping public.

I.R. Feb. 1, 1906 – The Lizzie Bay has been floated off the beach at Ludlow, Ky., and will reenter the Cincinnati and Madison trade. Lee Andrews of this city is one of the faithful engineers on this packet.

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Minnie Bay

I.R. Jan. 19, 1888 – A war of rates is on, between the boats of the Bay Line and the Big Sandy Packet Co., the result of a like competition between the Minnie Bay, now running from Louisville to Carrollton, and the mail line boats from Louisville, to Cincinnati. The B. S. P. Co., own a large interest in the latter.

I.R. Jan. 26, 1888 – The Big Sandy and Bay Line fight is declared off.

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Rosedale

I.R. November 19, 1865 – The Bay Brothers have sold the Rosedale for $7,500.

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RUTH

I.R. Oct. 25, 1894 – The Bay Brothers are adding a cabin to the Ruth, which has heretofore been a one-story boat.

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Urania

I. R. Feb. 14, 1901 – Bay Brothers have made arrangements for placing the steamer URANIA in the Cincinnati, Maysville, Portsmouth and Ironton trade as an independent packet.  Capt. T. T. Johnson of this city will be in command, with J. E. Smith and L. E. McLaughlin as clerks.  The boat will leave Ironton on the down trip Mondays at 7 a.m. and Wednesdays and Fridays at 11 a.m.  Coming up the boat will leave Cincinnati at ____ p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday and Saturday.

I. R. July 4, 1901 – Engineer William Williams of the steamer URANIA resigned his position Wednesday, to accept a similar position at the Belfont Mill.

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