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Charleston’s Sternwheel Regatta
Ben Crookshanks
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August is a big month for fairs and festivals in West Virginia. There’s the State Fair in Lewisburg, the Appalachian Arts and Crafts Festival in Beckley and Charleston’s Sternwheel Regatta…an annual event in the West Virginia capitol since 1971.
Charleston, WV sits in a narrow valley of the Kanawha River. The Kanawha is actually the same New River with the great whitewater rafting about sixty miles upstream. Why the different names? It seems that the river is hundreds of miles long and two different groups of pioneers, each exploring from distant settlements, discovered different parts of it at different times…and each gave it its own name. It was many years before people realized they were talking about the same river and it was then too late to change the name(s). So the part upstream from where the Gauley confluences is called the New and the part below the confluence to its terminus at the Ohio River is known as the Kanawha.
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Being situated in a long, narrow valley with steep mountain walls, the city of Charleston is itself long and narrow…none of it very far from the river. Before the coming of the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad around 1870, the river was the major highway in and out of the city. Goods and passengers filled the many riverboats that steamed up and down the river between Kanawha Falls (just below the Gauley confluence) and the Ohio. Even though subsequent highways allowed easier access to the interior of West Virginia for travelers, the river remains important for the transportation of bulk freight using its many barges and tugboats.
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To celebrate this important part of the state’s history, over 40 steamboats gather at Charleston each year for the annual regatta. For several years, the big star has been the Delta Queen, based in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Queen is the last of the old steamboats to offer overnight passenger cruises on the Ohio/Mississippi system.
The Queen was built in 1927 in California. She’s made mostly of fine hardwood. Until 1940, she was a cruise ship traveling between San Francisco and Sacramento, California. During World War II, the Queen was leased to the U.S. Navy for use as a troop barracks. The Navy also used her to shuttle men to and from ships anchored in San Francisco Bay.
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After the war, she was sold at auction to Captain Tom Green, who dreamed of reviving the grand tradition of river travel on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. She became the centerpiece of his new company, Greene Line Steamers, based in Cincinnati.
Getting the shallow-draft river steamer from San Francisco to her new home on the Ohio was a problem. The Queen was not built for use on the open ocean. So, a special water tight crate was built around the steamboat and she was towed behind another ship. Her route took the Queen down the coast of California and Central America, through the Panama Canal, then across the Gulf of Mexico to the mouth of the Mississippi…arriving in New Orleans on May 21, 1947. There, the crate was dismantled and the Queen raised steam and proceeded under her own power upriver to Cincinnati, where thousands waited to greet her. From there she steamed up to Pittsburgh’s Dravo Shipyard for a $750,000 face lift…including a fresh coat of white paint to cover the Navy’s military gray.
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Back in her original role as a luxury river steamer, the Delta Queen feature all the amenities of the best of her breed. She boasts grand staterooms, Tiffany-style stained glass windows, hardwood paneling, shiny brass fittings and a Grand Staircase crowned by a crystal chandelier. As far as is known, the Delta Queen is the only riverboat to be fitted with Siamese ironwood flooring. With her spectacular outfitting, the Queen has played host to thousands, including three U.S. Presidents and a princess.
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Things went well for the old girl until, in the late 1960’s, new government regulations declared the old wooden boat to be a fire hazard. Overnight cruising was prohibited by the new rules. This raised such a stink that Washington was flooded with angry letters, phone calls and petitions. Eventually, in a rare triumph of common sense over senseless regulation, the Delta Queen was granted a special exemption and remains as the last of the original wooden river steamers still in overnight service.
While the Delta Queen is unquestionably the grandest of the assembled fleet every year, there is still the remaining question of which boat is the fastest. The highlight of each years regatta is the steamboat race. Thousands of people line the banks of the Kanawha as the boats race for the title of the fastest steamer on the river.
Not all the racing is on the river, however. Runners compete in races through the streets of Charleston and, later that same day, there’s the University of Charleston’s Regatta Swim competition. Both the runs and the swimming race are open to anyone and prizes and T-shirts are awarded. For some, the steamboat race is only a prelude to the "Anything That Floats Race." If it floats, it’s legal. One imaginative guy took the paddles out of a huge commercial bread mixer and entered it. Didn’t work. Many of the "Anything That Floats" entries are also featured in the Grand Parade.
If you’re not interested in swimming, running or racing, there’s the annual "Taste of Charleston." Over 30 restaurants and wineries set up in the Charleston Civic Center for this two-day event, serving samples of their specialties. Admission is free and there’s a small charge (between .50 and a maximum of $3.00) for the food.
Each night there is a concert on the levee, featuring nationally known entertainers. Lovers of gospel music enjoy a free concert on Sunday at the Municipal Auditorium.
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