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OPINIONS
Editorial: Delta Queen should be preserved as piece of history
The Delta Queen used to dock at Harris Riverfront Park in Huntington, giving passengers an opportunity to tour Blenko Glass and Heritage Farm. However, the aged wooden boat's exemption has run out, and it is now no longer able to carry more than 50 passengers at a time. To get around the exemption, and keep the boat running, Don Clare is hoping to have the boat declared as one AmericaÕs 11 Most Endangered Historic Places.
Purchase this photoDon Clare, a member of the Boone County (Ky.) Historic Preservation Review Board, is trying a new strategy to keep the Delta Queen moving on the Ohio River and other rivers. He has nominated the boat become one of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places.
Being on the list could save the Delta Queen from likely decay as it sits docked, unable to carry overnight passengers anymore. It's an interesting strategy, but one that may be butting heads with the current economic situation.
The Delta Queen is 82 years old. Its owner, Majestic America Line, has docked the boat because Congress has refused to grant another exemption from a federal law that bans more than 50 overnight passengers on boats that are largely made of wood. The exemption expired on Oct. 31, 2008.
Majestic America says the boat, which can carry 176 overnight passengers, can't survive financially if it can carry only 50 passengers.
Thus, Clare nominated the Delta Queen for inclusion on the endangered list.
"For the Delta Queen, this amounts to demolition by neglect," Clare told The Cincinnati Enquirer. "Mold and mildew are going to set in. This boat needs to be running, carrying overnight passengers to stay alive."
Complicating the Delta Queen's future is the future of Majestic America Line. Majestic America owns the Mississippi Queen and the American Queen, along with the Delta Queen. Facing economic problems, Majestic America has canceled all 2009 cruises for the three boats, and it is dismantling the Mississippi Queen.
According to an article in The Memphis Flyer on Dec. 18, the parent company of Majestic America, Ambassadors International, has decided its investment in the riverboat passenger business was a big mistake. Its former CEO, Joe Ueberroth, said the company wanted to sell its three riverboats.
"I am obviously concerned (about selling the boats) due to current economic conditions, the state of our financial markets and the lack of available financing. We're preparing to lay up our vessels for an extended period if necessary," Ueberroth said before resigning, according to The Memphis Flyer.
Majestic America's only competition, RiverBarge Excursion Lines, which operated the River Explorer, also has canceled its 2009 season because of declining business, according to The St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Majestic America and RiverBarge have turned their boats over to the Maritime Administration, which holds the bonds, according to the Post-Dispatch.
Lower demand, increased fuel costs, competition from ocean cruises -- all worked against keeping the overnight cruise business on the rivers afloat. The Mississippi Queen is being dismantled, the future of the American Queen is uncertain and the Delta Queen's wood structure faces deterioration if the boat is not maintained.
Losing the boats is a blow to cities along the river. In the past, hundreds of people gathered at Harris Riverfront Park in Huntington to see the boats when they docked there for a morning visit. In recent years, the boats have stayed away from Huntington, but they have stopped several times a year at Point Pleasant, W.Va.
The boats provided a recreational opportunity for people who wanted to see them, and they provided tourist dollars for businesses in the towns where they stopped.
This year, for the first time in decades, no overnight passenger boats will travel the Ohio River.
It's too late to save the Mississippi Queen. However, the Delta Queen needs to be preserved for its historic value. And who knows, maybe one day the economy will turn, as it usually does. The Delta Queen could get an exemption, demand will come back, and the last overnight wood-structure passenger steamboat will once again carry people on the Ohio and other rivers.
Again, people will hear that distinctive whistle and listen to the old calliope. But it won't happen if the Delta Queen isn't saved and if it is not granted another exemption from a law that was meant to apply to ocean-going vessels.
