Chautauqua Belle
Encyclopedia
The steamer Chautauqua Belle is an authentic Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...

-style sternwheel steamboat
Steamboat
A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...

 owned and operated by U.S. Steam Lines Ltd, operating on Chautauqua Lake
Chautauqua Lake
Chautauqua Lake is located entirely within Chautauqua County, New York, USA. The lake is approximately long and wide at its greatest width. The surface area is approximately 13,000 acres . The maximum depth is about 78 feet...

 in Western New York
Western New York
Western New York is the westernmost region of the state of New York. It includes the cities of Buffalo, Rochester, Niagara Falls, the surrounding suburbs, as well as the outlying rural areas of the Great Lakes lowlands, the Genesee Valley, and the Southern Tier. Some historians, scholars and others...

. Originally financed and built by Captain James Webster, the vessel was constructed on site in Mayville, New York
Mayville, New York
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 1,756 people, 686 households, and 399 families residing in the village. The population density was 875.0 people per square mile . There were 860 housing units at an average density of 428.5 per square mile...

, between 1974 and 1976. The Chautauqua Belle was launched in 1976 as part of Chautauqua County's
Chautauqua County, New York
-Major highways:* Interstate 86/New York State Route 17 * Interstate 90 * U.S. Route 20* U.S. Route 62* New York State Route 5* New York State Route 39* New York State Route 60* New York State Route 394...

 celebration of the United States Bicentennial
United States Bicentennial
The United States Bicentennial was a series of celebrations and observances during the mid-1970s that paid tribute to the historical events leading up to the creation of the United States as an independent republic...

.

Her design features many of the architectural details lost to the modern boat builder, like cambered decks to shed water from her roof and a sheer line to evenly distribute the weight of the boilers, engines and paddlewheel. Not to mention her gingerbread trim and wedding cake stacked superstructure which is indigenous to the Mississippi River-styled steamboat. This style of deck layout, which became the pinnacle of all steamboat architecture, was pioneered by Henry Shreve and his steamboat Washington of 1824. The vessel featured a barge-like hull which allowed the steamboat to carry immense weight while maintaining a shallow draft for navigation on the shallow inland rivers.

The Chautauqua Belle is a total of 98 feet long and 22 feet wide. She weighs 70 tons fully loaded. She has a 100 horsepower Scotch steam boiler aboard which supplies steam at 210 pounds per square inch to the two 20 hp steam engine
Steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...

s which turn her paddlewheel. She has a 60 HP Uniflow marine steam engine
Uniflow steam engine
The uniflow type of steam engine uses steam that flows in one direction only in each half of the cylinder. Thermal efficiency is increased in the compound and multiple expansion types of steam engine by separating expansion into steps in separate cylinders; in the uniflow design, thermal efficiency...

 manufactured by Skinner Engine Company which is attached via a belt drive to a 30KW generator to provide her electricity needs. Her top speed is 7 miles per hour. The engines were built for the Chautauqua Belle by Harry Mc Bride in 1975. She has a mechanical steering system with cable operation of two rudder
Rudder
A rudder is a device used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft or other conveyance that moves through a medium . On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw and p-factor and is not the primary control used to turn the airplane...

s mounted on the stern ahead of her paddlewheel.

The Chautauqua Belle is one of only five operating authentic passenger sternwheel steamboats left in all of North America. The other 4 vessels are the Queen of Seattle, in Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

; Minne Ha-Ha at Lake George, New York
Lake George, New York
Lake George, New York may refer to:*Lake George , a lake*Lake George , New York, a town*Lake George , New York, a village within the town and situated next to the lake...

, operating on Lake George; the Belle of Louisville
Belle of Louisville
The Belle of Louisville is a steamboat owned and operated by the city of Louisville, Kentucky and moored at its downtown wharf next to the Riverfront Plaza/Belvedere during its annual operational period...

in Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...

, operating on the Ohio River; and the Natchez in New Orleans, Louisiana, operating on the Mississippi River.

The Chautauqua Belle and the Natchez
Natchez (boat)
Natchez has been the name of several steamboats, and four naval vessels, each named after the city of Natchez, Mississippi or the Natchez people. The current one has been in operation since 1975. The previous Natchez were all operated in the nineteenth century, most by Captain Thomas P. Leathers...

were designed by the naval architect Captain Alan Bates of Louisville, Kentucky.

External links

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