Sidewheel Riverboat War Eagle

Sidewheel Riverboat War Eagle. Historic Shipwreck. , Type: Wooden sidewheel riverboat , Built: 1854, Fulton, Ohio , Sank: May 14, 1870 , Length: 219’ Beam: 29’ , Cargoes: Mail, package freight, passengers, troops , Propulsion: Paddlewheel , Depth of Wreckage: 10’ , Determined Eligible for National Register of Historic Places, Just up the Black River from this point lie the remains of the sidewheel riverboat War Eagle. Built in Fulton, Ohio, in 1854, she boasted 46 staterooms, fine velvet carpets, luxurious furniture, and onboard barbershops. During the Civil War, the War Eagle transported troops and supplies. Her only casualty was a stray bullet that pierced her smokestack in 1862., After the war, the War Eagle again carried passengers and freight between the bustling towns along the Mississippi River. Connections between steamships and trains made ports like La Crosse important transportation hubs for settlers moving to the western frontier., On the night of May 14, 1870, the War Eagle was docked at the Milwaukee Road Railroad Depot, just across the river from this spot. The ship’s carpenter was tightening the bands of a leaking barrel of kerosene. His lantern burst, the kerosene caught fire, and soon the ship’s deck was ablaze. The flames engulfed the dock, the depot, and several warehouses and grain elevators. A nearby barge was lost, and two steamers were damaged. Seven passengers, attempting to save their worldly belongings, perished in the fire or drowned., Many artifacts have been removed from the area of the wreck site, but the hull structure of the War Eagle remains among a tangle of wood, metal and bricks from the burned buildings. Visibility in the river is near zero., Background Image: Bird's-eye view of riverboats at the Milwaukee Road Railroad Depot in La Crosse, about 1870.