Packet "City of Wheeling"
The Sternwheel "City of Wheeling" was a packet steamer built for short trades running out of Wheeling. She was built 1899 at Clarington, Ohio at the Mozena yard and completed at Wheeling. She was 169 feet long x 34.4 feet wide x 4.8 foot draft. Her engines (16’s x 6 ft.) and boilers (three boilers each 42″ dia. by 22 feet) came from the "City of Savannah." When she was sold to the Lee Line, Memphis, she was renamed "Harry Lee." She sank at Brandywine Landing 45 miles above Memphis in August of 1911 and was raised. She later burned at Memphis March 19, 1914. She carried the whistle of the Lee Line "Robert E. Lee."
-from “Cap'n Hughes Steamboat Sketchbook,” Hughes, Jesse P., 1951.
STEAMER "CITY OF WHEELING"
The fast Steamer "City of Wheeling" ran in the packet trades of the upper Ohio River at the turn of the century.
She was built in Clarington, Ohio, and was a duplicate in size, model and power of the famous old "Tacoma" of Cincinnati, which really set the standard among the steamboats of her class.
During the year 1902 this "City of Wheeling" and "Tacoma" both ran in the Cincinnati, Madison and Louisville trade as opposition steamers. They were so evenly matched there was little distinction as to their speed.
The next year, the "City of Wheeling" was bought by the Vicksburg and Greenville Packet Company, and ran on the lower Mississippi with an equal grace. She was later bought by the famous Lee Line Steamers of Memphis, her name changed to the "Harry Lee", and she finished her career as a packet running out of that port.
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