Instruct: Given a question, retrieve passages that answer the question.
Query: What is the oldest steamboat still operating on the Mississippi?
The Belle of Louisville is the oldest operating steamboat in the United States, and the oldest operating Mississippi River-style steamboat in the world. She was laid down as Idlewild in 1914, and is currently located in Louisville, Ky.[48]
Old Spanish Fort, also known as "Old French Fort" and "LaPointe-Krebs House", was built on the shore of Lake Catahoula (Krebs Lake) near what is now Pascagoula, Mississippi, by French Canadian Joseph Simon de la Pointe. Construction of the house dates back to 1757, based on dendrochronology examination of structural timbers, making it the state's oldest surviving building, the state's only French Colonial structure still in existence, and the oldest scientifically-confirmed standing structure in the Mississippi River Valley. The structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 and was designated a Mississippi Landmark in 1984. The La Pointe - Krebs House is operated and maintained by the La Pointe - Krebs Foundation and serves as a museum.
Although Union forces gained control of Mississippi River tributaries, travel there was still subject to interdiction by the Confederates. The Ambush of the steamboat J. R. Williams, which was carrying supplies from Fort Smith to Fort Gibson along the Arkansas River on 16 July 1863 demonstrated this. The steamboat was destroyed, the cargo was lost, and the tiny Union escort was run off. The loss did not affect the Union war effort, however.[38]
Beginning in 1828, steamboats began to travel the Mississippi River as far north as St. Paul, the upper limit of commercial navigation on the Mississippi, until two dams and a series of locks were built between 1948 and 1963. The steamboat journey began to attract the attention of tourists, and in 1835 well known artist of American Indian life George Catlin made a trip by steamboat up the Mississippi from St. Louis to the Falls of St. Anthony and Fort Snelling. Impressed with the scenery, Catlin proposed a "Fashionable Tour" of the upper Mississippi, saying:
The Rogue River meets the Pacific Ocean at Gold Beach, and flows all the way from the Cascade Mountains. R. D. Hume was a pioneering businessman at Wedderburn and Gold Beach, then known as Ellensburg. By 1881, he had established a fish cannery and built a steam schooner, "Mary D. Hume", to support the cannery operation. Hume was still conducting steamboat operations on the Rogue River in 1901, and in that year, Capt. E.D. Burns built the sternwheel steamboat "Rogue River" in Portland, and brought her down the coast to compete against Hume's operation. "Mary D. Hume" passed through several owners and was still in operation as late as 1939, when she was the oldest commercial vessel in service in the Pacific Northwest.
Built in 1856, PS Skibladner is the oldest steamship still in operation, serving towns along lake Mjøsa in Norway.
By the time of Fulton's death in 1815 he operated 21 of the estimated 30 steamboats in the U.S. The number of steamboats steadily grew into the hundreds. There were more steamboats in the Mississippi valley than anywhere else in the world.
The invention of the steamboat greatly reduced the costs of flatboat journeys and caused the trade to boom through the antebellum period. The steamboat, introduced to the Mississippi in the 1810s, greatly reduced the time of the return journey for flatboat crews. After reaching New Orleans, many flatboat crews scuttled their craft and bought passage on steamboats upriver. What had once been a three-month hike for many flatboaters, now took only days. These reduced labor costs saw flatboat labor costs plummet and profits boom. In some cases, steamboats would also drag flatboats bringing cargo upriver allowing flatboat operators to profit on the return journey as well. The utilization of steamboats caused the flatboat industry to increase from 598 arrivals in New Orleans in 1814 to 2,792 in 1847.
The Lake George Steamboat Company currently operates three boats: The "Minne-Ha-Ha" (meaning laughing waters) is the last steamboat operating on Lake George; the "Mohican II", which has been in continuous service for over 100 years and is the oldest passenger vessel in the United States; and the "Lac Du Saint Sacrement", the largest and most luxurious of the three. The "Lac Du Saint Sacrament" began operating in 1989, replacing the "Ticonderoga", which had sailed the lake for the company for five decades prior.
Five major commercial steamboats currently operate on the inland waterways of the United States. The only remaining overnight cruising steamboat is the 432 passenger American Queen, which operates week-long cruises on the Mississippi, Ohio, Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers 11 months out of the year. The others are day boats: they are the steamers Chautauqua Belle at Chautauqua Lake, New York, Minne Ha-Ha at Lake George, NY, operating on Lake George; the Belle of Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky, operating on the Ohio River; and the Natchez in New Orleans, Louisiana, operating on the Mississippi River. For modern craft operated on rivers, see the Riverboat article.[49]
The Lake George Steamboat Company was incorporated in 1817 to operate steamboats on Lake George, New York. It is the oldest company in the Lake George region. The company operates steamboats that run the full length of Lake George between Ticonderoga at the north end of the lake and the village of Lake George at the south end of the lake. 
The historical roots of the prototypical Mississippi steamboat, or Western Rivers steamboat, can be traced to designs by easterners like James Rumsey, John Fitch, John Stevens, Oliver Evans, Robert Fulton and Daniel French. In the span of just six years the evolution of the prototypical Mississippi steamboat would be well underway:In the 1810s there were 20 boats on the river; by the 1830s there were more than 1200. By the 1820s, with the southern states joining the Union and the land converted to cotton plantations so indicative of the Antebellum South, methods were needed to move the bales of cotton, rice, timber, tobacco and molasses. The steamboat was perfect. America boomed in the age of Jackson. Population moved west, and more farms were established. In the 1820s Steamers were fueled first by wood, then coal, which pushed barges of coal from
Pittsburgh to New Orleans. Regular steamboat commerce begun between Pittsburgh and Louisville.
Competition is fierce among steamboats captains plying the Mississippi river .
Sleazy and devious Capt Lowriver, master of paddle steamer "Abestos . d . plover" is trying to establish a monopoly on the New Orleans Minneapolis line and wants his arch rival Capt Barrows, master of the "Daisy Belle" out of the way. 
Both captains finally devise a race from New Orleans Minneapolis to settle the matter: Whoever wins the race remains sole operator of steamboats on the Mississippi.
Confident in his ship and crew capabilities but fearing foul play from his opponent part Capt Barrows hires lucky Luke as a supervisor and bodyguard.
Joseph Reynolds (June 11, 1819 February 21, 1891) was an American entrepreneur and founder of the Diamond Jo steamboat lines, a transportation company which operated on the upper Mississippi River. In his youth, while still living in upstate New York, he operated a butchery, a general store, a grain mill, and a tannery. 
The Andy Gibson was a steamboat that serviced the headwaters of the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Minnesota from 1884 to 1894. After her retirement, the ship was left in a drydock outside her home port of Aitkin, Minnesota, and gradually dismantled for parts. The hull and drydock eventually sank out of sight. It is thus unique among U.S. shipwrecks for still resting on a drydock cradle. The "Andy Gibson" shipwreck (Smithsonian trinomial 21AK109) was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012 for having state-level significance in the themes of commerce, engineering, entertainment/recreation, maritime history, non-aboriginal historic archaeology, and transportation. It was nominated for comprising the rare and well-preserved remains of a Mississippi River steamboat.
Steamboat transport remained a viable industry, both in terms of passengers and freight until the end of the first decade of the 20th century. Among the several Mississippi River system steamboat companies was the noted Anchor Line, which, from 1859 to 1898, operated a luxurious fleet of steamers between St. Louis and New Orleans.
In 1876 a Mississippi River flood cut off the large meander flowing past Vicksburg, leaving limited access to the new channel. The city's economy suffered greatly. Between 1881 and 1894, the Anchor Line, a prominent steamboat company on the Mississippi River from 1859 to 1898, operated a steamboat called the "City of Vicksburg".
"River Queen" was still operating in 1910 on the Potomac River, by that time among the oldest side-wheelers still in service. In July 1911, newspapers reported the burning of the "River Queen" "to the water's edge" following the explosion of a signal lantern on board. The press reported that "For the past year or two the "River Queen" has been used as an excursion boat for Negroes."
The city's prominent place in Mississippi River commerce during the nineteenth century was reflected by the naming of nine steamboats "Natchez", which traveled the lower river between 1823 and 1918. Many were built for and commanded by the famous Captain Thomas P. Leathers, whom Jefferson Davis had wanted to head the Confederate defense fleet on the Mississippi River. (This appointment never was concluded.) In 1885, the Anchor Line, known for its luxury steamboats operating between St. Louis and New Orleans, launched its "brag boat", the "City of Natchez". This ship operated for a year before being lost to a fire at Cairo, Illinois, on 28 December 1886. Since 1975, an excursion steamboat at New Orleans has borne the name "Natchez".
Haraszthy formed a partnership with an Englishman named Robert Bryant and threw himself into a myriad of ambitious projects. Besides the town that he laid out, he built mills, raised corn and other grains, and kept sheep, pigs, and horses. He kept a store and opened a brickyard. Many of the oldest houses still standing in Sauk City were built with bricks from Haraszthy’s brickyard. He owned and operated a steamboat that carried passengers and freight on the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers. He donated land on which the first Roman Catholic church and school in Sauk City were built.
The Mississippi Queen was the second-largest paddle wheel driven river steamboat ever built, second only to the larger "American Queen". The ship was the largest such steamboat when she was built in 1976 by the Delta Queen Steamboat Company at Jeffboat in Indiana and was a seven-deck recreation of a classic Mississippi riverboat. She was later owned by the Majestic America Line. The "Mississippi Queen" had 206 state rooms for a capacity of 412 guests and a crew of 157. It was 116 meters (382 ft) long, 21 meters (68 ft) wide, and displaces 3,709 metric tonnes (3,364 tons).
The SSWSC is a multi-sport ski club located in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, that provides winter and summer athletic programming. It is the oldest ski club west of the Mississippi River. Its home ski area is Howelsen Hill, owned and operated by the City of Steamboat Springs. That area provides terrain for most of the winter sports, and has lights for night operations. The Steamboat Ski Area provides the Club and its athletes much support on the slopes of its . The SSWSC was selected by the US Ski Team as its national Club of the Year in 2007, 2004, and 1999.
In 1883 as Missouri steamboat traffic declined with the expansion of railroad lines through the Dakota Territory and into the Montana Territory, Marsh sold the "W.J. Behan" and moved from Bismarck to Memphis, Tennessee and then to St. Louis. There were still opportunities for a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River, and Marsh continued to work. For the next dozen years, he operated ferry boats and tug boats on the Mississippi, and following this he did a variety of jobs.
These did not happen often, but they were very dangerous when they did, and generally resulted in severe casualties among the crew and passengers and the complete loss of the boat. Steamboat boiler explosions had been a common problem on the Mississippi River system well before the steamboats began serious operations in the Pacific Northwest in the 1850s. By 1852, the problem had gotten so bad that Congress enacted a law setting out detailed standards for inspection of steamboats and licensing of officers. Considerable work was done in the 1840s and 1850s to understand what caused boiler explosions, and these came down to many causes, including general wear and tear, inadequate or poorly designed equipment, overworked boilers that were too small for the engines, general lack of engineering skill among boiler operators, and excessive demands for performance from the vessel's captain or management. People noticed early on that most of boiler explosions occurred just as steamboats were leaving (or sometimes arriving at) a landing. This was true in two-thirds of the boiler explosions up to 1852. Steam pressure was supposed to be reduced during a landing, but this would make it more difficult to get off to a fast start, so too often pressure was kept up even though the engines weren't running to relieve the pressure by use of the steam generated by the boiler. Under these circumstances, boiler explosions were much more likely.
Early steamboat experience in the Oregon Country was unfortunately consistent with the Mississippi river boiler explosion pattern. "Canemah" was the first steamboat in Oregon to suffer a boiler explosion, on August 8, 1853, at or shortly below Champoeg landing on the Willamette River. One passenger was killed, but the boat survived. "Shoalwater"'s boiler exploded in May, 1853, at Rock Island, also on the Willamette River. No one was killed however and enough remained of the boat to allow it to be rebuilt as "Fenix". Details of these early explosions are lacking, but it is significant that at least one of them, "Canemah", occurred at a landing.
The use of steamboats on major US rivers soon followed Fulton's 1807 success. In 1811 the first in a continuous (still in commercial passenger operation as of 2007) line of river steamboats left the dock at Pittsburgh to steam down the Ohio River to the Mississippi and on to New Orleans.[25] In 1817 a consortium in Sackets Harbor, New York funded the construction of the first US steamboat, Ontario, to run on Lake Ontario and the Great Lakes, beginning the growth of lake commercial and passenger traffic.[26] In his book Life on the Mississippi, river pilot and author Mark Twain described much of the operation of such vessels.