The United States

This picture was taken on Friday, August 10th, 1883, four miles up the Kentucky River at Lock and Dam No. 1, or what's left of it.  The State of Kentucky had handed the Kentucky River navigation over to the U. S. Engineers for four years before this picture was made.  There were four old locks and dams built 1841-1844 in pretty sad condition.  The dam at No. 1 had a big gap in it, not backing up any water at all.  And such was the state of affairs when this picture was taken, and work was underway to close the breach.  The chief object of interest, however, is the side-wheeler moored below the dam on the opposite shore.  Some sharp looking with a magnifying glass discloses the name United States on her wheelhouse.  We showed an oil painting of her in the March '74 issue, page 24.  This is the packet built in Cincinnati in 1869 on the hull of the older United States which had collided with the America the year prior. [near Warsaw, the story is here] She belonged to the U.S. Mail Line and ran Cincinnati-Louisville.  So here she is in August, 1874, shorn of jackstaff and smokestacks.  Just as a wild guess she may have been brought here as a quarters boat for the work crews building the dam.  We've read in another account that she was dismantled in Madison, Indiana, in February, 1884.  This unusual scene was rescued from the old U. S. Engineer files by John Bleidt, currently president of the Louisville Propeller Club.

from the September, 1974 S & D Reflector. There's no author credited.