Working on a Towboat
Towboat Jack D. Wofford
Built at Jeffersonville, Indiana, 1966
Gift of Jack D. Wofford
Mississippi River Towboat Jack D. Wofford
River towboats are small but powerful vessels used to push barges up and down inland waterways. Most towboats push 15 barges at a time, lashed together three wide and five long. Fifteen barges carry as much freight as a three-mile long freight train or a string of tractor-trailers stretching 35 miles.
The Jack D. Wofford was built in 1966 and was still transporting cargo between St. Louis and Minneapolis in 2007. At the boat’s bow are two large steel “knees” that push against and brace the barges. To avoid the Mississippi’s many sandbars, the Wofford has a very shallow hull, rarely reaching depths of more than 9 feet.
One Pilot’s Story
River pilots are as important as ever. Most of the nation’s bulk cargoes, including grain and coal, travel up and down rivers. Modern towboat pilots are trained, tested, and licensed, but experience on the river is still the best teacher.
In the 1970s, Capt. Jack Libbey used this book of navigation charts of the upper Mississippi River. Virtually every page has Libbey’s markings and notations. He meticulously printed the names of major navigation aids on both sides of the river, as well as reminders of how to steer through tricky situations.
Steering with Sticks, 2008
Modern towboats are steered with “joy-sticks,” not a wheel. The backing rudders are controlled by the upper set of sticks, the steering by the lower set.
Pilot Jack Libbey in the pilothouse of the Mississippi River towboat James Faris, in Dubuque, Iowa.
Courtesy of Jack Libbey
Towboats and Barges
Produced by the History Channel
Working on a Towboat
Produced by the History Channel
