"Last Load For The Belles" - Memphis 1905

The setting is Memphis c.1905, a major working port on the Mississippi River providing regular cargo and passenger service up and down the river. The “Last Load of the Belles” highlights a pair of iconic wooden hull steam powered river steamboats. Both vessels, were owned by the Greenville and Vicksburg Packet Co., and plied both the Mississippi & Illinois Rivers with scheduled freight, passenger, and U.S. Mail service for many years. 

In the background the sternwheeler “Belle of Calhoun”, built in 1898, was named for Miss Anna Wood…the belle of Calhoun County, Illinois. She was badly damaged by a tornado in May 1897 at St. Louis, and sunk and was raised 3 times during its lifetime… finally succumbed to a fire in the winter of 1930-1931.  

In the foreground is the larger sidewheeler “Belle of the Bends” built in 1895, which also sank and was raised twice.  The main deck was allocated to cargo with the upper decks for passengers. After boll weevils ruined the cotton crop in 1908-09, she was converted to an excursion boat, renamed Liberty, and was finally dismantled in 1919. 

In the scene the gangway is about to be raised as the last few pieces of cargo are unloaded from a mule drawn wagon, completing the hand loading before both vessels depart down river.  The scene contains 40 figures in various activities illustrating everyday life on the waterfront, creating movement and amplifying visual interest.  The mid-morning scene on a bright sunny day in late summer creates strong shadows on the shore, and water reflections in the calm water of the Mississippi River landing. A raft can be seen between the two boats to keep them apart, and 2 staying poles a visible used to keep the boat off the bank in deeper water.