When ‘Big Mama’ burned, Vicksburg lost a great attraction

My grandfather was a steamboat engineer who spent most of his working life on U.S. Army Corps of Engineer vessels. But he had a fondness for the Sprague, dubbed “Big Mama of the Mississippi,” and we would often visit it to look at the vast collection of river photos.

The Sprague, built in 1901, was moored at the Vicksburg waterfront in the late ’40s as a shrine and marine museum. She was the largest steam-powered sternwheeler towboat ever built.

On the evening of April 15, 1974, we received a call that the boat was on fire. My father, then a Vicksburg firefighter, was summoned to come in to work, as they were calling every available person to come assist. The fire quickly engulfed the wooden vessel, and it burned throughout the night. We went to a location where we had a good vantage point and watched the once mighty boat disintegrate in the inferno.

The Sprague on fire. (Photo by Chris Faulk, courtesy The Waterways Journal Weekly)

There was much speculation as to the cause of the fire. Some believed it was possibly arson. Retired Vicksburg Fire Captain Wilford Cockrell related to me the same story that my father told me after the fire. Lt. Sheldon Kenworthy was the fire inspector for the department at the time. He had been trying for a while to get the operators of the Sprague to fix wiring issues on the decades-old boat. Most believe the fire was electrical in origin.

The remains of the Sprague were towed up the Yazoo Canal to the area known as the old “Government Fleet,” so named because the Corps tied up equipment and vessels there for many years before moving to the harbor area. It was there that what was left of the boat deteriorated and sank in 1979, during high water. The Corps dynamited the remains in 1981 to clear the channel.

Pieces of the mighty steamboat are strewn among several locations around Vicksburg. The capstans and kevels are in the park at Catfish Row. There are several pieces, including the smokestacks, in the weeds off North Washington Street. You will find more pieces near the Klondyke and the City Shop.

Marty Kittrell has lobbied for something to be done with the remains for many years. Visit his blog to see photos of several pieces of the boat.

The Sprague was once home to the annual summer staging of “Gold In The Hills” and was a tourist attraction at our city waterfront for years. Several vessels have attempted to take her place, but none were able to gain enough traction to sustain viability.

Once hailed as the most powerful steamboat and largest paddle wheeler on America’s waterways, the Sprague met a horrible end and with that end, Vicksburg lost a great attraction.

Read more about the Sprague here.