"Bell From The Steamer Blue Ridge"

After leaving Gallipolis, Ohio on the way to Cincinnati, the Steamer Blue Ridge exploded her boilers in the vicinity of Racoon Island. The year was 1848 and the Steamer Blue Ridge was a regular on the Kanawha River.  The Steamer Blue Ridge was a side-wheeler.
Major Jubal Early was a Confederate General during the Civil War and and was on the Steamer Blue Ridge when the explosion happened. Half of his stateroom was carried away and pieces of the boiler-iron protruded through the floor cutting and burning his feet.  He suffered no other problem from the accident.  Between 11 and 15 lives were lost at the time of the explosion. 
Another person involved in the explosion was Captain William Penn Wright, who was a member of the boat's crew.  At the time of the explosion, Captain Wright was blown overboard and came down on the rubble in the river.  He suffered many injuries from this fatality, but lived on for many years to still work on the river.
This Kanawha River Wright family has produced 36 licensed masters, pilots and engineers.  Harold Bell Wright, saved many lives of the Steamer Kanawha in 1916 when it collided and sank.
The bell of the Steamer Blue Ridge hangs on the front of the Putnam County Courthouse, Virginia.
The Courthouse was erected the same year as the explosion...in 1848.

All of the information on this page was
compiled by Ernie Wright, while he was
doing genealogy research. It has been
put on this page with his permission in
hopes that it will help him to find some
missing links.

This set is not linkware or is it in
the public domain.  Set is Fiddlinsue©.
Backgrounds, html, graphics, and
buttons were created by me. 
~6-2005~