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*2 - WAS THE FIRST GAS ENGINE POWERED BOAT ON THE COOSA THE PILOT WAS MY MATERNAL GRANDMOTHER'S BROTHER
*3 - FOR IT'S SIZE, IT WAS NOTED AS CARRYING THE MOST TONNAGE FOR QUITE SOME TIME. THE GADSDEN STEAMBOAT CO. WAS OWNED BY JAMES M. ELLIOTT, SR. AND R.B. KYLE
*4 - DESTROYED BY FIRE AT THE DOCK AT ROME, GA IN 1914
*5 - THE PILOT WAS MY MATERNAL GRANDFATHER
*6 - BURNED AT CEDAR BLUFF, AL AUG. 1887
*7 - SNAGBOAT ON THE COOSA & ALABAMA RIVERS UNTIL 1959
*8 - SANK CA. 1903 NEAR CENTRE, AL
I have always had a great interest in the early history of the Coosa, having been born and raised in Gadsden, AL. I had relatives strung out all up the banks of the Coosa, fished it many-many times and remember seeing the Annie M./Leota right after she was raised some time in the mid 1940's. My Grandfather piloted the Hercules for Col. R.B. Kyle's Lumber yard that was on the Etowah Cherokee County Line. (by the way, it was a small tow boat) My Grandmother's brother was the pilot on the Capt. Lyerly, which, also was a tow boat. After retiring, I started researching my ancestors, and in doing so, the history of the area and the Coosa just fell in line.
Last year I volunteered to digitize photos
and documents for the library here in Decatur and ran across the TN
River boats, and some of the boats that I knew had run the Coosa. So,
I started researching them on both rivers. I really do not have enough
time to do as much research on the boats as I would like because I am
not only doing the genealogy research, but, am also writing a book on
one of my ancestor's family.