By David Heighway, Hamilton County Historian
There have been various tour boats in Hamilton County over the years. Probably the one most remembered by people is the Waterfront Queen/Star of Cicero which was on Morse Reservoir between 1994 and 2008. There was also the Morse Queen on Morse Reservoir in 1965 and the Summer Girl at Riverwood between 1925 and 1932 (which I’ve written about before).[1] But, if you go way back to 1897, there was a boat that traveled all over central Indiana, including Noblesville, and made some surprising journeys.
One of the most amazing things about the boat was the site of its construction – Tipton. Most people would assume that city to be landlocked, but apparently someone was very determined.
The story is not very clear, but the boat might have started out named Full of Prunes. It was 40 feet long, 14 feet wide, had a proper steam engine, could float in less than 10 inches of water, and cost $2,600 to build. The crew was C. G. Hadley – Captain, James Cole and Les Moore – first and second mates, Monroe Moulden – pilot, and Lon Ulrich – engineer. Newspaper reports said that they planned to take it to Arkansas.[2]
For getting it out of Tipton, the rational assumption would be to leave the boat partially disassembled and load it on a train car. Other boats were known to have been transported in this fashion. However, the route they chose to go from Tipton to Noblesville was Cicero Creek.
A modern photograph of Cicero Creek near Tipton. Source: NOAA
They started on April 12, apparently at a time when the water was nearly in flood stage. They somehow got under the covered bridge at Cicero (later known as Red Bridge). They were spotted by people in the settlement called Providence four miles northwest of Noblesville and then got under the Midland Railroad bridge (a modern one still sits near Cherry Tree Road). When they reached the meeting of Cicero Creek and White River, they turned and headed north, passing under the other Midland Bridge (where the new Pleasant Street bridge stands). They finally reached the city on the 16th, docking near where the Conner Street bridge is today. They told the newspaper that they had run into a lot of obstacles and were looking forward to “smoother sailing” on the White River. They held an Easter dinner for some friends on the 18th. Curiously, I cannot find any reference to them after that.[3]
However, a month later on May 14, the local newspaper mentioned that a man named Fred Chew had nearly completed a steamboat. (Frederick L. Chew later worked as a drilling engineer around the US.) Then on the 21st, the newspaper announced that a dance had been held on the steamer Stella. On the same day, another local paper mentioned that some people took a steamboat ride while they were in town. Finally, on the 28th, the paper said, “The steamer ‘Stella’ has left this port and gone to Broad Ripple.”[4]
We have a better description of the Stella from various newspaper articles after she reached Broad Ripple. Like the Full of Prunes, she was built in Tipton, was 14 feet wide, and came south by water. However, she was a double-decked sternwheeler with a length of 57 feet. Her draft was 13-20 inches, she weighed 20 tons, and she could carry 100 people. She was powered by a 20-horsepower submerged tube marine boiler with duplex engines that had a 5×20 inch stroke.[5]
Could the boat have been sold and rebuilt during the stay in Noblesville? It’s difficult to conceive that there were two steamboats that came from Tipton in the spring of 1897 and even more difficult to conceive that a boat the size of the Stella could have floated down Cicero Creek. However, this is all of the information that we have. The captain who took Stella to Broad Ripple was named Rolla Gunion. The boat became part of the “Broad Ripple navy,” which was a collection of tour boats that included the Sunshine, the Helen Gould, City of Warsaw and the Millie D. and others. A new captain named Hiram Varnes was hired.
Broad Ripple Park in The Indianapolis Journal from August 5, 1900
In July of 1898, all of the Broad Ripple boats were ordered by the federal government to register their vessels as having the home port of Evansville (and had to pay a $5.00 fee). This was regarded as something of an indignity but may have inspired Captain Varnes. In September, he decided to look for a new area to run excursions. He was warned that the river was low enough to walk across on the stones and there was a small dam downriver. The newspaper said that he boasted that “the Stella draws so little water that she could run in a heavy dew.” The boat was maneuvered over the dam using boards to slide on and headed downriver. Stella made trips to Spencer, Gosport, Worthington, and eventually Vincennes.[6]
Varnes tried to return to Broad Ripple in 1900. Because of new dam construction, Stella and the Helen Gould had had to stay downstream. However, Riverside Park was open, and the two boats started a new tour route serving the park. This continued until 1902 when Stella was sold to Indianapolis businessman, Albert E. Tripp, to be converted into a yacht. The conversion never happened because she was damaged by ice floes in January 1903 and was completely destroyed by an ice-choked flood in January 1904.[7]
[1] Hamilton County Business Magazine, June/July 2023, p. 15-16
[2] Hamilton County Ledger, April 16, 1897, p. 1.
[3] Hamilton County Ledger, April 23, 1897, p. 2; Ibid, p. 8.
[4] Hamilton County Ledger, May 14, 1897, p. 8; Hamilton County Democrat, May 21, 1897, p. 5; Hamilton County Ledger, May 21, 1897, p. 5; Hamilton County Democrat, May 28, 1897 p. 5.
[5] Indianapolis News, June 8, 1897, p. 7; Indianapolis Journal, August 7, 1897, p. 8; Indianapolis News, November 6, 1899, p. 3.
[6] Indianapolis News, September 2, 1898, p. 9; Indianapolis Journal, May 17, 1899, p. 6; Evansville Courier, April 5, 1900, p. 7.
[7] Indianapolis Journal, September 9, 1899, p. 8; Indianapolis News, June 2, 1900, p. 7; Indianapolis Journal, April 29, 1901, p. 6.; Indianapolis News, January 30, 1903, p. 8; Indianapolis News, April 4, 1903, p. 13; Indianapolis Star, January 23, 1904, p. 3.
[8] Featured image: Steamboat named Indiana from HEPL Collection at Indiana Memory