Riverboat master takes dinner cruise

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By John Willard | Saturday, February 23, 2008 |

More than 300 people crowded the ballroom of the Holiday Inn in Rock Island Friday to celebrate steamboats and steamboating and to meet a personality who helped shaped that colorful era.

“I was at the right place at the right time,” Capt. Clarke “Doc” Hawley told guests at the fifth annual Quad-Cities Henry Farnam Dinner in explaining a 55-year river career.

He has served as master or captain aboard some of the nation’s best known steamboats, including the Delta Queen, Mississippi Queen and American Queen.

“I worked for the right people on the right boats,” he added.

He regaled the audience with anecdotes from adventures that have included meeting presidents, movie stars and riverboat veterans. By learning to keep his mouth shut and listening, he said, he was able to learn much from such seasoned rivermen as Capt. Ernest E. Wagner, who gave him his first job as calliope player and popcorn popper aboard the Avalon.

“He had only a sixth grade education, but he was wise to the ways of the public and could spot a phony across the dance floor,” Hawley said.

Hawley holds pilot’s licenses for 1,370 miles on four rivers and has worked in steamboat jobs ranging from popcorn popper and calliope player to corporate general manager. He has lectured at Tulane University and is co-author of “The Excursion Boat Story: Moonlite at 8:30.”

He still maintains his pilot’s license, works aboard the steamboat Natchez in New Orleans, where he lives, and will serve as historian aboard the Delta Queen during its upcoming season.

“I’m still looking for the next adventure and what’s coming around the next bend,” he said.

The Quad-City Henry Farnam Dinners revive a tradition of earlier affairs celebrating Quad-City heritage that began with the Feb. 22, 1854, completion of the Chicago and Rock Island Railroad. Henry W. Farnam was the railroad’s developer.

In offering a toast to Farnam, Rock Island Mayor Mark Schwiebert noted that this year’s dinner comes in the midst of discussions about reviving passenger rail service between the Quad-Cities and Chicago.

Susie Bell, of Davenport, dressed for the occasion by wearing an authentic 1890s dress, made of wool and trimmed with hand-tattled lace. It featured Mississippi River pearl buttons.

“I was born on the Missouri River in Independence, Iowa, and I have lived on the Mississippi River since I was 14. I love this river,” she said.