Harbor scene... ideas?

[sgtcarl1]

Well, I don't know how much help this may be, but my father worked on the last stern-wheeled commercial river boat back in the forties. It's name was "The Lone Star, and it pushed barges of sand and gravel up stream or downstream on the Mississippi river. It's sister ship, The "Ella Mae" was the boat that was used to push coal barges. There were many other types of ships and boats up and down the river. There were oil barges that delivered oil and gasoline to tank farms, cargo ships that delivered JI Case and Farmall farm equipment south and north from their factories in Bettendorf, (where I lived,) and Moline, Ill. And even some John Deere equipment and parts went by barge, also. This was still going on in the late fifties. A good sized ship/boat could push four or more barges of coal, sand or gravel, and occasionally grain. As late as just a few years ago, the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers still had commercial boats pushing barges up and down them on a regular basis.