[Ted Davisson]

Greetings From New Orleans ,
It has always been a question of mine concerning the Mint Boxes on Steamboats . On either side of the Str. Delta Queen's paddlewheel , Capt. Wagner kept and personally maintained the Mint Boxes . The Bartenders would occasionally harvest some of the mint for the bar and I assume for the Mint Julips ( a southern drink ) that some of you from the barren and frozen north may not be familiar with . The passengers always got a kick out of this tradition and of course the bartenders would play it up and advertise the drinks as a steamboat and mint concotion . My question is was this just something that Capt. Wagner came up with or was it a tradition carried on from other passenger steamboats as well ? Unfortunately , the Mint Boxes had to be closely inspected because it was rumored that someone in the deck department started planting mariguana in them . Imagine that !!
Smoothe Sailing !
Ted Davisson