[Alan Bates]

While we are messing around on the tributaries, we should discuss Captain John Donaldson. John learned to pilot on the Greene Line Boats between Louisville and Cincinnati, maybe in the early 1940's or late 30's. He did time on a number of towboats including the City of Maysville. Somehow he managed to buy the Brooklyn and the Keene, with which he towed between Frankfort and the sand diggers on the Ohio. His chief customer was the Whitehead Goedecke building supply firm in Frankfort.
The Brooklyn was a long, skinny sternwheel diesel towboat. It showed up at Harrods Creek, at G. W. McBride's landing, one time with an ailing engine. A deckhand marveled that the engine was the only one he ever saw that made its own lube oil in the crankcase. In fact, he'd dipped out a gallon just that morning! The problem was a leaking gasket that allowed cooling water to leak into the engine.
I noticed that the doors had 2" x 10" planks nailed across them at deck level. John told me they were there to keep the river out of the cabin on those tight bends up the Kentucky.
John Donaldson was a very gentle man who always spoke softly, but his eyes let you know when he meant business!
The Brooklyn's corpse is abandoned up in the Kentucky River, maybe at Camp Nelson. Poor thing! Several people have expressed interest in raising her, but none has.