John S. Sledge - The Mobile River

THE MOBILE RIVER

John S. Sledge

2015 University of South Carolina

Published by the University of South Carolina Press
Columbia, South Carolina 29208

www.sc.edu/uscpress

Frontispiece illustration from Peter J. Hamilton,
Artwork of Mobile and Vicinity (Chicago, 1894).

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
can be found at http://catalog.loc.gov/

ISBN: 978-1-61117-485-4 (cloth)
ISBN: 978-1-61117-487-8 (slipcase edition)
ISBN: 978-1-61117-486-1 (ebook)

Mobile River and Delta map Nicholas Holmes III

Front Cover Illustration: Fishing along the Wharves, 1905,
Mobile, Ala., courtesy of John Hunter

Published through the generosity of the
A. S. Mitchell Foundation, Mobile, Alabama

For mom,
Jeanne Arceneaux Sledge
Always interested, supportive, and loving

By far the greatest pleasure of writing this book has been the many wonderful people who helped me along the way. First and foremost, I must thank Joseph Meaher, who has long had an interest in this project. Joe knows the Mobile River like any familiar thing (as was once said of one of his forebears), and he helped me to know it as well through two boat trips and numerous queries answered. Joe encouraged me to seek the assistance of the A. S. Mitchell Foundation in underwriting the books production costs, and, happily, trustees Augustine Meaher III, David Dukes, Frank Vinson, and Kenneth Vinson agreed. I am indebted to all of them.

Second, I am profoundly grateful to the History Museum of Mobile for its commitment to this project at many levels, from acting as a pass-through for the subvention to scanning photographs and copying documents free of charge. Director David Alsobrook and staffers Scotty Kirkland, Jacqlyn Kirkland, Charles Torrey, Jacob Laurence, Sheila Flanagan, Ellie Skinner, Israel Lewis, and Kathlyn Scott never flagged and, in the process, have become like a second family to me. Quite simply, this book would not have been possible without their involvement.

Many other individuals at numerous local institutions and companies also provided vital and valuable assistance. They include Collette King at Mobile County Probate Court; Jane Daugherty and Amy Beach at the Local History and Genealogy Branch of the Mobile Public Library; Edward (Ned) Harkins, Zennia Calhoun, Pamela Major, and Jane Pate at Mobile Municipal Archives; Carol Ellis, Chris Burroughs, Nick Beeson, Ben Lang, and Barbara Asmus at the University of South Alabamas Doy Leale McCall Rare Book and Manuscript Library; Greg Waselkov, Bonnie Gums, and Sarah Mattics at the University of South Alabama Department of Anthropology, Sociology and Social Work; Cartledge Blackwell at the Mobile Historic Development Commission; Rhonda Davis, formerly at the Historic Mobile Preservation Society; Judith Adams, Sheri Reid, Jimmy Orum, and James Lyons at the Alabama State Port Authority; Captain Terry D. Gilbreath, harbormaster; Shirley Lampley and Alvin Campbell of the Alabama Department of Transportation; William Harrison III of Harrison Brothers Dry Dock and Shipbuilding; John Hunter of Dockside Services; Patrick J. Wilson and Capn Joe Ollinger of the Mobile Bar Pilots; Casi Callaway of Mobile Baykeeper; Jocko Potts, Judy Culbreth, and Lawren Largue at Mobile Bay magazine; and Joan Gardner and David Cooper of Cooper/T. Smith Corporation. All of these folks lead busy professional lives but were unfailingly courteous when I came calling.

Other people were helpful on particular aspects of the Mobiles sprawling history. They include Sidney Schell and John Ellis on the Confederate navy, David Smithweck on lighthouses, Sam Hodges and Bill Finch on the delta, Sylviane Diouf on African Town, David Bagwell on water lots, Hudson McDonald on Plateau, Melissa Mutert on the railroad tracks riverside, and Richard Chastang, Noel Andry Sr., Henry Andry, Robert Curtis Andry, and Rudolph Andry on the upriver Creoles.

Others provided help or friendship during the long grind. They include Joey Guess and John Harper at the Promised Land; Anna Guess, who sent fantastic preserves after my river trips; and E. C. LeVert, Tom McGehee, Roy Hoffman, Douglas Kearley, David Newell, Hardy Jackson, Spencer Callahan, Ken Niemeyer, Debby Stearns, Nicholas Holmes Jr., Malcolm Steves, and Ken McElhaney. Special thanks are due Nicholas Holmes III for his fabulous Mobile River Delta map. When I began this project, I knew that I wanted to engage Nick to produce such a map as an accompaniment to the classic Mobile Bay chart his grandfather drew back in 1937, itself never before published in a book. To my great joy, Nick accepted the task, even though I could only pay him for a fraction of his time. Over the course of a long year we compared notes and progress as I composed and he drew, and the collaboration proved one of the most rewarding of my life.

This is now my second book with the University of South Carolina Press, and I appreciate the staffs professionalism and thoroughness more than ever. To Walter Edgar, thanks for introducing them to me, and heartfelt gratitude to Director Jonathan Haupt, Marketing Director Suzanne Axland, Assistant Director for Operations Linda Haines Fogle, and Managing Editor Bill Adams for their marvelous care and skill.

Last, as ever, my family has been my rock. My lovely wife Lynn edited this monster with her usual grace and eagle eye. Our children Matthew and Elena, both out of the nest, used Facebook to express their support and interest from afar. My mother Jeanne Arceneaux Sledge was this books first reader, and her enthusiastic, early, and continued encouragement has meant a great deal. Though she is my mother, she insists that she knows a good book when she sees it, and so I dedicate this volume to her. Of course, any errors of fact herein are to be laid solely at my door.

Mobile Bay by Nicholas H. Holmes, 1937

Mobile River and Delta by Nicholas Holmes III, 2013

Joe Meaher is something of a legend on the Mobile River. His family history has unfolded along its banks, upstream and down, in country, swamp, and city. A descendent of the controversial Timothy MeaherMainer, sawmill owner, boat builder, steamboat captain, filibuster financier, slave runner, blockade-runner, and businessmanJoe is a vigorous seventy, deeply versed in river incident and lore and extensively involved in managing his familys timber, farming, and real estate interests. No complete narrative of the underappreciated and fascinating waterway on which he lives is possible without his participation.

Our families go way back. My grandfather and father hunted with his father in the 1930s, 40s, and later when Capn Joe was young. In the mid-1970s, his brother Augustine bought my grandmothers Spring Hill Avenue home, Georgia Cottage. The A. S. Mitchell Foundation, with which his family is involved, helped fund all three of my previous Mobile books, the profits of which have gone to the Mobile Historic Development Commission, and over the years Joe or Augustine has consulted me on preservation issues related to historic houses on both sides of the bay as well as at two cemeteries. After my third book,