| | Thumbnail | | Creator | Date | Title / Author / Date / Location | Price | | | Description |
| 1232 |  | Details | Colby, C. H. | 1895 |
| Antique Cabinet Card of Steamboat Okeehumkee at Silver Springs, Florida |
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Colby, C. H. |
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| 1895 |
| LOC:0 |
| $175.00 | Colby--C--H- | Antique-Cabinet-Card-of-Steamboat-Okeehumkee-at-Silver-Springs--Florida | Large antique cabinet card of the steamer Okeehumkee docked at the Silver Springs' Florida landing, moss-covered trees in the background. The Okeehumkee, also known as "Queen of the Ocklawaha River," was a 84' x 21'river steamboat that provided transportation along Florida rivers in the late 19th century. The Okeehumkee was equipped with a paddle wheel positioned in the lower stern part of the boat which allowed it to traverse narrow and shallow rivers.
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The steamer Okeehumkee was built in 1873 by Hubbard Hart, founder of the Ocklawaha Navigation Company's Hart's Line, at his East Palatka Hart's Point shipyard. It was named after a Native American chief from the area of the Ocklawaha lakes. The boat was outfitted with shutters on the windows to keep tree branches out and a livestock pen at the rear of the boat, on the upper deck. The boat was altered several times throughout its service lifetime. In 1893, a second deck of cabins was added. In 1919, Hart's Line ceased operation and the Okeehumkee was moored at Hart's Point shipyard in East Palatka.
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In 1883 Lady Duffus Hardy published a <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=-Iw-AAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:%22Lady+Duffus+Hardy%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjJvM-_nNHTAhXQZiYKHWdED4sQ6AEIJzAA#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank">vivid account</a> of her trip aboard the Okeehumkee on the Oklawaha River from Silver Springs, Florida to Palatka. Lady Hardy relates how pine logs were burned in a large cauldron at the top of the vessel to provide illumination at night. "Now the blue flame flashes up to the great tree tops, then darts downward like a fiery serpent, and up some winding water lane, and for a second, a thousand weird forms float before our eyes, and change and fade and melt into nothingness." |