May 7, 2021 By Keith Norrington
Built at Marietta, Ohio, in 1896, the first steam towboat Catharine Davis had a hull constructed of Oregon fir that was 135 feet long and 26.5 feet wide. The engines, built by the Marietta Manufacturing Company, had cylinders of 10 and 17.5 inches, with a stroke of six feet.
Owned by Capt. Steve Davis, of Marietta, the vessel was named for his mother. Capt. Davis did job towing and had also owned the towboats J.H. McConnell, Jim McConnell and John Mills. The boat arrived at Pittsburgh on its first trip on June 12, 1896.
The Davis was sold to the Smiley Towboat Company, of Catlettsburg, Ky., on March 15, 1901, and was used to tow timber out of the Big Sandy until the sternwheeler was purchased by the Island Creek Coal Company at Huntington, W.Va. The firm operated the vessel between Huntington and Cincinnati, rebuilding the boat in 1916. Capt. James Rose was an early master of the Davis