“Mississippi Tow Boats” is a color promotional film from the 1960s made by filmmaker Dean Moore Sr.’s Condor Film Co. for the Federal Barge Lines Company. (Based in St. Louis, Moore was a fascinating character and a former OSS operative who flew as a Pan Am steward on the B314 clippers.) This film underscores the ways in which the inland waterways coupled with the power and prowess of barges and towboats serve the industries of the Central United States and the world as a means of low cost, reliable shipping. This film contains significant archival material regarding the history of the company as well as primary and secondary materials related to the operation of towboats and barges, shipbuilding, and company employees. Federal Barge Lines was originally set up and run by the government during WWI but was eventually sold to Saint Louis Shipbuilding, owned by businessman Herman T. Pott.

Barges (0:18). Aerial view tow boat guiding barges along Mississippi River (0:36). Frisco Line F3 Locomotive (1:17). View down hilly highway, telephone poles, trees line road (1:22). Coal pours onto barge (1:32). Towboat passes under Memphis-Arkansas Memorial Bridge (1:36). Older woman dressed in skirt suit, white gloves, turns lights on in her home (1:40). Factory processed wheat funnels from pipe onto barge (1:45). Barge and towboat along Mississippi River, green tree-lined coast (1:50). Red train locomotive loaded with goods (1:55). Two freshly baked loaves of bread placed on crochet doilies (1:57). Caribbean sugarcane stalks blow in wind (1:59). Steam billows from factories, cargo ships at port of New Orleans (2:03). Burlap sacks taken off cargo ship with crane (2:07). Man reads newspaper at breakfast (2:12). Smokestacks, telephone wires, train tracks in industrial area (2:18). Oil storage tanks along Mississippi (2:26). Industrial factories on river banks (2:30). Businessman smokes pipe, looks through invoices – montage various modes of shipping (2:42). Federal Barge Lines United States 1958 by St. Louis Shipbuilding & Steel Co. (3:34). Aerial view Federal Barge Lines towboat pushing few acres of barges (4:12). People power: scenes of engineers, technicians, captains working through difficult conditions, various examples of manual labor – man adjusts barge winch (4:36). Federal barge Lines HQ St. Louis (5:50). Dispatch office: office men assess boards with tags representing where every barge and towboat is – clacking of teletype machines (5:56). Captain of United States answers radio (7:10). Barge passes through icy water, white patches of broken up ice sheets (8:16). Deck hands hard at work, moving and adjusting equipment (8:51). Laborers sit down to family-style meal of steak, fries, coleslaw, chocolate cake (9:17). More scenes of hard labor done by crew on towboat, structural repairs by men wearing life vests and grease-stained pants (9:52). Off-duty crew play cards (10:32). Worker shaves in vessel bathroom (10:41). Two colleagues read and write letters in their bunk (10:47). Modern devices used: searchlight, radar spins on top of boat, depth indicator meter panel, swing indicator, engaging autopilot, finger-tip controls for six diesel locomotives (11:02). United States continues course, store boat/ fuel barge attaches pipeline to tow and moves with it (12:23). Deckhands tighten lines connecting barges (13:39). Port Captain works with wood blocks at HQ office to see how to make up tow (15:57). Barge exterior while docked, storage areas empty (16:22). Seven freight trains lined up at rail yard – visual comparison for amount of cargo a tow can handle (16:38). St. Louis Shipbuilding products – barge released into waterway (16:44). Dredge (17:00). Bridge caissons (17:03). Foundation of dry dock (17:06). Pile driver on floating barge (17:09). Special purpose barge (17:13). Blueprint modern towboat (17:20). St. Louis Shipbuilding & Steel Company Shipyard (17:25). 3-D illustration towboat design (17:56). Towboat propeller (18:34). Inside engine room: four diesel engines (18:37). Mrs. Louis S. Rothschild in mink coat inaugurates the super United States Towboat (19:03). Herman T. Pott, chairman of St. Louis Shipbuilding, speaks to camera from office; model of U.S. boat in background (19:22). Paddle steamer on river / Delta Queen Steamboat Company (19:45). Montage barges, towboats (19:55). Industrial factories along riverbanks (21:06).

This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com