Imagine traveling down the Missouri...

You can walk the decks of the "H.T. Pott," the first Missouri River towboat with a welded steel hull instead of a riveted hull.

· The vessel, built in 1933, operated out of Kansas City, MO. It is named for Herman T. Pott (1895-1982), a distinguished river transportation executive and entrepreneur. The "H.T. Pott" was built by his St. Louis Shipyard & Steel Co., which had operated under several names since the Civil War.

· Groups of barges that are moved on the nation's rivers are called "tows." The boats that propel them are called "towboats," even though they push the barges from the back instead of pulling them.

· The "H.T. Pott" is 58 feet long and 15 feet wide, and has a "draft," i.e., the amount of the hull below the water line, of six feet. It was built with a 140 horsepower Fairbanks-More diesel engine, since replaced with a 260 horsepower GM diesel. Last used by Massman-Peterman Construction Company, the towboat was donated by Robert A. Latta in 1986.

· How did it arrive at the landlocked Museum? A truck brought in the vessel's hull after which its engine was reinstalled and a replica deckhouse built. Mrs. Pott rededicated the "H.T. Pott" in memory of her husband in 1989.

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