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The Wreck of the Columbia: A Broken Boat, a Town’s Sorrow & the End of the Steamboat Era on the Illinois River
Part of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library research collection, Springfield
On the night of July 5, 1918, a steamboat named Columbia, returning from a moonlight excursion, collapsed and sank in the middle of the Illinois River. Of the nearly 500 passengers on board that night, most were from the town of Pekin. Eighty-seven people lost their lives in the disaster. The rest were left to tell their stories of fortitude and survival.
The worst maritime accident in the history of the Illinois River, the wreck of the Columbia is a mostly forgotten tragedy today. Ken Zurski’s gripping account follows the compelling true story from the moment the captain sensed a problem, to the horror of the cries and screams in the night, to the courageous actions of the rescue and recovery workers, and ultimately to the pursuit by law enforcement officials to find truth and justice.
One town in particular found itself reeling from a sudden and devastating loss of life, an immense communal grief, and a frustrating search for answers that never truly came.
PRAISE FOR THE WRECK OF THE COLUMBIA
Peoria Journal Star and PJStar.com:
“A stirring account of the tragedy.”
“An authoritative source on the wreck.”
“A solid job of stringing together narrative accounts of that fatal night.”
“Plenty of fascinating personal vignettes.”
“Both instructive and entertaining.”
50+ News and Views:
“Grabs the reader by the life jacket and sweeps them along as the horrific night unfolds.”
“Played in my head almost as if I were witnessing the events and hearing the conversations.”
“Spot on…historical perfection.”
“A literary buffet…Fascinating tidbits of facts and information.”
“A hit!”
East Peoria-Times Observer:
“A captivating and readable style. This book was hard to put down.”
“A broad-ranging and probing look at the disaster, vividly bringing it back to life.”
“A great read!”
On the night of July 5, 1918, a steamboat named Columbia, returning from a moonlight excursion, collapsed and sank in the middle of the Illinois River. Of the nearly 500 passengers on board that night, most were from the town of Pekin. Eighty-seven people lost their lives in the disaster. The rest were left to tell their stories of fortitude and survival.
The worst maritime accident in the history of the Illinois River, the wreck of the Columbia is a mostly forgotten tragedy today. Ken Zurski’s gripping account follows the compelling true story from the moment the captain sensed a problem, to the horror of the cries and screams in the night, to the courageous actions of the rescue and recovery workers, and ultimately to the pursuit by law enforcement officials to find truth and justice.
One town in particular found itself reeling from a sudden and devastating loss of life, an immense communal grief, and a frustrating search for answers that never truly came.
PRAISE FOR THE WRECK OF THE COLUMBIA
Peoria Journal Star and PJStar.com:
“A stirring account of the tragedy.”
“An authoritative source on the wreck.”
“A solid job of stringing together narrative accounts of that fatal night.”
“Plenty of fascinating personal vignettes.”
“Both instructive and entertaining.”
50+ News and Views:
“Grabs the reader by the life jacket and sweeps them along as the horrific night unfolds.”
“Played in my head almost as if I were witnessing the events and hearing the conversations.”
“Spot on…historical perfection.”
“A literary buffet…Fascinating tidbits of facts and information.”
“A hit!”
East Peoria-Times Observer:
“A captivating and readable style. This book was hard to put down.”
“A broad-ranging and probing look at the disaster, vividly bringing it back to life.”
“A great read!”
- GenresHistory
435 pages, Paperback
First published July 18, 2012
14 people are currently reading
38 people want to read
About the author
Ken Zurski
5 books6 followersKen Zurski is a longtime broadcaster, author and speaker based out of Peoria, Illinois. A native of the Chicagoland area and a veteran of radio news, Ken released his first book,
The Wreck of the Columbia,
in 2012 (Amika Press).
Peoria Stories
is his second book,
Unremembered
is his third, and
Unremembered Book 2
is his fourth. Ken resides in Morton, Illinois with his wife Connie, two children, Sam and Nora, and dog Molly.
Visit his website at unrememberedhistory.com, follow him on Facebook at @kenzurskiauthor or @unrememberedhistory, and find him on Twitter at @kzurski.
Visit his website at unrememberedhistory.com, follow him on Facebook at @kenzurskiauthor or @unrememberedhistory, and find him on Twitter at @kzurski.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 15, 2016
This book tells the story of the riverboat Columbia that sank in the Illinois River on July 5, 1918. There were 87 people who died in the incident. It could have been worse considering that 563 tickets had been sold for the last voyage, and it sank quickly when the top deck collapsed onto the dance floor below. It occurred at about 9:00 p.m. so darkness made everything worse and more confusing.
Just after passing under the Peoria and Pekin Union Railway bridge, just upstream from Wesley City (now Creve Coeur), the boat encountered dense fog, which a passenger described as "like going from sunshine into darkness". The pilot lost control of the vessel, which then drifted towards the Peoria County, Illinois side of the river. Captain Mehl told pilot Tom Williams to make for the shore. Williams attempted to cross from the overgrown Peoria County side to the Tazewell County side, where there were populated shacks and a possible landing. However, the ship's decks quickly collapsed on top of each other.
The same inspectors who had declared the boat safe were the ones who conducted the federal investigation. Mehl and Williams both lost their licenses. The coroner implicated Mehl, Williams, and the purser of the Columbia, but the case never went to trial. The disaster ended the bulk of the riverboat excursion business on the Illinois River.
The book begins with a bit of history of riverboats. Then as we get closer to the time of the accident we learn more about the stories of various individuals. These stories were presumably taken from contemporary newspaper accounts of the time.
This book was loaned to me by the son of one of the individuals who was on the ship that fateful evening. His father's photograph, fifteen years old at the time, is on page 62 of the book looking quite handsome in his boy scout uniform. As it turns out he was credited with heroic action that evening.
This book is well written and has numerous photographs. But I could find no maps or diagrams demonstrating the probable path of the riverboat as it swung around off the sandbar out of control, its brushing against trees on the steep northwest bank, and then its path part way across the river trying to reach the southeast side where the bank was more gradual. The story cries out for a map and diagram, but it's not there!
Just after passing under the Peoria and Pekin Union Railway bridge, just upstream from Wesley City (now Creve Coeur), the boat encountered dense fog, which a passenger described as "like going from sunshine into darkness". The pilot lost control of the vessel, which then drifted towards the Peoria County, Illinois side of the river. Captain Mehl told pilot Tom Williams to make for the shore. Williams attempted to cross from the overgrown Peoria County side to the Tazewell County side, where there were populated shacks and a possible landing. However, the ship's decks quickly collapsed on top of each other.
The same inspectors who had declared the boat safe were the ones who conducted the federal investigation. Mehl and Williams both lost their licenses. The coroner implicated Mehl, Williams, and the purser of the Columbia, but the case never went to trial. The disaster ended the bulk of the riverboat excursion business on the Illinois River.
The book begins with a bit of history of riverboats. Then as we get closer to the time of the accident we learn more about the stories of various individuals. These stories were presumably taken from contemporary newspaper accounts of the time.
This book was loaned to me by the son of one of the individuals who was on the ship that fateful evening. His father's photograph, fifteen years old at the time, is on page 62 of the book looking quite handsome in his boy scout uniform. As it turns out he was credited with heroic action that evening.
BACK IN THE CHAOS of the broken boat, a young girl felt the hand of another--a boy's hand--in the darkness. He pulled her up, and they held on to the gangplank boom for what seemed like forever. At least they were safe, she thought. "I'm going to marry you some day," she said, rewarding the young man's heroism.Carl ended up marrying someone else, and if you are a personal acquaintance of mine you probably know his son, Clyde. A more detailed account of his continues on page 154.
Carl Coriell tipped his scout's hat and smiled. (page 94)
"I was sitting at the top deck bench on the port side," Carl told his mother and sister-in-law . . . "We felt a severe thud and within seconds were sliding across the deck into the river."Much of the second half of the book is taken up recounting the investigation and inquest into the causes of the accident. An issue of contention was whether structural modifications that had been made to widen the dance floor by removal of the promenade deck may have contributed to the collapse of the deck.
He went under the water, Carl told them, and nearly lost his Boy Scout hat.
"When I came up, I rescued it and clamped it on my head. The moonlight showed the boat's cables just above my reach, but by buoying myself up I was able to grasp them and pull myself and one of the girls I had been talking to onto the gangplank boom."
They hung on for nearly two hours before being rescued, he explained. "[The girl] said she would reward my heroism by marrying me when we were old enough."
The marriage proposal was soon forgotten, but Carl felt brave enough that night. "My training in scouting," he later recalled, "had taught me to 'keep my cool' in emergencies."
This book is well written and has numerous photographs. But I could find no maps or diagrams demonstrating the probable path of the riverboat as it swung around off the sandbar out of control, its brushing against trees on the steep northwest bank, and then its path part way across the river trying to reach the southeast side where the bank was more gradual. The story cries out for a map and diagram, but it's not there!
October 6, 2018
Local Ilinois history. Well written account from news and local sources regarding a steamboat accident on the Illinois River in the early 20th century. An era where photographs were telling the story partially for the first time.
Details of the trial of the captain and pilot of the vessel add greatly to this account.
Details of the trial of the captain and pilot of the vessel add greatly to this account.
January 22, 2014
Imagine looking forward to a midnight steamboat excursion on the river, only to have your plans disrupted because your employer is late coming back from an errand and you don’t get off work in time. You go to bed bitterly disappointed . . . and later wake up to the terrible news that the boat sank in the river and several of your friends and acquaintances have drowned.
The tale of a young woman who experienced such a shock is the dramatic opening to the book The Wreck of the Columbia by Ken Zurski. The Columbia was a steam-powered, paddlewheel, riverboat. At its last inspection, it had been called the safest boat in western waters, but on July 5, 1918, it suddenly sank in the Illinois River and broke apart. Of some 500 passengers aboard the vessel that night, 87 died.
Zurski has resurrected this story from the forgotten pages of history. His well-researched account includes profiles of many of the passengers aboard the steamer that fateful July night as well as a brief history of steamboats and the towns of Pekin and Peoria, which were most affected by the disaster. He recounts the heroic attempts to rescue the people who were trapped in the wreckage and later to salvage the bodies so they could be returned to their families for burial. Zurski goes on to explain the investigation into the causes of the sinking and the legal proceedings that followed. The account also contains several brief tangents to help people better understand the time period in which the accident happened.
One nice touch to the book is that each chapter opens with a photograph of a person or object of interest to the story. The images help put a human face of the disaster.
I think this book has a wide appeal. People interested in the history of the early 20th century, the Midwest (especially Illinois), and transportation should find it fascinating. And, of course, the book is a natural for anyone who’s been fascinated by the history of the Titanic or Lusitania. While the death toll from the sinking of the Columbia was much smaller than either of those two tragedies, it still made national headlines, and it had a devastating effect on the town of Pekin.
My major complaint with the book is that it doesn’t have an index. The stories of some of the passengers are told in installments in different chapters, and when I hit the later parts of those stories, sometimes I wished I could easily find the earlier mentions. Still, it was an engrossing history, and I highly recommend it.
The tale of a young woman who experienced such a shock is the dramatic opening to the book The Wreck of the Columbia by Ken Zurski. The Columbia was a steam-powered, paddlewheel, riverboat. At its last inspection, it had been called the safest boat in western waters, but on July 5, 1918, it suddenly sank in the Illinois River and broke apart. Of some 500 passengers aboard the vessel that night, 87 died.
Zurski has resurrected this story from the forgotten pages of history. His well-researched account includes profiles of many of the passengers aboard the steamer that fateful July night as well as a brief history of steamboats and the towns of Pekin and Peoria, which were most affected by the disaster. He recounts the heroic attempts to rescue the people who were trapped in the wreckage and later to salvage the bodies so they could be returned to their families for burial. Zurski goes on to explain the investigation into the causes of the sinking and the legal proceedings that followed. The account also contains several brief tangents to help people better understand the time period in which the accident happened.
One nice touch to the book is that each chapter opens with a photograph of a person or object of interest to the story. The images help put a human face of the disaster.
I think this book has a wide appeal. People interested in the history of the early 20th century, the Midwest (especially Illinois), and transportation should find it fascinating. And, of course, the book is a natural for anyone who’s been fascinated by the history of the Titanic or Lusitania. While the death toll from the sinking of the Columbia was much smaller than either of those two tragedies, it still made national headlines, and it had a devastating effect on the town of Pekin.
My major complaint with the book is that it doesn’t have an index. The stories of some of the passengers are told in installments in different chapters, and when I hit the later parts of those stories, sometimes I wished I could easily find the earlier mentions. Still, it was an engrossing history, and I highly recommend it.
April 23, 2022
Author took what could have been a dull tale and supplemented other current events that made the story more relatable.
September 16, 2015
Norman V. Kelly, Peoria Historian and Author: “Ken Zurski, Peoria’s traffic reporter turned author, has a hit on his hands in his new book, The Wreck of the Columbia. As a local historian and lecturer of the history of Peoria I can tell you that he not only has his historical facts correct, he has presented the story of this tragic sinking of the Columbia in perfect sequence. From the very first page where we meet a lady named Agnes Soady to the last victim, Ken grabs the reader by the life jacket and sweeps them along as the horrific night unfolds. Folks from all over central Illinois board the beautiful steamboat for an excursion to Al Fresco Park, along the narrows of the Illinois River from Pekin, Illinois to Peoria. It was to be a lovely evening spent with music and dancing for almost 500 people. The trip was uneventful until the return trip when all hell broke loose.
“The author allows you to meet the passengers, listen to the music, and enjoy the beautiful night. Suddenly the boat slowed, a massive search light blinked on, what could that mean? The passengers would soon learn that for some of them it would mean the end of their lives. Ken takes you along as the majestic Columbia begins to take on water, threatening the lives of the 500 passengers.
“Esther Bellville was watching the dancers, sipping on a soda. ‘Dancers slid across the floor and then towards us,’ she said. ‘Then the roof fell in. We grabbed a column, but it cracked in two and I was thrown in to the dark waters, down and down.’ Don’t miss your chance to take your final ride on the Columbia by picking up your copy online.”
“The author allows you to meet the passengers, listen to the music, and enjoy the beautiful night. Suddenly the boat slowed, a massive search light blinked on, what could that mean? The passengers would soon learn that for some of them it would mean the end of their lives. Ken takes you along as the majestic Columbia begins to take on water, threatening the lives of the 500 passengers.
“Esther Bellville was watching the dancers, sipping on a soda. ‘Dancers slid across the floor and then towards us,’ she said. ‘Then the roof fell in. We grabbed a column, but it cracked in two and I was thrown in to the dark waters, down and down.’ Don’t miss your chance to take your final ride on the Columbia by picking up your copy online.”
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September 14, 2012I happen to work with the author, so maybe I'm biased, but I very much enjoyed this book. It's not historical fiction, but also isn't dry and boring. Lots of historical information about this area and a great story.
February 22, 2016
I knew of the Columbia wreck from reading or hearing local ghost stories. Finally getting to read all of the details that have survived regarding the incident was fascinating. This book is definitely worth it for those interested in steamboat history or area history.
December 10, 2013
I really enjoyed this book. I knew nothing about the Columbia before reading this - it's a really neat (sad) bit of local history. I thought it was really well-written!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews