https://peertube.dngr.us/videos/watch/12915b00-f535-43bb-aa37-b9bd6b204cac Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCddem5RlB3bQe99wyY49g0g/join Join us on Patreon. Visit https://www.patreon.com/PeriscopeFilm Visit our website www.PeriscopeFilm.com “Americans at Work” was produced by Norwood Studios for the AFL-CIO. This is one of 99 films in the series intended to educate the American public on various union industrial jobs and duties. This episode "Tow Boat" workers celebrates the fabled profession, and discusses the romantic aspects of life on the water. It is littered with references to Mark Twain, the famed tow boat pilot who stole his pen-name from chatter of the leadsmen who would signal "Mark One, Mark Twain" when measuring depths. It is a silver dream of river jewelry, tattle talkers, timberheads and river heads. The film dives into the roles of crew members, engineers and pilots. It traces a day in the life as they load cargo into massive barges and navigate major locks through the Mississippi muddy waters and its tributaries. Historically it relays the shift through the steamboat era and into diesel. Towboats cart loads of petroleum, steel and various chemicals. (Note: The AFL-CIO is a major national trade union center operating since December of 1955 through a merger between the AFL; established in 1886 and the CIO; established in 1935.) The film opens with images of the pusher towboat W.S. Rhea pushing a barge under the old St. Charles Bridge on Route 115 in Saint Charles Missouri and the deep bellow of the tow boat whistle (:08). The title screen appears superimposed over a tow boats man (:40). The view runs past a coal plant owned by the Peabody Coal mining company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri established in 1883. Towboat Tom Sawyer of the Al Barges Line Inc pushes a load of coal ahead (1:12). This was built in 1933 by Midland Barge Company at Midland, Pa. A wide shot of the large tow boat and its load follows (1:24). Another tow carts a load from Pennsalt Chemicals Corp (formed in 1850 as Pennsylvania Salt Manufacturing Company) (1:41). A mound of sulfur awaits transport (2:02). Deckhands toss rope for docking (2:08). Pilot hands push forward controls of the diesel engine (2:21). Timberheads on the deck are zoomed in on (2:41). Deck hands hoist cargo onto the boat (2:41). The character of crew members, their wages and shifts are explained (2:50). One hoists a package of tide onto his shoulder (3:07). The tow boat passes a Peabody Coal Plant (3:37). Cargos of coal swim behind (3:52). Radar rotates atop the boat (3:54). The steamer SS Admiral cruises by (3:56). This famed excursion steamboat ran on the Mississippi River from the Port of St. Louis Missouri from 1940 to 1978. A small express cruiser follows; another river traveler the pilot must watch for (4:00). Leadsmen take soundings to uncover the waters depth (4:14) using lines weighted with lead. Samuel Langhorne Clemens penname was plucked from the call of the leadsmen (4:42). A towboat begins the process of moving through locks (4:57). The tattle talk maintains communication between crew and pilot (5:13). They begin to move through a lock (5:31); overheads shots follow (6:20). Large loads are separated (6:26) and reconnected (6:31). Deckhands work with river jewelry; steel cables, chains and ratchets (7:12). Deck hands were safety jackets (7:37). A water skier glides by (8:10). The Grafton towboat (8:38). Female cooks prepare hearty meals for the crew (9:06). Many of the women were members of the union. Another lock appears on the horizon (10:34). The Bald Eagle (11:31). A Chris Craft type motorboat drives by (11:36) and the Prairie State towboat is shown. Workers perform maintenance tasks atop the towboat (11:44). Rope is spliced (11:49). Landmarks are noted for travel (12:12). Close shots show the pilot’s list (12:16) including Our Lady Liberty of the River. The actual shrine appears (12:20). Many of the workers were members of the maritime union of the AFL-CIO (13:31). The seal closes the film (13:19). SS Admiral was an excursion steamboat that operated on the Mississippi River from 1940 to 1978. The ship dismantled for scrap starting in 2011. Motion picture films don't last forever; many have already been lost or destroyed. For almost two decades, we've worked to collect, scan and preserve the world as it was captured on 35mm, 16mm and 8mm movies -- including home movies, industrial films, and other non-fiction. If you have endangered films you'd like to have scanned, or wish to donate celluloid to Periscope Film so that we can share them with the world, we'd love to hear from you. Contact us via the weblink below. 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 Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roSBUCJDVAU Mirrored from Periscope Film (https://www.youtube.com/@PeriscopeFilm) Sat, 13 Jun 2026 13:29:05 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html PeerTube - https://peertube.dngr.us https://peertube.dngr.us/lazy-static/avatars/41a6fee9-7f57-42d0-a5fc-5db4f1af2e31.png https://peertube.dngr.us/videos/watch/12915b00-f535-43bb-aa37-b9bd6b204cac All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified in the terms specified at https://peertube.dngr.us/about and potential licenses granted by each content's rightholder.