Remember When: Elizabeth Smith steamboat left historic mark in nearly 30-year run

For those who love history, one of the great treasures in the Alle-Kiski Valley is an antique shop on Market Street in Leechburg named Ruman & Kraft.

This summer, the shop acquired a framed photograph of the steamboat Elizabeth Smith. The Elizabeth Smith became famous in 1936, when she sank while bringing aid to those battling the waters of the St. Patrick’s Day Flood at Braeburn.

The Elizabeth Smith was built in 1917 at Point Pleasant, W.Va. It originally was owned by the J.K. Davison Brothers of Pittsburgh and served as the firm’s flagship.

Designed by William Cavett, a veteran riverboat captain, the steamer was 135 feet long, 28 feet wide, had three boilers and was rated as having 500 horsepower. On May 20, 1920, it became the first boat to transport coal down the Allegheny River to Pittsburgh.

In 1936, one of the hardest-hit areas in the St. Patrick’s Day Flood was the Village of Braeburn. On March 23 of that year, the Elizabeth Smith was sent to Braeburn to aid two derrick boats that were involved in placing rock and fill along the riverbank to prevent further erosion.

On the afternoon of March 26, 1936, the Elizabeth Smith struck a log or root mass of a tree floating in the flood waters. The object became tangled in the rudder. It is believed that the rotation of the stern wheel drove the object through the hull of the boat, tearing a large hole.

The steamer listed to starboard and sank in 15 feet of water in the channel between Jacks Island and Braeburn Steel on the mainland. It was carrying a crew of 13, including one woman and an engineer from the Army Corps of Engineers. Within minutes of sounding a distress call, a sister steamboat, the J.K. Davison, and a motor launch known as The Shenango rushed to assist.

Cavett was the last to leave the boat and only did so after touring the state room and cabins to make sure no one remained on board. Cavett was 70 years old and had worked for the Davison Brothers for 25 years. He was considered one of the finest pilots working on the Pittsburgh rivers.

Cavett was taken aboard a towboat, the E.K. Davison and journeyed to the main office of his employers in Pittsburgh. Upon reporting in, he said: “This is the worst day of my life. I came to report the Elizabeth Smith sunk at Braeburn.”

The Elizabeth Smith was raised and repaired when the river levels fell after the flood. The steamer continued to operate on the Pittsburgh rivers until 1943 when it was sold to the Arrow Transportation Co. on the Tennessee River.

In May 1944, the Elizabeth Smith struck a tree stump in the river and sank near Decatur, Ala. This accident left it damaged beyond repair.

In later years, an anchor was found by divers in the Allegheny River below the dam at Braeburn, a short distance downstream from where the Elizabeth Smith sank.

It is possible the anchor was carried with the debris from the accident above the dam.

The anchor is now at a home in River Forest belonging to the son of one of the men who pulled it from the river.