The Claude L. Printz was a diesel sternwheeler with a wood hull. Built in Grafton, IL in 1931, it was originally named City of Monroe and was designed for the Ouachita River, where she ran barge service. She was renamed Cariola in September 1938, when she was operated by River Terminals Corp. in New Orleans. She was 86 x 20 x 4.4 and was powered by a 210 hp Fairbanks-Morse diesel engine. in late 1943 she was bought by Capt. Thomas Campbell, owner of Coal City Towing Co., Pittsburgh. In January 1944 application was made to rename her Claude L. Printz, in honor of the superintendent of the Point Landing of the Campbell Transportation Company. In May 1952 the Printz was sold to Harry Zubik of Pittsburgh. The Claude L. Printz burned at Dashields Lock on March 20, 1957.
My dad piloted this boat for Harry Zubik in the early 1950s, before going into the Marines in 1952. Sometime after it burned it was bought by my grandfather, Charles "Chick" Grimm, Sr., who used the forward section to build another boat, the Ozark.
Photo courtesy of Dan Owen.