The John J. Hoopes was a wood hulled steamer with a split sternwheel, built in Dubuque, Iowa in 1929 by Dubuque Boat and Boiler Co. It was 131 x 23 x 5.4. It was built for the US Engineer Corps in Vicksburg, MS. The Corps put it up for sale September 1941, at which time it had engines producing 125 hp, and quarters for a crew of eight. It was owned in 1944 by George W. Whiteman of Gretna, LA. It was sold in the summer of 1945 to Earl Webster of Pittsburgh. On September 10, 1945, it partially burned and was taken to the Pittsburgh Coal Co. marine ways in Elizabeth, PA, then to Newell Cochran Docks in Parkersburgh, WV for conversion from steam to diesel. Two Fairbanks-Morse engines totaling 400 hp were installed. It was sold to Crain Bros. in Pittsburgh in 1948, and was renamed Kilbuck in 1956.
Dad said he worked as a deckhand on the John J. Hoopes for Charlie Zubik, but it doesn't look like Zubik ever owned the boat..
Photo courtesy of Dan Owen.