POINT PLEASANT,W.Va. - With hundreds of people waving farewell from Point Pleasant's Riverfront Park, the historic sternwheeler Delta Queen eased away from its berth, turned downstream in the Ohio River, and left its last West Virginia port of call for perhaps the final time.

As the onlookers shouted farewells and took photos with cameras and cell phones, the Delta Queen's calliope struck up a lighthearted rendition of "Country Roads." A group of pioneer and American Indian re-enactors from Point Pleasant's Fort Randolph responded with several volleys of musket-fire salutes.

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Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2008 - Pioneer and American Indian re-enactors from Fort Randolph fire a musket salute as the riverboat Delta Queen leaves Point Pleasant on what may be its final journey down the Ohio River.

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Unless Congress renews a marine safety exemption that allows passenger vessels with wooden superstructures to carry overnight guests, the Delta Queen will not be able to operate after Oct. 31. The Delta Queen has operated under such an exemption since 1970, but since October of last year, the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure has failed to take up its renewal.

The U.S. Senate has taken up the issue, with Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and seven other senators co-sponsoring legislation to extend the riverboat's exemption from the 1966 Safety at Sea Act for another 10 years. But Congress went on recess earlier this week, and won't return until Nov. 17 for a brief post-election session before adjournment.

"As the last remaining authentic, operable riverboat in the world, the Delta Queen is a valuable part of our national heritage that we have a duty to preserve and protect for future generations," Obama said in a release last week. "As she makes her final stop in Point Pleasant, I urge Congress to support this effort to ensure the Delta Queen may continue to serve the people of Ohio and West Virginia for years to come."

"Losing the Delta Queen would be a devastating loss to the community," said Jack Fowler, director of the Point Pleasant River Museum, as he watched the giant riverboat begin churning downstream toward Maysville, Ky., its next port of call.

"She's made nine stops here this summer, and every day the Delta Queen is here, it's a big day for our downtown businesses. It would be more than losing a beautiful, historic riverboat. To us, losing her is about hurting our economy."

"We hope the Delta Queen can be saved," said Charlotte Lipfert of Northport, N.Y. "It would be terrible to lose her."

When Lipfert and her husband, Frederick, both native Ohioans, heard about the Delta Queen's plight, they immediately went online to try to book reservations.

 "We got the last cabin on the last cruise," said Frederick Lipfert, as he and his wife admired handmade quilts at a craft fair at Riverfront Park.

"We've really loved stopping at little towns like this along the river," said Charlotte Lipfert. "I grew up near Cincinnati and I've missed the river. And we have both missed spending time in the heartland. It's been a great cruise."

The Lipferts are traveling from Pittsburgh to Nashville aboard the Delta Queen.

While passenger safety is the reason behind the federal safety law from which the sternwheeler seeks an exemption, "the boat seems perfectly safe to us," said Charlotte Lipfert. "The staff seems very well trained and concerned about safety."

"It's safer than any hotel in America," said Bill Wiemuth, the Delta Queen's staff historian. "A U.S. Coast Guard-trained fire crew lives on the boat, which is equipped with both smoke detectors and heat sensors as well as a high pressure sprinkler system. Every area of the boat has coverage. In 81 years of operation, there have no fires. The Delta Queen has a perfect safety record. Congress needs to be educated about that."

Even though Congress failed to take up extending the exemption before recessing, Wiemuth said there is still time to save the boat and begin marketing for a new cruise season.

"It will be nerve-wracking, but it's not too late," said the riverboat historian. "Back in 1970, the extension deadline came and went without congressional action, and the boat had to shut down for six weeks before Congress finally acted. We're optimistic that something similar will happen again this time."

POINT PLEASANT,W.Va. - With hundreds of people waving farewell from Point Pleasant's Riverfront Park, the historic sternwheeler Delta Queen eased away from its berth, turned downstream in the Ohio River, and left its last West Virginia port of call for perhaps the final time.

As the onlookers shouted farewells and took photos with cameras and cell phones, the Delta Queen's calliope struck up a lighthearted rendition of "Country Roads." A group of pioneer and American Indian re-enactors from Point Pleasant's Fort Randolph responded with several volleys of musket-fire salutes.

The Delta Queen's departure Tuesday took place on the homeward leg of what could be the last journey for America's last operating steam-powered sternwheeler carrying overnight guests.

Unless Congress renews a marine safety exemption that allows passenger vessels with wooden superstructures to carry overnight guests, the Delta Queen will not be able to operate after Oct. 31. The Delta Queen has operated under such an exemption since 1970, but since October of last year, the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure has failed to take up its renewal.

The U.S. Senate has taken up the issue, with Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and seven other senators co-sponsoring legislation to extend the riverboat's exemption from the 1966 Safety at Sea Act for another 10 years. But Congress went on recess earlier this week, and won't return until Nov. 17 for a brief post-election session before adjournment.

"As the last remaining authentic, operable riverboat in the world, the Delta Queen is a valuable part of our national heritage that we have a duty to preserve and protect for future generations," Obama said in a release last week. "As she makes her final stop in Point Pleasant, I urge Congress to support this effort to ensure the Delta Queen may continue to serve the people of Ohio and West Virginia for years to come."

"Losing the Delta Queen would be a devastating loss to the community," said Jack Fowler, director of the Point Pleasant River Museum, as he watched the giant riverboat begin churning downstream toward Maysville, Ky., its next port of call.

"She's made nine stops here this summer, and every day the Delta Queen is here, it's a big day for our downtown businesses. It would be more than losing a beautiful, historic riverboat. To us, losing her is about hurting our economy."

"We hope the Delta Queen can be saved," said Charlotte Lipfert of Northport, N.Y. "It would be terrible to lose her."

When Lipfert and her husband, Frederick, both native Ohioans, heard about the Delta Queen's plight, they immediately went online to try to book reservations.

 "We got the last cabin on the last cruise," said Frederick Lipfert, as he and his wife admired handmade quilts at a craft fair at Riverfront Park.

"We've really loved stopping at little towns like this along the river," said Charlotte Lipfert. "I grew up near Cincinnati and I've missed the river. And we have both missed spending time in the heartland. It's been a great cruise."

The Lipferts are traveling from Pittsburgh to Nashville aboard the Delta Queen.

While passenger safety is the reason behind the federal safety law from which the sternwheeler seeks an exemption, "the boat seems perfectly safe to us," said Charlotte Lipfert. "The staff seems very well trained and concerned about safety."

"It's safer than any hotel in America," said Bill Wiemuth, the Delta Queen's staff historian. "A U.S. Coast Guard-trained fire crew lives on the boat, which is equipped with both smoke detectors and heat sensors as well as a high pressure sprinkler system. Every area of the boat has coverage. In 81 years of operation, there have no fires. The Delta Queen has a perfect safety record. Congress needs to be educated about that."

Even though Congress failed to take up extending the exemption before recessing, Wiemuth said there is still time to save the boat and begin marketing for a new cruise season.

"It will be nerve-wracking, but it's not too late," said the riverboat historian. "Back in 1970, the extension deadline came and went without congressional action, and the boat had to shut down for six weeks before Congress finally acted. We're optimistic that something similar will happen again this time."

Meanwhile, the boat's crew may be forced to look elsewhere for work.

"There are two crews of 75 people each who operate the Delta Queen," said Wiemuth. "For us, this is more than just a job. When you work together every day on this boat, you become family. I hate to even think about some of my family having to move away and not see each other in another three weeks."

Wiemuth said members of the crew put together a video four days ago in which they told viewers why saving the Delta Queen is important. The video was posted on YouTube, and within three days, had been viewed by more than 6,000 people.

"It was the third most-viewed video on YouTube," said Wiemuth. "There's an incredible interest in this boat."

While there are other sternwheelers carrying overnight passengers along the nation's inland waterways, they are diesel powered and built primarily of steel. There are a few authentic steam-powered sternwheelers, but they are daytime excursion boats without overnight guest accommodations.

The Delta Queen draws its name not from the Mississippi delta, but from the delta of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers in California, where the riverboat began its career in 1927, carrying passengers and freight between San Francisco and Sacramento. In 1941, the boat was drafted into service as a U.S. Navy vehicle and troop ferry operating in San Francisco Bay. It remained in battleship gray until it was released from duty in 1946.

After returning to civilian life, the Delta Queen was towed down the Pacific coast, through the Panama Canal, into the Gulf of Mexico, and piloted up the Mississippi and Ohio rivers to Pittsburgh for refurbishing and refitting as a passenger craft operating between Pittsburgh and New Orleans. At the riverboat's helm during that epic journey was Fred Way, a legendary Ohio River pilot.

On Tuesday, Port Amherst-based Madison Coal & Supply's riverboat Fred Way, the pilot's namesake, joined the Delta Queen at the Point Pleasant waterfront, and whistled a forlorn salute as the passenger boat departed downstream.

"To the nation's inland river navigation system, losing the Delta Queen would be like losing the Washington Monument," said Nelson Jones, president of Madison Coal & Supply.

While speaking to the crowd that had gathered for the Delta Queen's possible final departure from Point Pleasant, Wiemuth urged those interested in saving the riverboat to contact members of their congressional delegation to make their feelings known.

"Steamboats helped develop the economy in this area," he said. "The first one came by here in 1811 ... It's never too late to save this one."

"When I was growing up, we used to ride on inner tubes in the river here and wave to the Delta Queen and the other riverboats as they went by," said Maria Dillman of Dayton, Ohio, who spent her early years in Point Pleasant.

 "I wanted to be here today to wish the old girl goodbye. In this country, it's tear down everything old and build something new. Sometimes, I think that's a shame."

Reach Rick Steelhammer

at rsteelham...@wvgazette.com

 or 348-5169.