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boat, but rather as a replacement for the bells in the tower of his local
church. During that first Vermont winter, his “Steam Piano” had many
issues. Not only was the volume too much for the other parishioners,
but the pipes were not insulated. Many ended up bursting, rendering
the instrument inoperable. A defeated Stoddard removed the instrument
from the steeple, and placed it in a barn on his property. While this could
have very well been the end of this unique piece of machinery, fate
intervened. Stoddard’s brother was a steamboat captain on the Hudson
River in New York. At that time, companies were pondering ways to
attract more business. The story goes that he remembered his brother’s
invention, and asked Joshua if he could place it aboard the boat he was
in command of. He agreed, and rest is history! While the instrument
became commonplace on excursion boats and showboats alike, they
also had a strong reputation in the circus world. In the late 1850’s, circus
magnet P.T. Barnum acquired a “patented Steam Piano” to include in
his circus parade.
In 1973, the Lake George Steamboat Company founded its southern sister
company, the New Orleans Steamboat Company, and embarked on a
journey to build a magnificent sternwheel steamboat to run excursion trips
in the New Orleans. Since the calliope had strong ties to the Inland Rivers,
and especially excursion vessels, it was decided to have an instrument
constructed for the new boat. Owners Wilbur E. Dow Jr. and Bill Dow
contracted the Frisbie Engine and Machine Company of Cincinnati, OH, to
build two calliopes for them. One was to go to the new build in Louisiana,
which would eventually be the Str. NATCHEZ, and the other would go to the
MINNE-HA-HA, or the “MINNE” as she is affectionately called. Cincinnati was
no stranger to the instrument. Not only had numerous riverboats played their
calliopes while visiting the city, but two major calliope builders had been located
there! The first was Thomas J. Nichol who, in the early 1900’s, built what some
believe to be the best sounding steam calliopes ever produced. The second
was Ernest J. Wilde, who built several instruments in the 1950’s and 1960’s.
While the Frisbie Company had never built a calliope before, they had been
in business since 1874, and were renowned for their steam engines and
pumps. Jess Coen, the owner of the company at the time, took drawings and
measurements from both Nichol and Wilde calliopes, and fused the two designs
together. What he produced was, arguably, one of the finest examples of the
instrument ever crafted: 32 graduated brass steam whistles, electronically-
operated solenoid valves for ease of use, and corresponding lightbulbs that
lit up the steam at night, creating something akin to the Northern Lights and
known as the “Aurora Effect”. By early summer 1974, the first instrument was
completed. It was shipped up to Lake George and installed aboard the “MINNE”,
where it was played for the first time on July 2nd of that year.
For almost 20 years, the Frisbie instrument was played aboard the “MINNE”.
The calliope sat directly in front of the pilothouse, and the keyboard was
located inside the pilothouse and underneath the forward port-side window.
While not much exists in the way of pictures or recordings of this calliope, the
boat’s calliope player, Marilynn Buehler, had a couple good close-up shots of
it in action, one of which is included in this article. By the time 1992 rolled
around, the calliope was in need of some TLC. The instrument was sent out to
a company in Iowa for refurbishment, and in the meantime, a smaller calliope
was placed onboard. Through a series of unfortunate events over the course of
Calliope in action.