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the following year, the Frisbie calliope was sold to a gaming boat in
Natchez, MS, where it was put on display on the top deck of the boat.
After a short time, the whistles were removed, placed in storage,
and then lost in time. To this day, they have not been found. The
calliope that had been placed on the “MINNE” as a ‘temp’ became
her permanent instrument. This calliope had been built by Ernest
J. Wilde in the early 1960’s, and had been aboard a party boat in
the Cincinnati harbor. Strangely enough, it is believed that this was
one of the instruments Jess Coen used for measurements to make
his calliopes in the 1970’s! The construction of these whistles were
different from the Frisbie. Wilde’s whistles were long and slender, and
looked almost like an assembly of mortar shells. Other instruments of
his were placed aboard the ELIZABETH LOUISE of Sacramento, CA
and the BELLE OF LOUISVILLE of Louisville, KY. With the change
in instrument, the location of it was changed as well. Instead of sitting
in front of the pilothouse as the Frisbie had, the Wilde calliope was
moved forward of the port smokestack. The manifold was shorter,
and could fit in the space better. This also increased the visibility of
the instrument, allowing for an unobstructed view of the calliope from
the pier below for the first time In the summer of 2004, yours truly
played his first song on the Wilde, igniting a love for the calliope and
its operation. It had not been taken care of in some time, and needed
some work. I made it my mission to make it a showpiece again.
While some brass polish and a fresh coat of paint made it look better,
there was only so much that could be done to get it back in prime
operational shape. I had no knowledge about valve maintenance,
tuning or electrical work other than what I had plucked from the minds
of our engineers. By the end of the 2010 season, the calliope had
fallen into an abysmal state. It got to the point where we were getting
more complaints about its sound than we were compliments! The
time had come to find a new calliope for the boat. Around that time,
I became friends with Dave Morecraft, of Peru, IN. Dave’s family
had been building metal furniture in town for decades, which had
given him an immense knowledge of machining and engineering.
Peru itself had also long been a famous circus town, known for its
immense shows and parades, complete with calliope wagons. He fell
in love with the instrument, and got it in his mind to build them. He
used measurements off an old Thomas J. Nichol circus calliope in
town, which he affectionately referred to as “Grandpa”, and had built
instruments for a number of steamboats, most notably a replacement
calliope for the BELLE OF LOUISVILLE and a new instrument for
grand overnight steamboat AMERICAN QUEEN. Like Nichol before
him, his whistles were constructed with a mixture of brass and copper,
giving his instruments a deep, smooth tonal quality, unlike the brassy
shrillness of the Frisbie and Wilde calliopes. I went out to Peru and
played his personal instrument in the summer of 2010. From that first
chord, I knew a Morecraft calliope is what the MINNE needed. Armed
with a sample whistle and several videos, I went back home and
convinced my Dad and our engineers to give the green light for a
new calliope.
In and About the
Adirondacks
The “American Patented
Steam Piano” unique
American Steam Age
Musical Instument