Zebulon Pike Table Rock Lake

[nagel]

I was just throwing it out that the paddle boat on the Mississippi is the General....not really believing. I believe the General was a mooring boat for the Zeb. You can see it in one of the pictures. It's odd that nobody can say for sure how she ended up at the bottom of the lake. A few years ago somebody posted a newspaper article about it where an "old timer" was telling the story. In this, he said it broke lose in a storm and sunk where it rests currently. I tend to believe that and wish I still had a copy of that article, but my computer crashed and lost it awhile back. Another odd thing is why is it called the Zebulon Pike? We have debunked that after finding the Zeb at one of the marinas a few years back. I had heard stories about it and got a call from another forum member to come down because he had something I needed to see. He was camping and looking across the water a saw the Zeb in the Cricket Creek Marina. He couldn't believe it and called me and I was down the next day and took pictures that since have been published on this board. But again, why call the wreck under the water the Zeb. Maybe because it was associated with the Zeb.

Snagel

 

[Avonthediver]

Take a gander at these, I found them while looking for old pics of the General/Zebulon comes up under the header "Table Rock Lake - Breezy Point & Zebulon Pike - May 29, 2005"

www.pixelplaya.com/photos/table-rock52905/page_01.html

 

[nagel]

Here's some information that has been passed around, so I'm not sure exactly who the original author is:

"I can tell you a bit about her as to the last 30 years or so. I understand that she went out of service with the death of here builder/owner in the mid '60s; In about 1972 she was purchased by a Twin Cites excursion boat operator who added rails to the upper deck so that passengers could go up there via a spiral stairway located just behind the pilothouse. The Twin cities operator sold her in about 1975, and she ran, i beleive, one season on the Missouri River and one season on Kentucky Lake, then went to Little Rock Ar. on the Arkansas River, and was hauled overland to Table Rock Lake in Southwest Missouri. She ran on Table Rock for into the mid '80s under the name of Zebulon Pike (which the Twin cites operator gave here) A gentleman, whos name I will not post, bought her in about '80 or '81, when the prime interest rate was around 18%, and could not make a go of it. By 1989 she was abandoned in a cove on Indian Point (close to Silver Dollar City) The Army Corp of Engineers took her over, along with a barge that had been used as her dock (the barge was originally a ferry flat on the Mississippi River, and later used as an Excursion boat on Table Rock Lake until being retired to the position of dock barge. The barge was named "General Pike.") Anyway, the Corp took over both the Zebulon and the General. The General was intentionaly sunk as a dive site while the Zebulon was apparently transfered to private ownership. By the late '90s the Zebulon was still afloat and tied up, inactive, at Cricket Creek marina on TableRockLake. If you go to Dock Pictures and scroll-down to the third photo in the column, the blue-painted bow of the Zebulon Pike can be seen at the right margin on the photo. Some diver websites mistakenly refer to the sunken General Pike as the Zebulon Pike. Twin Cummins diesels (one having been replaced in 1981) with Twin disc manually- shifted gearboxes. There was a story that, while being operated in Chicago, a large wave washed several people off of a breakwater, and that the Hannah rescued them, earning a praising letter from the Coast Guard. I know nothing earlier than the above, other than what has already been posted on this board.

 

[Nemrod]

Hmm, that is interesting. Who wrote that? I find especially interesting that it is claimed that the "General" did indeed operate under it's own power as a tour boat on TR, if correct, then that could explain the hold area I observed and the twisted shafts perhaps are actually drive shafts. I would have a hard time believing that the CE sunk anything for scuba diving. That activity is not on their radar screen as evidenced by their recent ban of diving at the dam.

Thanks for the story, that level of detail does make for believing it is close to what happened.

N

 

[nagel]

Not sure who wrote it, but found it re-posted before on several forums.

Does anybody know exactly where on the lake the General and Zebulon Pike docked at? Was in the same location as the current Branson Belle or was it maybe in the cove off Indian Point where the General currently lies or maybe some wheres else?

Snagel

 

[Avonthediver]

Hmm, that is interesting. Who wrote that? I find especially interesting that it is claimed that the "General" did indeed operate under it's own power as a tour boat on TR, if correct, then that could explain the hold area I observed and the twisted shafts perhaps are actually drive shafts. I would have a hard time believing that the CE sunk anything for scuba diving. That activity is not on their radar screen as evidenced by their recent ban of diving at the dam.

Thanks for the story, that level of detail does make for believing it is close to what happened.

N

Sounds like a good look around inside an out is in order to see if this thing really did move under her own power at one time. But just from my point of view of the old side by side of the two boat's The Genreal really looks like a fancy docking and ticket barge.

 

[thirdcoastdiver]

For those who have dived the General, is it a stern wheeler, side wheeler, or prop? I have spent a number of hours searching Coast Guard databases without any success. This is a fascinating little piece of history that seems to have a lot of missing information. Lots of Generals, General Pikes, but nothing that is around 90 feet.

 

[Nemrod]

Sounds like a good look around inside an out is in order to see if this thing really did move under her own power at one time. But just from my point of view of the old side by side of the two boat's The Genreal really looks like a fancy docking and ticket barge.

As was given in the story, the General may have began life as a river flat. If so, these are not generally powered but pushed by other vessels. However, it was not uncommon for these to be converted to various sundry vessels such as houseboats and maybe even ticket docks . But, somebody could have motorized a flat. Other than the twisted shafts and the empty area down low, I have seen no evidence it was a powered vessel. The shaft looking things I saw could have just been junk laying in the hull. Not sure. Maybe I need to get back there next year.

N

 

[nagel]

In the story, it says, "By 1989 she was abandoned in a cove on Indian Point (close to Silver Dollar City) The Army Corp of Engineers took her over, along with a barge that had been used as her dock"

Could this be the cove where the General sunk? The General currently is in a cove off Indian Point. It could be as simple as this tiny cove is where the General and Zebulon were docked and people drove up too, to board the Zebulon. Sounds like the owners just walked away one day and left them both sitting in the cove. If this is the case, it sounds reasonable that they just pulled the General away from the shore and either they sunk it or she sunk. From her underwater position, I believe she is pointing toward the shore line. "IF" all this is true, it kind of debunks the theory that the General broke loose during a storm and drifted across the lake and sunk. Maybe she broke loose in the cove traveled away from shore and sunk. Again, all theory, but very interesting.

Snagel

 

[Nemrod]

I think the bow is away from shore. The tag line from the stump runs to the port stern area which is why all of my excursions have mostly run up the port side and up and over the top. That or I am having a brain cloud again.
N