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<p>After a decade in dock, the historic 1920s-era Delta Queen riverboat will cruise again.</p> <p>President Donald Trump signed legislation on Tuesday authorizing the 285-foot-long riverboat immortalized in poems and songs to cruise again along the Mississippi and several other rivers.</p>

U.S. House of Representatives approves one-of-a-kind vessel’s return to America’s rivers The nation’s last authentic overnight steamboat may once again cruise the rivers of America’s Heartland and Deep South. Today, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to reinstate an exemption to allow the Delta Queen Steamboat to return to service after a decade-long retirement. “In addition, we must thank the many government officials in Jefferson County, Port Authority and Economic Development Corporation who have been steadfast in their dedication to the Delta Queen’s return to her home port.” “A remarkable piece of the nation’s maritime history is reborn,” said Leah...

Designated one of the eleven most endangered historic places by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Delta Queen sits rotting on a dock in Houma, La. This despite the fact that its owners have pledged to invest more than $10 million in repairs and upgrades as soon as both houses of Congress act. But a push in Congress seeking to restore this last overnight, passenger steamboat to service faces strong cross currents. A lobbying campaign by the U.S. Coast Guard and one of the 90-year-old Delta Queen’s potential competitors, American Cruise Line owner Charles Robertson, has kept the “exemption”...

Before the week’s headline Supreme Court debate, senators are poised to get the Delta Queen back cruising America’s waterways. The legendary riverboat has been barred from carrying overnight passengers since an exemption to the 1966 Safety of Life at Sea Act for the largely wooden vessel lapsed back in 2008. Lawmakers from Cincinnati to St. Louis have pushed for the Delta Queen to get a new lease on life since then, and the Senate has scheduled a Monday evening vote on passage of a bipartisan bill that would do just that... Sen. Rob Portman, who hails from Cincinnati, remembers the...

The newest push to get the Delta Queen steamboat approved to carry overnight passengers is a Missouri Senate bill sponsored by Sens. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Roy Blunt, R-Mo.An exemption to the Safety of Life at Sea Act, a federal law that prohibits overnight excursions on wooden vessels, is needed before the Delta Queen can carry passengers. The 285-foot-long vessel, with 88 cabins, had the exemption for roughly 40 years before losing it in 2008.The bill introduced late Tuesday would restore that exemption and require the Delta Queen, which is compliant with all other Coast Guard safety regulations, to each...

The historical Delta Queen sailed away this afternoon after docking on Chattanooga's north shore for more than five years. The boat is on its way to Louisiana where it will receive a full renovation inside and out, before being put back on the water to begin a new chapter of river tours. "It's been a great day. It's an exciting day. It's the first day in the next chapter of the Delta Queen," said Cornel Martin, CEO and President of the Delta Queen. It's been a long and exciting voyage for the Delta Queen, which hit the water ways in...

There was a time when the Delta Queen was a showpiece of the Mississippi River, a legacy of sorts for the towns and cities nestled on its shores... Much still has to happen before the 1920s-era vessel takes another cruise down the Mississippi River, sounding its steam-powered calliope. But a pair of recent developments has made the journey a little more likely. The biggest, at least from the perspective of the boat’s new owners, is the fact that it now has new owners. And they’ve committed themselves to reversing the fortunes of a boat that, over the past seven years...

The wood frame of the Delta Queen steamboat creaks and groans as the old lady tugs passively against her moorings. Weather and time have taken their toll on the silent relic, which sits lashed to a storm-damaged quay along Chattanooga's Coolidge Park. Workers have long since battened down her hatches and blocked off her decks. The only sign of life is a fairly believable scarecrow, cobbled together using an old hat, a pair of boots and a duct-taped Dickies uniform. It sits in the shade with a fire ax across its lap to dissuade intruders. But the once-stately chunk of...

Though there is still a long way to go for the Delta Queen to return to the rivers as a cruise ship, passing of bill H.R. 1961 in the House of Representatives is a major step in this direction. On Wednesday, September 25th 2013, the House has approved the bill that would grant the historic Delta Queen a 15 years exemption from a fire-retardant materials construction requirement. The House voted 280 to 89 in favor of the Delta Queen with almost all Republicans voting with “yea”, while Democrats voted 82 to 84 against the bill. The bill still has to...

She wants to be back on the waters, where she belongs. The Delta Queen is crippled right now, stuck in a position beneath the dignity of its river royalty -- moored to the banks of the Tennessee River and in need of some mechanical work. Her supporters hope she'll soon be plying the nation's rivers once more like her "granddaughter," the American Queen, which was in Chattanooga on Saturday on its Civil War-themed cruise. Travis Vasconcelos, "riverlorian" on the American Queen, said the Memphis-based boat stops in Chattanooga about once each year. American Queen guests, staff and operators visited with...

A sudden bidding war for the famed Delta Queen could ultimately take the historic paddlewheel riverboat away from Chattanooga. Cornel Martin, who is leading a group of investors trying to purchase and refurbish the Delta Queen, said he would like to have it fixed back up and plying the nation's inland waterways again by next summer. The former president of the Waterways Council in Washington, D.C., said his group began scurrying when it learned that a rival group in Sacramento, Calif., has made an offer for the Delta Queen. It is owned by Xanterra Parks and Resorts of Denver and...

In the gray light of morning, as the Delta Queen made her way through the Tennessee River Gorge, people already were lined up waiting. Cars pulled over to the side of the road. People stood on their backyard decks. A group of Baylor School students gathered on a balcony, and men in hard hats stopped working at the former U.S. Pipe and Foundry Co. site to watch her go by. Accompanied by the playful shrieks of the boat’s calliope, the Delta Queen arrived in Chattanooga around noon Wednesday, welcomed by fans from around the country and members of her new...

Click on the link for a great video report on the attempt by Democrat Rep. James Oberstar and unions to shut down the 1926 passenger steamboat Delta Queen, which sails America's inland rivers.

U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot, R-OH, blamed labor unions and partisan politics for a U.S. House vote this week rejecting an amendment that could have kept the Delta Queen riverboat from having to phase out its overnight cruise packages. The historic riverboat has been operating with a special Congressional exemption from the federal Safety at Sea Act since 1968, an exemption that has been renewed eight times. The safety act bans the use of wooden vessels for overnight cruises. Backers of the exemption claim the Delta Queen deserves special treatment because of its historical significance and recently upgraded fire-safety systems. With...

For decades, the Delta Queen's tall stack has been a familiar sight in St. Paul and other river towns such as Red Wing and Winona. Children wave and a vintage steam calliope plays as the elegant 81-year-old steamboat majestically makes her way down the Mississippi, bound for ports including St. Louis or Hannibal, Mo. The Queen is the last steam-powered riverboat still carrying overnight passengers on American waters. With her Tiffany lamps and rare Siamese ironwood floors, she recreates a bygone era -- down to a bell from the steamboat that carried Mark Twain as he researched his "Life on...

Mark Twain has been dead for a number of years. He often voiced his opinion that Members of Congress were not the sharpest tools in the shed, but he hasn’t actually made such a comment in more than a century. Still, an issue arose last week which allows me full permission to condemn Congress again in Mark Twain’s name. This concerns the sailing of the Delta Queen. Practically everyone, even in land-locked states, knows the Delta Queen. She is the last surviving original-style paddlewheel boat to sail on the Mississippi. She was built in 1926 for use on the West...

Majestic America Line Announces Farewell Celebration Throughout 2008 for the Legendary Delta Queen. Congress has decided not to enact legislation to grant the historic ship a statutory exemption; Ship will continue sailings through November 2008. Click on link above for full press release.

DELTA QUEEN CANCELS FALL AND WINTER CRUISES FOR AMERICAN QUEEN September 7, 2005 Due to Hurricane Katrina and the resulting impact on the Greater New Orleans area it will be impossible to operate the American Queen on her regularly scheduled fall 3- and 4- night cruises this year. In addition, we are working with various government authorities to make the American Queen available in the overall relief efforts for the Gulf Coast region, especially greater New Orleans. All American Queen voyages beginning with September 16 onward are cancelled. The American Queen voyage sailing from Memphis on September 10 will arrive...