In the shadows of a capstan, left, and a rudder, right, City of Vicksburg employees Montie Busby, left, and Carl Harris attach a pittman arm of the Sprague to a crane to be moved Wednesday. The site is the future home of a new art park at City Front, and the boat’s remains will be returned after the park’s construction is completed.(Jon Giffin The Vicksburg Post)

[9/23/04]Crews began moving artifacts from the largest steam-powered towboat ever built to a temporary home Wednesday in preparation for work on a new park at City Front.

The remains of the Sprague have been on display in an area off Levee Street between Clay and China streets since the remains of the huge towboat were removed from the Yazoo Diversion Canal.

The Sprague was a big attraction to Vicksburg’s City Front from the time the city acquired the vessel from Standard Oil Co. in the late 1940s until it was hobbled by a raging fire in 1974.

Over the years, the Sprague had been home to a boating club, a museum and a steamboat photo display and the theater used by the Dixie Showboat Players to put on performances of the oldtime melodrama “Gold In The Hills.”

All that came to an end when a fire of undeter-mined origin broke out on the night of April 15. Virtually all of the boat’s wooden superstructure was destroyed.

After unsuccessful attempts to raise money to restore the historic boat, the hull was moved to a location about halfway between City Front and the entrance channel to the E.W. Haining Industrial Center where it eventually broke in two and sank.

Charles Haley of the Vicksburg Street Department was overseeing the crew working Wednesday to remove the Sprague parts, which included one of the steering rudders and the pittman arms that transferred motion from the steam engines to the propulsion wheel, from their display area.

“We are going to put them behind the Klondyke,” Haley said, indicating city-owned property formerly occupied by the Street Department.

The steamboat era and Sprague artifacts will be the theme for the $2.6 million art park along Levee Street. Work is expected to begin next week and be finished next summer. It will include a catfish-themed splash fountain, parts from the Sprague and interactive displays.

The contract for the work went to Camo Construction of Vidalia, La., on the second round of bids after initial bids came in over budget.

The project is being funded out of the $17.5 million bond issue in 2001.

Other plans near the park include a railroad museum proposed for the former Levee Street Depot and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers interpretive center at the foot of Jackson Street.