For those who are interested in history, there are some real gems to be found in the Billups Garth Archives of the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library. One of my favorite items is the 1898-1902 ledger of duplicate steamboat bills of lading from the Vienna, Alabama, Tombigbee landing. It is a fascinating record of all the steamboats that stopped there and loaded cargo during that period.

Vienna is an old river town, now basically only a memory, located on the Tombigbee about 40 miles by road and 77 miles by river south of Columbus in southern Pickens County. Anglo-American settlers began moving into the area after the Choctaw treaty of 1816, which was the same treaty that opened Columbus up for settlement. However, it was not until about 1830 that Vienna was recognized as a town and a post office was authorized there. The town developed as a thriving steamboat landing. In 1841 the Town of Vienna was formally incorporated by the Alabama legislature.

The river trade that was the reason for Vienna’s existence. Located at the northern end of the fertile Black Prairie cotton belt in Alabama, agricultural products and steamboats to transport them were the lifeblood of the town.

Being downstream from the large cotton shipping landings at Aberdeen and Columbus meant the steamboats going to those towns had to first pass by Vienna. Among the steamboats that stopped there were some of the largest and most famous Tombigbee steamers. They included steamboats such as the Eliza battle.

By the early 1840s a warehouse had been built on the river at Vienna. Around 1844 William Peebles, whose family later played a leading role in steamboat operations in both Vienna and Columbus, opened a “dry goods” store. The 1840s and 50s saw the economy growing. Vienna was then hit by double river trade disasters, the Civil War and the coming of the railroad to West Alabama.

While steamboats still came to Vienna, there were not as many, and most were not nearly so large as they had been.

The Vienna Landing ledger in the Billups Garth Archives paints a vivid picture of the late 1800s early 1900s river trade at Vienna, which by then was in decline. Between Jan. 4 and Oct. 26, 1898, five steamboats made a total of 37 stops at the Vienna Landing. The D.L. Tally stopped three times, the Frank S. Stone stopped 12 times, the Hard Cash eight times, the City of Columbus five times and the Vienna nine times. These boats continued in the Vienna trade with two additional steamers – the Baltimore and Jackson.

The destinations of these steamboats showed the changing commerce in the Tombigbee valley. Formerly the principal destination had been Mobile, but by then much of the traffic was going to Demopolis, Miller’s Landing and Columbus. The latter three destinations have a common denominator: they were railheads.

The steamboat most associated with Vienna was the Vienna. She was a 176-ton, 155-by-26-by-4.5 foot stern-wheeler built in Columbus in 1898 by a stock company principally owned by Joseph Donoghue, W.B. Peebles and W.B. Hopkins. The Vienna was built to specifically run between Demopolis, Vienna, Pickensville and Columbus but also ran between Columbus and Mobile. Peebles was from Vienna but moved to Columbus in 1898. Capt. Sam A. Cosper supervised the boat’s construction and was her master.

On Jan. 19, 1906, while headed upriver to Columbus, the Vienna struck a timber that had fallen into the river during repair work on the Columbus M&O Railroad trestle. The timber had floated downstream and became a snag, known as a “dead head.” The Vienna, carrying 250 bales of cotton and 2,200 sacks of cotton seed, struck it and sank in four minutes at Moore’s Bluff near the former location of Camp Pratt. All of the passengers and crew were saved but the boat could not be salvaged.

In 1913 the Army Corps of Engineers provided a description of the Upper Tombigbee landings/port facilities. Here are the descriptions of the Vienna Landing and the three destinations mentioned for boats from Vienna in 1898.

The Demopolis landing was described as “high bluff: town, warehouses, cotton compresses. Large commerce; station on Southern Ry; no improved water terminal or wharves, no charge for landing. Southern RR at Terminal. Poor road to water terminal.”

Miller’s Landing was described as “bluff on east bank, warehouse compress and oil mill at Eppes; Alabama Great Southern RR; no charge for landing. Alabama Great Southern RR station. Poor road to landing.”

At Vienna the Corps reported “bluff on east bank, no warehouse, no charge for landing. Alabama Tennessee and Northern RR 3 miles. Sandy road.”

Columbus was described as “bluff on east bank; town warehouse; three oil mills; cotton compresses; large commerce; no improved water terminal or wharves; no charge for landing. Mobile & Ohio and Southern RR terminals. Poor road to water terminal.”

There were also descriptions in the report for the landings at Gainesville, Warsaw, Stones Ferry, Memphis and Pickensville. However, no description of the Aberdeen waterfront was given.

With the arrival of railroads, motor vehicles and all-weather roads, steamboat commerce on the upper Tombigbee began to disappear. By 1920, except for small boats in the lumber trade, steamboats were no longer coming to Columbus. River trade north of Demopolis and south of Columbus survived through the 1920s.

In the early 1900s many of the Vienna families moved to Aliceville, which was only a few miles north. In 1910 the Hard Cash was the last large steamboat reported to have stopped at the Vienna landing.

The acquisition of this rare and historic Vienna steamboat ledger for the Billups Garth Archives would not have taken place without the generosity of Don DePriest. “Once Upon a Place” is an excellent history of Vienna published by David Hodnett in 2003.

Rufus Ward is a local historian.

Rufus Ward is a Columbus native a local historian. E-mail your questions about local history to Rufus at [email protected].