Lula by Keith Black - 1:120 Scale - 1870s Sternwheeler Supply Boat for Floating Pile Driver

[TBlack]

Keith, I think you've got 2 options: either she is part of the crew or she is a passenger in the car. But if she's a passenger then why climb up the ladder to get your picture taken. My inclination is that she belongs in the pilot house and has come out for the photo. The car is 1920's vintage and at that time wouldn't it have been unusual for women to wear pants?

Tom

[Keith Black]

2 hours ago, TBlack said:

Keith, I think you've got 2 options: either she is part of the crew or she is a passenger in the car. But if she's a passenger then why climb up the ladder to get your picture taken. My inclination is that she belongs in the pilot house and has come out for the photo. The car is 1920's vintage and at that time wouldn't it have been unusual for women to wear pants?

 Tom, the car is a Ford Model A produced from 1927 thru 1931. I wish she had belonged in the pilothouse because that's such a great story if she had in fact been the captain/pilot/owner. 

 

 When I think of the hard nosed gals from that era I think of the women aviators, one in particular, "Pancho" Barnes for whom I have the greatest admiration.   

 

 

 From Google AI

 

The question of women wearing pants has a rich history, evolving from being socially unacceptable to mainstream fashion. The idea of women wearing pants was initially met with resistance, but gradually gained acceptance due to social and cultural shifts, particularly during wartime and the women's liberation movement. 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trousers_as_women's_clothing

Edited 6 hours ago by Keith Black

[Michael Mash]

It is always fun to “speculate” about old photos. 

Several observations:

The woman and the man to her right are formally dressed, so I assume they are together with the car.

The other two figures back further may be workers on the boat.

The photographer did not catch them unaware.  They are all looking at the camera.

Finally, this photo gives the impression that this is a ferry, rather than a supply boat.  Looks like the car is ready to disembark.

 

Mike

[Keith Black]

2 hours ago, Michael Mash said:

that this is a ferry, rather than a supply boat.

 Mike, no doubt the photo is in fact a car ferry. I used Lula the car ferry as inspiration to create Lula the tender/supply boat. Please see the first two photos in post #503, page  #17, thank you. 

Edited 6 hours ago by Keith Black

[Paul Le Wol]

This is my take on the people in the photo. If the woman was the captain, she would be standing in the doorway of the pilot house wearing a big smile. She may be the captain’s wife/ daughter who had just brought him lunch. The captain is eating lunch in the pilot house because she wants to take the dishes home before they get underway again The man driving the car is a travelling salesman so the captain has to keep his eye on him during lunch. Those guys in the background are a whole other story.

[vossiewulf]

I asked GatpGPT to compose a short story about the woman sitting on the stairs.

 

"The Ferry Queen of the Brazos"

Maggie Leclair sat on the creaking stairs of the Lula, her boots muddy from the morning rain and her braid wind-tossed by the river’s breath. She watched the slow churn of the paddlewheel behind her, its steady rhythm echoing the quiet persistence of her own heart.

Most folks in the Port of Cuero called her “the Ferry Queen”—half teasing, half awed. It wasn’t common in 1923 for a woman to run a riverboat, but after her father’s stroke left him speechless and her brothers took off for oil fields in West Texas, Maggie had stepped up without blinking. She knew every board of this vessel, every knot of the rope, every mood of the river.

“Morning, Miss Leclair,” a man called from the deck, tipping his hat as he guided his Ford Model T onto the barge. Maggie nodded, lifting her chin with the calm command of someone who’d earned respect the hard way. Not through loud words, but through years of steady hands, early mornings, and storms faced alone.

Her passengers were farmers, traders, dreamers, and drifters. Some stared, puzzled by a woman at the helm. Others left with a quiet story of her fearlessness—like the time she navigated the Lula through a flash flood with two wagons and a preacher onboard, her face streaked with rain and grit.

But today, she paused on the stairs—not to work, just to feel the warmth of the sun on her cheek and the solid comfort of the boat beneath her. The world was changing—faster cars, new roads, railways growing like vines. The Lula’s days were numbered.

Still, as the river lapped against the hull and another stranger stepped aboard, Maggie smiled.

For now, she ruled the water.

[Knocklouder]

Mary Millicent Miller (née Mary Millicent Garretson; 1846 – October 30, 1894) was an American steamboat master who was the first American woman to acquire a steamboat master's license.^[1]

Mary Millicent Miller
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Mary_Millicent_Miller.jpg

 

Keith she could be the steam boat master, but I don't think she was the first  🤔. 

More  likely  she the guys who has his hand on the car wife, he got that smile that says the car is more important,  she justs wants to get away from him. The two guys are the crew, with Buba  the fellow with the black hat is the captain. They are docked so he's going for a nap, lol sounds like a good idea  💡 🤣  

Knocklouder      

[Glen McGuire]

Those are good guesses, but here's what's really going on, Keith. 

 

Husband, wife, and teenage daughter were on a road trip.  They got lost, took a wrong turn, and ended up on this floating, wooden contraption because the husband refused to stop and ask for directions.  Wife got mad and ran up the stairs looking for help while husband stayed with the car and started talking to a couple of deckhands about how the Lions did in the NFL draft.  Daughter yelled at the parents to stop arguing and look her way so she could take a picture and post on her Instagram account.