ngplanksng thanks -- gamg[;aml came out of the bow onto the land. and that is how passengers came in and out. at any given time, there was a dozen of these boats at least, docked there at the base of main street. and this is a representation of the columbia, which was one of the boats. on july 5, 1918, the columbia met with disaster. it had been taking a group of people from a social club from pekin up to the heights, the alfresco park. and as they returned in the fog, they hit a tree stump, underwater. and the vessel sank. and there were almost 500 people on board the columbia that night and 87 lost their lives. and it was the worst boat disaster on the illinois river. this is a replica of columbia made by a resident, and above it, you see part of the hull that was recovered. it has the ship's name on it. in front of the model, it is a clock that was also recovered from the wreck. the rest of the ship is still at the bottom of the river. right here, we are looking at sheet 39 of the navigational chart for the illinois river. if you look carefully,