Big Muddy Speaker Series

Published: July 14, 2015

Presentation by Captain Steve Engemann, towboat pilot and President of Hermann Sand and Gravel

Original Presentation, July 14, 2015 at Les Bourgeois Vineyards Bistro in Rocheport, MO

The Missouri River has always had a reputation for being the most difficult of our western rivers to navigate. “Steamboat Bill” Heckman, a legendary steamboat pilot from Hermann, MO, supplied us with this great quote – “The mouth of the Missouri separated the men from the boys in the old days,” Heckman claimed. “The boys went up the Mississippi, and the men headed up the Big Muddy.”

Since the days when Heckman navigated the river, the river has been channelized, turning a wild, braided stream into a more predictable channel for navigation. But the river still remains tricky, and very few transportation companies utilize that channel to move freight on the river. One of the most experienced pilots is Captain Steve Engemann, President of Hermann Sand and Gravel. An operator of two long-distance Missouri River towboats, Engemann is part of the movement to restart a viable navigation industry on the Missouri. He shared a bit of Missouri River navigation history, as well as stories of his own Big Muddy challenges and triumphs.

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