Dandelion, 1917
A Eurasian plant, Taraxacum officinale, widely naturalized as a weed in North America and having many-rayed yellow flowers and deeply notched basal leaves.
Builder: Weyerhauser & Deukanan, Rock Island, Illinois
Length: 140'
Beam: 31'
Draft: 3' 3"
Displacement: 302 tons
Cost: $23,173.90 purchase price
Commissioned: 6 April 1917
Decommissioned: 1926
Disposition: Sold
Machinery: 1 horizontal single cylinder steam engine; 503 IHP; 3 Mississippi-type horizontal water tube boilers; stern paddle wheel
Performance & Endurance:
Max:
Cruising:
Deck Gear: Wood boom, steam-powered winch
Complement: 17
Armament: None
Tender History:
The Dandelion was originally built as the river steamer F. Weyerhauser for the lumber company in St. Paul, Minnesota, of the same name for use as a log pusher on the Mississippi River. She was purchased by the Lighthouse Service on 2 March 1917 for $23,173.90 from the Rock Island Steamboat Company and was renamed Dandelion.
She operated out of Rock Island, Illinois and serviced aids to navigation on the upper Mississippi River until she was placed out of service in 1926. She was ultimately abandoned in 1931.
Sources:
Douglas Peterson. United States Lighthouse Service Tenders, 1840-1939. Annapolis: Eastwind Publishing, 2000.