Paddle Wheel - USS Cairo

Cairo's fifteen-foot-wide paddle wheel was made up of five twenty-two-foot-diameter "spiders," the web-like iron arms and circles that formed the spokes of the wheel. The paddles, or "buckets," were probably simple wood planks that could easily be replaced by the boat's carpenter if damaged. The paddle wheel churned within a well near the back of the boat.

Vicksburg, Mississippi · United States