The President is Moving Up the River

The President riverboat was moved Thursday from its quarters at Illinois 3 and Illinois 143 at Alton to an area about a mile north to be taken apart. The riverboat is to then be moved to St. Elmo, where it will be reassembled and refurbished, then placed on Tower Lake along the north side of I-70 near the St. Elmo interstate interchange.
This look at the riverboat is when it is being moved through the locks at Alton on its way to where the work began.

October 10, 2008 - 9:43PM
STAFF REPORT
The Telegraph

ALTON - Jeremy Patterson, who with his father owns Patterson Structural Movers Inc., tugs on a cable Friday as he walks through Mississippi River water to attach a tow cable to the rear of the former President Casino on the Alton riverfront.

The five-story boat, which will be cut into pieces and shipped to St. Elmo, Ill., to be reassembled as a hotel, convention center and museum, was stuck in the mud about 100 feet shy of its docking point at the Azcon Scrap Co. facility.

Duncan Bulling, who is directing an episode for The History Channel cable TV program called "Mega Movers," shoots video of Patterson as he and a crew of photographers document every moment of the move.

Bowers Towing's large rig had its wheels airborne as it worked in conjunction with two bulldozers and a track hoe to pull the boat free from the mud.After a morning of preparation, the attempt to free the boat failed when a cable attached to a bulldozer broke under the strain.