PHOTO GALLERY: Joseph M. LaBarge steamboat paddles down Missouri River

Roger Giles steers his steamboat down the Plow Boy Bend of the Missouri River on Dec. 1. Giles and his friend, Lee Holbrook, brought the boat to Missouri by sailing 1,200 miles down the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri rivers from Marietta, Ohio, one year ago.
  |  Rachel English

The Joseph M. LaBarge floats down the Missouri River on Dec. 1 near Cooper's Landing. The boat, owned by Roger and Barbara Giles, was originally built in 1937 and used for gambling.
  |  Rachel English

Barbara Giles prepares to dock the sternwheeler Dec. 1 at Cooper's Landing. Barbara Giles and her husband, Roger Giles, give rides on their steamboat to members of the community so they can see the river.   |  Rachel English

A portrait of Joseph M. LaBarge adorns the windowsill of the sternwheeler, named the Joseph M. LaBarge, on Dec. 1 at Cooper's Landing. Owners Roger and Barbara Giles named their boat after him because he is a relative of Barbara Giles and was a steamboat captain in the 1800s.   |  Rachel English

Lee Holbrook looks out at the Missouri River while sailing on the sternwheeler, the Joseph M. LaBarge, on Dec. 1. Holbrook, the boat's engineer, fixes the 75-year-old boat when it needs maintenance.   |  Rachel English

The paddle wheel of the Joseph M. LaBarge pushes the boat down the Missouri River on Dec. 1 near Cooper's Landing. Although much of the sternwheeler has been restored, parts of the boat are still intact from when it was built in the 1930s.   |  Rachel English