In March 1910, the Ohio River rose so high that the steamboat Virginia sailed straight into a flooded cornfield near Willow Grove, West Virginia. In the darkness, the pilot mistook a farmhouse light for a river signal and unknowingly steered the 235-foot sternwheeler far from the riverโs true channel.
When the floodwaters receded days later, the Virginia was left stranded nearly half a mile from shore a giant riverboat sitting absurdly among rows of corn. The sight drew thousands of curious visitors. Excursion trains packed with tourists arrived daily, and other steamboats carried passengers just to glimpse the famous โsteamboat in a cornfield.โ
After months marooned on dry land, the vessel was finally rescued when rising river waters lifted it free in June 1910. The bizarre accident became one of the most enduring legends of American river history, later inspiring John Hartfordโs beloved book Steamboat in a Cornfield.