Crowd of people watching the flotilla of boat that were part of President Howard Taft's trip to New Orleans to attend the Great Waterways Convention. He left St. Louis on October 25, 1909 and planned to stop in Cape Girardeau, MO, Cairo, IL, Hickman, KY, Memphis, TN, Helena, AR, and Vicksburg and Natchez, MS, before arriving in New Orleans on the 30th. The Oleander, which carried President Howard Taft down the Mississippi to New Orleans, was joined by his fleet (other boats carried 24 governors and about 200 congressmen and senators) and were also joined along the way by boats from various river states carrying delegates to the great Waterways Convention, sponsored by the Lakes-to-the-Gulf Deep Waterways Association in New Orleans from October 30 to November 2. Some 50,000 to 100,000 people were expected to attend.