This is a model of the packet riverboat built in the U.S. in 1886 named the Marieville. The original riverboat carried passengers and cargo along the Mississippi River from St. Louis to New Orleans. The Marieville, like many American riverboats, had a shallow, flat bottom with wood-burning boilers and high-pressure steam engines on the lower deck. On the deck above were luxurious passenger cabins. Above the deck was the hurricane deck and pilothouse.