by Ken Zurski

On the night of July 5, 1918, a steamboat named Columbia, returning from a moonlight excursion, collapsed and sank in the middle of the Illinois River. Of the nearly 500 passengers on board that night, most were from the town of Pekin. Eighty-seven people lost their lives in the disaster. The rest were left to tell their stories of fortitude and survival.

Ken Zurski is a radio broadcasting veteran who has spent the past 25 years doing news and traffic on various radio stations throughout Chicagoland and the Peoria area.