Dragon Mihailoff works to install wiring in the electronically simulated steam calliope. (Glenn Hartong photo) | ZOOM |

By Rebecca Billman
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The National Steamboat Monument on the Ohio River is inching toward its fall completion date.

Wednesday morning, Dragon Mihailoff, owner of D&D Electric in College Hill, drilled holes in the 10-foot-tall stainless-steel columns that will make up the calliope.

Steam erupts from a pipe during testing Thursday. | ZOOM |

Mr. Mihailoff installed the wiring that will enable the electronically activated columns to make sounds, to be triggered by passing visitors, that will include calliope music, steamboat whistles and voices of storytelling rivermen.

Dubbed the Whistle Grove, the calliope comprises 24 columns that surround a replica paddlewheel. Each column will have a sensor that will trigger a jet of steam.

The calliope was designed by Christopher Janney, an artist from Lexington, Mass., who is known for using technology to blend sound and architecture.

The monument is to open this fall on a yet-to-be determined date.