Mile 166.0 - LBD Luhr Bros., Inc.

John Ruskey

20 Apr 2026 � 1 min read

166 LBD Luhr Bros., Inc.

Luhr Bros., Inc. operates a fleet of 28 towboats which specialize in moving stone and other aggregate. Their bright green and yellow stripes makes them immediately recognizable to anyone who frequents the Mississippi. They seem to be paddler friendly. The Army Corps of Engineers and others contract Luhr Bros for wing dams and rock projects around the Middle and Lower Mississippi from their stone yards in Cape Girardeau, New Orleans, and along several tributaries. When Hurricane Katrina devastated the New Orleans area, Luhr Bros was able to mobilize immediately to construct rock dike closures at the breaches on the East Bank of the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal.

Luhr tows range from 460 to 7200 horsepower (hp), and Four boats have greater than 6600 hp and are capable of delivering 30 barges of stone per trip to New Orleans with each tow having approximately 40,000 to 45,000 tons. Five of the towboats have 3,000-4,000 hp and are capable of delivering 12 barge tows and 16 barge tows.

Besides rock, Luhr can deliver Aglime, Manufactured Sand, Bedding, Aggregates, Filters, Gabion Stone, Rip Raps, Corps of Engineers graded rip rap of various sizes, and up to 4 ton Armor Stone. Luhr quarries its own materials from Tower Rock Stone Company, RBD four miles above the Ste. Genevieve Harbor, at Mile 127

Luhr Bros was founded in 1938 by brothers Alois and Eugene Luhr. Eugene borrowed money for a Cat D8 tractor, and Alois began working on their first project, digging the basement for the Valmeyer, Illinois, high school.

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