Way's entries include the steamboats "Rig and Class", name, place built, type of engins, if known, etc. Personnel that served are listed as well. Frederick Way began accumulating data in 1914 at age 13 and published the Directory in 1983. Frederick Way was born in 1901 in Sewickley, Pennsylvania and died in Marietta, Ohio October 3, 1992.
The Revised Edition, Way's Packet Directory, 1848-1994 contains corrections and additions. The Way's Number references "steamboat biographies".
For example, you refer to Madison's Steamboats and want to know more about the steamboat, City of Madison, Way's number 1098. You look up the entry in Way's Packet Directory, you will find the following: entry
Way's Packet Directory can be found in most public libraries in "rivertowns". If your library doesn't have a copy, have them get one. The publisher is Ohio University Press, Athens, Ohio.