in 1957, simonton took his family for a river trip aboard the delta queen, a 285-foot steamboat then operating on the mississippi and ohio rivers. built in the 1920s, the delta queen had begun as a california riverboat operating between san francisco and sacramento. after simonton's cruise, the owners of the delta queen found they could not keep the business going. simonton had so enjoyed his trip aboard the boat that he saved the enterprise, buying a controlling interest in 1957-58. with partners including e. j. quinby, he turned the enterprise around, and even added an 1897 steam calliope rescued from the sunken island queen. for forty-two years, the boat ran on a series of congressional exemptions from safety at sea laws. in 1966, simonton sent his employee bill muster to washington, dc to obtain the first exemption. although the boat never went to sea, it would have been subject to safety at sea laws because it was built of wood from the water up. bill muster and company vice president betty blake led the effort to list the delta queen on the national register of historic places in 1970. president carter campaigned from the delta queen and was on it in 1979 on the day that simonton died.