Here is the string that finally worked for me:

boot /pci/ide/disk@0,0:0 di-2004.03.15 root=/dev/hda4

Makes more sense that hda(4) was the correct choice since it is the 4th partition that was selected for the linix system.

BLAM! Things started to really happen after that. More configuration screens appeared for Time Zone and then my preferred package installation method. I stuck with ftp since that is how the install was started. I chose a modest package set, nothing fancy. It is in the process of retrieving the files now. Looking good so far.

My chosen ftp site is ftp.debian.org.