41 chapters
8 hour read
Selected Chapters
41 chapters
HISTORY OF EARLY STEAMBOAT NAVIGATION ON THE MISSOURI RIVER
HISTORY OF EARLY STEAMBOAT NAVIGATION ON THE MISSOURI RIVER
LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF JOSEPH LA BARGE PIONEER NAVIGATOR AND INDIAN TRADER FOR FIFTY YEARS IDENTIFIED WITH THE COMMERCE OF THE MISSOURI VALLEY BY HIRAM MARTIN CHITTENDEN Captain Corps of Engineers, U. S. A. Author of “American Fur Trade of the Far West,” “History of the Yellowstone National Park,” etc. WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS IN TWO VOLUMES VOL. I. NEW YORK FRANCIS P. HARPER 1903 WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS IN TWO VOLUMES VOL. I. NEW YORK FRANCIS P. HARPER 1903 Copyright , 1903, BY FRANCIS P.
40 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PREFACE.
PREFACE.
In the summer of 1896 the author of this work, while engaged in collecting data for a history of the American Fur Trade of the Far West, met the venerable Missouri River pilot, Captain Joseph La Barge, at his home in St. Louis. In the course of several interviews he became deeply impressed with the range and accuracy of the old gentleman’s knowledge of early Western history, and asked him if he had ever taken any steps to preserve the record of his adventurous career. He replied that he had ofte
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER I. ANCESTRY.
CHAPTER I. ANCESTRY.
In the far-reaching operations of the French Government upon the continent of America, by which its western empire at one time embraced fully half of what is now the United States and Canada, two streams of colonization flowed inward from the sea. The course of one was along the valleys of the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes to the upper Mississippi and its tributaries. That of the other was along the lower Mississippi northward from the Gulf of Mexico. The two streams met at the mouth of
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER II. CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH.
CHAPTER II. CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH.
Joseph La Barge , son of Joseph Marie La Barge and Eulalie Hortiz, was born in St. Louis, October 1, 1815. He was the second child in a family of seven children, three boys and four girls, who all grew to adult years. The two brothers were Charles S., who was killed in a steamboat explosion in 1852, and John B., who dropped dead at the wheel in 1885 while making a steamboat landing at Bismarck, N. D. Soon after the birth of Captain La Barge the parents moved to the newly acquired farm in Baden.
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER III. ENTERS THE FUR TRADE.
CHAPTER III. ENTERS THE FUR TRADE.
Captain La Barge did not immediately find an opportunity to visit the Indian country. The annual expeditions for the year had all gone. The Yellowstone was already far away on her historic first trip up the Missouri for the American Fur Company, and nothing was left for the impatient youth but to await a later opportunity. When the Yellowstone returned from her voyage, she was sent down the Mississippi to pass the time until the following spring in the Bayou la Fourche sugar trade. La Barge was
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IV. CHOLERA ON THE “YELLOWSTONE.”
CHAPTER IV. CHOLERA ON THE “YELLOWSTONE.”
Before La Barge arrived in St. Louis the company had dispatched two boats to the upper river—the Yellowstone and the Assiniboine . The voyage of 1833 is particularly noteworthy as the one on which Prince Maximilian of Wied made his celebrated visit to the upper Missouri—a visit which has done more than any other one thing to preserve a true picture of those early times. The Yellowstone went only as far as Fort Pierre, whence she returned immediately, and as soon as another cargo could be shipped
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER V. FURTHER SERVICE AT CABANNÉ’S.
CHAPTER V. FURTHER SERVICE AT CABANNÉ’S.
In November, 1833, Pilcher sent La Barge down to a small trading post at the mouth of the Nishnabotna (river where they make canoes), kept by Francis Duroins for the convenience of a local band of Indians. La Barge’s mission was to take two twenty-gallon kegs of alcohol to Duroins. He was accompanied by a half-blood Indian, and they made the trip in a canoe. The first night they encamped on Trudeau Island, about two and a half miles above the mouth of the Weeping Water River. This island was nam
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VI. LAST YEAR AT CABANNÉ’S.
CHAPTER VI. LAST YEAR AT CABANNÉ’S.
After a few weeks’ visit among his friends in St. Louis in the spring of 1834 La Barge started back on the steamer Diana for Cabanné’s post. Pilcher was no longer in charge, having been succeeded by Peter A. Sarpy. During his service under Sarpy La Barge had an adventure which came near cutting off his career on the river almost at its beginning. Late in the fall of the year Sarpy sent him down to Bellevue to take charge of a herd of horses which was being wintered there for the mountain expedit
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VII. CAPTAIN LA BARGE IN “OPPOSITION.”
CHAPTER VII. CAPTAIN LA BARGE IN “OPPOSITION.”
The term “opposition” in the early Missouri River fur trade had a definite and specific meaning. It applied to any trading concern, great or small, individual or collective, which was doing business in competition with the American Fur Company. So powerful was this company that it never permitted any other company or trader to occupy the same field with itself except at the cost of ruinous commercial warfare. There were many attempts to compete with it, but all of them ended in failure. The inci
14 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VIII. THE MISSOURI RIVER.
CHAPTER VIII. THE MISSOURI RIVER.
We have now followed the career of Captain La Barge through the various experiences of youth and early manhood until he is finally settled in the business of his subsequent life—the navigation of the Missouri River. It is therefore a proper time to consider the nature of that business, its features of peculiar interest, and its relation to the growth of the western country. This is the more important because it is a phase in the development of that country which has permanently passed away, and
17 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IX. KINDS OF BOATS USED ON THE MISSOURI.
CHAPTER IX. KINDS OF BOATS USED ON THE MISSOURI.
The swift and turbulent character of the Missouri River led to exaggerated accounts by the early explorers of the difficulty of navigating it. Such navigation was at first considered wholly out of the question except in the simplest craft. Tradition says that Gregoire Zerald Sarpy was the first to introduce keelboats on the river, but the date of this essay is not very definitely fixed. It would seem that the French must have used large boats at the time they were established at Fort Orleans. In
26 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER X. STEAMBOAT NAVIGATION ON THE MISSOURI RIVER.
CHAPTER X. STEAMBOAT NAVIGATION ON THE MISSOURI RIVER.
The Missouri River pilot was beyond question the most skillful representative of his profession. In no other kind of navigation were the qualities of quick perception, intuitive grasp of a situation, nerve to act boldly and promptly, coolness and judgment in times of danger, so important and so constantly in demand. Navigation on the ocean was child’s play in comparison. The Missouri represented in the highest degree the peculiar dangers characteristic of alluvial streams. Its current was swift,
19 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XI. THE STEAMBOAT IN THE FUR TRADE.
CHAPTER XI. THE STEAMBOAT IN THE FUR TRADE.
The most important early use of steamboats upon the Missouri River was in connection with the fur trade, for this was the principal business conducted along the valley in the first half of the nineteenth century. 17 Steamboats had entered the river in 1819, but that early experiment had not been very successful and had led to no regular traffic as late as 1830. The American Fur Company, which monopolized the fur trade of the Missouri Valley, continued to send its annual cargoes of merchandise up
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XII. VOYAGE OF 1843.
CHAPTER XII. VOYAGE OF 1843.
The voyage of 1843 is known in more complete detail than any other in the history of the river. There are two complete journals of it—the Sire logbook, just referred to, and the published journal of the great naturalist, Audubon, who was one of the passengers. Captain La Barge himself gave the present author his full recollections of the trip. There were in all about one hundred passengers, besides some Indians returning to their country from a visit to St. Louis. The passenger list included the
13 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIII. VOYAGE OF 1844.
CHAPTER XIII. VOYAGE OF 1844.
In the winter of 1843–44 the American Fur Company built a new boat, the Nimrod , designed to correct certain defects in the Omega , and in this boat the voyage of 1844 was made. As in the previous year, Captains Sire and La Barge were master and pilot. It was in the spring and summer of this year that occurred the great flood of 1844. This appears to have been the greatest flood in the lower Missouri and central Mississippi ever known before or since. The entire bottoms in the vicinity of St. Lo
13 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIV. CHANGED CONDITIONS.
CHAPTER XIV. CHANGED CONDITIONS.
Down to the date to which our narrative has now arrived, the steamboat business of the Missouri was mainly that of the fur trade. A small traffic was carried on with the settlements along the lower river and with the government establishment at Fort Leavenworth. In 1829 a regular packet was put on between St. Louis and Leavenworth, and this was kept up at intervals during the next fifteen years. But still the main business was the trade with the Indians or with Santa Fe and the parties of white
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XV. INCIDENTS ON THE RIVER (1845–50).
CHAPTER XV. INCIDENTS ON THE RIVER (1845–50).
The annual voyages of 1845–46 were made on the steamer General Brooks . In the fall of the latter year Captain La Barge bought this boat for twelve thousand dollars, but sold her again at the close of the season. This was the first boat he had ever owned. He then went to Cincinnati, where he supervised the building of a new boat. She was named the Martha , and in her the voyage of 1847 was made. Captain Sire, who for several years had gone up as master, now decided to leave the river, and Captai
12 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVI. INCIDENTS ON THE RIVER (1851–53).
CHAPTER XVI. INCIDENTS ON THE RIVER (1851–53).
The St. Ange left St. Louis on her voyage to Fort Union for the American Fur Company, June 7, 1851. She had on board about one hundred passengers, mostly employees of the Company. The cabin list included two distinguished Jesuit missionaries, Father Christian Hoecken and Father De Smet, bound for the Rocky Mountains. The spring had been particularly backward and wet, and the Missouri was in one of its most dangerous floods. The whole bottom country was overflowed, and the river looked like a flo
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVII. ICE BREAK-UP OF 1856.
CHAPTER XVII. ICE BREAK-UP OF 1856.
During the season of 1854 Captain La Barge was in the employ of the government most of the time. In the previous winter Colonel Crossman, of the army, Quartermaster at St. Louis, contracted with a company of boat-builders on the Osage River for a steamboat for government use. When the hull was nearly completed Captain La Barge went up and brought the boat down by the use of sweeps. He supervised her completion and remained on her as pilot during the entire season. This boat was called the Mink ,
16 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVIII. THE HEAD OF NAVIGATION REACHED.
CHAPTER XVIII. THE HEAD OF NAVIGATION REACHED.
The decade from 1850 to 1860 saw a very rapid growth in the steamboat business of the Missouri River. The stream of emigration across the plains continued practically unchecked. Settlement was rapidly filling up the lower valley of the river, and by 1856 had reached as far as Sioux City, and all the modern towns below that point had commenced their existence. Government exploration was being pushed with vigor in all directions into the country beyond. The Indians were becoming restive under the
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIX. FORT BENTON.
CHAPTER XIX. FORT BENTON.
Few, if any, towns in the Far West country possess so unique and varied a history as Fort Benton. With the exception of some of the old Spanish villages in the southwest it is the oldest settlement in the mountain country, for the traders made their first establishment there in 1831. The true historic career of Fort Benton did not embrace more than half a century, yet in that brief space it saw more of romance, tragedy, and vigorous life than many a city of a hundred times its size and ten times
16 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XX. LINCOLN ON THE MISSOURI.
CHAPTER XX. LINCOLN ON THE MISSOURI.
Having permanently left the service of the American Fur Company, Captain La Barge spent the three years, 1857–59, mainly on the lower river, not generally going above Council Bluffs. In the summer of 1859 he built a fine new boat, one of the best that ever went up the river. Pierre Chouteau, Jr., having heard of his undertaking, sent to him and offered any assistance that might be needed. The Company still cherished a high appreciation of Captain La Barge’s services and would gladly have taken h
24 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
HISTORY OF EARLY STEAMBOAT NAVIGATION ON THE MISSOURI RIVER
HISTORY OF EARLY STEAMBOAT NAVIGATION ON THE MISSOURI RIVER
LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF JOSEPH LA BARGE PIONEER NAVIGATOR AND INDIAN TRADER FOR FIFTY YEARS IDENTIFIED WITH THE COMMERCE OF THE MISSOURI VALLEY BY HIRAM MARTIN CHITTENDEN Captain Corps of Engineers, U. S. A. Author of “American Fur Trade of the Far West,” “History of the Yellowstone National Park,” etc. WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS IN TWO VOLUMES VOL. II. NEW YORK FRANCIS P. HARPER 1903 WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS IN TWO VOLUMES VOL. II. NEW YORK FRANCIS P. HARPER 1903 Copyright , 1903, BY FRANCIS P
35 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXI. THE CIVIL WAR.
CHAPTER XXI. THE CIVIL WAR.
In a great many ways the War of the Rebellion affected the commerce of the Missouri River. Missouri was a slave State, and most of her citizens along the river were Southern sympathizers. It is stated that all the Missouri River pilots except two were in sympathy with the South, and that General Lyon had to go to the Illinois River for pilots when he wanted to move his troops up the river in June, 1861. The steamboat business on the river felt the weight of the war almost immediately upon its br
15 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXII. GOLD IN MONTANA.
CHAPTER XXII. GOLD IN MONTANA.
If the Civil War operated to drive commerce from the lower Missouri River, other forces were at work at the head waters of that stream to multiply it many fold. At the time when the attention of the nation and of the world was centered on the tempest that had burst over the eastern portion of the Republic, a few hardy miners were prospecting the country around the upper tributaries of the Missouri in their ever-restless search for gold. It is a singular fact that the gold-bearing regions of west
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXIII. INCIDENTS ON THE RIVER (1862–67).
CHAPTER XXIII. INCIDENTS ON THE RIVER (1862–67).
In the summer of 1863 a party of twenty-one men and three women went down the Missouri in a mackinaw boat from Fort Benton. They reached the vicinity of the mouth of Apple Creek, near where Bismarck, N. D., now stands, just as the Sioux Indians, whom General Sibley was driving out of Minnesota and across the country to the Missouri, arrived on the banks of that stream. They had just been defeated in three engagements with General Sibley and were in a very angry temper. They attacked the boat and
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXIV. LA BARGE AGAIN IN OPPOSITION.
CHAPTER XXIV. LA BARGE AGAIN IN OPPOSITION.
With a view to entering, upon a large scale, into the newly developing business at the head waters of the Missouri, the firm of La Barge, Harkness & Co. was formed in St. Louis in the winter of 1861–62. The members were Joseph La Barge, Eugene Jaccard, James Harkness, John B. La Barge, and Charles E. Galpin. Each partner put in ten thousand dollars. Two steamboats were purchased—Captain La Barge’s boat, the Emilie , and a light-draft boat, the Shreveport . In the division of duties and r
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXV. VOYAGE OF 1863—THE TOBACCO GARDEN MASSACRE.
CHAPTER XXV. VOYAGE OF 1863—THE TOBACCO GARDEN MASSACRE.
Deferring for the present our narrative of the fortunes of La Barge, Harkness & Co., we shall recount one of those mournful tragedies and one of those instances of official corruption which marked the later history of the Indian tribes along the Missouri River. When Captain La Barge, in the spring of 1863, undertook to leave the government service on the Mississippi, to get ready for his trip to Fort Benton, he was told by the Quartermaster in St. Louis that he could not have the boat, f
16 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXVI. THE BLACKFOOT ANNUITIES.
CHAPTER XXVI. THE BLACKFOOT ANNUITIES.
At the mouth of the Yellowstone the voyage of the Robert Campbell came abruptly to an end. There was only a depth of two feet over the Yellowstone bar, and it was a physical impossibility to proceed. The annuities had now been delivered to the lower tribes so far as Captain La Barge was concerned, but there still remained undelivered those going to the Crows, Assiniboines, and Blackfeet. The annuities for the first of these tribes were to be delivered wherever these Indians could be found, but t
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXVII. COLLAPSE OF THE LA BARGE-HARKNESS OPPOSITION.
CHAPTER XXVII. COLLAPSE OF THE LA BARGE-HARKNESS OPPOSITION.
The steamboat Shreveport , with the annual outfit of the new firm for the year 1863, did not get above Cow Island on account of the extremely low stage of the river. No other boat went as far as that within two hundred miles. Harkness and John La Barge put the cargo out upon the bank and hastened back to the assistance of the Robert Campbell . This event further illustrated the incapacity of Harkness. No arrangement was made for the transportation of the goods to Benton, although he knew that a
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXVIII. CAPTAIN LA BARGE IN MONTANA.
CHAPTER XXVIII. CAPTAIN LA BARGE IN MONTANA.
Captain La Barge sold the Emilie late in the winter of 1862–63. In the following winter he made an unexpected sale of the Shreveport . Henry Ames & Co., pork packers, sent their clerk one day to see if the Captain would sell the boat. He replied that he did not care to, but would if the price were satisfactory. Being invited to come to the office of the firm, he was told that the boat suited them and was asked to name a price. “Twenty-five thousand dollars,” he said. “Give the Captain a
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXIX. CAPTAIN LA BARGE IN WASHINGTON.
CHAPTER XXIX. CAPTAIN LA BARGE IN WASHINGTON.
In connection with his work for the government it became necessary for Captain La Barge to make several visits to Washington. Considering the interesting period through which the national Capital was then passing, it was to be expected that these visits should present some features of note. The Captain went to Washington in all three times, once in each of the winters of 1862–65. On the occasion of his first visit he was a member of a party who called upon the President to present him with a fin
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXX. THE INDIANS OF THE MISSOURI VALLEY.
CHAPTER XXX. THE INDIANS OF THE MISSOURI VALLEY.
The course of this narrative has shown that a large portion of the business of the Missouri River steamboats pertained to the Indians who dwelt on the banks of that stream. The great valley had been their home for unknown generations. The tribes were distributed along its course or those of its tributaries, from its mouth to their sources. First came the Missouris, whose name the river still bears—a tribe long since extinct as a separate organization. The Osages and the Kansas likewise bequeathe
13 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXI. THE ARMY ON THE MISSOURI.
CHAPTER XXXI. THE ARMY ON THE MISSOURI.
The rôle which the army was called upon to fill in the history of our Indian affairs was a most unpleasant one. It began while the proud spirit of the tribes was as yet unbroken, but had been aroused by ever-increasing aggression to the point of active resistance. It then became necessary to subdue them by force to absolute subordination to the government, and to remove them from their larger hunting grounds to small reservations. This thankless task devolved upon the army. It was not merely a t
16 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXII. THE STEAMBOAT IN THE INDIAN WARS.
CHAPTER XXXII. THE STEAMBOAT IN THE INDIAN WARS.
Throughout the Indian wars of the Missouri Valley the steamboat played a part of the very highest importance. It was almost the exclusive means of transporting men and supplies along the river, except when in active campaign work in the interior. Its use in the military service dates from the very beginning of steamboat navigation on the river, as well as from the first important step toward the military occupation of the valley. When the first steamboat entered the Missouri, in 1819, arrangemen
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXIII. THE PEACE COMMISSION OF 1866.
CHAPTER XXXIII. THE PEACE COMMISSION OF 1866.
We left Captain La Barge in 1865 just as he had returned from Montana on his second journey by way of Great Salt Lake. His boat, the Effie Deans , had reached St. Louis some time before he did. The boat was still owned in partnership with John S. McCune and Eugene Jaccard. La Barge tried to get full possession of her, offering, however, either to buy or sell. Not being able to negotiate a purchase, he demanded a dissolution of the partnership, and bought the boat in. He then put six thousand dol
14 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXIV. THE MURDER OF CAPTAIN SPEAR.
CHAPTER XXXIV. THE MURDER OF CAPTAIN SPEAR.
The voyage of the Octavia in the summer of 1867 was one of the most successful and important in all Captain La Barge’s career on the river. It was unhappily marred by a most revolting crime, committed on board, but in other respects passed off without any untoward incident. Its narrative will be presented in the Captain’s own words. “Early in the spring of 1867 I started in the Weston and St. Joseph trade, and about April 1 advertised for a trip to Benton. Business on the river seemed rather dul
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXV. THE BATTLE WITH THE RAILROADS.
CHAPTER XXXV. THE BATTLE WITH THE RAILROADS.
The great enemy of the Missouri River steamboat was the railroad. The impression now exists that the river has ceased to be a navigable stream. It has ceased to be a navigated stream, but it is as navigable as it ever was. Let it be known that all railroads in its valley will cease running for a period of five years and there will be a thousand boats on the river in less than six months. It is not a change in the stream, but in methods of transportation, that has ruined the commerce of the river
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXVI. LAST VOYAGES TO BENTON.
CHAPTER XXXVI. LAST VOYAGES TO BENTON.
As soon as the ice broke up in the spring of 1868 Captain La Barge commenced work on the river, and after two trips to St. Joseph advertised for a trip to Benton. He received a good cargo and had a fairly profitable voyage, but in no sense so satisfactory as the year before. After his return in the fall to St. Louis he received a proposition for the charter of the boat in the government river work. Terms were arranged with General McComb of Cincinnati, through Captain Charles R. Suter, who was l
13 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXVII. DECLINING YEARS.
CHAPTER XXXVII. DECLINING YEARS.
It is a sad reflection that, after a life of hard and useful work and the prominent part he took in up-building the great West, Captain La Barge should have closed his career in comparative want. But such were the vicissitudes of the business to which his life had been devoted. That business had passed away, and like a sinking ship it dragged down all who clung to it. Captain La Barge struggled bravely against these adverse conditions, but it was impossible to withstand the downward tendency. Fr
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXVIII. DESTINY OF THE MISSOURI RIVER.
CHAPTER XXXVIII. DESTINY OF THE MISSOURI RIVER.
What of the future? Is the useful purpose of the Missouri River in the up-building of the West already fulfilled? Is its great history a closed book? Such, it must be admitted, is the general view. In popular estimation that river to-day is little more than a vast sewer, whose seething, eddying waters bear down the sands and clay and débris from the far upper country, scattering them along its course, swelling the floods of the Mississippi, and pushing ever seaward the delta of that mighty strea
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter