The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1894-11-21
A MARINE GRAVEYARD.
Where Many Mississippi River
Steamboats, Lie Buried.
The Fatal Locality in Which Many Pala-
tlal Steamers Went Down-Names OF
Some Of the Well-Remem-
bered Boats.

The recent discovery Of a sunken raft
by Mayor Walbridge in the clannel of
the river above the Chain of Rocks,
says the st. Louis Globe-Democrat
will bring to the minds of many of our
old steamboat men the disasters that
befell the marine craft of this city in
that portion Of the river now included
in the harbor OF St. Louis. The char
ter harbor of the city includes that
stretch Of the Mississippi river be-
tween the mouth of the Missouri and
the mouth of the Merrimac. That por-~
tion of the harbor under the care and
control of the wharf and harbor COM
missioner lies between the Chain OF
Rocks and the Rives des Peres. From
the upper mouth of the Missouri to the
foot of North Market street there are
now lying under the silt and sands the
wrecks of over sixty boats and barges.
Many Of these steamboats, were the
largest, best equipped and speediest
that ever walked the navigable water
ways of the country. They were in
reality marine palaces, such as this
generation has not seen.
Sawyer's bend was the fatal locality
where nearly all these splendid craft
foundered and settled under the shift
ing sands of the treacherous channel
Among the boats that were lost many
now living will recall the following:
Yorl, State. Southerner, Mary Blain,
Highland Mary, Grace Darling, Ale
gheny, Federal Arch, c. BUN, Yuba,
Baltimore, John B., Carson, Philadel-
phia, Edinburg, Challenge, Moderator,
Nebraska, Sioux City, White Cloud,
Omaha, New Admiral, Geneva, Warsaw,
Empire City, Gov. Shnrkey, Submarine
No. 1a, Saranac No. 2, War Eagle, Ben
johnson, Gerard b. Allen, Fanny Scott,
Henry Adkins, Columbia, Silver Bow,
r. ]. Lockwood, Wild Duck Nile, Vic
toria, Champion, Blue. Lodge, Calhoun,
Alma, Central City, Raven, Salvor, J. w.
Garrett, Hudson, Beaver, John P.
Keiser, Pacific, Lulu Worth, Corneia
and Badger State.
The above were sunk between the
years 1855 and. 1883. In addition to
these there were twenty barges lost
north of Bissell's point within the same
year. No record was kept of the saw
yer" or cut lumber RATS. that were lost
south of Alton, but it has been esti-
mated that the aggregate value was
over q million dollars Only two Of
the above-named boats, the Calhoun
and Alma, were raised. The bones OF
all the others lie many feet beneath the
sands, petrifying under the action OF the
waters. The actual loss in marine
property to tho merchants Of st. Louis
by the sinking of these boats was over
Ave million dollars. 1t Is O sad COM
mentary upon the action of congress in
its failure to provide adequate means
for the removal OF the cause of these
disasters, and the general policy Of
making only dribbling appropriations
for river and harbort Improvements,
that after 1860 few, If any, OF, these
marine palaces were replaced with
others. Many Of the owners in the loss
of this property lost not only all they
had, but also lost courage because Of
the increasing dangers to the marine
commerce of the immediate harbor Of
st. Louis.
To add to the pathetic story Of these.
disasters, many of them fatal to life, it.
might be stated in passing that during
the period named above flfty-fve splen-
did steamers were destroyed by fres.
within the charter harbor of the city.
The hullstof many Of them lie just out
side of the present water line and form
the retaining dixie for the granite
wharf. Many Of the grandfathers and
grandmothers OF to-day will remember
with varying emotions their bridal
trips on the James Howard, the Le-'
viathan, the Bismarck, the Grand Re-
public, the Carrie v. Kountz, and others
equally as grand. The upper mouth
of the Missouri within the past forty
years, where it empties into the Mis-
sissippi, has changed its location four
or Ave times, and its present mouth is
several miles south Of the one that ex-
listed few years ago. Opposite these
VdTlOuS luOu GuS, dua 3OH OAC l013S oOoeAA
ward, many Of the disasters named
above occurred. The outpouring of the
Missouri waters was swift, the eddies
and currents were treacherous and the
snags and other distractions so numer-
Gus at that point that unusual care was
necessary in ordel to avoid the fatal
places.
The conditions that existed in Saw
yer's bend forty years ago exist prac-
tically to-day, and are still serious
menace to the marine commerce of the
city, with the added dangers to the
important municipal and railroad in
terests that have grown with the re-
quirements of the water supply and the
transportation demands of great me-
tropolis.
If the waters in Sawyer's bend could
be rolled backward, as the waters Of
the Red sea once were, and the sands
cleared awav and the skeletons of our