Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1899-03-31
STOPPED THE BOAT.
R%ecollections Of Old Times In the
Early Days Of Missouri Steam
boating.

in the summer Of 1872 when the old
Kountz line steamer Peninah, Capt.
Tom Mariner, left the terminus of the
railroad ut Yankton, laden with
through freight for Fort Benton, and
q grading outfit and crew, under Con-
tractor w. A. Burleigh, then a dele
gate in congress from Dakota territory,
to work upon the Northern Pacific
grade east from the Missouri river,
from where Bismarck is now located.
The Peninah had been obliged to lay
up for repairs under a bluff a few miles
above Standing Rock agency for q
couple of days. About noon of a day
in the latter part of May the passen-
gers lounging about the deck of the
boat heard a noise resembling the rum
bling Of distant thunder. Every man
instinctivelS sought shelter.
"lndians" was whispered through
out the ship, and ven the old timers
grew pale as they realized what q war
party of this size meant for them. The
noise came closer and closer and re-
solved itself into q wild roar, and then
hundreds Of buffalo came tearing over
the bluff at a mad pace, falling into
the water like sheep. The landing
place of the Peninah was close under
the bluff, with scarcely more than a
dozen feet intervening, and a majority
of the animals ,plunged over the boat
into the river. Some fell on the
deck and many lay along the narrow
bank, MANNED and bleeding from
broken legs or internal injuries.
Still they came tumbling over the
bluff. The sandbars were covered
with the big, shaggy animals, who be-
gan to climb up the opposite bank,
where they stood exhausted. 1t was
nearly an hour before the last of the
herd had plunged over the bluff.
Then the deck hands set about prOvid.
ing the boat with fresh meat and them.
selves with buffalo hides. which they
sold at a good figure. When the Pen.
inah pulled out next. day the buffalos
We're seen spreading out over the hills
on the eastern side of the river. All
average estimate placed the number
of buffaloes in this stampede ut 1000
1t may have been the same herd OF
another one Of similar size that com
PEELED the steamer Miner to tie up tt
the bank for two hours just below For
BufOrd. This wa. in the fall of 1874
and while there was no precipice Il,
this point to jump from, the buffaloes
were swimming the river by thous
ands. The Miner was in midstrean
coming down the river like a race
horse, when she ran into the herd, ant
being fearful Of an accident the cap
tain turned her shoreward and tied hel
up, while the crew laid in n good sup
ply Of fresh meat. Some idea Of thu
vast herds that ranged that countr!
may he cleaned from the fact that OF
one trip down the river about tha'
time the entire cargo of the steamer
Gen. Meade was made up of driei
buffalo tongues and hides.
From 1877 to 1870 were the palm,
days Of steamboating on the upper
Missouri, no less than siXty-five boat.
being engaged in the service at tina
time, but during these years mucl
business was gathered at Bismarck
the Northern Pacific having reached
the Missouri. The Kountz line, ownet
by Commodore Kountz of Pittsburg
operated the queerest craft that eve,
ploughed the waters of the Big Muddy
Everybody along the river got to know
the long, low, single smokestack, pirat
ical-looking steamers. They woult
come wheeling up the river like
great monster in the last stages o
asthmatic commissions, and it SCENE
to require the attention Of the entir
crew to keep her boilers supplied witt
steam to breast the current. The.
were slow, and to cover the distance
between Pittsburg and Fort Bentol
in a single season they were obliged
to run during the night. and it wa
said Of them that they invariably ar
rived at the landings along the rive
in the dead of night, when all othe
vessels were tied up. The Durfee
Peck Line. the Benton Line and tn
Missouri River Transportation Com
pany were all first class. The latte
company put On two side-wheelers il
1S76-the Montana and the Dakota
They proved an expensive luxury, on
being wrecked by a cyclone and TIN
other going to pieces against Il bridg
pier at Kansas City.
--a--d ts"s.