Omaha daily bee., 1899-08-27
FIRST TRIP UP THE RIVER
Just Eighty Years Ago the Steamer Western
Engineer Touched at Omaha.
PLANS TO CELEBRATE THE ANNIVERSARY
Some Details of the Historic Event rs
Narrated by the Government Of
fcinls who Accompanied
the Expedition.


The somewhat unusual spectacle OF {
plying up and down the Missouri
from Omaha TO Florence recalls the fac
that 1t is now almost exactly eighty year!
since the first steamer pushed its nose
against the current and passed the almos
unbroken wilderness OF bluff and forest tina
then occupied what is now the site oil
Omaha. In fact the centennial anniversary
OF the event is close at hand and the pas.
sengers who take the trip ZIP the river or
the afternoon and evening of September II
1913. will inadvertently be assisting in its
celebration. On that date in 1918 the
steamer Western Engineer struggled north
ward against the swift current that now
hurries past the western metropolis. 1t has
been suggested that an old-timers' excursion
should be organized on that day, that the
city and county officials should participate
On a body and that some appropriate ex-
ercises should be provided for to emphasize
one of the most interesting events in the
early history of the west.
A detailed narrative of the trip OF the
Western Engineer Is contained in an old
publication that is now a part Of the Byron
Reed collection in the public library and
which was published in London in 1923. 1t
a III u bihdtl NUlulIlto dHu lie tulllltu
IAN Account of an Expedition from Pitts
burg to the Rocky Mountains Performed in
the Years 1919 and 1920, by Order of ]. G.
Calhoun, Secretary of War, Under the Com
mand of Major s. H. Long of the United
States Typographical Engineers"
The book was written by Edwin Jones,
who accompanied the expedition as botanist
and geologist, from the notes prepared by
Major Long and other members Of the party.
1t has been quoted to some extent in the
histories of Omaha that have been COM
piled in more recent years, and a perusal
of the work gives the reader a realistic
impression Of the change that eighty years
has comprised in the territory that has
since become Nebraska.
In connection with the approaching ami
versary a brief reproduction of Mr.. Jones'
narrative becomes of interest. There is
little in the history that suggests the Omaha
of today. Neither geographical names nor
the narrator's descriptions of the scenic
and natural conditions would be recognized
were 1t not for the references to the trading
post at Bellevue and to the Council Bluffs.
as the massive p~lateaus on the Iowa side
were even then known. Even the river
is not the same as the one on which Major
Long and his party travelled. 1t has swept
into new channels and destroyed many of
tlo oiu "a MS. Dut thC NiNlu PiSbhiV
of the savage life that inhabited the rugged
bluffs becomes more interesting as the years
leave 1t behind.
start of the Expedition.
The exploring party left Pittsburg early
in May on a craft that river men of the
generation would hardly consider
capable of the projected trip through the
mississippi, the Missouri and their naviga-
BILE tributaries" Fulton's Clermont, the
first successful steamboat, was invented only
twelve years before, and the Western Engi-
neer was a decidedly crude and unwieldy
as compared with the river craft
of the present. Its boilers were fred with
wood, and when the Missouri was reached
one Of the greatest troubles OF the navigator
was to find sufficient fuel to keep the fires
burning. There was no scarcity OF timber,
but the forests were so deep and heavily |
that even the fallen trees were
heavily soaked with moisture. The party
was compelled to depend solely on ash and
stumps that were dead, but still
standing, and the boat was fire.
quently tied up for some time while the
crew skirmished through the woods in
search of such material.
The trip down the Ohio and thence to the
waters of the Missouri was comparatively
uneventful, as the real work of the expedi-
ton was not begun until it reached a ter
ritory that was then comparatively unknown.
Franklin, previously the extreme head of
navigation on the Missouri. was reached
July 10. This was In what is now Howard
county. almost exactly in the center of Mis-
and while the original townsite was
subsequently swallowed up in one OF those
Of base for which the Missouri river
was famous. the spot is approximately
located by the present town of Franklin
At the time OF Major Longs
arrival Franklin consisted of thirteen log
houses, a few frame dwellings, two brick
buildings, thirteen stores, four taverns, two
blacksmith shops and a court house. Even
then, however, 1t supported the luxury Of a
weekly paper and a %two-story log building
served as a place of detention for horse
.hieves and other unsavory characters.
Franklin was noted at that time as the
POINT that was reached a few weeks before
by the steamer independence, OF Louisville,
he first steamer that ever assembled the Mis-
Major j. D.. Wilcox. father Of Will
lam p. Wilcox. later of Omaha, was one
IF the passengers on the Independence and
40 was one of the guests at an elaborate
that was rendered to the captain
md passengers by the citizens of Franklin
n honor of the event. The news of Major
longs expedition had already reached the
.,ioneers and their interest in it's arrival was
in one OF the toasts that were
at the banquet, THE policy resulting
n the expedition to the Yellowstone"
Major Long and his party were also re-
'eived with exuberant hospitality by the
people and 1t Is Significant that. in
ais reference to their visit, Mr.. Jones de-
'lares that, In his opinion, 1t is only a ques-
lon OF time when the town will be swept
away by the river. After a short stay at
the expedition passed on up the
Missouri, and on September is 1t arrived
opposite the mouth of the Platte.
same Old Platte.
That the characteristics OF this river have
lot materially changed is indicated by Mr..
ones description, He says: Its mouth
exhibited a great extent of naked sand
'ars. The water. which was transparent and
4 a greenish color. flowed almost unseen
trough a number OF small channels.
iasses OF sand accumulate at the mouth Of
he Platte, rendering the navigation of The
Missouri at that point extremely difficult.
ne Platte, during its flood, pours into the /
ilssouri a volume of water considerably {
in magnitude that OF the latter
iver' occasioning a refux of the water for ,