The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1902-03-22
MISSOURI RIVER DISASTERS
Recalled by a Writer In Last Sun
days POSt-DIspatCh.
FIRST BOAT LOST is NAMED
Reference Made to the SaIuda-FatuI
Explosions, ETC., Etc.

Sundays St. Louis PoSt-Dispatch
contained a page story in which in
formed men criticise congress for its
stinginess of appropriation for the
Missouri river at this session. The
story also makes reference to steam
boat disasters on the Big Muddy in
earlier days, from which the follow
ing is taken:
ga notable wreck was that of the
side-wheel steamer Bedford, engaged
in the st. Louis and st Joseph trade,
which struck snag at the mouth of
the Missouri river on the night Of
April 25, 1910. A large hole was
knocked in her bottom and, in abouta a
minute, she sank to her hurricane
deck. A severe rainstorm was raging
at the time and number Of persons
were lost in the darkness. The fatal
titles are placed at y or IA. A trunk,
containing $4,000 in specie, was lost
and never recovered. Many persons
were killed and wounded by the ex-
plosiou Of boiler On the sternwheel
steamer Big Hatchle on July 25, lS45,
as she was passing Hermann The
Boreas No 2, a sidewheeler, was fired
near Hermann in ls46. She was load
ed with silver bullion and Mexican
money, which was stolen and never
recovered.
The wreck of the Bowling Green,
which went upon the rocks at the
head Of Usage Chute Dec. y, 1872,
still shows where she went down. The
Chippewas end came in May, 1861, Is
mil es below Poplar river Fire wa
discovered at supper time on Sunday"
evening. She was run ashore ana the
passengers put off. She was then
turned adrift to avoid danger to prop
erty by the explosion of powder on
board. She drifted about mile
down stream and blew up just as the
fire reached the waters edge. Deck
hands had gone into the hold to tap
whiskey- barrels, became intoxicated
and started the fire with candles.
The Cora No. 3, in the st Louis
and Fort Benton trade, was sunk
April l3, 1869. Fifty-fve German
emigrants lost their lives by an explo-
sion on the packet Edna, July 3.
1912, at Green Island, at the mouth
of the Missouri The tlues collapsed
in both boilers during the night. The
Far West, wrecked by snag, Oct. 20,
1883, at Mullanphy's Island, was used
in the Custer expedition. She brought
the wounded from Little Big Horn to
Fort Benton, distance of 92O miles,
/ in "a hours.
The first steamboat wrecked on the
Missouri river was the sidewheeler
Thomas Jefferson, owned by the gov
r ernment, She struck snag in the
y lower river in June, 1919. She was
one of the fleet of steamers in the
Long Y Yellowstone expedition, the OBJ
iect of which was to ascertain wheth-
:, er or not the Missouri river was navi-
gable.
AS the Timour No 2, on August
: 20, 1854, was leaving a woodward
three miles below Jefferson City her
4 boilers exploded. Thirty or forty
/, persons, including the master, pilot
> and clerk were killed. The Office safe
was thrown on top OF the bluff by the
force Of the explosion. The wreck
can be seen new at low water. The
Weston burned at the head of st.
Charles Island in ls43.
+ One Of the worst catastrophes Of
the Missouri was that Of the Saluda,
= whose boilers exploded at Lexington
April 0, 1852. In 1850 the Saluda
? struck a snag and sank five miles be-
! low Rocheport. II + huh was dug out
: Of the bar some months afterward and
= she was brought to st Louis and re-
built. She cleared for Council Bluffs
with load Of Mormon emigrants on
her last and fatal trip Capt. Belt,
T. master, and Charles I.aBarge, pilot,
Y were killed, including twenty-five
d Others. Peter Conrad and the office
d safe were blown 200 feet out on the
bank.