The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1902-02-13
A STARTLING SHOWER


anu Itu snow. ABOUT the WORST anu lilOS'
startling shower recorded, however, wa,
taat which defended on the old stern
wheel steamboat, Penua, late in the sum
mes OF 1872.
The date 1872 seems recent, regarded sim
: ply as date; but in the history Of the Da-
kotas, and of the great northwest gen
orally, it represents a former era.
! The Northern Pacific railroad had not
| then been built The Sioux Indians under
! Sitting Bull still held the country. 1t war
| not til four years later that Custer tough;
| his battle on the Rosebud. The prairie
| schooner was the only means Of Transports
| ton by land; the stern-wheel steamboat
made efforts to navigate the Missouri river
"a stream which nature had ill-adapted to
the needs Of navigation. If boat made
! the round trip from St. Louis to Fort Bre.
ton in season its captain was considered
fortunate
Usually the steamers were aground or
were tied up to the bank for repairs. The
steamboat channel was rarely found twice
in the same place, aud dangerous bars and
shoals would form in a single night.
In June OF 1872 the Penna left Nankton,
loaded with freight for Fort Benton; she
carried also an outfit for grading the new
railroad from the landing where Bismarck
now stands, eastward across the Bad Lands,
toward Fargo. The Penina was command
ed by Capt Thomas Mariner.
She was a wheezy old craft, propelled
slowly upstream by broad paddle-whee
astern and two long-shaiter cranks, one on
each side, connected with a noisy, high
pressure engine which occupied, with its
tiers of fuel, nearly all of the main deck.
There was an upper deck, however, on which
were the saloon" and staterooms.
A few miles above Standing Rock reserva
ton the Penina broke down and dr'fted
ashore, close under a high bluff where the
river, eating into the bank, had caused
three or four cottonwood trees to topple
down.
Capt, Mariner made shift to tie up to the
trees and then the passengers went to din.
ner in the saloon.
1t was already late in the afternoon, and
twilight came on while the engineer and his
fremcn were still banging away with
sedges, repairing The decrcpit old engine.
Suddenly, above the noise of hammering
sounds ike low, rumbling thunder began to
be heard, and those in the saloon ran out
forward on the upper deck.
whats coming now, captainH was the
general exclamation
But Capt. Mariner was az much at a loss
as anyone else And, indeed, the sounds
were hard to explain; no clouds were in
sight, no lightning flashes were visible; yet
the rumblng noise was increasing in in.
tcnsity every second
Indians some exclaimed. "a big war
party"
"An awful tornado coming" Others
cried out. Still Others declared with EN-.
phasi, that the noise indicated an earth
quake.
But an instant later huge, dark object
hurtled downward through the air and
struck the water near the Penina' bow. An.
other plunged into the paddle-whoel with
crash, breaking ont the floats.
These were the first drops of the shower,
80 to speak A moment later more than
I hundred fell all round and upon the old
craft, and three tumbIed on the deck with
such force as ~~splt the panIling
l'ttefing shouts Of alarm, the passengers
sought the protection of the saloon again,
splash crash, thump -came down
hundreds Of big, shaggy beasts believing
with rage or pain.
II was no more or less than a stampede
Of hullaoes. \ great herd had taken alarm
ont on the plain, frightened perhaps by In.
dian hunters or by wolves, and were
punging headlong over the bluff into the
river.
The position of the steamboat, tied up be
meath the dimly seen bluff, made it appear
rs if the great animals actually fell from
| the darkening sky.
For an hour it literally rained buifaloes.
! Capt Mariner estimated that from COCO to
10000 came over the bluff, and many took
| the leap wtl such Wild energy that they
| went quite over the Penina and fell in deep
water outside
These, rising with grampus.ike snorts,
swan acros, the river or gained one or more
| Of the bars aud mud flats in mid.tream.
| Not few merely rolled off the bluff and
! lodged between the steamer and the gravel
| bank.
Numbers Of the unfortunate creatures
were disabled by broken legs or other Sc
| rious injuries, and lay thrashing about, and
| believing with the pain. Not less than a
score landed fairly aboard the boat
Both crew and passengers were terror.
| stricken, and kept to the cover of the super.
structure.
One heavy old bull, falling headlong
against the tunnel, snapped off two of the
supporting guys.
The Pepina shook under the shocks as
| If hit 10y hundred pound shots The cook
and two oolored walters rushed out from
their pantry. thinking that the boat had got
under way and had struck succession Of
snags. But the sight Of a buffalo coming
down on deck apparently falling from the
! sky sent them back to cover in even great
| or haste
| In fact, no one dared stir outside; and
still the buiTlloes came plunging down by
/ the dozen and the score, and believing
/ wildly as they fell Both above and below
4 the steamboat the water was dotted with
/ black forms, winning wildly about.
! For nearly am hour the shower continued
| till the stampede above the bluff came
| 10 and end
| Recovering from their alarm, the deck
| hands, the cook and others began turning
! the strange incident to good account. and
| during the evening secured not only all
! the prime good buffalo beef and tongues
/ which they desired, but also more than 100
/ fine skins
! The next morning. when the Penina re.
sumed her labored progress upstream, the
mud bars and shoals over toward the east