The St. Louis Republic., 1903-05-30

work OF great general value in the field
OF American history and of especially vital
interest to the people of ST. Louis. Missouri
and the wider territory involved in lis
scope. is found in the History of Early
Steamboat Navigation on the Missouri
River" in two volumes. by Hiram Martin
Chittenden. Capain Corps of Engineers. !.
s. A. which comes this week from The
press of Francis p. Harper. New York.
TIE subtitle Of this work is The Life and
Adventures of Joseph La Barge. Pioneer
Navigator and Indian Trader. for hfty
years identified with the commerce OF the
Missouri Valley and the dedication Is TO
the Memory Of the Missouri River Pilot"
1t is evident that Captain Chittenden. who
in recent years was connected with the
Missouri River Commission. and who is also
the author of American Fur Trade Of the
Far West and History Of the Yellowstone
National Park" found ihe present work
labor of love. The result of this con-
geniality of his task is book OF singular
fascination.
The story Of how the present volum'
came TO be written is in itself interesting.
We are told that. in the summer of 1896.
Captain Crittenden. while engaged in col
lecting data for his history of the "Ameri-
can Fur Trade in the Far West" met the
venerable Missouri River pilot. Captain Jo-
|
Louis. In the course of several interviews
he became deeply impressed with the range
and accuracy of the old Eentieman's knowl-
edge of early Western history. Believing
that his memoirs were we'll worth preserv-
ing as a part Of the history of the West.
the author proposed 10 prepare them for
publication. IL Captain La Barge would con-
sent to dictate them. This he decided to do,
and full notes were taken in the rough and
a clean copy was then submitted to him for
revision. Captain La Barge went through
the whole with painstaking care. and the
record was left complete as memory
of extraordinary power could make it. The
intention was. at the time, TO put the notes
into shape for publication at once. but The
Spanish-Am. rican War interviewed, and be-
fore 1t could be resumed Captain La Barge
died.
This event led TO a material change in the
plan of the work, and 1t was decided to
make it. not merely a narrative OF personal
experience. but history of steamboat
navigation on the Missouri River. Very
few people now have any conception of the
part which this remarkable business played
in the upbulding Of the West. There is no
railroad system In the United States to-day
whose Importance to its tributary country
Is relatively greater than was that Of the
Missouri River &c the transmississippi ter
ritory in the first seventy-five years of the
Nineteenth Century. The business of the
fur trade. the intercourse of Government
agents with the Indians. the campaign of
the army throughout the valley. and the
wild rush of goldseekers to the mountains,
all depended. in greater or less degree. up
on the Missouri River line of trans
portation.
Captain Chttenden has gone into the
whole subject with the same thoroughness
and told the story in the same sympathetic
and readable manner which has made his
of . Ia &na
Far West such success The life of Cap
tain La Barge. so we'll known in ST. Louis
for more than half century. embraced the
| entire era of active boating business on the
river. He saw II all-from the time when
tho Creole and Canadian voyagers cor
| deled their keelboats up the refractory
| stream. to the time when the railroad won
| its final victory over the steamboat. He
| was on the first boat that went 10 the far
upper river and he made the last through
voyage from ST. Louis to Fort Benton. He
| typified in his own career the meteoric rise
and fall Of that peculiar business He grew
! up with II, prosperad with 1t. and was
| ruined with and by it. He saw and shared
the wonderful metamorphosis that came over
| the Missouri Valley In the space Of four
score years. and his "reminiscences are
succession of living pictures taken all along
| the line.
| As may easily be imagined. such a story
l proves duSOIplISly 10 tue people
| most directly concerned. those of the Mis-
| souri, Valley and of ST. Louis. the metrop-
oils of the territory in that day as in this.
The recital of Captain La Barge's actual
| experiences is as engrossing as the best
novel OF adventure. filed. as it is. with gen.
! uine local color. with veritable incident, and
rich with picturesque characters still re-
memhered mere and throughout the entire
scene of their activities in those early days.
| Chouteaus. Cabannes. old General Harney,
the famous Captain Sire. Peter A Slrpy-
these and many others appear in the pages
| of the volumes under consideration. and the
i life of co!orful past is pictured with vital
| vigor. Early Steamboat Navigation on the
| Missouri River may be read with the keen
| est interest. In entertainment, as we'll as
in instruction 1t Is far above the average.
| and 1t properly tells the story of a period
| too significant and too full of wild and
adventurous charm to be forgotten.