The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-09-06
OLD TINES on THE MISSOURI
A Phase Of Western Life That Has Dis,
appeared to Stay.
157, 62S, Al Broadway
$50 W. l2S st. $50 9Th Ave.
From tAs Konsas Ouy Journu

From tie Kansas oav Journal.
VIII the Missouri River ever again be used
to any considerable extent for travel and
transportation This question is continually
being agitated. There is much doubt. how
ever, whether the river will ever regain It's
lost prestige Commerce upon 1t always Was
dangerous and moreover railroads have
become such cheap and satisfactory means
Of transportation ~ practically to preclude
tho possibility Of the temperance OF their
one-time rival.
The first boat to arrive at st. Louis Was
tho General Pike. on Aug. 2. 1917. The first y
boat on the Missouri was the independence.
which In 1919 probably went a. far Is to the
point where Council Bluffs IL now located.
In August and September Of the same year
the r. N. johnson Expedition and the " est-
ern Engineer. with Major Longs scientific
party aboard. ascsnded the river bound for
expressly to terrorize the Indians: She VAS
stern wheeler. Is feet long. with ls-fcot
beam. and drew 10 inches Of water. On
to- ton Of Of huge serpent, WITH its mouth oI'r
and tongue painted red. The steam escAI,d
through the mo nth at intervals. making
and coyd b for ns e.
Indians who yentured to the bank to gaze
upon the boat fed in terror, convinced that the
the boats enabled them to navigate the
upper waters waters, Pierre ,! chouteau; head Of
the first man to navigate beyond the iowa
frontier; In 1881 he built the Yellowstone.
s9d in Of hss Passed the mouth
finally landed at the mouth Of Milk River.
In South Dakota. In the following year other
boats were launched by this company. One
life on boaSd was strenuous. Indians loitersd
ON the river banks to take . shot at the boat.
and each night Il had to be anchored h, in mid.
and while half the crew went into the Noods
TO cut timber. the remainder stood guard
In spite Of the dangers and difficulties in
navigation. water transportation continued
TO grow. and the next era Of the river was
msS post in the hs ae Of
end Of the fur trade on the upper Missouri.
ass NTH single
carried all supplies from civilization. BY
1850 the advance In building the boats had
:uSh cabin ey aes
were introduced. Travel by boat became
one Of the pleasures Of life, and incidents
sissppi SO exciting and romartc took Place
on the Missouri and many, is the story told
Of great fortunes lost at poker, and Of TRACE
q prominent men and women Of those days.
The tremendous influx Of immigration TO
the West made the river traffic exceedingly
profitable. and the final location Of the eastern
terminus Of the santa Ff trail at Kansas
City attracted it toward this point,
The halcyon days Of the steamboat bust.
no unusual thing TO see as many rs l25 boats
carving over II. 900, 600 pounds Of merchandise
tied 70 tAe ieves stret Sha east from Man
boats from st, Louis. and daily packet cour.-
ing up and down the stream. But the build
ing OF the railroads marked the doom Of the
III trof No pu h.. lima had hapn
SO great that puhlic-spirted citizens took
alarm and began to devise ways and near.
70 save the business upon, which they thought
convention was held subsidized line. Al
barges was suggested. and Col, T. Van
Horn. then the, editor Of the Journal len,
the influence Of his name and devoted has
teal success. N9thins. however. could sta.
came, and the steamboats, disappeared NJ
completely as the Indian with his cano".
the French voyager with his piroFn"i ana tho
The cause for this sudden. thorough and
apparently permanent change probably was
the fact that steamboating on the missouri
given up immsd ately when a safer alterna-
tive was found, An old river captain re-
oently said
Take the stretch between st Joseph and
~ Louis, for instance. It's not very long
rs not very wide, and vet the bones Of uor'
than 200 steamboats, line It All OF t,r'
N'Ht uoWH, 700, III % sHDl N.t'' 'I ll''.'.
for it's been a long while now since the -t,"u..-
boat trade OF the river fell like tllt Of me
Mississippi. before tho railway, All ~ OIL.
the river trade didn't last much NOR" th'N
a quarter Of a century, hut in that time thor
were more wrecks than vou could roli'
Steamers went aground on the saudbnrs i'l'.
oOllided with snags, thrv ran into uur unui ....
they ran ashore, the broke thrIr bd't
and they blew up, Thor 1874 rlNe nl
wreck almost every dav, and thngs w.
booming in the recovery Of bodies I.l
old boats used to sam-hrGg W and dos
as II every second count a md j. dlt tn
They swung around the curve. ana pllihf
into the bad stretches like drnnn7 and ,hr
Oldtims pilots didn't cure Il ng "h"lh'.
they reached their whaTyos or went 10 smash
An Is.Inch Asuiiesi Rat