Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1908-01-11
THE WEEKLY TRIBUNE.
MEMBER OF ASSOCIATED PRESS
- "a
POSSIBILITIES OF RIVER NAviGA.
TON

POSSIBILITIES OF RIVER NAviGA-
TON
In consequence Of the late, feeble
and unsatisfactory attempts at oper-
ating steamboats, on the Big Muddy
a curious misapprehension seems to
have arisen regarding the navigability
of the Stream. Much space has been
given in the newspapers to discussions
of the efforts under way to prove the
Missouri navigable as far as Kansas
City and when some ill-adapted yes
sci, after struggling for weeks through
the shoals and chutes of the river,
at last staggers into the deserted levee
of the city by the KaW, as great a
shout goes up over the performance
as might arise if Peary or some other
explorer should succeed in attaining
the north pole. AS matter of fact,
the Missouri is nayigable for the right
kind Of steamboats,, not merely to
Kansas City, distant by river ss1
miles from st. Louis, but to Fort Ben
ton, Mont, n,2s5 miles from st.
Louis.
The most casual glance into the
history of the northwest will serve to
show Of what vital Importance to the
development of that vast region the
navigation of the Missouri was before
the railroads had entered it. For
TWENTY-FIVE years previous to the out
break Of the civil war, all the valley
of the Missouri from it's mouth to
Fort Leavenworth and st. Joseph, de-
pended upon the steamboats, for the
transportation Of both its supplies
from and its natural products fo the
markets of the south and east. AT
the beginning of the period mentioned
it was sparsely settled region OF
pioneers, with here and there tiny
hamlet struggling up in the wilder.
ness; at its close it was a country
of fourishing towns and vast agri
cultural interests, all made possible
chiefly by the steamboat industry
The advent of railroads destroyed the
commerce of the lower river, but fol-
years after the war the boats contin
ued to prosper between Omaha, Sioux
City, Yankton and Bismarck until the
building of the Northern Pacific rail
road across Dakota and Montana
robbed them of their last field of &C
tivity.
From 1910 to 1880 the steamboat in
dustry was mighty force in the up
building of the west OF the enor
nous fleets which at one time ant
another have navigated the waters
Of the Missouri, the names ani
something of the histories of more
than 800 steamboats, are still pre-
served. Most of them ran the lower
river between st. Louis and st. JOSEPH
for Kansas City did not exist unit
about the period of the civil war, blu
above 300 of them penetrated init
the regions beyond. After Montana
in the early sixty's became a Niece;
of emigration owing to the discover.
of gold in her mountains and gulches
her settlers depended for over tel
years almost exclusively upon steam
boats for their communication witt
the outside world Hemmed in b,
moupfainc opd frackJoSc rloinc In
tested with hostile Indians, all aver
ues of approach to the mining re
gions were blocked save for sma
parties of adventures, except that b
the Missouri river In 1866 there al
rived at Fort Benton thirty-on
steamers In 1867 thirty-nine reache
that point, carrying S,061 tons {
freight, an average of 207 tons to eac
boat, and they transported to an
from the mines about 10000 passe1
gers. The freight consisted chiefly {
staple groceries, dry goods and nil
ing machinery, and nearly ever
pound of it was carried directly froi
the business houses of st. Louis 2,30
miles away. The building of tn
great east and west lines OF railroa
deprived st. Louis OF markets whic
would be of incalculable value to he
today, which a revival of water con
merce might readily restore to her i
large part.
Nor did the Montana mining settl,
ments alone depend for their exis
ence upon the Missouri river steam
boats. Throughout the long year
that troops OF the United States wer
fighting to wrest the upper vale
from the possession of the Sioux Il