Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1914-01-22
Captain 4 MARSH
SEES FRIEND Of
old RIVER DAYS
Pittsburgh Steamboat Com
mandef and De Talk
Of Past

Memphis, Jan. 2l.--Capt. Thomas
Rees of Pittsburgh arrived in port
yesterday On business and to visit
his brother, Captain James Rec own
er Of the teamer Kate Adams.
The Missouri River in the old days,
when the government wac having
trouble with the Indians on the front
Ter, was a gold mine for steamboats,.
he said. The government then paid
as high as "a cents per pound for
freight, which consisted principally
Of rations intended for the frontier
posts. Often the freight was paid for
by the inch instead Of by the pound
so great was TIL ehazard in taking It
up the river at on etime. Some
boats la as high as $4,000 on a
single trip. .as.,
a. hear that Capt. Grant Marsh is
in town." said Capt. Rees. II would
like to see him, as he and / used to
be competitors on the Missouri river
and used to race in order to get up
as much as six cents per pound for
a few hours difference in time.
"T remember one occasion when we
passed Capt. Marsh at Dauphine Rap
ids on the Missouri. We were on a
stern.wheel boat by the name Of I'm.
porter, and Grant Marsh had c big
sidewheel steamer. It was in the
days when the insurance companies
would not take a sternwheel boat
on the Missouri river, but on that oc-
casion the sternwheel boat demon
strated its advantage over the side
wheeler. =.
Went Like Crab To War.
ut was in 80. The boat Capt. Marsh
had was lying below the rapids trying
to spar itself over. the shoals. There
was not enough water for us to get
by, hui; we turned the stern of, the
vessel upstream and began to back.
me scour of the wheel dug out a
channel for us and we got by in a
few hours. .-s e5a, .- ~
1--WE got the freight and We're tied
up at the bank when Capt. Marsh
came up. He was on the roof in his
shirtsleeves and mad as a hornet.
you never would have passed me
going headon.' he said, but when you
turned your stern upstream could do
nothing with yon.'"
Capt. Rees says that he would IA.
ther steamboat on the Missouri than
any other river, because Of the fine
game along the banks.
I'VE used to eat vension all the
way up the river in those days."
Capt. Ress is a great hunter and Of
ten goes back to the northwest to
hunt for big game. He got his license
to pilot the Missouri river in 1869,
and says that of the things which
attracted him to the Missouri river
was the danger connected with it.
The Missouri river is M Of the most
difficult to navigate on account of its
ficklenes and many snaggs.
On one occasion when the boat was
lying at one. of the frontier posts he
narrowly escaped being scalped by a
band Of Blackfoot Indians on the war
path. The Indians massacred a. whole
settlement only a few hours before
he arrived. He reached the boat only
after a hard ride. ,.s. III ..p,I
s. Movement Of Packets. ~
Capt. Rees is nov one of the mana.
gers of the firm of James Rees &
sons of Pittsburgh, the largest firm
Of steamboat builders perhaps in the
world. He has steamboated on every
tributary of the Missouri river except
the Red and White rivers and is
known from Pittsburgh to New Or.
leans.