The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1915-04-29
MAD MISSOURI
CORN JUICE ALREADY DISTILLED
TEMPS MEN TO DIG FOR
WRECKS.

st. Louis, April 29.-The mad
Missouri" from Fort Benton, Mont,
to st. Louis is one vast burying
ground for wrecked steamboats,.
The report of the Missouri river
commission, made to congress in
1897, shows that in the palmy days
of river navigation, a period of about
thirty years, the old Missouri swat
lowed up river craft at the rate of
something like n every month.
According to the report of Capt. Fl.
Chittenden of that commission. made
in 1897 navigation on the Missouri
was practically suspended ten or fiji
teen years previous to that date) 295
river craft had been lost while navi-
eating the Missouri. The report
shows that navigation was driven
from the Missouri river by loss of
boats and the uncertainty of the bust
ness as much as or more than by the
competition OF the railroads. No fig
ures are obtainable as to the value of
the lost boats and their cargoes, but
in dollars and cents the loss must
have been enormous. Even now, half
a century after some of these steam
boats were lost, their wrecks can be
seen along the banks, or sometimes
they are found miles from the pres
ent stream.
Two years ago the silver name
plate of the old Stephen A. Bell was
found out in a corr field across the
river from Omaha. The Bell was
burned in 1859 while tied up at a
wharf at Council Bluffs. But where
the river ran in those days Is now
a corn field.
Another Missouri river boat that
burned while at Omaha was the City
of Providence. This was one of the
fastest boats on the river. but late in
the 70's. while racing up from Ne
braska City to Omaha with a freight
or, the Providence caught fire. II
was beached on the Iowa side of the
stream. Several days ago Capt. Ed
ward F. Thorp of Maplewood, Mo,
came to Omaha and attempted to To-
cate the. old wreck and recover 900
Jugs of whisky which were lost with
the boat. He was unable to do so,
however. and the liquor. now very
valuable because of its age, is still
buried in the sand of some Iowa corn
field.
Five or six years ago there was re-
covered from an old wreck some
miles below Omaha three barrels of
whisky. The boat which carried this
whisky was lost in the early COS. 1t
was covered up by the river and dur
ing a spring freshet was exposed aft
er half a century.
The Urilda went down at Kate
Sweeney Bend, s. d., in 1869. Her
cargo was made up mostly of barrels
of whisky. Numerous attempts were
made to locate the wreck and recover
the liquor. but none "a successful.
The whisky is buried somewhere
along Kate Sweeney Bend.
The Kate Sweeney Bend got its
name from the first boat hat foun-
dered there. In 1855 the boat Kate
Sweeney was coming down the river
from Fort Pierre bound for st. Louis.
She was loaded with furs consigned
to her owner, Pierre Chouteau of st.
Louis.
AT the famous bend, however, she
struck a snag and sank in five min
utes in water that was thirty feet
deep. There was never a cents worth
of salvage on the boat or cargo. The
crew escaped. Two attempted to
walk down to Sioux City and were
massacred by Sioux Indians. Several
got into the lifeboats and after many
days pulled into st. Joseph, Mo,
about $50 miles down the river.
Ice was responsible for the wreck
in 1867 of the Imperial. near Yank-
ton, S. ID. The Imperial grounded in
the fall and the next spring when the
ice broke up the boat was smashed to
pieces. Some years ago the bell from
the wrecked boat was in use at the
Yankton high school and called the
pupils to books" all through the
term.
Near the same spot two years later
the Antelope, a pretty fine passenger
and freight boat, caught fire and
burned. She was loaded with $4,000
worth of furs, which We're being
brought down from the north coun-
frry