The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1927-09-23
Bv MRS. NJ. E. PLAssNIANN

bN II u IL Il
w THENEVER I hear or see the name
NA/ of Capt. Joseph LaBarge it
Wv calls up the memory of a rather
stout, elderly man with dark
eyes and grizzled hair n beard, walk
ing up and down the front deck Of a
Missouri river steamboat while striving
vainly to fight off the clouds of mo-
squitOes attacking him. He did not i'm
press me as being the jaunty, soft
voiced Frenchman," I have lately seen
described. On the contrary, he seemed
moody and depressed, as he we'll might
have been, after two or three sleepless
nights spent in ceaseless war against
mosquitoes.
Il have never seen them so bad in
all my years on the Missouri" he said
one morning as he paced the deck. I'm
dOubtedly he was not making an I'M
calIed-fOr assertion, as it is difficult TO
imagine them being worse. Day and
night they lowered in clouds about and
in the boat and b~lackening the walls
Of the cabin. There was but n way
and place to gain temporary relief from
their fortunes, and this was only pos
sible when the % was speeding down
stream. The place was on h very
front Of the deck where the wind blew
strong enough to keep the pests away.
The time of which / write was late
summer Of 1873. Charles Hard, then
United States marshal, had held Cap
tain LaBarge's boat on some charge
perhaps for selling liquor to Indians
and on account Of the rapidly falling
river, unless the boat started at once,
it could not get away from Fort Benton
for the downward trip. All the other
boats had gone when, through some
legal process, his boat was released and
with its passengers slid out from the
leVee into midStream as the last whistle
Of the season announced her departure.
Captain LaBarge was not the sole man
of the name on board-two Of his sons
accompanied him, n as steward and
the other as pilot. The steward re-
sembled his father, being of medium
height and dark. The pilot was taller
and blonde. Visitors might climb the
stairs into the small chamber there up
aloft where the pilot held sway; he
would talk with them, out never fol
an instant did his keen eyes swerve
from that treacherous river whose every
channel he knew.
Coveted Privilege
1t was a coveted privilege to visit the
pilot house, as from nowhere else coulc
such a fine view be obtained OF IN
country through which we dr1fted. Herr
another young woman and 1 often wen
when we craVed variety. The moSquttOe
were not so bad up there, h outlool
was magnificent, and it was a pleasure
to watch the pilot deftly guide the boat
In after years I was better able to I'm
derstand Mark Twain's description o
MS lie as q pllOG D6CduSC VI JlOSS hOuA
spent in the pilot house OF that Missouri
river steamboat.
I was told when we took the boa
that Capt. Joseph LaBarge brought tn
first boat to Fort Benton. h was
mistake. 1t was his brother who pilote
the Chippewa" to that point. TIL
Missouri seemed to have a Fascination
for the LaBarges, and their name Wi
always be indissolubly connected wit
any history of its navigation. 1t is sal
that at one time when the river wa
extremely high, so high it flooded tn
bottom lands in the vicinity of st. Loui
changing the channel and d~estroyin
the wharves, Joseph LaBarge not Onl
took his boat safely to the city, bJ
ran it up one of the n tie
up at a warehouse on the corner Of a
alley. It must have taken a trained ey
to discover a channel in a sea Of liqui
mud, which the Missouri appears to
at high water.
It is common knowledge that the char
mel of this river constantly change
Far inland have been found the wrecl