The Bozeman courier., 1927-04-08

souri, river as the only highway to the
mining regions from the east. Parties fol-
lowing this route took steamboats, at st.
Louis or some other point on the lower
river and Travelled to Fort Benton, 2,3OO
miles above the mouth of the Missouri,
from which point an overland journey Of
some 200 miles took them to the heart of
the gold fields. Fort Benton, which for
many years had been an obscure trading
post of the American Fur company, and
later of the Northwestern Fur company,
point for the whole mining region and i'm
mediately leaped to a position Of great
commercial Importance. Where previously
| to 1866, only about half dozen steamers
had arrived at Fort Benton levee annually,
carrying freight to a total Of perhaps 1900
| tons, in 1866 there were thirty y-One arrivals
and in 1867 thirty mine. In the latter year
these boats transported S.061 tons of freight
to Fort Benton, and carried more than TO-
600 passengers to and from that point.
The average fare of these passengers was
$3.50, or S1,5OOO00 total receipts for pas
sengers alone. On the long stretch of
,306 miles between Fort Benton and Fort
Randall, the latter a short distance above
YanktOn, s. D., the only ports in 1867 were
the fur trading and military posts of Fort
Thompson (CrOW Creek), Fort Sully, Fort
Rice, Fort Stevenson, Fort BerthOld, Fort
BufOrd, Fort Hawley and Camp Cooke, the
latter at the mouth of the Judith river.
From the above figures it may readily b'
imagined that the upper river presented al
! animated appearance during these prosper
Gus years, the route was none the less be
set with many perils. Rocks and snags
ESPECIALLY the latter, were scattered al
along the channel and the steamboat pilO
= was obliged to be ever on the alert t,
guard his vessel against injury or destruc
i tiOn by these menacing obstacles. TIL
. numberless sandbars, constantly bein
p shifted in form and location by the restles
! current. offered distractions less danger
? Gus, it is true, but often extremely annoy
r ing for often hours and even days Wer
consumed forcing q them.
= Captain Grant Marsh
e One of the outstanding Missouri rive
/, steamboat captains was Captain Gran
: March, who during 63 years on the river
t, of the west, lost no boat under his CON
t mand excepting one, the Little Eagle NJ
+ r." which turned turtle on the MISSISSIPPI
e, in a cyclone. He never lost a boat on th
II Missouri or the Yellowstone, although man
I, of the boats he had at various times con
le manded were wrecked under other master
he One of these was the famous Far West
le which carried RenO's wounded down Il
it river after the Custer fight.
ut In 1869 Captain Marsh had an eventf
n experience in rescuing a steamboat tn
Dr had been stranded at Cow Island. 130 mil
he below Fort Benton. This was the "TeI
he pest" bound for Fort Benton. The ca
tain, whose name was BiSsell, was unab
Mt to get his boat off the bar and at Ia
ne sent a messenger to Helena, from where
n telegram was sent to the owners in
as Louis Captain Marsh happened to be
or st. Louis after a run down the river fro
or the Upper Missouri, and he was offer
n S400 a month if he would try to save t
as Tempest" He started at once for 81
re Lake City over the newly completed Uni
ID Pacific, and there took stage for Hele
re and Fort Benton. At the latter place
as secured a mackinaw boat and went dOy
NO the river to Cow Island.
he Rescue of the Tempest"
oh Having reached the Tempest" he fOu
nd her in a desperate condition. She was st
90 confined in her watery prison, but tn
n fact was not the worst in the situate
he The captain found that the presence
I'd much whisky had caused most of the boa
an mishaps. Her troubles had begun ey
For before Cow Island had been reached wi
,fb a fight at the dinner table in which I
he boats engineer had killed passenger.
me the persons were drunk at the time, a
he the tragedy split the boats company IL
its such bitter factions that the steamer COZ
not even be properly navigated. WI
Captain Marsh arrived he found the
red running full blast, although the besOtt
nix crew owed the bartender $500. The capt,
a closed the bar. The bartender at once
ON came Captain Marsh's best friend and
90. sistant and before long the "Tempe
as was worked out Of the shoals and Y
an taken on down the river to st. Louis
the Captain Marsh.
Ids On the Yellowstone
lis There was a time when certain authC