The Bozeman courier., 1927-03-25

man, "stOod on the DOW, pole in hand, and
gave directions to the men at the cOrdelle."
1t was necessary that these officers be
men Of great energy, physical strength and
courage. The sail was seldom used except
in the upper water, where the absence of
timber rendered the winds available.
The bOatmeL employed on these keel
boat voyages were, for the most part
French Canadians and creOles, many of
them descendants of the cOureurs des bOis.
These were in some respects different from
working, Obedient, cheerful class, and were
happy and cOntented under the most dis
cOuraging conditions.
The aIackinaw
The mackinaW boat was made entirely
of cottonwood plank about two inches
thick; it was about fifty to sixty feet
long. with q twelve foot beam, and had
fat bottom. It was about three to four
feet deep in the hold. In the middle Of the
boat was a space partitiOned off with
bulkheads, similar to the cargo box Of the
keel In this was stored the cargo
Of furs put up in bales, which extended
several feet above the gunwales. The cargo
usually consisted of about fifteen tons. The
OarSmen, four in number, were bestowed in
the boat, and the steersman on a high
perch in the stern. For mutual protection,
the mackinaw boats usually went down
stream in fleets Of six to twelve, but it was
not unusual for single boat to make the
voyage alone. The rate of progress was
seventy-fv to one hundred miles a day.
As the mackinaw boat was intended only
for a single voyage down the river, 1t was
cheaply built. There was near every large
| trading post on the river, a bOat-yard,
called by the French a 'chantier," where
the lumber was gotten out and the mack
inaw bOats constructed.
| TFddeau Was First
| Historians do not all agree as to the first
white navigatOrs of the upper Missouri
river. So far as ] have been able to learn
Jean Baptiste Trudeau was the first man
to reach a point on the stream as far as
ViIlnRnG
of Bismarck, n. D., today stands. In his
journals written in 1876. Trudeau mentions
having made trips in a pirOgue, to the
Pays den Haut" as early as twenty-si
years prior to that date. We do know thai
he and seven companions did make the
trip in 1896 and 1897, he having been hired
by a company headed by NJ. ClamOrgan, Il
have charge Of the trade with the tribes
north and west of the POncas. Manue
Lisa is generally credited with being th'
father Of navigation on the Missouri. L
is true that Lisa, with the exception of
perhaps, GregOire B. Sarpy, was the frs
to bring the keel-bOat into practical use
and Lisa naVigated the waters of the Mis-
souri, as far west as the mouth of the Vel
llOwstOne, building a fort at the mouth o
the Big Horn in 1909. Manuel Lisa mad
the fastest lOng-distance trip on record 70
a keel-bOat, travelling / 100 miles in 81 days
| AS one writer has put it, the first navi
gator OIL the Missouri river was the blue
5 winged teal; the next the Indian with hi
D canoe and bull-bOat; then came the half
civilized French Canadian VOyageur wit
e his pirOgue, padding upstream or cor
e delling around the swift points. At a late
e day came the fur trader with his keel
boat; still later there came up from below
: the little "dingey'-the single engine. one
boiler steamboat. At last the evolution
e was complete, and there came the magnifi
cent passenger steamer of the ffties, tn
? floating palace Of the palmy days Of steam
S boating.
E The First Steam Craft
The first steam craft that appeared Ol
c the waters Of the Missouri was the Western
D Engineer, built at Pittsburgh for MajO
] Stephen H. Long for use on his expedition
Y to the Rocky mountains in 1919 and 1870
? The bOnt was 70 feet long, 13 feet wide ant
/ drew 10 inches Of water. For the purpOs
r of mystifying and impreSsing the Indians
5 the bow was fashioned in imitation Of tn
0 neck and head of a serpent from who's
c open mouth issued clouds OF smoke. tn
e prOpeiling machinery was purpOsely hidde
from sight by a superstructure, as was tn
D paddle wheel at the stern, which viOlentl
agitated the water like some strang
Aquatic monster. The speed Of the boa
e was about three miles an hour.
The experience Of the Yellowstone an
b the AssinnibOine, the first two steamer
S to reach what is now Montana in 1882 an
J. 1888, resulted in the altered cOnstructiO
? of later Missouri river steamboats,. The
= were afterward made with fat bottoms
( so that a vessel 200 feet long and 80 fee
e wide could navigate in two and one-hal
= feet Of water. Later boats were also con