Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1927-09-23
the Missouri Rjuer

"Once on foot and once on horseback .
was the response.
1t is doubtful whether this man ever
qualified for the Job. 1t was q ticklish
business, that of guiding a boat through
the devious ways of the Missouri, the
stream described by John G. Neihardt as
This cruel, invulnerable, resistless giant
that went roaring down the world with a
huge uprOOted oak tree in its mOuth
as a t%oothpickl This yellow sinuous
beast with hell-broth slavering from its
jawsl This daredevil boy-god that
sauntered along with a town In its pocket
and a steepled church under its arm
for moments toyl"
, Snags and Indians.
Attempting to tame the Missouri was
not without it's perils, the worst of these
being due to snags and Indians. In
war time the ~contending forces con-
stituted another element of danger.
Guerrillas attacked the Sam Gaty," a
steamboat bound for the upper river
carrying passengers, paroled Union SOL
diers and about 40 captured negroes
who were thus made free. The boat
was taken and looted, some of the SOL
diers and all of the negroes shot. This
occurred in 1853, the same year we were
On the river, but three months later.
BY way OF preparedness against the
Indians, the pilot houses were encased
in boiler iron strong enough to act as a
shield against bullets. This afforded
partial protection for the pilot. 1t could
not be entirely enclosed, however, and
the pilot ran considerable risk from fly
ing missiles, whether arrows or bullets.
Some of the boats carried howitzers
that struck terror into the ranks of the
Indians to a greater degree han did
any other weapon. A gun was not likely
TO XIII more than one man at a time;
the single howitzer would almost cer-
tainly kill several. The Indians had
learned this by sad experience and gen.
orally fled when they saw the artillery
was likely to go into action. They were
too shrewd to take unwtse chances.
Snags furnished a constant menace
to the navigation of the Missouri. Every
year the river when high tore off huge
slices of earth in which grew trees. The
earth, dissolved by the swift rushing
water, went on to enlarge sandbars and
islands, leaving the trees stranded on
the river bottom along the channel where
the boats must run, and are said to have
been the cause of the greatest number
OF steamboat disasters.
The Missouri is a mountain torrent
storming down to join the Mississippi.
We're its course not SO circuitous it
could not be assembled. The force Of its
current is always ~endeavoring to take
cut-offs in order to shorten its journey.
In some places along it's course whirl-
pools form which could wreck a boat.
We read of one IL feet in depth, down
which a boat was partially drawn, but
escaped destruction almost m~iraculously.
Sandbars were regarded not as dan
gerous-rather as ~hindrances to prog
ress. OFTEN a boat would be on a sand
bar for hours before it could be dis
lodged. How this last was accomplished
is told in mississippi Steamboatin','
by Herbert and Edward Quick. Some
times the boats, fat and flexible as
they were, wormed their way over bars
like cells.
Tricks of the Trade
Sometimes a pilot, whose boat was
stuck on a bar, would reverse his wheel
not to back off, but to force water under
the boat. The moment he felt her
lift he would turn his wheel ahead and
shot the boat forward. When this was
unavailing. he spared the boat off.
Heavy timbers shod with iron and rugged
with pulleys, the spars were swung over
the sides OF the derricks on the fore
castle n set on the bottom; then, by
the power OF capstan and tackle, they
were driven downward and backward
much as setting-poles are worked by
hand. But in addition To the forward
push OF hand-worked poles, the spars
had lifting power that could raise the
boat off the bottom while the wheel
forced 1t ahead. Sometimes In the swift
current warping was necessary. A tim
Der a little smaller han q railroad tie,
called q dead man" was carried ahead
OF the boat and buried on the bank.
with stakes to hold IL in place. From
this timber a line was taken to the
capstan OF the boat and she dragged