The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1937-08-06
By EDNA LaMOORE WALDO

|ROM the February day I'm 1875
when the Benton Record made
its initial bow until the last
the railroads, river traffic Wa
front page NEWS. Speculation ON how
soon the river would open and which
boat would be first up the upper Mis-
souri, gave way TO- Lengthy descriploas
Of her cargo. Extras were issued as
each boat came in, unless, a. frequently
happened in later years, 1t was I'M
possible to get the manifestos and pas
senger lists; .pilsrim" clerks. b
editors eE1m I,sS!.h were ,s.,s sSanef n1as a 5ei
shippers often objected to the publicity.
But the first boat of the season was
usually hailed in some such way as
At Is minutes past s O'Clock q: m;
on ordn Mans il A front % Of Messrs. y I. 6.
Baker 81 Co.'S store announced to the
sleeping residents Of Benton that the
long-expected first boat Of the season.
had at Last reached the head OF navi-
cation sSsk s,,s 11e Of Of tlsszt laEge in N s4sas of
the military headquarters also belched
forth q laundering peal Of welcome
and q few moments later the steamer
Nellie Peck moved slowly up the bank,
squeaked her whistle a out her gang
MMa ayy;oa an ian VIZ nniaS nooieo W Vic
That proved to be an exciting day
in the little river town for soon after
noon the steamer Benton came IN,
getting a still heartier welcome from the
artillery: IN this, her first voyage to
Benton has won the title, Champion
Of the Upper Missouri; having gained
nearly sever days on the Nellie Peck
since leaving Omaha; but for the fact
that she had to go back twice for fuel,
she 8 as Wou aS1 haye ~ REACHED aSh foI Benton 9o at Lest i
Accommodations aboard were said to
be far superior to any of the other
boats, the cabins and staterooms "ele-
gantly furnished" she brought 80 tons
Of freight and As passengers.
1ei The c ns% G in OIL E ths a Saptf sTin RS5E
261 tons Of freight and a dozen pas
sengers. and the intense rivalry be-
tween the Carroll and Benton lines was
on. In 1876 the Benton arrived June
9, the Carroll Just g week later, but
had delayed the departures from st.
Louis and ice and low water prevented
any record runs. Late that summer
the Record reported that over 1926
tons of freight had been landed at the
port.
Exciting Rivalry
There was a BRIEF but exciting rival
ry in both rs and '76 between Benton
and Bozeman and the newspapers, at
least, made much of the talk. Accord
ing to the Benton Record, "The town
Of Bozeman, located near Fort Ellis,
had a big excitement on hearing Of a
steamboat having assembled the Vel
lowstone during the recent flood. The
Missouri has been navigable for steam
ers Of a thousand tons for the last
three months C75) but nor Of the
Bentonites got drunk about it." They
even quoted Capt. Grant Marsh on 1t,
1.-THE Yellowstone is a great river to
freight government stores on by day
but as an individual enterprise 1t Is
not to be considered. It would break
Commodore Vanderbilt" As for going
up the Big Horn, everyone agreed that
that va impossible, not knowing that
Captain Marsh's own chief claim to
fame would be his record push up the
Big Horn and his run downstream on
the crest of the June rise in '76, bear
ing wounded from the Custer battle
field.
Even as late as December rs the
Record was eager to show that while
the river trade was of primary import
ance during the season, the town had
other means OF support. Since It's orr