The Gold Rush 1849-1858

Population 1846 800

1849 1800 (estimated)

1850 3460

1860 8932

Oh, Shenandoah, I long to hear you,

Away, you rolling river

Oh, Shenandoah, I’m bound to leave you,

Away, we're bound away

Across the wide Missouri.

Emigrant traffic west over the Oregon Trail' who were camped four miles south of St. Joseph, about to set out for the West. But most of this traffic was further south.

The discovery of gold in California changed all that. Thousands of Americans decided to head for the California gold fields. It became apparent that St. Joseph was the point to reach for the trip across the plains. It was the optimum north and west point which could be reached in the relative security of the steamboat. Wagons and supplies could then be purchased in St. Joseph for the hazardous over and trip about a hundred miles west to the present area of Marysville, Kansas, where the "California Trail joined the well-established Oregon Trail.

Quoting again Rudolph Friederich Kurz who was an eyewitness:

‘At the end of January 1849 the first gold seeker showed himself in St. Joseph. For a long time I, and many other people as well, had regarded this much-discussed discovery of gold as a make-believe on the part of the United States Government to get the newly acquired region of California quickly populated. However, when a certain Widmer arrived here in the autumn, having been sent on by Solothurn von Sutter in California to conduct his wife and daughter over the prairie, no one could longer doubt the truth of the reports. The first arrivals from the East were two rich merchants from New York. They had traveled in a sleigh direct from their homes to this place (more than 3,000 miles), in order to be the first to reach California. As they traveled westward the gold fever mounted; they were wealthy speculators-not duffers.

‘In the main, I think most of the gold seekers of this year had more ample means than those of later years; it was the more necessary also, because nobody hereabouts was prepared for such a large number of emigrants. The prices of provisions, cattle, and goods became exorbitant.

‘The farmer fixed no price for his products but advanced them higher and higher with each new band of adventurers. A bushel of corn, formerly only 15 cents, advanced to $1; a barrel, containing 5 bushels, was $5. Ham, formerly from 3 to 7 cents a pound, was now 12 cents; butter, from 8 to 25 cents. Oftentimes bread could not be had at all. Half of the farmers were again on their feet financially. Many of them, in spite of their preemption rights, were so poor that they could not pay the State for their land when the payments fell due; therefore a law had to be passed for their relief, whereby they were allowed to make payments in installments. But for that measure, most of the elderly farmers in the upper counties would have been bankrupt and their properties, together with the improvements they had made on them, would have fallen into the hands of speculators. “When the Missouri was open to navigation in the middle of February, several thousand of these adventurers, all in a heat from gold fever, streamed into St. Joseph from all parts of the more northerly States, from the south by way of Panama, and many from Europe besides. Here the steamboat stopped and unloaded passengers, mules, horses, cattle, vehicles, and commodities. The landing place was animated to an extraordinary degree.

‘The city was packed so full of people that tents were pitched about the city and along the opposite bank of the river in such numbers that we seemed to be besieged by an army. Every house lot that was enclosed became a stable and brought in money to the owner. Widmer also came back; as Sutter's family had taken the route through Panama, instead of coming to Highland, he was now conducting a large company of gold seekers.

‘Because of the advance in prices, many poor emigrants felt compelled to give up their plans, at least for that year. They were obliged to return home or else remain here and seek employment. Many more, because they were unacquainted with this new mode of life and the conditions under which they must travel, wrecked their draft animals and for that reason had to turn back. Most of them made the mistake of loading their wagons too heavily and also of having begun their journey across the prairie too early, before the grass was high enough. These last-mentioned emigrants were forced, at best, to make a detour with their horses, mules, and cattle that greatly overtasked their teams. Instead of beginning with a maximum speed of 14 miles a day, they went oftentimes twice that distance-by far too much, when setting out on a long journey. These ill-advised beginnings caused much laughter on the part of observers but were anything but pleasant for the emigrants themselves. Attempts to drive the obstinate wild ass caused, frequently, a great hullabaloo.

‘Many a time I have seen one single ass turn to scorn a dozen of those inexperienced drivers. They might jerk and pull as much as they pleased, the ass would not budge until they had mastered the art of driving in the right way. With oxen matters were often quite as bad; until their drivers learned how to put on the yoke, could crack the whip and knew which side was meant by “tschi” and which by tho' the beasts gave occasion for much cursing and swearing.

‘Not less entertaining was the horror many of these emigrants had of the Indians, and even of the pioneers. They went about the streets heavily armed. They never failed to carry pistols (revolvers) and long knives in their belts. The inhabitants of St. Joseph, on the contrary, had more to fear from these adventurers than they had to fear from us. And their golden dreams! Not one of them would return with less than $50,000. In California, that El Dorado, gold could be scratched out with the nails, without difficulty, with almost no work at all. There was no need of taking money along, if one had but his outfit; Indians one paid with the whip. After the fare was paid for being ferried across the Missouri, there was no further need of money, they said. Under illusions, created by gold fever, they did not consider that on the way out they might be forced by accidents to trade or to barter; that they would not be given their food and clothing in California; that they, even in the gold region, might suffer the lack of money. In their delirium brought on by gold fever they did not consider these matters at all.

‘Play and drink was the order of their day. In proportion to the promiscuous throng, however, there was not much quarreling, horse stealing, or swindling. 'Oh, Californy, you are the land for me', was their song, their rallying cry, their constant thought. It happened, however, that a conductor who had been engaged by several bands of emigrants gambled away their combined funds instead of providing the necessary outfit.

‘That was a jolly, stirring time. They tarried in St. Joseph until June. Our tradesmen did a splendid business. About the same time the Mormons assembled near Kanesville, 8 miles from Council Bluffs, in readiness to wander on to Salt Lake and found their new Zion. The quiet that followed this hubbub was almost unbearable. To make the contrast all the more noticeable, most of the tradespeople were off on new speculations and the farmers were busy on their lands making preparation for the next migration to the west. These travelers brought cholera with them from St. Louis; in consequence, several of our population lost their lives. Up to this time I had been perfectly well, even immune from cholera, although my young partner who slept in the same bed with me had such a severe attack that his convulsions awoke me. He died; I remained in good health still.'

Another account of this exciting period was written in 1881 by Charles Scarlett Raffington:

‘Instead of dying out, the fever mounted higher and higher. It was too late to cross the plains, but thousands of people throughout the state began their preparations for starting the following spring, and among the number were many in Buchanan County. The one great subject of discussion about the firesides and in the log cabins that winter, was the gold of California. It is said that at one time the majority of the able-bodied men of the county were unsettled in mind and were considering the project of starting to California. Even the most thoughtful and sober-minded found it difficult to resist the infection.

‘Wonderful sights were seen when this great emigration passed through-sights that may never be again seen in the county, perhaps. Some of the wagons were drawn by cows; other gold-hunters went on foot and hauled their worldly goods in hand-carts. The gold-hunters generally had left the moralities of life behind them, and were infested with a spirit of disorder and demoralization. The settlers breathed easier when they had passed.

Early in the spring of 1849 the rush began. It must have been a scene to beggar all description. There was one continuous line of wagons from east to west as far as the eye could reach, moving steadily westward, and, like a cyclone, drawing into its course on the right and left many of those along its pathway. The gold-hunters from Buchanan County crowded eagerly into the gaps in the Wagon-trains, bidding farewell to their nearest and dearest friends, and many of them never to be seen again on earth. Sadder farewells were never spoken. Many of the gold-hunters left their quiet, peaceful homes only to find in the “Far West utter disappointment and death. Very, very few of them ever gained anything, and the great majority lost everything, including even “their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.” The persons who really gained by the gold excitement were those who remained on their farms and sold their produce to the gold-crazy emigrants. The rush continued until about the first of June, 1850, when the great tide began to abate, although belated gold hunters kept passing through for some time. But the excitement began to die away, and those citizens who had judgment enough to resist the contagion now settled down in quiet to pursue the even tenor of their way.

‘As a starting point St. Joseph offered advantages which no other place possessed, to the emigrant and adventurer, leaving the confines of civilization for Oregon and California. The advantages were set forth in the St. Joseph Gazette, bearing date of February 9, 1849. The editor of that paper among other things said: “St. Joseph contains a population of 1,800. Nineteen stores are now in successful operation, with an aggregate stock of goods for the year 1848, of 250,000 to $300,000. Three new large stores will be opened during the present season, which will increase the stock for the year 1849, to $350,000 to $400,000. In addition to the above there are in town two flouring mills, two steam saw mills, nine blacksmith shops, four wagon shops, two extensive sheet iron ware manufactories, two large saddleries and harness making establishments, etc. Therefore, not an article wanted by an emigrant, from his team down to his camp kettle and frying pan, but which may be had o best material and quality in the town of St. Joseph. The annexed table will show that most of the articles demanded by the emmigrant can be procured in St. Joseph from ten to thirty per cent less than they can be obtained at Independence.

St. Joseph Prices Independence Prices

Wagons $65.00 -- 95.00 Wagons $100.00

Oxen, per yoke 30.00--40.00 Oxen, per yoke 40.00

Mules 30.00 -- 60.00 Mules 60.00

Flour, per cwt. 1.50 -- 1.75 Flour, per cwt. 2

Coffee, per lb. .06 - .08 Coffee, per lb. .08

Sugar, per lb. .05 - .06 Sugar, per lb. .08

Mackinaw plank 7.00 -- 14.00 Mackinaw plank 10.00 -- 16.00

‘There are two good, substantial ferries across the Missouri River at this place, and it is in contemplation to have a steam ferry boat early in the spring.'

Under date of March 30, 1849, the Gazette says:

“Scarcely a day passes that does not bring a large number of emigrants to this place bound to California. There are now in St. Joseph and surrounding country upwards of five hundred emigrants awaiting the appearance of grass, before taking up their line of march.” Not many of the emigrants had time to write. But one account was written by John McWilliams who was only eighteen and considered by his family in Illinois too young to go. He wrote in his “Reflections: After we left Griggsville, Illinois, Father went to St. Louis on the steamer and bought our outfit-guns, ammunition, bacon and flour -and shipped it up the Missouri River, going along with it on the same steamer to meet us in St. Joseph.

“Father got to St. Jo a day or two before we did. After we arrived and went into camp about two miles from town, he found us cooking supper. I was cutting the meat, another boy was making bread, and another was making coffee. We were glad to see Father.

‘After supper he took me to one side and said “I want you to go home with me. You are too young to go. Wait another year.' But I replied, “Why Father, I would rather die than go home.' Father stayed with us two or three days. When we parted, he gave me two English sovereigns and two five-dollar gold pieces. He told me to keep them till the last.

‘I well remember when the steamer left with Father. He stood on the stern of the boat, waving his hat and handkerchief till the boat disappeared around the bend. Good-bye, Father! Afterward I found that my family had packed a shroud in my trunk-they were so sure I was going to die; but I was not sick a day from that time on.

‘We left St. Joseph on May 7, 1849 and had a strenuous time getting across the Missouri River, as did the other outfits. We had to move our wagons by hand for two or three days to get them to the ferry; and we had to keep our cattle away back in the open spaces in the street which, as I recall it, was miles long. All the wagons were canvas-backed, crammed to the ash-bows that supported the covers; and they were so close together that the wagon tongues ran each under the wagon preceding it. Many of them had sheet-iron camp stoves lashed on behind, and also had water buckets and tar pails dangling beneath. This long stream of wagons never stopped day or night, and a number of steamboats were used as ferries to help them get across.’

By 1850, St. Joseph was one of the busiest spots in the nation. Every steamboat brought in supplies consigned to the merchants, as well as emigrants who were to lay out their life savings for these Supis before they took their lives in their hands for the hazardous trip across the plains. The permanent population increased to 3460 reported in the 1850 federal census. Milton Tootle had been brought down from Savannah in 1849 by George Smith, and by October of that year the firm of Tootles and Fairleigh was achieving a foremost place among the St. Joseph merchants. The firm of Donnell, Saxton & Duvall was busy on the Southwest corner of Fourth and Felix Streets, and young R. L. McDonald was employed in 1851. John Corby's store was on the south side of Market Square. In 1852 Armstrong Beattie opened the first bank in a storeroom under the City Hotel on the northeast corner of Main and Jule Streets. Joseph Robidoux was busy selling lots to newcomers and, to provide a place for purchasers to stay until their own houses could be constructed, he built in 1850 on the north side of Poulin Street between Second and Third Streets a row of seven one-and-a-half-story apartments. This was known as Robidoux Row. Joseph Robidoux died in the apartment on the corner of Third Street in 1868. In 1974 the four apartments still standing were purchased by the St. Joseph Historical Society and are being restored.

It was estimated by Ezra Meeker, who went across the Plains in 1852 that between 1843 and 1859 there were 300,000 emigrants on the Trail, and between 1843 and 1869 half a million. Merrill J. Mattes estimates the totals in the biggest years as:

1849 30,000 1852 50,000

1850 55,000 1853 20,000

1851 10,000 1854 10,000

In the earlier years perhaps half of the travelers passed through St. Joseph.

At a point west of Marysville, Kansas, where the Independence and St. Joe roads came together, the scene was described (Margaret A. Frink-1850):

‘It was a grand spectacle when we came, for the first time, in view of the vast emigration, slowly winding its way westward over the broad plain. The country was so level we could see the long trains of white-topped wagons for many miles. Finally, when the two roads came together, and the army which had crossed the Missouri River at St. Joseph joined our army-it appeared to me that none of the population had been left behind. It seemed to me that I had never seen so many human beings before in all my life.’

‘It was the route of a national movement-the migration of a people seeking to avail itself of opportunities which have come but rarely in the history of the world, and which may never come again (H. M. Chittenden).

CROSSING THE PLAINS

Newspaper account from the Kansas City Times of February 5, 1952, by Robert G. Beason:

‘Late January and early February marked a time of increased activity around the frontier towns of Independence and St. Joseph in 1849 and again in 1850, for at this time the first wagon trains of the season, bound for the West, arrived from the East. Those wagons formed the vanguard of a westward movement for which the country has known no equal.

‘The spark which set off this movement was struck the year before. In mid-winter of 1848 an eccentric carpenter, James Marshall, found glistening yellow nuggets in the American river near Sutter's mill in California. Those nuggets were gold.

‘When news of the discovery came to the East, thousands of persons sold their homes and businesses and bought wagons and outfits in preparation for a journey the following spring. Independence and St. Joseph were the last towns on the frontier facing toward the Rockies. Here people from Missouri, Illinois, Pennsylvania and many other states halted to wait for spring.

‘Several thousand persons were camped in tents and wagons around the two towns in 1849. The next year the number at St. Joseph alone was estimated at 50,000. The St. Joseph Gazette reported:

‘ “Every day brings new wagons. They are all waiting for the grass.'

‘Westward from the frontier the emigrants could carry grain and hay to feed their horses, oxen, mules and cows for about two weeks, but after that the animals had to gather their feed from the ground. This was why the wait for spring grass was so important. Of course the winter on the plains was too severe for travel in wagons, anyway. By starting as soon as the grass was up, the travelers could reach California before winter caught them, if they were fast enough. The trip took about four months, from about May I to the latter part of August.

‘St. Joseph was a town of about 1,900 persons with nineteen stores, including grinding mills, blacksmith shops, wagon shops, tinners and saddle and harness shops.

‘Spring came in late April, and the westward movement began. It was estimated that 27,000 persons, with wagons pulled by 3,800 mules and oxen, started the journey in 1849. The next year the number exceeded 100,000.

‘An observer traveling west from St. Joseph wrote:

‘ “For miles, as far as the eye could see, there were long trains of wagons with their white covers, moving slowly along a multitude of horsemen prancing beside them. Companies of men were on foot. It looked as if a mighty army was on its march.”

‘Most of the emigrants were in good spirits and had high hopes until about the time they started following the Little Blue to the westward in Kansas and on into Nebraska. There the troubles began, and after passing Ft. Kearney on the Platte the woes of the emigrants piled up.

‘A 24-year old pioneer from Hollidaysburg, Pa., was in one party which started in 1849 from St. Joseph. A schoolteacher and editor of a country weekly, Sterling B. F. Clark kept a log of his journey. He wrote as his party neared Ft. Kearney:

‘ “Broke down, got stuck and helped out twelve to fifteen times today. Had to unload our wagons three or four times. Prairie gently rolling. No wood. We had to gather weeds to cook supper and breakfast. Very bad water. We have two yoke of oxen, five mules and a good horse, and yet we balk at every hard place. We shall probably have to throw away half our load before we go 200 miles farther.' 'Violent thunderstorms, hail and heavy rains on the prairies made travel difficult. Clark wrote later:

‘ “Violent thunderstorm. Water six inches deep in our tent. Spent two hours in vain attempt to build a fire of buffalo chips, but they were wet and would not burn. This morning we had to crawl out of our wet beds, cold and shivering.'

‘Two days later: “Tremendous thunderstorm. Tent lets through nearly all the rain which falls upon it. Laid down at night in dripping wet clothes, wrapped in a wet blanket.’

‘But there were scenic beauties to be enjoyed:

‘ “Truly we are now where the flowers spring up unsown and die ungathered and waste their sweetness on the desert air.’

‘ “Minor ills such as diarrhea and colds were common, but travelers who came by steamboat also brought cholera with them, and hundreds of persons died of this disease before they had gone far west. Clark reported that he knew of about forty who died that spring of cholera.

‘Then in Western Nebraska and Eastern Wyoming alkali swamps, plains and springs. The mineral the travelers encountered poisoned the water, and no grass grew on the treeless plains it covered. Clark observed:

‘ “Oxen dead from the murderous water strew the way. Over the Black Hills (now the Laramie mountains), a barren country with very little grass. Had to go six miles out from the road for pasture.”

‘The hope of the emigrants increased as they passed Independence rock, a towering pile of granite on the Sweetwater on which many carved their names, and came to the South Pass of the Rockies, for now they knew their journey was more than half over. Making from ten to twenty-five miles a day, the gold-seekers soon passed Pacific Springs and rejoiced as they realized that they had crossed the divide between the Plains and the West.

‘After South Pass came the desert, where the trains traveled at night and for miles without water, grass or wood. Surviving this, new troubles awaited. Clark tells of them:

‘ “The water freezes in our canteens at night on the mountains; we are ascending through the Sierra Nevada. Last night was one continuous series of thunderstorms, snow, hail and wind. We have seen snowdrifts twenty feet deep and it is freezing cold. The rocks are perpendicular, and we have seen twenty-six wagons which have been left broken on the trail.”

‘Few of the immigrants mined enough gold to repay them for their expenses in outfitting, let alone the the miseries of the long overland trek. Clark did strike it rich and invested his money in real estate in Sacramento and San Jose. He became a city official of Natoma, Calif.

‘He had left behind him in Pennsylvania a raven-haired beauty who in 1853 consented to marry him and accompany him to the West if he would come together. He made the trip by ship, crossing through Panama. The couple was married, and started westward, crossing through Nicaragua. But Clark, now 28, contracted a fever and was carried on a stretcher from the ship to a house in San Francisco. He died two weeks later. His bride continued to the gold fields Tio ŝarlamento and seven months later gave birth to a daughter.

STATEMENT OF W. G. MARTIN

(Newspaper account of July 19, 1897: St. Joseph Daily News)

"OLD PIONEER HIERE

W. G. Martin Returns

After Forty-Five Years

HE FOUND NO OLD FACES

And an Unrecognizable City--In-

teresting Story of the Trip

Across the Plains in ‘52

‘W. G. Martin, a pioneer of the forties, is in the city on a visit from his home in Salinas City, Cal. Mr. Martin is eighty-two years old. He is a type of the man who builded up the Great West and his rugged frame shows less plainly the mark of passing years than do most men when they have lived more than their allotted three score and ten.

‘Mr. Martin was born in Simpsonville, Caldwell County, Ky. He came to St. Joseph in 1843. There was little here then except a trading post and few shanties of the pioneers. Joseph Robidoux had completed laying out the townsite and naming the streets after numerous children. After a residence of nine years here, or in 1852, Mr. Martin, then in the prime of his young manhood, caught the resistless gold fever, and was swept with the tide across the plains το the golden coast, where men were reputed to be finding nuggets in the streets of San Francisco and on the big brown hills that shade the Golden Gate.

‘Now at the age of eighty-two, he has left his children, his grandchildren and his great grandchildren in the sunny valley in Monterey County and has wandered back just to see the old scenes before he is called to join the great majority.

‘FOUND A STRANGE PLACE.

‘ “I couldn't account for the way I happened to get into the city without crossing the river here,' he said this morning, as he sat under a shade tree in front of the St. Charles Hotel and looked up Fifth street at the rows of tall buildings that had taken the place of the hills and bluffs he left standing there forty-five years ago. He had come by the B.&M. R. and had crossed the river at Rulo, Neb. In company with Fred Freeman of the St. Charles the returned pioneer has taken a long walk about the city this morning, but all the old landmarks had disappeared. It was a strange town. Neither were there any familiar places.

‘He still remembered where the town once lay and he pointed over toward the river with his cane. The story he tells of the trip across the plains is an interesting one.

‘ “The Perry brothers, Elias and Charles, and two others-there were four of the brothers-had a freighting contract and owned numberless teams and wagons, said he. “They hauled goods across the plains to Santa Fe. In 1852 someone else secured their contract and they were left with all their possessions on their hands unemployed. They then determined to organize an expedition to California and secured seventy-five passengers to make the trip. I paid Perry $800 to take myself, my wife and three children to Sacramento. In the contract I was to be relieved of all guard duty and work oh the way. The train started from Savannah May I and we crossed the river above St. Joseph, where the Perrys had a ferry of their own. On the other side we encountered a forest of cottonwoods, and we had to cut a trail through them. Hardly had we got well started on the journey before cholera broke out in the train and there were fifteen deaths in less than that many days. We never stopped, only long enough to bury the dead. We pushed on for the Platte as fast as possible and after we made the Crossing and got on to higher ground the disease disappeared.

‘FIVE MONTHS BY WAGON.

‘ “We met many Indians on the journey across the plains who would enter the camp and beg. Often we were forced to drive them away at the point of our rifles. It was a very large train and forage was scarce. We were compelled to separate and there were many desertions, but we made the trip safely. Gold mining was at its height in California and we stopped for a couple of days' rest seventy miles east of Sacramento. I staked off a claim and worked it while we were there, but I got the rheumatism and was forced to give it up. Others who took my claim and worked it out made $15,000 in a few days. That just goes to show the fortunes and the chance of the miner.

‘We were five months in making the trip from St. Joseph to Sacramento and I went from there to the Salinas Valley in Monterey County, where I have lived ever since. I have children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren all living there. I wanted to see the old places again and I thought a trip and change of climate would do me good so I started for St. Joseph. I will remain here a couple of days longer till I rest up and then I will go to Kentucky. It is fifty-four years since I left.

‘ “If I were a young man today,” concluded the old pioneer, “I would go to Alaska and seek my fortune in the gold mines.'

‘About the only name now recognized in St. Joseph that Mr. Martin recalled was that of Dr. Silas McDonald.

‘Mr. Martin, although greatly fatigued from the long trip by rail across the continent, felt no ill effects from it and bears his years well. While his beard and hair are gray he is hale and hearty, has good eyesight and his hearing is unimpaired. He will visit in Kentucky until he tires of it and then will return to California, where he has a comfortable home with his children.’

The population of St. Joseph more than doubled in the decade of the 1850s. This traffic was largely by steamboat since the railroad did not come until 1859. A day seldom went by without the arrival of more than one steamboat and at times there were five or six each day. At times as many as twenty-five were tied up along the St. Joseph riverbank.

There was a regular line of side-wheelers between St. Louis and St. Joseph and the usual round trip took eight days. A boat left St. Louis every day. The line operated fourteen boats so each boat made a round trip once every two weeks during the season. In winter they operated between St. Louis and New Orleans.

On each trip up the Missouri River as many as several hundred passengers could be carried, counting the immigrants on the deck. On the return trips there were only the cabin passengers. The cabin fare from St. Louis to St. Joseph was from $10 to $15, which included meals. Excellent food was served and the cooks were described as the best.

In addition to the passengers, the steamboats carried as much as six hundred tons of freight at a charge of $2.50 a ton. It was estimated that a boat could earn $7,000 on a round trip between St. Louis and St. Joseph after expenses of $4,000. Each boat had a crew of seventy-five to one hundred men and represented an investment of about 50,000,

Schedules were very well kept, although there was occasional grounding on sandbars for as long as twenty-four hours. In 1854 Captain Thomas H. Brierly with his new steamer Polar Star broke all records for upriver trips from St. Louis to St. Joseph by making the unheard-of time of two days and twenty hours. But on July 22, 1856, another boat in which Captain Brierly had part ownership, the James H. Lucas, Captain Wineland, broke that record and made the fastest run in the history of the river, fifty-nine hours and twenty-two minutes from St. Louis to St. Joseph.

Many of the families in St. Joseph arrived originally on these steamboats and the freight which they brought for the use of the Western-bound travelers provided the economic foundation of the town..