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font-weight:bold;'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of History of Early Steamboat Navigation on the Missouri River, Volume I (of 2), by Hiram Martin Chittenden</div> -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: History of Early Steamboat Navigation on the Missouri River, Volume I (of 2)</div> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Life and Adventures of Joseph La Barge</div> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Hiram Martin Chittenden</div> -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Release Date: December 26, 2020 [eBook #64136]</div> -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> -<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Charlie Howard and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)</div> -<div style='margin-top:2em;margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF EARLY STEAMBOAT NAVIGATION ON THE MISSOURI RIVER, VOLUME I (OF 2) ***</div> - -<div class="transnote"><p class="center larger">Transcriber’s Notes</p> - -<p class="covernote">Cover created by Transcriber and placed in the Public Domain.</p> - -<p>Larger versions of most illustrations may be seen by right-clicking them -and selecting an option to view them separately, or by double-tapping and/or -stretching them.</p> -</div> - -<hr /> - -<div class="newpage p4 center vspace wspace"> -<p class="larger">IV</p> - -<p class="larger">AMERICAN EXPLORERS SERIES</p> - -<p><b>Early Steamboating on Missouri River</b></p> - -<p><i>VOL. I.</i> -</p> -</div> - -<hr /> - -<div id="i_frontis" class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/i004.jpg" width="1738" height="2305" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">CAPTAIN JOSEPH LA BARGE.</div></div> - -<hr /> - -<div class="newpage p4 center wspace"> -<h1 class="vspace"> -HISTORY OF EARLY<br /> -<span class="larger">STEAMBOAT NAVIGATION</span><br /> -<span class="xsmall">ON THE</span><br /> -<span class="larger">MISSOURI RIVER</span></h1> - -<p class="p2 vspace larger"><span class="smaller">LIFE AND ADVENTURES<br /> -<span class="smaller">OF</span></span><br /> -<span class="large">JOSEPH LA BARGE</span><br /> - -<span class="small">PIONEER NAVIGATOR AND INDIAN TRADER<br /> - -FOR FIFTY YEARS IDENTIFIED WITH THE COMMERCE OF THE<br /> -MISSOURI VALLEY</span></p> - -<p class="p2 larger"><span class="small">BY</span><br /> -HIRAM MARTIN CHITTENDEN<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>Captain Corps of Engineers, U. S. A.</i><br /> - -<span class="smcap">Author of “American Fur Trade of the Far West,” “History<br /> -of the Yellowstone National Park,” etc.</span></span></p> - -<p class="p2 smaller"><i>WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS</i></p> - -<p class="p2 smaller">IN TWO VOLUMES<br /> -VOL. I.</p> - -<p class="p2"><span class="smaller">NEW YORK</span><br /> -<span class="larger">FRANCIS P. HARPER</span><br /> -<span class="smaller">1903</span> -</p> -</div> - -<hr /> - -<div class="newpage p4 center"> - -<p class="small vspace"> -<span class="smcap">Copyright</span>, 1903,<br /> -BY<br /> -FRANCIS P. HARPER.</p> - -<p class="p4 smaller"><b>Edition Limited<br /> -to 950 Copies.</b></p> - -<hr /> - -<p class="newpage p4 vspace"> -TO<br /> -THE MEMORY<br /> -OF THE<br /> -<b>Missouri River Pilot</b> -</p> -</div> - -<hr /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS.</h2> -</div> - -<table id="toc" summary="Contents"> -<tr class="small"> - <td> </td> - <td class="tdr">PAGE</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Preface</span>,</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#PREFACE">xi</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER I.</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Ancestry of Captain La Barge</span>,</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">1</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER II.</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Childhood and Youth</span>,</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">13</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER III.</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Enters the Fur Trade</span>,</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">22</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER IV.</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Cholera on the “Yellowstone,”</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">32</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER V.</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Further Service at Cabanné’s</span>,</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">40</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER VI.</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Last Year at Cabanné’s</span>,</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">49</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER VII.</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Captain La Barge in “Opposition,”</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">59</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER VIII.</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Missouri River</span>,</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">73</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER IX.</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Kinds of Boats Used on the Missouri</span>,</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">90</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER X.</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Steamboat Navigation on the Missouri River</span>,</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">115</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER XI.</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Steamboat in the Fur Trade</span>,</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">133</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER XII.</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Voyage of 1843</span>,</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">141</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER XIII.</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Voyage of 1844</span>,</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">154</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER XIV.</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Changed Conditions</span>,</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">167</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER XV.</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Incidents on the River (1845–50)</span>,</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">177</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER XVI.</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Incidents on the River (1851–53)</span>,</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">189</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER XVII.</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Ice Break-up of 1856</span>,</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">200</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER XVIII.</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Head of Navigation Reached</span>,</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">216</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER XIX.</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Fort Benton</span>,</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">222</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER XX.</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Abraham Lincoln on the Missouri</span>,</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">240</a></td> -</tr> -</table> - -<hr /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS">LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.<br /> - -<span class="subhead"><i>VOL. I.</i></span></h2> -</div> - -<table id="loi" summary="List of Illustrations"> -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Captain Joseph La Barge</span>,</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_frontis"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td> -</tr> -<tr class="small"> - <td> </td> - <td class="tdr"><i>Facing page</i></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Captain Joseph La Barge</span> (when young),</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_1">1</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">A New “Cut-off” in the River</span>,</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_76">77</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Map of the Missouri River Channel</span>,</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_78">79</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Snags in the Missouri River</span>,</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_80">80</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Indian Bullboat</span>,</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_97">97</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Missouri River Keelboat</span>,</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_102">102</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The First “Yellowstone,”</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_136">137</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Alexander Culbertson</span>,</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_228">228</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Fort Benton Levee</span>,</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_238">238</a></td> -</tr> -</table> - -<hr /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xi">xi</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="PREFACE">PREFACE.</h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="firstword">In</span> the summer of 1896 the author of this work, -while engaged in collecting data for a history of the -American Fur Trade of the Far West, met the venerable -Missouri River pilot, Captain Joseph La Barge, -at his home in St. Louis. In the course of several interviews -he became deeply impressed with the range and -accuracy of the old gentleman’s knowledge of early -Western history, and asked him if he had ever taken -any steps to preserve the record of his adventurous -career. He replied that he had often been urged to -do so, but that lack of familiarity with that kind of -work had hitherto caused him to shrink from it, and -he presumed he should die without ever undertaking -it. Believing that his memoirs were well worth preserving, -as a part of the history of the West, the author -proposed to prepare them for publication if he -would consent to dictate them. After some hesitation -he concluded to try it, and the work was forthwith -begun. Full notes were taken in the rough, and a -clean copy was then submitted to Captain La Barge -for revision. He went through the whole with painstaking -care, and the record was left as complete as a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xii">xii</span> -memory of extraordinary power could make it. The -intention was, at the time, to put the notes into shape -for publication at once; but the Spanish-American -war interfered with the author’s part of the work, and -before it could be resumed Captain La Barge died.</p> - -<p>This event led to a material change in the plan of -the work, and it was decided to make it, not merely -a narrative of personal experiences, but a history of -steamboat navigation on the Missouri River. Very -few people now have any conception of the part which -this remarkable business played in the upbuilding of -the West. There is no railroad system in the United -States to-day whose importance to its tributary country -is relatively greater than was that of the Missouri -River to the trans-Mississippi territory in the first -seventy-five years of the nineteenth century. The business -of the fur trade, the intercourse of government -agents with the Indians, the campaigns of the army -throughout the valley, and the wild rush of gold-seekers -to the mountains, all depended, in greater or -less degree, upon the Missouri River as a line of -transportation.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">AN IMPORTANT BUSINESS.</div> - -<p>It is not alone from a commercial point of view that -the record of this business is an important one. From -beginning to end it abounds in thrilling incident, and -the life which it fostered was full of picturesque and -even tragic details. The circumstances surrounding<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xiii">xiii</span> -a voyage up or down the Missouri, whether by canoe, -mackinaw, keelboat, or steamboat, were quite out of -the line of ordinary experience. No other river in this -country has a record to compare with it.</p> - -<p>Captain La Barge’s life embraced the entire era of -active boating business on the river. He saw it all—from -the time when the Creole and Canadian voyageurs -cordelled their keelboats up the refractory -stream to the time when the railroad won its final -victory over the steamboat. He was on the first boat -that went to the far upper river, and he made the last -through voyage from St. Louis to Fort Benton. He -typified in his own career the meteoric rise and fall of -that peculiar business. He grew up with it, prospered -with it, and was ruined with and by it. He saw and -shared the wonderful metamorphosis that came over -the Missouri Valley in the space of fourscore years, -and his reminiscences are a succession of living pictures -taken all along the line.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">HISTORICAL METHOD ADOPTED.</div> - -<p>It is hoped that the method adopted, of weaving the -story which it is here attempted to relate around the -biography of its most distinguished personality, will -not detract from its value as historical material. It -is not the bare narration of events that gives history -its true value, but those intimate pictures of human -life in other times that show what people really did -and the motives by which they were actuated. To this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xiv">xiv</span> -end, biography, and even fiction, possess distinct advantages -over the ordinary method of historical -writing.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">SOURCES OF INFORMATION.</div> - -<p>In the preparation of this work valuable personal -aid has been received from many sources, particularly -from the Hon. Phil E. Chappelle of Kansas City, Mo.; -Messrs. N. P. Langford and J. B. Hubbell of St. Paul, -Minn.; Hon. Wilbur F. Sanders of Helena, Mont.; -and General Grenville M. Dodge of New York City.</p> - -<div id="ip_1" class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/i018.jpg" width="900" height="1121" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"><p>CAPTAIN JOSEPH LA BARGE</p> - -<p>(When a young man)</p></div></div> - -<hr /> - -<div id="chap_1" class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">1</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak vspace wspace notbold" id="HISTORY_OF"><span class="larger">HISTORY OF<br /> - -EARLY STEAMBOAT NAVIGATION<br /> - -ON THE MISSOURI RIVER</span></h2> -</div> - -<hr /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">ANCESTRY.</span></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="firstword">In</span> the far-reaching operations of the French Government -upon the continent of America, by which its -western empire at one time embraced fully half of -what is now the United States and Canada, two -streams of colonization flowed inward from the sea. -The course of one was along the valleys of the St. -Lawrence River and the Great Lakes to the upper -Mississippi and its tributaries. That of the other was -along the lower Mississippi northward from the Gulf -of Mexico. The two streams met at the mouth of -the Missouri, where their blended currents were deflected -westward toward the unknown regions of the -setting sun. Near this place of meeting there arose, -more than a decade before the birth of the American -Republic, a village which has now become one of the -greatest cities in the western world. Here, in the -early days, the Canadians from the north and the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">2</span> -Creoles from the south, kindred in language and tradition, -mingled in common pursuits and enterprises, -and for many years bore an important part in the -great movement which proceeded onward from this -common starting-point.</p> - -<p>Among the well-known families identified with this -movement was one whose ancestral line represented -both the northern and the southern blood, and was a -pure type of their united quality. This was the -family of Captain Joseph La Barge, the subject of the -present sketch. The father of Captain La Barge was -a typical representative of the French peasantry of -Quebec. His mother was a Creole descendant of both -the Spanish and French elements in the settlement of -the Mississippi Valley.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">ROBERT LABERGE.</div> - -<p>On the paternal side the ancestors of Captain La -Barge came from Normandy, France. Robert Laberge -was a native of Columbière in the diocese of -Bayonne, and was born in 1633. He came to -America early in life and settled in the county of -Montmorency, below Quebec, where he was married -in 1663. He is said to have been the only person of -the name who ever emigrated to America. His -descendants are now of the most numerous family in -the district of Beauharnois, if not in the entire province -of Quebec, where it has held important positions -both in Church and State. Its ramifications in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">3</span> -United States have likewise become very extensive. -The true spelling of the name was <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Laberge</i>, and this -form still prevails in Quebec; but the St. Louis branch -of the family has for many years spelled the name in -two words, <em>La Barge</em>.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">JOSEPH MARIE LA BARGE.</div> - -<p>Captain La Barge was of the sixth generation from -his Norman ancestors. His father, Joseph Marie La -Barge, was born at Assomption, Quebec, July 4, -1787.<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">1</a> He emigrated to St. Louis about 1808, just -as he was arriving of age. He traveled by the usual -route, up the Ottawa River and through the intricate -system of waterways in northern Ontario which leads -to Georgian Bay and to Lake Huron. Thence he -went by way of Mackinaw Strait and Lake Michigan -to Green Bay, and along the Fox and Wisconsin -rivers to the Mississippi, which he descended to St. -Louis. He used a single birch-bark canoe all the way, -with only eight miles of portaging.</p> - -<p>The elder La Barge led a varied career in St. Louis, -as did most of the pioneers in those days, when fixed -callings were few and men turned their hands to whatever -fell in their way. A good deal of information -has survived concerning him, and all to his credit.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">4</span> -He was evidently a man of good parts, of strict integrity, -loyal in his business relations, and a bold lover -of the adventurous life which characterized the early -history of this new country.<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">2</a></p> - -<div class="sidenote">IMPORTANT SERVICES.</div> - -<p>At the time when the Sac and Fox Indians were -giving the government so much trouble, and endangering -human life all along the upper Mississippi, -La Barge senior was employed in the perilous business -of carrying dispatches to Rock Island, having volunteered -for this service when others refused to go. -He served in the War of 1812, and was present in -the battle of the River Raisin, or Frenchtown, -January 22, 1813, and was there shot in the hand, -losing two fingers. He also received a tomahawk -wound on the head, and carried the scar through life. -He became naturalized as a result of this service in -the army. Although entitled to a pension under the -laws of the United States, he never asked for nor received -any.</p> - -<p>La Barge married in 1813, and some two years<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">5</span> -afterward acquired a farm at Baden, a small village a -few miles north of St. Louis, and now within the -limits of that city. His main business here was the -manufacture of charcoal, which he hauled to St. Louis -for sale. He soon moved to town, where he had -gained quite an extensive acquaintance, particularly -among the Canadian voyageurs. Here he opened -up a boarding-house, which developed into a regular -hotel or tavern, with a livery attachment, at that time -one of the most important in the city. It was while -engaged in this business that he served the English -traveler, James Stuart, already referred to.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">ENGAGED IN THE FUR TRADE.</div> - -<p>La Barge senior was, to a considerable extent, -identified with the early trapping business in the Far -West, and has left his name on geographical features -in widely separated localities. There is a <em>La Barge</em> or -<em>Battle Creek</em>, a tributary of the Missouri, which took -its name from some affair with the Indians in which -La Barge bore a part; but the details are apparently -lost. The same is true of <em>La Barge Creek</em>, a tributary -of Green River in Wyoming, which was named before -1830. La Barge was present in General Ashley’s -disastrous fight with the Aricara Indians on the -Missouri River in 1823, and was the man who cut the -cable of one of the keelboats so that it might drift out -of range of the fire of the Indians.<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">3</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">6</span></p> - -<div class="sidenote">DEATH OF THE ELDER LA BARGE.</div> - -<p>La Barge senior lived to a good old age, and was -sound and healthy to the last. As a remarkable evidence -of this, it was long remembered by his acquaintances -that he practiced in old age his favorite winter -pastime of skating. His death was the result of accident. -He had heard that a brother-in-law, Joseph -Hortiz, was ill, and he resolved to go to see him. It -was a cold wintry day, and Captain La Barge tried -to dissuade him, but to no purpose. He slipped on the -icy sidewalk at the corner of Olive and Fourth streets, -in St. Louis, struck the curb, and received injuries -from which he died two days later, January 22, 1860.</p> - -<p>Many interesting anecdotes of the elder La Barge -have come down to us, some of which are worth relating -as illustrating the character of the man in different -situations. One of these comes from General -Harney, who was long an intimate friend of Captain -La Barge. In the later years of General Harney’s life, -when physical ailments prevented his leaving the house, -he used to send for Captain La Barge, if the latter -happened to be derelict in his visits, to come and talk -over old times. On one of these occasions, not long -before his death, he gave the Captain the following -story:</p> - -<div class="sidenote">THE CAPTAIN AND THE LIEUTENANT.</div> - -<p>“Your father,” he said, “was the only man who -ever scared me. We were ascending the Missouri -River on a keelboat laden with troops and supplies,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">7</span> -he in charge of the boat, and I, a lieutenant, on duty -with the soldiers. In one place the boat had to round -a sharp point, where there was an accumulation of -driftwood. The current was very strong, and it required -the utmost efforts of the men to stem it. -When we reached the most difficult place, the Captain -stimulated his men by calling out to them (in the -French language), ‘<i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Hale fort! Hale fort!</i>’ (‘Pull -hard! Pull hard!’). I didn’t understand French, but -thought I detected in the Captain’s language something -like the military command, ‘Halt.’ As some of -the troops were on the line with the voyageurs, and -as they might not understand, I thought I could help -the Captain by repeating to them his command. This -created some confusion, for my men began to slacken -while the Captain’s were pulling harder than ever. -Again he commanded, ‘<i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Hale fort!</i>’ and again I called -to the men to halt. The situation was extremely -critical when the Captain thundered a third time, -‘<i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Hale fort!</i>’ in a voice and manner not to be misunderstood. -The men all bent to the line and finally extricated -the boat from its perilous position. The Captain -then came over to where I was standing and told me -that if I ever dared interfere again with his management -of the boat he would pitch me into the river. I -knew he meant what he said, and thereafter confined -myself to my military duties.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">8</span></p> - -<div class="sidenote">ASSAULT AND BATTERY.</div> - -<p>One fine morning in the early twenties a man -called at the house of Mr. La Barge, who met him at -the door and asked him what he wanted. The man -said: “I applied to you a short time since for employment, -having heard that you were hiring men for the -Ashley Expedition.<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">4</a> I was refused, and I would like -to know the reason.”</p> - -<p>“Simply because you did not suit,” replied La -Barge.</p> - -<p>“I am as good a man as you are or any you have -employed, and I take the liberty of telling you so,” -rejoined the six-footer.</p> - -<p>“I want no trouble,” replied La Barge, “and therefore -will request you to get out, or I will be compelled -to put you out.”</p> - -<p>“Just what I want you to undertake,” was the retort. -Scarcely were the words out of his mouth when -La Barge seized a rawhide riding whip and started for -the fellow and laid him about the back and shoulders -so vigorously that the man soon gave up the contest -and took to his heels.</p> - -<p>The next morning a constable came and arrested -La Barge on the charge of assault and battery, with -directions to bring him at once before Esquire Garnier, -Justice of the Peace.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">9</span></p> - -<div class="sidenote">FUN CHEAP AT FOUR DOLLARS.</div> - -<p>“Lead the way, and I will follow,” said La Barge, -taking down his rawhide and starting along with the -constable. La Barge told the people he met on the -way to come and see the fun. In due course the trial -came off and La Barge was fined four dollars. He -thanked the Justice, but handed him eight dollars, saying -that the fun was cheap at that price, and he would -give the fellow another dose. He then seized his -whip and started for him, chasing him out into the -street, where he gave him a second drubbing, to the -great delight of the crowd, who stood around shouting -and setting him on.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">NOT A THIEF.</div> - -<p>Another incident, which occurred late in life, exhibits -the sterling integrity of the man who could -withstand the temptations of wealth rather than do the -smallest act of injustice. About the time that the -elder La Barge was married he purchased from Joseph -Morin, for the sum of twenty-five dollars, a small tract -of land on Cedar Street, between Second and Third. -Land was then of very little value, and transfers were -often made without deed and with no more formality -than in exchanging cattle or horses. In this way La -Barge traded off his lot on Cedar Street to Chauvin -Lebeau for a horse, with which he moved to his Baden -farm, only recently purchased. Here, as already -narrated, he manufactured charcoal and hauled it to -town, where he sold it to Theodore Bosseron and Vilrais<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">10</span> -Papin, then the principal blacksmiths of the village. -Long years afterward, when these transactions -were almost forgotten, and the property had become -very valuable, a lawyer presented himself to the old -gentleman and asked him if he had ever owned any -property on Cedar Street. La Barge replied in the -affirmative and described its locality. The lawyer -then asked him when and how he disposed of it. He -could not at first recall, but Mrs. La Barge remembered -the circumstances and related them to the lawyer, at -the same time remarking to her husband that that was -the way they got their horse to set themselves up on -the farm with. The lawyer then assured La Barge -that the title to this property was still in him, and that -he could hold it against all comers, for there was absolutely -no record of the conveyance in existence. The -old gentleman, with a look of indignation, asked the -lawyer if he took him for a thief. “I traded that -land,” said he, “to Chauvin Lebeau for a horse, which -was worth more to me then than the land was. I shall -stand by the bargain now. If Chauvin Lebeau’s heirs -have no title, tell them to come to me and I will make -them a deed before I die.”</p> - -<p>Such are some of the glimpses we still have through -the mists of time of the father of Captain La -Barge.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">MOTHER OF CAPTAIN LA BARGE.</div> - -<p>On the maternal side he was likewise descended from<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">11</span> -creditable ancestry. Among the early mechanics in -the village of Fort de Chartres, near the mouth of the -Ohio River, when to be a mechanic was to be a leading -citizen, were Gabriel Dodier and Jean Baptiste -Becquet, blacksmiths. The younger of these two men, -Becquet, married the daughter of the other. They had -three children, the eldest being a daughter, Marguerite -Marianne. On the 27th of January, 1780, this daughter -was married to Joseph Alvarez Hortiz, who was the -son of François Alvarez and Bernada Hortiz, and was -born in the town of Lienira, in the Province of Estremadura, -Spain, in the year 1753. Alvarez was a private -soldier in the military service of Spain, and came to -St. Louis after Spanish authority had been established -there in 1770. He attained the rank of sergeant, and -being a man of some education, was for several years -detailed as military attaché to the Governor. He -finally became Secretary to the last two Spanish Governors, -Trudeau and Delassus, and had charge of the -public archives down to 1804. He had nine children, -of whom the eighth was a daughter, of the name of -Eulalie. This daughter was married to Joseph Marie -La Barge in St. Louis, August 13, 1813.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">HISTORIC DATA.</div> - -<p>The parents of Captain La Barge thus represented -the best traditions of French and Spanish occupancy -of the Mississippi Valley. Their marriage took place -after their country had become American territory,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">12</span> -and their offspring, the subject of our present inquiries, -was born an American citizen.<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">5</a></p> - -<hr /> - -<div id="chap_13" class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">13</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH.</span></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="firstword">Joseph La Barge</span>, son of Joseph Marie La Barge -and Eulalie Hortiz, was born in St. Louis, October 1, -1815. He was the second child in a family of seven -children, three boys and four girls, who all grew to -adult years. The two brothers were Charles S., who -was killed in a steamboat explosion in 1852, and John -B., who dropped dead at the wheel in 1885 while making -a steamboat landing at Bismarck, N. D.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">INDIAN AND INFANT.</div> - -<p>Soon after the birth of Captain La Barge the parents -moved to the newly acquired farm in Baden. There is -but one incident relating to the young child while living -here that need detain us. Although this place was -distant only six miles from where the courthouse of -St. Louis now stands, it was at that time unsettled -and uncleared, and Indians not infrequently roamed -in the vicinity. The Sac and Fox tribes were particularly -troublesome, and many were the outrages which -they committed upon the isolated settlement. The -incident in question occurred one day just before the -father had started on his usual trip to town. He was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">14</span> -loading his cart at some distance from the garden, -where Mrs. La Barge had gone to dig some potatoes -to send to her mother in the village. Housewives in -those days seldom enjoyed the luxury of nurses, and -Mrs. La Barge was obliged to carry her child with her -into the garden. Depositing him between the rows of -potatoes, she was proceeding with her work, when -suddenly the house dog set up a cry of alarm. Looking -up, Mrs. La Barge was horrified to see an Indian -approaching. She uttered a scream and started -for the house, forgetting in the suddenness of her -alarm the baby in the garden. Meanwhile the father -had heard the dog’s bark and his wife’s screams, and -hastened to see what was the matter. His first question -was about the baby, and Mrs. La Barge, more -terrified than ever, rushed back to where she had left -him. Fortunately the dog had held the Indian at bay, -and when the father arrived, gun in hand, he beat a -prompt retreat. Captain La Barge’s father often reminded -him of this incident in after years, predicting -that he would always escape harm from the Indians, -for they had had their opportunity and had failed. In -his many experiences with the Indians throughout a -life spent in their country, he never suffered personal -injury at their hands, and came to have faith in his -father’s prediction.</p> - -<p>Captain La Barge was not yet two years old when<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">15</span> -the first steamboat came to St. Louis, nor four when -the first one entered the Missouri River. It is said -that his father used to take him to the river bank to -see these early boats, and that they always had a great -attraction for his youthful fancy. To be a steamboat -master was his ambition, and he spent much of his -time as a child in drawing boats and making models, -and thus unwittingly training himself for his after -career.</p> - -<p>The boy was a leader among his fellows, and an -expert in all youthful games practiced at the time. In -contests of skill among the boys of the village each side -was anxious to secure Joe La Barge. “He could -jump higher,” says one authority, “run faster, and -swim farther than any other lad in the town.”</p> - -<div class="sidenote">LAFAYETTE’S VISIT.</div> - -<div class="sidenote">BOTH FRENCHMEN.</div> - -<p>Among the noteworthy events of Captain La -Barge’s childhood, the memory of which clung by him -even in old age, was the visit of Lafayette to St. Louis -in 1825. This venerable patriot, whom, next to -Washington, Americans in that day delighted to honor, -arrived in St. Louis on board the steamer <i>Natchez</i>, at -9 A. M., May 29. He was met at the wharf by a -committee of leading citizens, and an address of welcome -was made by the Mayor, to which Lafayette -responded. He then entered a carriage with the -Mayor and Mr. Auguste Chouteau and Stephen Hempstead, -a soldier of the Revolution, and was driven to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">16</span> -the house of Mr. Pierre Chouteau, Sr., which had been -prepared for his reception. He was escorted by a -company of light horsemen, and also by a company of -uniformed boys, of whom Captain La Barge, then ten -years old, was one. The Captain always remembered -the venerable appearance of the General and his review -of the youthful troop. He shook hands with them, -indulged in the pleasant questions which age delights -to ask of youth, and doubtless himself took a keen -pleasure in the incident, because most of his youthful -auditors could reply in his own tongue.<a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">6</a></p> - -<p>An interesting sequel of Lafayette’s visit to St. -Louis occurred in that city in 1881, on the occasion of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">17</span> -the visit of Lafayette’s grandson with General Boulanger -and party, who had come to America to attend -the centennial celebration of the surrender of Yorktown. -Captain La Barge was sent for, to meet the -distinguished company at the Merchants’ Exchange. -When introduced to the members of the party, the -grandson of Lafayette came forward, and taking La -Barge by both hands, looked at him a moment and -said: “You have seen one whom I wish it were my -lot to have seen, and that is my revered grandfather.” -He cordially urged the Captain to come to his home -if he should ever visit France, and in other ways -showed an almost affectionate interest in this individual -who had once, though but a boy, beheld the face -of his distinguished ancestor.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">EARLY SCHOOLING.</div> - -<p>Captain La Barge’s schooling was necessarily very -limited, for the educational facilities of St. Louis in -those days were of a truly primitive order. He first -went to a schoolmaster of considerable local renown, -Jean Baptiste Trudeau, at the latter’s private residence -on Pine Street, between Main and Second. Here he -studied the common branches, all in French. He went -for a time to Salmon Giddings, founder of the First -Presbyterian Church, in St. Louis, and later to a more -pretentious school kept by Elihu H. Shephard, an -excellent teacher. At both of these schools instruction -was given in English. Captain La Barge’s<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">18</span> -parents foresaw that their native tongue could not -long survive in common use, and felt it to be their duty -to equip their son, so far as their slender means would -permit, with the language of his country. The pupil -found the task a tedious one, and was a long while in -mastering it. He never forgot the almost insurmountable -obstacle he found in the English “th.” He used -his native language in common intercourse down to -nearly 1850, and retained a fluent command of it to his -death. He also acquired a very perfect command of -English, in which there was no trace of foreign accent, -but in which the mellowing influence of the softer -tongue had produced a modulation of the voice that -was very pleasant to listen to.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">IN COLLEGE.</div> - -<p>In 1819 there was established in Perry County, -Mo., a Catholic School, St. Mary’s College. Young -La Barge was sent there at the age of twelve, and -remained three years. On their way to the college -himself and father traveled by the steamer <i>Tuscumbia</i>. -It was Captain La Barge’s first ride in a kind of boat -with which most of his after life was to be connected. -The desire of the young man’s parents was to educate -their son for the priesthood, and his course at college -was shaped somewhat to that end. But the boy did -not fall in with their plans, as his tastes ran in a different -direction. He did not finish the course, for his -career at the school was summarily cut short by a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">19</span> -delinquency which is the only one we have to record -in a life of more than fourscore years. He became -involved in intrigues with young women to an extent -which barred him from a further continuation of his -course.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">IN HARD LUCK.</div> - -<p>Associated with him in this unfortunate episode was -Edward Liguest Chouteau, a youth of about the same -age as himself. The young men walked to St. Genevieve, -on the Mississippi. Chouteau was without -funds, and La Barge nearly so, having scarcely the -amount of a single steamboat fare to St. Louis. -They found the <i>De Witt Clinton</i> at the bank on her -way up the river. La Barge told the captain of the -boat the straight story of their misfortune: that they -had only enough money for a single fare to St. Louis, -and would have to walk unless they could make some -arrangement with him. He laughed, and told them -to get on board and he would see them home. This -incident, in which the two young men were companions -in misfortune, was not forgotten by either, and we -shall have occasion to refer to it again in the course -of this narrative.</p> - -<p>After La Barge left college his father placed him in -the office of John Bent, a leading lawyer of St. Louis, -and one of the noted Bent brothers. He soon became -disgusted with his new situation on account of his -preceptor’s habit of excessive drink. He then went<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">20</span> -into a clothing store, and after remaining about a year, -left that.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">ATTRACTIONS OF THE FUR TRADE.</div> - -<p>The restless ambition of the young man was now -directed toward a kind of life which, in every portion -of the country, has filled up the period between discovery -and settlement—the business of the fur trade. -At this particular time it was the only business carried -on in the trans-Mississippi territory beyond the few -scattering settlements along the lower Missouri. -Large parties of hunters and trappers remained constantly -in the wilderness, wandering all over those vast -regions in quest of beaver and other fur. Each spring -expeditions set out for various points in the Far West -from Santa Fe to the British boundary, carrying supplies -and recruits and bringing back the furs collected -during the previous year. The great bulk of this -business was done along the Missouri River, where -trading posts were established throughout the entire -valley. The annual journeys to these posts were always -made by water. In the keelboat days they consumed -an entire summer, but after the steamboat came -they were completed by the middle of July.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">CHOICE OF CAREER.</div> - -<p>From its very nature this business was one of adventure -and excitement, and particularly attractive to -those who were fond of an independent and out-of-door -life. We can but faintly imagine at this day how -strong was the attraction for youth in this wild life.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">21</span> -Now it is considered a great piece of good luck for a -boy to get on a common surveying party in the mountains, -where he may see something of the wildness of -nature, and perhaps catch sight of some surviving -specimens of the larger game. In those days a trip -to the mountains meant adventure of the genuine sort—absence -from civilization, ever-present danger from -the Indians, game of all kinds in abundance, and the -grandeur and beauty of nature in a region still unknown -except to a very few.</p> - -<p>Being now at the impressionable age of sixteen, -young La Barge became infatuated with the tales of -adventure related by those who came back every year -from the distant mountains. He told his father that, -for the present, his mind was made up. He would -join one of the fur-trade expeditions and see something -of the Indian country. This decision met a -responsive chord in the adventurous nature of the -father, who said he had no objection if the mother -were willing. The matter was laid before her, and -after much entreaty and expostulation, her consent -was secured. This was in the year 1831.</p> - -<hr /> - -<div id="chap_22" class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">22</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">ENTERS THE FUR TRADE.</span></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="firstword">Captain La Barge</span> did not immediately find an -opportunity to visit the Indian country. The annual -expeditions for the year had all gone. The <i>Yellowstone</i> -was already far away on her historic first trip up -the Missouri for the American Fur Company, and -nothing was left for the impatient youth but to await -a later opportunity. When the <i>Yellowstone</i> returned -from her voyage, she was sent down the Mississippi to -pass the time until the following spring in the Bayou -la Fourche sugar trade. La Barge was engaged as -second clerk on this voyage and found himself in constant -demand as interpreter during the winter. The -people of the Bayou la Fourche district spoke only -French, which most of the officers of the boat did not -understand. La Barge, who knew both French and -English well, was of great use in carrying on the -trade.</p> - -<p>In the spring of 1832 the <i>Yellowstone</i> returned to -St. Louis to prepare for her second voyage up the -Missouri. This boat had been built as an experiment,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">23</span> -to determine if it would be practicable to substitute -steamboats for keelboats in the trade of the upper -river. In the summer of 1831 she had gone as far as -Fort Tecumseh, which stood on the opposite shore -from the present capital of South Dakota. It was now -proposed to take her as far as the mouth of the <i>Yellowstone</i>. -The attempt was completely successful, and -the voyage has ever since been considered one of the -landmarks of the early history of the West.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">ENTERS AMERICAN FUR COMPANY SERVICE.</div> - -<p>Although La Barge was only in his seventeenth -year he signed a contract binding himself to the service -of the American Fur Company, as voyageur, -engagé, or clerk, for a period of three years, at a -salary of seven hundred dollars for the whole time.<a id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">7</a> -He did not go as part of the boat’s crew, but as an -employee of one of the posts. No place was specified -in his engagement, but his assignment was left to the -bourgeois of the different posts, who came down to -the boat when it arrived, looked over the new engagés, -and selected such as they thought would suit -them. Young La Barge was a promising-looking lad, -and did not get above Council Bluffs, where he was -taken off and put to work at Cabanné’s post, a few -miles above the modern city of Omaha.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">24</span></p> - -<div class="sidenote">BATTLE OF BAD AXE.</div> - -<p>When the <i>Yellowstone</i> returned from Fort Union, -John P. Cabanné, the bourgeois in charge of the post, -went down to St. Louis and took La Barge with him. -While waiting to return to the upper country the -young engagé took temporary service on the steamboat -<i>Warrior</i>, Captain Throckmorton, bound for the seat -of the Blackhawk, or Sac and Fox, war. She was -loaded with government stores for Prairie du Chien, -and La Barge went along in some subordinate capacity. -It happened that she arrived at the scene of -the Battle of Bad Axe just as that decisive conflict -was going on. Captain Throckmorton saw a number -of Indians trying to make their escape by swimming -the river and he fired into them, killing several. -They proved to be all women, and the over-zealous -captain long had reason to regret his hasty action. -After this adventure the <i>Warrior</i> returned to St. -Louis.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">CABANNÉ AND LECLERC.</div> - -<p>When Cabanné went back to his post at the Council -Bluffs young La Barge went with him to commence in -earnest his life in the Indian country. His initiation -into the business of the fur trade was such as to leave -a lasting impression on his mind. He had not been -at Cabanné’s post very long when he had a lively experience -of the evils of competition in that business, -and of the extreme measures to which unrestrained -rivalry sometimes led. Narcisse Leclerc, at one time<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">25</span> -an employee of the American Fur Company, had -saved a little means, which certain parties in St. Louis -eked out to a respectable sum, and he resolved to go -into the trading business on his own and their account. -Under the style of the Northwest Fur Company he -carried on a prosperous trade in a small way for two -or three seasons. The American Fur Company, -jealous of all opposition, always treated these petty -rivals with the utmost severity, and, if possible, -crushed them by sheer force. When it could not do -this it bought them out. Leclerc, who was a shrewd -fellow, and as unscrupulous as any of the company’s -agents, had developed staying qualities which caused -the company a good deal of uneasiness. He went up -the river in the autumn of 1832 with a larger outfit -than ever, and the company determined that something -must be done to arrest his career. The problem -was left for Cabanné to solve, and he was given authority, -as a last resort, to offer Leclerc outright a -thousand dollars if he would not carry his trade up -the river beyond a specified point.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">RUDE INITIATION.</div> - -<p>Circumstances, however, threw in Cabanné’s way -what he considered a better means of dealing with -Leclerc. Congress had lately passed a law prohibiting -the importation of liquor into the Indian country. -Cabanné found out in some way that Leclerc had -smuggled a considerable quantity past the military authorities<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">26</span> -at Leavenworth. Here was his opportunity. -He would stop the expedition, and confiscate the property -on the ground that Leclerc was violating the law -of the land. It did not seem to occur to him that the -enforcement of the law is intrusted to duly constituted -officials, and that he, not being one of these, could -not legally do more than inform against Leclerc. He -did not trouble himself about fine distinctions of that -sort. Exultantly he wrote to the house in St. Louis: -“Have no fear; leave the matter to me, and I will -make our incapable adversary bite the dust.”</p> - -<p>Cabanné laid his plans well for the capture of Leclerc’s -outfit. As soon as the boat passed his post he -organized a party under charge of Peter A. Sarpy, -clerk at the post, to go and arrest Leclerc. Sarpy -picked out about a dozen men, among whom was the -new engagé, La Barge. They were all well armed -and carried besides a small cannon. Going to a point -near old Fort Lisa, where the channel of the river -came in close to a high impending bank, Sarpy stationed -his men there and awaited Leclerc’s arrival. -At the proper time, when the voyageurs were cordelling -the boat along a sandbar just opposite, scarcely -a hundred yards off, he ordered Leclerc’s party to surrender -or he would “blow everything out of the -water.” Although Leclerc had some thirty men, they -were mostly unarmed, and could make no effective<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">27</span> -resistance. They surrendered, and the whole outfit -returned to Cabanné’s post, where the liquor was confiscated -and the expedition broken up.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">SERIOUS COMPLICA­TIONS.</div> - -<p>This drastic measure came near proving fatal to -the company’s business upon the river. Leclerc immediately -returned to St. Louis, where he began suit -against the company and lodged a criminal complaint -against Cabanné. The matter bore a very serious -aspect for a time. It was with the utmost difficulty, -and with an evident resort to misrepresentation, that -the company’s license was saved; and doubtless it -would have been revoked but for the influence of Senator -Thomas H. Benton. As it was, it cost the company -a large sum of money, increased the public distrust -of this powerful concern, and banished Cabanné, -one of its most efficient servants, permanently from -the country.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">THE PAWNEES.</div> - -<p>At Cabanné’s post La Barge was employed in the -various duties of engagé, and was frequently sent out -to surrounding bands of Indians with small outfits of -merchandise to trade for their furs. His most interesting -and valuable experience in this line was with the -Pawnees, who resided on the Loup Fork of the Platte, -about one hundred miles west of the Missouri. They -were what are called permanent village Indians; that -is, they had fixed villages made of large, strong -houses, where they regularly lived; while many of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">28</span> -tribes, like the Sioux, Crows, and Blackfeet, lived only -in tents, and were always moving from one place to -another. The Pawnees, it is true, roved about a great -deal on their hunting and war expeditions, but they -had a fixed place of abode to which they always returned -from their wanderings. Their houses were -circular in form and quite large, being sometimes sixty -feet in diameter, and, to judge from pictures of them, -resembled in appearance, when seen from a distance, -a group of oil tanks in a modern petroleum district.</p> - -<p>Near to their villages the Pawnees cultivated extensive -fields of maize or Indian corn. After the -spring planting was over they generally went on long -excursions to hunt buffalo, to make war, or to secure -wood and other materials for the village. Their cornfields -were left to shift for themselves during this -period, and their enemies sometimes took advantage of -this fact; but on the whole the latter were very cautious -about what they did, for they knew that the wily -Pawnee would learn who the robbers were and would -not fail to exact full retribution. When the corn was -ripe the Indians gathered it and remained in their villages -a considerable part of the winter. Their business, -however, compelled them at this season to make their -hunts for robes and furs, which were salable only -when taken during the cold weather. When the skins -were brought into the villages the squaws took them,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">29</span> -scraped them down, rubbed them with brains or pork, -and otherwise manipulated them until they were soft -and flexible and ready for the trade.</p> - -<p>The custom of the traders was to send over from -their posts near the old Council Bluffs one or more -clerks, with a few men and the necessary merchandise, -to reside in the villages until the trade was over. The -clerk generally lived in the lodge of the principal chief, -kept his goods there, and also such furs as were received -in trade. After the season’s business was over -the furs were loaded into bullboats, in which they were -floated down the Loup and the Platte rivers to the -Missouri. Here they were reshipped in large cargoes -to St. Louis.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">LA BARGE WITH THE PAWNEES.</div> - -<p>It was on a business of this kind that young La -Barge spent his first winter in the Indian country—1832–33. -His party consisted of four men, who, with -the merchandise, were accommodated in the lodge of -the chief Big Axe. Here they settled down to -genuine Indian life—not half so uninteresting and repulsive -as one might be disposed to think. The business -of the trade, the ceremonials, the games and gambling, -and the never-failing attractions of the gentler -sex, which, one may easily believe, are as potent in -the wilderness as in the city, all operated to make the -time pass agreeably during the long and severe winters. -The huts were very comfortable, and Captain<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">30</span> -La Barge always remembered them as the coolest -habitations in summer and the warmest in winter of -any that he had ever occupied. He noted as a remarkable -peculiarity that mosquitoes never entered -them.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">LEARNING PAWNEE LANGUAGE.</div> - -<p>During his winter sojourn among the Pawnees La -Barge applied himself assiduously to learning their -language. The interpreter would give him words and -sentences in Pawnee and he would write them down -and learn them. He practically mastered the language -in the course of the winter, to the great astonishment -of the natives and even of the whites. To the Indians -the process of writing was a great curiosity, a “big -medicine,” and when they saw young La Barge write -down something and then read it off, they would put -their hands to their mouths in their characteristic -manner of expressing wonder.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">THE CROW PRISONER.</div> - -<p>There were numerous Indian scares during the -winter, and Captain La Barge fully expected to see -something of Indian warfare before he left the villages, -but nothing of the sort actually occurred. In -the spring of 1833, before he left for the Missouri, -Major John Dougherty, Indian agent residing at -Bellevue, about ten miles below the modern city of -Omaha, arrived at the villages for the purpose of ransoming -a female prisoner of the Crow nation, who had -been sentenced to be burned at the stake. He prevailed,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">31</span> -through Big Axe, chief of the Pawnee Loups, -upon having her given up on payment of the ransom. -He then started back with her to Bellevue, accompanied -by an escort, until at a safe distance from the -villages. When about ten miles on their way they -were overtaken by a Pawnee chief, Spotted Horse, -who came riding up at a gallop, and when opposite -the woman, shot an arrow through her heart.</p> - -<p>When the high water of spring arrived the furs -were loaded into bullboats and shipped down to the -mouth of the Platte. La Barge returned to Cabanné’s, -and after a short time started for St. Louis -with a fleet of mackinaw boats loaded with furs. He -reached St. Louis in the latter part of May, 1833.</p> - -<hr /> - -<div id="chap_32" class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">32</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">CHOLERA ON THE “YELLOWSTONE.”</span></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="firstword">Before</span> La Barge arrived in St. Louis the company -had dispatched two boats to the upper river—the -<i>Yellowstone</i> and the <i>Assiniboine</i>. The voyage of 1833 -is particularly noteworthy as the one on which Prince -Maximilian of Wied made his celebrated visit to the -upper Missouri—a visit which has done more than -any other one thing to preserve a true picture of those -early times. The <i>Yellowstone</i> went only as far as Fort -Pierre, whence she returned immediately, and as soon -as another cargo could be shipped, started on a trip -to Council Bluffs.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">CHOLERA ON THE “YELLOW­STONE.”</div> - -<p>Captain La Barge went back up the river on this -second trip of the <i>Yellowstone</i> to return to his post. It -proved to be a most trying and pathetic voyage. The -cholera, which was then epidemic throughout the -country, broke out with great virulence on the boat, -and so many of the crew died that Captain Bennett -was forced to stop at the mouth of the Kansas River -until he could go back to St. Louis for a crew. His -pilot and most of his sub-officers were dead, and he<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">33</span> -was compelled to leave the boat in care of young La -Barge, who thus began his career as a steamboat man -on the Missouri. His several voyages had given him -considerable knowledge of the art of handling these -boats, and he had no misgivings in being left in charge, -except the fear that the cholera might take him off. -It was a very trying moment. Captain Bennett, when -he started back to St. Louis, cried like a child. The -terrible power of the disease unstrung everyone’s -nerves. Victims often died within two hours after -being attacked, and no one knew when his turn would -come.</p> - -<p>Scarcely had Captain Bennett left when a new difficulty -arose. The “graybacks,” as the scattered -population of western Missouri were then called, having -learned that the <i>Yellowstone</i> had cholera on board, -organized themselves into a <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">pro tempore</i> State board -of health and ordered Captain La Barge to take the -boat out of the State, or they would burn her up. The -engineer and firemen were dead, so Captain La Barge -fired up himself, and, acting as pilot, engineer, and -all, succeeded in getting the boat above the mouth -of the Kansas and on the west shore of the river, outside -the jurisdiction of the State of Missouri.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">A FRIEND IN NEED.</div> - -<p>The <i>Yellowstone</i> had a quantity of goods on board -consigned to Cyprian Chouteau’s trading post, which -was located some ten miles up the Kansas River.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">34</span> -Captain Bennett had directed La Barge to turn over -these goods to the consignees during his absence. Accordingly, -at the first opportunity, he set off alone on -foot to find the trading post and tell Mr. Chouteau -to come and get his goods. When about a mile from -the post he was met by a man who had been stationed -there to watch for anyone coming from the Missouri. -The news of the cholera was abroad and the lonely -post had quarantined itself against the civilized world. -The man would not permit La Barge to come nearer, -and threatened to shoot him if he persisted. La -Barge agreed to stay where he was if the man would -return to the post and carry his message to Chouteau. -This was done, and Chouteau sent back word to store -the goods on the bank and leave them there. It was -now too late to return to the boat that night after -a fatiguing day’s work, and La Barge would have had -to go supperless and coverless to sleep but for the -kind offices of his old college chum and former companion -in misfortune, Edward Liguest Chouteau, who -happened to be at the post. Hearing of La Barge’s -situation, he went to find him. He reached his friend’s -bivouac about midnight and found him trying to pass -the night in some comfort around a large bonfire. He -brought something to eat and a large buffalo robe -to sleep on, and La Barge got through the remainder -of the night very well.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">35</span></p> - -<div class="sidenote">DISTRESS SIGNAL UNANSWERED.</div> - -<p>While the <i>Yellowstone</i> was lying above the mouth -of the Kansas the <i>Assiniboine</i> passed down on her return -trip.<a id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">8</a> La Barge signaled for assistance, but Captain -Pratt would not stop. “It was pretty hard,” -observed the captain, in narrating this affair. “I -never refused to answer a distress signal, even if the -boat were engaged in the strongest opposition; but -our two boats were in the same trade, bound to assist -each other, and yet we were left there alone in the -severest straits, with no idea when we should be -relieved.”</p> - -<div class="sidenote">BURIALS ALONG THE MISSOURI.</div> - -<p>When asked how these grave dangers, which were -more or less his portion through life, affected him, -Captain La Barge replied that, if in idleness and given -time to think about them, they always depressed and -in a measure unnerved him; but he was generally -actively engaged, and the interest in his work and the -responsibility resting upon him caused him to forget -the danger. Violence and death were a familiar feature -of the life in which he was engaged, and to some -extent he became hardened to them. Speaking of the -great number of deaths along the river, the Captain<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">36</span> -shook his head reflectively as he told of the many -burials that it had been his lot to make. “There is -a spot just below Kansas City—I could point it out -now,” he said, “where I buried eight cholera victims -in one grave. I could easily name a hundred localities -along the river where I have buried passengers or -crew. I generally sought some elevated ground for -this purpose, which the ravages of the river could not -reach. The graves were marked, if at all, with -wooden head-boards, for there was generally no other -material at hand, and if there were, time did not permit -the use of it. It will never be known, and cannot -now even be conjectured, how many of these forgotten -graves there are, but enough to make the -shores of the Missouri River one continuous cemetery -from its source to its mouth. Were every white -man’s grave along that stream distinctly marked, the -voyageur would never be out of sight of these pathetic -reminders of futile contests with the universal -enemy. But, alas! no mark remains upon any but a -very few, and the names of those who are buried in -them are forever wrapped in oblivion.”</p> - -<p>After a long delay Captain Bennett returned with -a crew on the steamboat <i>Otto</i>, Captain James Hill, an -opposition boat in the service of Sublette & Campbell. -This was the year when Sublette & Campbell made -such a strong show of competition with the American<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">37</span> -Fur Company.<a id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">9</a> Sublette himself was on board the -<i>Otto</i> at the time. As soon as Captain Bennett resumed -charge of the <i>Yellowstone</i> the boat proceeded on her -way and reached Cabanné’s post in August.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">IN THE PAWNEE CORNFIELDS.</div> - -<p>Cabanné having been expelled from the Indian country, -the post had a new bourgeois, Joshua Pilcher, a -man of long experience in the Indian country, and -former president of the Missouri Fur Company. Late -in the month of August Pilcher sent La Barge with -a small outfit of goods to the Pawnee villages to buy -some buffalo meat. La Barge packed his goods on -five horses and set out. He found the Pawnees still -absent, and as war parties of their enemies might -be lurking around the vacant villages, he thought it -prudent to await at a distance the return of the Indians. -In the meanwhile his party ran out of provisions, and -their situation was becoming serious when La Barge -decided to go and get corn enough from the fields to -last them until the Pawnees should return. He went -with another man, and they soon loaded themselves -with ears and returned to camp. This process continued -successfully for several days, great pains being -taken to levy tribute uniformly throughout the cornfield, -so that the Indians might not detect the loss.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">38</span> -They were not skillful enough in this, however, and -finally had to pay for the corn.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">STANDING OFF THE SIOUX.</div> - -<p>On the fourth day of their foraging expeditions they -were discovered by a small war party of Sioux about -a mile off. They took to flight, and tried to infuse -some life into their mules, but the stolid animals would -not hurry. This was particularly the case with La -Barge’s mule, which could scarcely be driven into a -slow gallop. La Barge saw that at the rate they -were going they would surely be cut off, and he told -his companion, who had the best mule, to hurry to -camp for help, and he would stand the Indians off with -his rifle. The companion did not like to do this, but -La Barge insisted. He felt comparatively safe for -a short time, for he was in a perfectly open plain, -where it was impossible for the Indians to approach -under cover. Whenever they drew too near he would -level his rifle at them and they would venture no further. -In the meanwhile he kept moving on toward -camp, and soon had the pleasure of seeing his companion -riding up at full speed with re-enforcements.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">COMPLI­MENT­ARY OFFER.</div> - -<p>When the Pawnees returned La Barge bought a -good supply of meat and took it to Cabanné’s. There -he found that veteran mountaineer, Etienne Provost, -who at that time probably knew the western country -better than any other living man. He had just come -in for the purpose of guiding Fontenelle and Drips,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">39</span> -partners in the American Fur Company mountain -service, and owners of the trading post at Bellevue, -to the Bayou Salade (South Park, Colorado), where -they intended to spend the winter trapping beaver. -Provost heard of La Barge’s adventure and complimented -him very warmly upon it. He was now an -old man, but he came up to La Barge, took him by -both hands, and said to him: “I am glad you did not -show the white feather to those rascals. You are the -kind of man for this country. I am going to ask -Major Pilcher to let you go with me. I have need -of such men.” La Barge was very anxious to go, -filled as he was then with the thirst of youth for adventure. -But Major Pilcher needed his services and -would not consent. Pilcher was very kind to La -Barge, even permitting him to eat at his table—a great -concession, for none of the employees were allowed -to eat with the bourgeois of the post unless it was so -stipulated in their contract of service. Pilcher took -a special pride in his young engagé, and tried to put -opportunities for distinction in his way.</p> - -<hr /> - -<div id="chap_40" class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">40</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">FURTHER SERVICE AT CABANNÉ’S.</span></h2> -</div> - -<div class="sidenote">METEORIC SHOWER.</div> - -<p>In November, 1833, Pilcher sent La Barge down -to a small trading post at the mouth of the Nishnabotna -(river where they make canoes), kept by -Francis Duroins for the convenience of a local band -of Indians. La Barge’s mission was to take two -twenty-gallon kegs of alcohol to Duroins. He was -accompanied by a half-blood Indian, and they made -the trip in a canoe. The first night they encamped -on Trudeau Island, about two and a half miles above -the mouth of the Weeping Water River. This island -was named after Zenon Trudeau, a trader, brother -of the noted schoolmaster, Joseph Trudeau, and was -later called Hurricane Island, from the circumstance -of its having been swept by a tornado. It has since -been entirely washed away. This was the night of -the ever-to-be-remembered meteoric shower of 1833. -La Barge was awaked from his sleep by the brilliant -light, and, though not apprehensive of any impending -calamity, was naturally awe-struck at the extraordinary -display. The meteors were flying, as it seemed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">41</span> -to him, in all directions, and their number and -brilliancy made the night as light as day. The half-breed -companion was absolutely panic-stricken, and -declared that the day of doom was at hand. But he -did not forget, in his fright, the divine injunction to -“eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.” Rolling himself -up in his blanket, he besought La Barge to open -the keg of alcohol and let him meet his fate as became -a man in that wild and lawless country.</p> - -<p>As nearly as La Barge could recall, the heavier part -of the shower lasted about two hours. A singular -incident occurred early in its duration. A deer which -had become frightened at the unusual sight came -bounding through the undergrowth and plunged directly -into camp, coming to a dead halt scarcely six -paces from where La Barge was sitting. He seized -a shotgun and killed it with a load of buckshot.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">THE EXPRESS.</div> - -<p>In January, 1834, the winter express came up from -St. Louis. The express was a matter of great importance -in the early fur trade. It was sent from St. -Louis every winter to all the posts. Usually an express -started downstream from the upper posts before -the arrival of that from below. They generally met -at Fort Pierre, exchanged dispatches, and each made -the return trip from that point. By means of the express -an interchange of views was had between the -house in St. Louis and the partners in the field; and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">42</span> -the latter were able to send down statements of business, -requisitions for supplies, with information as to -the prospects for the ensuing season’s trade at the -upper posts, and the condition of snow in the mountains. -The carrying of the express was a matter of -great danger and hardship. It was generally done in -the dead of winter. Between Pierre and St. Louis it -was carried on horseback; above Pierre on dogsleds. -The packages were put up with the most scrupulous -care, and were intrusted only to those in whom the -company had absolute confidence. The bearers were -not permitted to carry anything else, nor to do errands -for others, but were required to attend to the -express only. The chief danger on the long journey -was from the cold, for at this season the Indians were -not dangerous, being generally huddled together in -their villages for the winter. The route above Bellevue -was along the west shore to opposite Vermillion, -where it crossed the river and remained on the east -shore the rest of the way until opposite Fort Pierre.</p> - -<p>Captain La Barge’s father brought up the express -from St. Louis in the winter of 1834. He was to -return from Cabanné’s post, and Pilcher was to provide -for its carriage the rest of the way. A few days -before his arrival a brutal murder occurred at the -post. A half-breed named Pinaud, while in a state -of drunkenness, shot and killed a white man named<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">43</span> -Blair. Both of the men were hunters for the post. -Pilcher immediately put Pinaud in irons, to be held -until he could be sent to St. Louis for trial. When -the elder La Barge arrived Pilcher asked him if he -would undertake to deliver the prisoner to the United -States authorities in St. Louis. He agreed to try it. -When ready to start he requested Pilcher to remove -the irons and put Pinaud on a mule. This astonished -Pilcher a good deal, but La Barge explained that -the man could ride better with the free use of his -limbs, which was also necessary to keep him from -freezing to death. He said he could catch him if he -undertook to run, for the mule was no match in speed -for his horse. He would take the irons and put them -on in camp.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE.</div> - -<p>The prisoner was delivered in due time to the proper -authorities in St. Louis, where he was held for trial. -And now ensued one of those miscarriages, or rather -travesties, of justice which marked the entire history -of the American Fur Company on the Missouri River. -Although Pinaud’s crime was a cold-blooded and -causeless murder, it was nevertheless of vital importance -that he be acquitted; otherwise it would bring -out the fact that the Company was violating the Federal -statutes by selling liquor at its posts. The company -therefore took good care that none of the people -from the upper country who were conversant with the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">44</span> -facts should be in St. Louis when the trial came off. -The prosecution, consequently, could produce no witnesses, -and the man was acquitted.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">LA BARGE CARRIES EXPRESS.</div> - -<p>Two or three days after the elder La Barge left -Cabanné’s post for St. Louis, Pilcher summoned young -La Barge to him and asked him to take the express to -Pierre. “There are old voyageurs here whom I can -send,” he said, “but I can’t trust them. I want you -to go. What do you say to it?”</p> - -<p>“Well, Major,” La Barge replied, “I have never -been as far above this post in my life, but if you have -confidence in me I think I can get through.”</p> - -<p>“I believe you will,” said the Major. “I will trust -you, at any rate. Get ready and you shall have the -best horse in the post.”</p> - -<p>In fact Pilcher gave La Barge his own horse, a very -fine animal. Captain La Barge made ready and set -out alone in a country entirely new to him, uninhabited -by white men, and now buried in the embrace of -a northern winter. He took a few pounds of hard -bread and a few ears of corn to parch, but for the rest -subsisted on game. He followed the foot of the -bluffs as far as possible, and in due time reached Fort -Pierre. Fortunately, the day after his arrival the express -from Fort Union came in. Exchanges were -made, and after a short rest La Barge set out on his -return trip. He reached Cabanné in good time.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">45</span> -The exploit gratified Pilcher highly, and he said to -La Barge, “I knew I had made no mistake.”</p> - -<div class="sidenote">A MOMENTARY FRIGHT.</div> - -<p>Captain La Barge recalled only two incidents on this -trip: He saw one day, what he never saw before nor -afterward, although he had heard hunters and Indians -relate similar experiences, two dead elk whose horns -had become interlocked in fighting, and who had died -bound together in that way. While in camp one night, -just above Vermillion, he had a good fire of dry cottonwood -and willows, and was roasting a prairie -chicken in the flame. Happening to look up, he saw -four gray wolves only a little way off on the opposite -side of the fire, looking steadily at him. He was almost -paralyzed at the sight, but nevertheless did not -leave his place, but quietly got his gun and pistols convenient -for action and sat still and watched his visitors. -After looking at him a few minutes, and concluding, -apparently, that he was not the kind of game -they were after, they withdrew.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">AFTER HORSE THIEVES.</div> - -<p>In the month of April, 1834, La Barge was sent -with a party under one La Chapelle to go to the Pawnees -and bring down the bullboats with the winter’s -trade. They were detained several days at the Pawnee -Loup village, waiting for some of the Indians to come -in. During this delay a band of horse-stealing Sioux -slipped into the village one stormy night, and, opening -the corrals, let out some sixty head of horses and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">46</span> -got away without waking anybody up. When the -theft was discovered the following morning the chief -called for volunteers to go in pursuit. Some seventy-five -men started, and with them La Barge and a companion -named Bercier. La Barge had never had an -experience of this sort, and thought the present opportunity -a good one. On the second evening after -their departure they discovered the thieves and their -horses encamped on the Elkhorn River. There were -about fifteen of the Indians. The pursuers carefully -reconnoitered the position, and next morning at daybreak -attacked it, killing eleven of the Indians and -capturing all of the horses. The man Bercier, who -accompanied La Barge, met death at the hand of -another tribe of Indians thirty-one years afterward. -In 1865 he went up the Missouri with Captain La -Barge to Fort Benton, and was killed by the Blackfeet -on the Teton River near that post.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">RATTLE­SNAKES.</div> - -<p>On their way down the Platte from the Pawnees, -on this trip, the party were greatly annoyed by rattlesnakes -at the camps on shore. If they made camp -before dark they carefully scoured the entire neighborhood -and killed or drove off these dangerous reptiles. -But they often kept on the river as long as they -could see, and on such occasions could not take the -usual precaution. The snakes were not pugnacious, -and sought the camp only because of the warm nestling<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">47</span> -places they found there. They liked to creep into -or under the blankets, and the great danger was that -when the occupant of the bed awoke he might step on -or otherwise hurt the snakes and cause them to strike -before he was conscious of their presence. On one -occasion Captain La Barge found two of these snakes -under his coat, which he had folded and used for a -pillow. In some places they were so numerous as to -cause the Indians to move their camps. An instance -of this kind occurred at Red Cloud, below what is now -Chamberlain, S. D., where the site of the agency had to -be changed. As late as 1883, when Captain La Barge -was pilot of a boat in the service of a United States -surveying party, he took some members of the party to -a point near the Bijoux hills, where he remembered -having seen long years before a colony of rattlesnakes. -Sure enough, there they were, still as thick as in -former days. The party killed 130 within a few -minutes. Captain La Barge could not recall a single -death from a rattlesnake bite in his whole experience -on the river. He stated that swine were the best -exterminators of these reptiles.</p> - -<p>As soon as the robes had been packed into mackinaw -boats at the mouth of the Platte, about the middle -of May, 1834, La Barge started for St. Louis. -This was the last of his service with Pilcher, for before -his return the Major had left the post for some more<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">48</span> -important business in St. Louis. He had taken a great -liking to the young engagé and undertook to secure -him a promotion. He sent down by La Barge a letter -of recommendation to Daniel Lamont, one of the -partners of the upper Missouri department of the -American Fur Company. Captain La Barge knew -nothing of the letter at the time. It eventually found -its way into the Chouteau archives, where it was discovered -by the author of this work and shown to Captain -La Barge sixty-two years after it was written. -It read as follows:</p> - -<div class="sidenote">LETTER OF RECOMMEND­ATION.</div> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p class="sigright"> -“<span class="smcap">Near the Bluffs</span>, May 16, 1834. -</p> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Dear Sir</span>: The bearer of this, Joseph La -Barge, wintered with me last winter, and has been -faithful, active, and enterprising. He wishes to get -a clerkship on the Missouri, but I have not employed -him for the reason that I have no use for him, nor do -I suppose that Mr. Chouteau will employ him for this -post, as I have informed him that there is no use for -additional clerks. La Barge writes a tolerably good -hand, and if you have any place for him above, I can -recommend him as a modest and good young man -who has done his duty here (as an engagé) very -faithfully, and I think him worthy of a better -situation.</p> - -<p class="sigright"> -<span class="l4">“Your friend,</span><br /> -“<span class="smcap">Joshua Pilcher</span>.” -</p></div> - -<hr /> - -<div id="chap_49" class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">49</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">LAST YEAR AT CABANNÉ’S.</span></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="firstword">After</span> a few weeks’ visit among his friends in St. -Louis in the spring of 1834 La Barge started back on -the steamer <i>Diana</i> for Cabanné’s post. Pilcher was -no longer in charge, having been succeeded by Peter -A. Sarpy. During his service under Sarpy La Barge -had an adventure which came near cutting off his -career on the river almost at its beginning. Late in -the fall of the year Sarpy sent him down to Bellevue -to take charge of a herd of horses which was being -wintered there for the mountain expeditions of Fontenelle -and Drips. There were about 150 horses in -the herd, and they were kept on the east side of the -river in the bottoms, where they subsisted mostly on -the bark of young cottonwood trees. This kind of -forage was extensively used in those days. It was an -excellent food and was liked by the stock. Instances -are recorded where they have taken it in preference to -grain. Horses throve well upon it, and it is related -that Kenneth McKenzie at Fort Union fed it exclusively -to his hunting stock.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">50</span></p> - -<div class="sidenote">HORSE WOOD.</div> - -<p>The method of preparing the bark for forage along -the Missouri River was as follows: The trees were -cut down and the trunk then cut into short logs three -or four feet long. In the winter time the bark was -frozen and had to be thawed out before using. To do -this the logs were stood up in front of a fire and turned -around gradually until the bark was warmed through. -It was then peeled off with drawknives and cut up into -small pieces, after which it was ready for food. It was -very essential that the bark be thawed out when fed, -for the sharp edges of the shavings were like knife -blades if frozen, and liable to cut the throats and -stomachs of the horses. Animals were occasionally -lost from this cause. After the logs had been stripped -of their bark they were split and piled on the river -bank, forming an excellent fuel for the next season’s -steamboat. Traders at the various posts were under -standing instructions to gather up the “horse wood” -in their vicinity and pile it on the bank of the river, -where it could be reached by the boats.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">INTO AN AIR HOLE.</div> - -<p>It was while engaged in this work of caring for -horses that La Barge had the adventure just alluded -to. It was mid-winter, 1834–35. The Missouri was -frozen deep, and a pathway led from the post at -Bellevue across the river on the ice to the east bottoms, -where the herd was kept. The path ran between -two large airholes through the ice—one just<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">51</span> -above and the other about a hundred yards below. -The weather was extremely cold, and there was every -indication of an approaching blizzard. Captain La -Barge wrapped himself in a blanket coat, held tight to -his body by a belt, and was armed with a rifle, tomahawk, -and knife. He experienced no difficulty in -crossing to the east shore, for the wind was behind his -back. But before he was ready to return the blizzard -was on in full force; the wind came from the west -obliquely across the river, and the drifting snow completely -obliterated the path. La Barge nevertheless -felt confident of crossing all right, for the distance -was short, and he knew the way so well that he felt as -if he could follow it blindfolded. In fact, that was -practically his present situation, for the wind drove -the snow into his face so violently that it was impossible -to look ahead. Getting his bearings as well as -he could, he started across on a slow run in face of the -blinding storm. It would seem in any case to have -been a reckless performance, considering the existence -of the airholes near the path; but La Barge was not -given to enlarging upon future dangers, and forged -boldly ahead. For once his confidence deceived him. -All of a sudden he plunged headlong into the river. He -instantly realized that he was in one of the air holes—but -which one? If the lower one, he was certainly -lost, for the swift current had borne him under the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">52</span> -ice before he came to the surface. If the upper hole, -he might float to the lower. But did the current flow -directly from one to the other, and would he be at -the top at the critical instant? All these questions and -many more flashed through his mind with the rapidity -of thought in the presence of imminent peril. He soon -rose to the surface and bumped the overlying ice. -Sinking and rising again he bumped the ice a second -time. The limit of endurance was almost reached, -when suddenly his head emerged into the open air. -Spreading out his hands, he caught the edge of the -ice. He held on until he could draw his knife, which -he plunged into the ice far enough to give him something -to pull against, and after much severe and -perilous exertion he drew himself out. He had stuck -to his rifle all the time without realizing the fact, and -came out as fully armed as when he went in.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">MIRACULOUS ESCAPE.</div> - -<p>But now a new peril awaited him. The storm was -at its height, the cold intense, and his clothing was -drenched through. The bath which he had received -had not chilled him in the least, for the water was -much warmer than the air outside, and his exertion -would have kept him warm anyway; but out in the -wind the chances were that he would freeze if he did -not quickly reach a fire. Hastily recovering his bearings, -he set out anew, and had the good fortune to -reach the post without any further delay.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">53</span></p> - -<p>It is needless to say that the inmates of the post -were slow to credit the Captain’s story, in spite of -the proof afforded by his frozen clothing. Martin -Dorion, one of the most respectable of the numerous -family of that name, said to La Barge, “Your time -hasn’t come yet. Your work remains to be done.” It -was not until after he had changed his clothing and -had settled down by a strong fire that the reaction -from the terrible strain came; but then for a little -while he felt as if he could not keep himself together.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">EXPERT SWIMMER.</div> - -<p>La Barge was an expert swimmer, having practiced -the art from childhood. He learned to swim in -the old Chouteau pond, which filled the hollow near -where the Union Station of St. Louis now stands. It -was not an uncommon feat for him in his younger -days to leap from a boat when he saw an elk or deer -crossing the river, outswim and catch it, hold on to -it until its feet touched the bottom, and then kill it -as it was ascending the bank.</p> - -<p>In the year 1850 La Barge was making a voyage -to the upper river on the steamer <i>St. Ange</i>. Mrs. La -Barge and some other ladies were on board. One day -a boy fell overboard from the forecastle. La Barge, -who happened to be near, instantly leaped in and -seized him, keeping him from the wheel (it was a sidewheel -boat), and got him to shore before the boat -could get there. A lady sitting on the deck with Mrs.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">54</span> -La Barge asked her if she was not alarmed when her -husband leaped overboard. She replied that she was -not in the least; that she knew Captain La Barge’s -qualities as a swimmer too well to doubt his ability -to rescue the boy.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">RECOVERING A YAWL.</div> - -<p>In the summer of 1838, when La Barge was serving -as pilot on the <i>Platte</i>, another incident occurred which -illustrated his skill as a swimmer. At a point some -twelve miles below Fort Leavenworth one of the guys -of the yawl derrick broke, precipitating the yawl into -the river. This craft was so essential to the steamboat -in navigating the Missouri River that its loss -would at any time be irreparable. The alarm was instantly -given that the yawl was overboard. Captain -La Barge was in his stateroom, but immediately hastened -to the stern of the boat, where he met Captain -Moore, the master. The latter said he had ordered -the steamboat to the shore and would send men down -the bank to try to recover the yawl. Captain La Barge -replied, “I will get the yawl; send some men down -to help me bring it back.” So saying, he plunged into -the river, overtook the yawl, and brought it to land -half a mile below the boat.</p> - -<p>In the spring of 1835 Captain La Barge went down, -as usual, with the mackinaws to St. Louis. This -terminated his three years’ engagement with the company. -He remained in St. Louis all summer except<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">55</span> -when absent on short river trips in the vicinity. In -the fall he went up the Missouri to the Black Snake -Hills (St. Joseph, Mo.), where he engaged for the -winter to the trader Robidoux, who was in charge. -Nothing of interest transpired, and in the spring he -returned to St. Louis.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">PRACTICAL APPRENTICE­SHIP.</div> - -<p>The next four years of Captain La Barge’s life -were a practical apprenticeship in the business which -he was to follow as a career. They were spent almost -entirely on the lower river in the various capacities -of clerk, pilot, and master on different boats. Not -many events of special note occurred, and the actual -voyages made are now somewhat uncertain. But the -experience was a useful one, and by the time it was -over the Captain had won a reputation as a pilot which -thereafter insured him continuous service.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">LEAVES AMERICAN FUR COMPANY SERVICE.</div> - -<p>The Captain’s first service during this time was as -assistant pilot on the steamer <i>St. Charles</i>, but the boat -was burned at Richmond landing, opposite Lexington, -Mo., July 2, 1836. He then engaged as pilot on -a new boat, the <i>Kansas</i>, and ran in the lower river -the rest of the season. In the spring of 1837 he -shipped as clerk on the steamboat <i>Boonville</i>, but this -boat was wrecked on a snag early in November near -the mouth of the Kansas River, and was lost with -a full cargo of government freight. In the spring of -1838 he went as pilot on the <i>Platte</i>, a boat built during<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">56</span> -the previous winter, and the first double-engine -boat that ever plied the river. He remained on this -boat for two years, mainly on the lower river. He -made but one trip to the far upper river, and started, -in the fall of 1838, for the Bayou la Fourche, to -spend the winter in the sugar trade. The boat had -gone scarcely thirty miles below St. Louis when she ran -upon a snag, which tore an immense hole in the bottom -and caused her to sink immediately. In the -spring of 1840 the Captain again entered the service -of the American Fur Company as pilot of the -steamer <i>Emily</i>, which was to make a trip to Fort -Union. Before the season was over the company -assigned him to work on a new steamboat, the -<i>Trapper</i>. For some reason the Captain did not like -this assignment and refused to accept it. This incensed -the company, who considered him bound to -serve wherever directed. Neither side would yield, -and the Captain forthwith left the service of the company.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">THE MORMONS.</div> - -<p>During these four years of apprenticeship several -incidents of interest occurred, some pertaining to the -local history of the country and others of a purely -personal character. Captain La Barge saw a good -deal of the Mormons, who at this time were undergoing -those persecutions in western Missouri which -finally drove them from the State. They were frequently<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">57</span> -on the steamboats, and the Captain at one -time or another saw nearly all the leaders, including -Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum, Sidney Rigdon, -Orson Hyde, and others. Captain La Barge -never liked the appearance or demeanor of Smith, and -never believed in his sincerity. He thought more of -Rigdon, who was a most pleasant talker and who once -preached a sermon on his boat. Captain La Barge’s -knowledge of the Mormons and their doings at this -time led them to request him, nearly sixty years afterward -(1895), to appear for them and give evidence -as to their title to the land in Independence, Mo., on -which their temple was built.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">DANIEL BOONE.</div> - -<p>Another incident which occurred about this time -calls up one of the famous characters of American -frontier history—Daniel Boone. This noted pioneer -had passed most of his life in Kentucky, but when -settlement began to crowd upon his primeval domain -he moved westward and settled in Warren County, -near St. Charles, Mo., where he died in 1820. Some -years later, by agreement between the governments of -Kentucky and Missouri, Boone’s remains were moved -to the latter State. A committee from the Kentucky -Legislature went to Missouri on the occasion of the -removal and were taken up the river to Marthasville, -where Boone was buried, on the steamer -<i>Kansas</i>. Captain La Barge, who was serving on the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">58</span> -<i>Kansas</i> at the time, recalled the circumstances perfectly. -Many years later he was invited to go to -Frankfort, Ky., to attend an anniversary celebration pertaining -to Boone’s career, but was not able to accept. -La Barge’s father knew Boone intimately, and La -Barge himself was a warm friend of his son Nathan -Boone.</p> - -<hr /> - -<div id="chap_59" class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">59</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">CAPTAIN LA BARGE IN “OPPOSITION.”</span></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="firstword">The</span> term “opposition” in the early Missouri River -fur trade had a definite and specific meaning. It applied -to any trading concern, great or small, individual -or collective, which was doing business in competition -with the American Fur Company. So powerful -was this company that it never permitted any other -company or trader to occupy the same field with itself -except at the cost of ruinous commercial warfare. -There were many attempts to compete with it, but -all of them ended in failure.</p> - -<p>The incident related in the last chapter, which led -Captain La Barge to quit the company’s service, induced -him to try his own luck as an opposition trader; -but the result, which quickly developed, was quite like -that of his many predecessors and successors in the -same line. The Captain had laid by a few thousand -dollars, which he put into the venture, and secured -additional capital from J. B. Roy and Henry Shaw -of St. Louis. The steamer <i>Thames</i> was chartered to -convey the cargo as far as Council Bluffs, for, owing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">60</span> -to the lateness of the season, it was not thought safe -to attempt to take the boat further. An outfit of -wagons was carried along, and it was expected that -they would be able to purchase enough horses and -oxen to haul the goods the rest of the way.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">EN ROUTE TO FORT LOOKOUT.</div> - -<p>It was late in the summer when the boat arrived -at Council Bluffs. She was promptly unloaded and -turned over to her owners, and the Captain immediately -set about organizing his wagon train. October -had come before he was finally ready to start. His -plan was to reach old Fort Lookout before winter set -in. He knew that that post had been abandoned, but -he understood that it was still in a good enough state -of preservation to winter in. At <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">L’Eau qui Court</i> -(Niobrara River) he was compelled to abandon his -wagons on account of the snow, and build sleds. He -traveled the rest of the way on the frozen surface -of the river.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">TROUBLE BEGINNING.</div> - -<p>Soon after leaving the Niobrara Captain La Barge -had a foretaste of what he must expect from the -American Fur Company, and found that he must be -prepared to contend, not only with the long-established -power and unscrupulous methods of that great organization, -but with the petty trickery of small traders -who were trying to make some headway in the country. -At the Niobrara he found Narcisse Leclerc, the -same whose expedition he had helped break up at<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">61</span> -Council Bluffs eight years before. The Captain knew -him well as a man acquainted with the Indians and -capable of rendering efficient service, but devoid of -good principle and ready for any underhand action that -would promote his interest. La Barge found him, -with his family, entirely destitute, and, counting on -his well-known hostility to the company, he thought -that if he were to employ him he might depend on his -loyalty. He accordingly engaged him, but later -bitterly regretted it.</p> - -<p>Soon afterward, when Captain La Barge and Leclerc -had passed Handy’s old trading post, where Fort -Randall later stood, they were met by a party of ten -Indians and a white man by the name of Bruyère, who -claimed that they were en route from Pierre to Vermillion. -Leclerc cautioned La Barge not to believe -them, for he was certain that they had been sent down -from Pierre to spy out La Barge’s movements and -break up his expedition if possible. La Barge’s experience -in the Indian trade, and his strong backing -in St. Louis, made his opposition a matter of much -importance. It was decided that it must be gotten rid -of in some way, by force if that were practicable, and -if not, by purchase or competition. The party that -had come down the river was evidently sent to find -out what could be done.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">HAPPY EFFECT OF LIQUOR.</div> - -<p>A parley ensued and La Barge invited Bruyère and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">62</span> -his party to go back to Handy’s old post and he would -give them a feast. This was agreed to, and after -reaching the post and fixing camp they were first -treated to coffee and hard tack. La Barge then gave -Bruyère some liquor, and asked him if he should give -the Indians some. Bruyère assented, saying the Indians -liked it and he could take care of them. -Bruyère’s party numbered eleven in all. The Captain -resolved to get them all deadly drunk and then set -out, leaving some liquor to keep them drunk the -longer. As the liquor began to work on Bruyère he -became communicative, and openly avowed his mission, -which was the same as Leclerc had sagaciously -foreseen. “You treat me better than any trader ever -treated me before,” he said. “I was sent here to do -you harm, but now I am for you, and if any Indians -attempt to harm you I will defend you.”</p> - -<div class="sidenote">THE UNARMED INDIANS.</div> - -<p>La Barge then went on to Fort Lookout without any -further molestation and took possession of the abandoned -buildings, intending to conduct his winter trade -there. Shortly afterward he received, by the hands -of an Indian, a note from the agent at Pierre, inviting -him in the most polite and courteous terms to -come to his post, as he had some business to propose, -and particularly wanted to have a friendly visit. -Here again La Barge’s suspicions were aroused. The -Indian messenger, who was a brother-in-law of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">63</span> -agent, had come to Fort Lookout totally unarmed, a -thing unheard of in the Indian country. He at once -inferred that the Indian hoped to allay any fears which -La Barge might have of traveling alone with him. -La Barge received him kindly, said he would decide -in a day or two, and asked him to wait. At the first -opportunity the Captain strolled off with his gun, as if -on a chicken hunt, and set out on the route by which -the Indian had come. He followed the trail several -miles, when he found the place where the Indian had -cached his gun under a tree top. La Barge confiscated -the outfit, took it to camp, and hid it. He then told -the Indian that he was ready to go to Pierre, and that -they would start the next morning. They accordingly -set out at an early hour, intending to accomplish the -journey in two days. The distance was something -over sixty miles by land, though one hundred by river, -for the great bend of the Missouri lay between the two -places. When they reached the place where the Indian -had cached his gun the latter excused himself for -a moment, telling La Barge not to wait. After a while -he came up, but showed no signs of what his feelings -must have been. He behaved very well all the way. -The first night was spent on a sandbar of the river, -and Fort Pierre was reached at a good hour on the -afternoon of the second day.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">LA BARGE UNSOCIABLE.</div> - -<p>The agent could not at first conceal his astonishment<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">64</span> -at seeing La Barge, but quickly recovered himself, -and feigned great pleasure at the meeting, saying -he was glad La Barge had gotten through safely—there -were so many scoundrels around the country -that one’s life was in danger, if unprotected. The -agent then gave La Barge a good supper, and after it -was over insisted that he must sit up all night and talk -about things in St. Louis. Jacob Halsey was clerk -at the time. They pressed the Captain to join them -in their drinks, but without success. The agent then -lost his temper, declared that La Barge was “unsociable,” -and that he was insulting his host by refusing -his hospitality. La Barge replied that if it was necessary -to get drunk in order to be sociable he would not -be sociable.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">PROPOSITION FOR PURCHASE.</div> - -<p>“I had not been in the Indian country so many -years for nothing,” said Captain La Barge, when describing -this affair. “I knew perfectly well the unscrupulous -methods of the company, for I had been an -eyewitness of them. They cared not how desperate -the measure to arrive at their end if only they could -escape detection, and this was a comparatively easy -matter. ‘Killed by the Indians,’ and similar reports, -were used to veil deeds which were too black to expose -to the world. It was no uncommon thing for servants -of the company who had started for St. Louis, with -a statement of the amount to their credit, to be heard<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">65</span> -of no more. Knowing these things, I was confessedly -distrustful of my hosts. I knew that they dared do -nothing openly, for that would lead to prompt report -and investigation; but if I were to join in their revels, -and lose my self-control, it would be easy enough to -involve me in a fray with an Indian and get rid of me -in that way, or get me to sign some agreement drawn -up by themselves, which should rob me of my outfit -and drive me out of the country. Although a temperance -man anyway, I resolved to be particularly so -on this occasion, and remain absolutely sober. I knew -well enough that a proposition would soon come to -buy me out, and I had no intention of losing my ability -to drive a good bargain.</p> - -<p>“The expected proposition came from the agent -on the morning of my second day at Pierre. It was -not as liberal as I thought it ought to be, and I rejected -it. Next day an express came from Lookout -with serious news for me. Leclerc, without the -slightest authority, had taken a third of my outfit and -had gone to the Yanktonais Indians to trade. This -would seriously interfere with my plan, which was -to hold my outfit at Lookout until I knew what terms -the company would offer. I now felt that the quicker -the matter was closed up the better, and knowing the -great hazard of attempting to oppose so powerful a -company, I accepted the proffered terms. These were<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">66</span> -that the company should take my entire outfit at an -advance of ten per cent. upon the cost to me where it -was, while I was to engage myself to the company for -a period of three years.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">SEEKING A SHORT CUT.</div> - -<p>“Even after this arrangement the agent subjected -me to new and imminent peril, as if still hoping that -he would arrive at his end by a shorter cut. Although -he could just as well have instructed his trader on the -Little Cheyenne to receive and receipt for the goods -in Leclerc’s possession, he insisted that I should go -to that post and either get the goods or make a personal -transfer to the trader there. He refused me any -escort, and the only thing that he would do was to -lend me a horse and sled. The mission was a particularly -perilous one. The Yanktonais were the most -dangerous and hostile of all the Sioux tribes. They -knew the value of opposition in securing them better -terms in trade, and if they were to learn that my -mission was to sell out to the company, they would -unquestionably undertake to wreak vengeance on me. -Notwithstanding the needlessness, as well as the peril, -of the trip, I was compelled to go, and accordingly -set out.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">ZEPHYR RENCONTRE.</div> - -<div class="sidenote">INDIANS INSOLENT.</div> - -<p>“The overland distance to the mouth of the Big -Cheyenne was about forty miles, and I made it in one -day. Here the American Fur Company had a wintering -post under charge of a man named Bouis, who<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">67</span> -had with him as interpreter a very valuable man by -the name of Zephyr Rencontre.<a id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">10</a> Zephyr was a good -friend of mine and I resolved to practice a little -strategy to secure his company to the Little Cheyenne -and his assistance there. When I reached the post at -the Big Cheyenne, Bouis exclaimed, with a good deal -of astonishment, ‘What! are you alone?’ I replied -that I was, but that I had authority to take Zephyr to -the Little Cheyenne camp and return. Bouis was -somewhat surprised at this, but said that if such -were the orders he would go. We set out at -once, and as soon as we were well on the way, I laid -the whole matter before Zephyr. He advised me by -all means not to try to take the goods away, for such -an attempt would enrage the Indians. The thing to -do was to get an inventory of the goods from Leclerc, -transfer it to the trader there, Paschal Cerré, get his -receipt, and thus transact the whole business on paper -without the knowledge of the Indians. We arrived -safely at the post and proceeded at once to our business. -Everything went well under Zephyr’s management -for a time, but the suspicion began to spread -among the Indians that I was there either to remove<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">68</span> -my goods or to sell out, and they began to assume -a tone of insolence and bravado. Leclerc was probably -responsible for this, for he did not relish at all the -turn that things had taken. In the meanwhile I took -refuge in the lodge of an Indian who was a friend of -Zephyr. The latter said he would dispatch the business -with all possible speed. The Indians were feasting -from lodge to lodge, and Zephyr said they might -try to annoy me at any time, but told me to remain -right there, say nothing to them, nor resent their -actions if they became troublesome. ‘I am looking -out for you,’ he said, ‘and have also some of my -Indian friends on guard.’ Along in the evening -the Indians began to come around, evidently in very -bad temper, but none of them entered the tent. They -made things very uncomfortable, however, and several -times I concluded that all was over. They -slashed the tent with their knives, and stuck their -guns through and shot into the fire, throwing the -coals all over me. They were trying to anger me to -the point of resistance, as Zephyr had said they would, -and they came near succeeding. I could hardly stand -it. It seemed certain that I should be killed, and if -I failed to take off one or two of them I should die -that much less satisfied. I kept control of myself, -however, and presently Zephyr came to me announcing -that the business was completed, the inventories<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">69</span> -receipted, and that when a young Indian should come -and tell me to follow I was to get up and go. It was -about midnight that the Indian appeared and beckoned -me to follow. I left the tent through one of -the openings which the Indians had slashed in it, and -we immediately struck out at a rapid pace down the -Little Cheyenne. After proceeding four or five miles -I was joined by Zephyr, and the young Indian was -sent back.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">NIGHT MARCH.</div> - -<p>“We then started straight across the hills for the -mouth of the Big Cheyenne, some forty miles distant. -It was very important to get there early the next -day, lest we be cut off by the Indians. We ran a good -deal of the way, but such was the severity of the -weather that we almost froze. The thermometer must -have reached thirty degrees below zero. On the open -hills the cold was terrible, and the side of my body -next to the wind became thoroughly numbed. The -journey was not without decided interest, however, -for we were treated to one of the most beautiful displays -of the Aurora Borealis that I have ever seen.</p> - -<p>“We reached the mouth of the Big Cheyenne a -little after sunrise, and I immediately got breakfast -and set out for Pierre, where I arrived about nightfall. -When I reached the fort the agent could hardly believe -his eyes. ‘What! are you back already?’ he -said. ‘I hardly thought you would succeed in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">70</span> -turning those goods over.’ I replied that I too was -astonished that I had got out of that scrape uninjured. -‘How did you manage it?’ he asked. ‘I took -Zephyr along with me.’ ‘Why, how could Bouis -spare him?’ ‘By your order. Didn’t you authorize -me to take him?’ ‘No, I never gave any such authority,’ -said the agent, as he turned away in anger -that he had been so completely outwitted.</p> - -<p>“The next day the agent detailed James Kipp, with -three or four men and a dozen Indians, to go with me -to Lookout and receive the goods at that point. The -Indians were wholly unnecessary, and I can explain -their being sent only on the theory that the agent had -not yet given up the short cut for destroying this new -opposition. But Kipp was a different sort of man, -and although he was sometimes compelled to do the -bidding of others to save himself, he never approved -of such desperate measures.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">UGLY BUSINESS TERMINATED.</div> - -<p>“When we set out Kipp was on horseback and I -on foot, and he said, ‘Well, let’s see who will get -to Lookout first.’ Bercier and I were the only ones -who reached there that night, but I was so badly used -up that it was several days before I could walk naturally. -Kipp did not get in for two days. The rest -of the property was then turned over and the ugly -business brought to a close.”</p> - -<p>Such was Captain La Barge’s first experience in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">71</span> -opposing the American Fur Company; and if it resulted -in a quick collapse the profitable termination -to himself, and the extreme opposition of the company, -showed that they did not regard his enterprise -with an easy eye. The whole affair made them set -a higher value on La Barge’s services and treat his -opinions and rights thereafter with more consideration.</p> - -<p>As soon as the business with the Fur Company was -completed La Barge set out for Bellevue, arriving -there about April 1, 1841. He at once went to the -Pawnees, where he used to go seven or eight years -before, and brought down the bullboats. He was glad -to make this trip, for he always liked the Pawnees. -Having arrived at the mouth of the Platte with the -bullboats and transferred their cargo, he set out for -St. Louis with the mackinaws.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">MARRIAGE OF CAPTAIN LA BARGE.</div> - -<div class="sidenote">PELAGIE GUERETTE.</div> - -<p>The summer of 1842 was mostly spent on the lower -river, without any incident of especial note. This year -was marked, however, by a very important event in -the life of Captain La Barge. On the 17th of August, -1842, he was married to Pelagie Guerette. His wife’s -mother’s name was Marie Palmer, one of a noted -Illinois family of that name. Her father’s name was -Pierre Guerette, one of the Louisiana French, and -he was born in Kaskaskia, Ill. He was a millwright -and architect. He built for Auguste Chouteau one of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">72</span> -the first grist mills run by water in St. Louis. The -mill was located at the old dam which extended from -Chouteau Avenue to Market Street, in the vicinity of -Ninth Street. Pelagie Guerette was born January 10, -1825, and was therefore nearly ten years Captain La -Barge’s junior. He had known her from childhood. -She was a beautiful woman, and although not robust -in health, reared a family of five boys and two girls, -to adult years. She was a very sensible, noble woman, -and a constant help to her husband during their married -life of nearly sixty years.</p> - -<hr /> - -<div id="chap_73" class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">73</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">THE MISSOURI RIVER.</span></h2> -</div> - -<div class="sidenote">DEPARTED GLORY.</div> - -<p>We have now followed the career of Captain La -Barge through the various experiences of youth and -early manhood until he is finally settled in the business -of his subsequent life—the navigation of the -Missouri River. It is therefore a proper time to consider -the nature of that business, its features of peculiar -interest, and its relation to the growth of the -western country. This is the more important because -it is a phase in the development of that country which -has permanently passed away, and in the general mind -is already buried in oblivion. Yet for fully a hundred -years the history of the Missouri River was the history -of the country through which it flowed. Its importance -no one to-day can comprehend. Now the railroad -has made accessible almost every section of the -country. Then there were no railroads to speak of -west of the Mississippi, nor, for that matter, any other -roads worthy of mention. The river was the great, -and almost the only, highway of travel and commerce.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">74</span> -Everything was done with reference to it. Commercial -posts and military garrisons were established; expeditions -were undertaken, and all business operations -were carried on with careful reference to this mighty -stream, which descended from the distant mountains -to the very heart of the continent and thence to the -sea, whence the road was open to every quarter of -the globe. But now its influence upon the growth -of the western country has ceased to exist. The -mighty river, which was once alive with steamboats -and other craft, from the Great Falls to its mouth, -cannot boast a single regular packet. In the most -absolute sense its glory has departed, and not a trace -is left to remind the modern observer of its former -greatness. In the following descriptions, therefore, -we hope to be serving the true purpose of history, in -gathering together for preservation some interesting -features of a type of our frontier life which has long -since run its appointed course.</p> - -<p>Of all the rivers on the globe the longest is the -Missouri-Mississippi. On the summit of the Rocky -Mountains, above the upper Red Rock Lake, some -forty miles west of the Yellowstone National Park, -and directly on the boundary between the States of -Montana and Idaho, Jefferson Fork of the Missouri, -finds its source. From this point, by a continuous -water course to the Gulf of Mexico, the distance is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">75</span> -4221 miles. The river is formed by the confluence -of three fine mountain streams which unite at a point -about fifty miles south of Helena, Mont. They were -named by their discoverers, Lewis and Clark, the Jefferson, -Madison, and Gallatin rivers, in honor of the -national administration which set on foot the expedition -of these explorers. Two of these streams -rise in the Yellowstone National Park, and the other, -as we have seen, a little distance to the westward.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">THE YELLOW­STONE.</div> - -<p>Of the many tributaries of the Missouri the most -important is the Yellowstone, which rivals in size -the main stream and joins it nearly eight hundred miles -below the Three Forks. Like the Missouri it finds its -source in and around that now famous region, where -Nature has lavished without stint her most marvelous -handiwork, and which the government of the -United States has set apart for the common enjoyment -of the people. Both the Missouri and the Yellowstone -rivers, in the upper portions of their course, flow -over immense cascades and rapids which have become -well known among the cataracts of the globe. The -Great Falls of the Missouri are located near the modern -city of the same name. They comprise several -cataracts and rapids, the highest perpendicular distance -being 87 feet, and the total fall over 500 feet. -The falls of the Yellowstone are within the National -Park, the highest perpendicular distance being 310<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">76</span> -feet, and the total descent from Yellowstone Lake to -below the first cañon near Livingston, Mont., being -about 3200 feet.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">ALLUVIAL CHARACTER.</div> - -<p>Upon emerging from the foothills of the mountains, -both streams begin to assume that peculiar character -which distinguishes them throughout the rest -of their course to the sea. They flow through alluvial -bottoms, built up of the detritus from the highlands -and mountains, until the present bed of the river is in -most places fifty to a hundred feet above the original -bed in the solid rock. The usual characteristics of an -alluvial river are here found in their highest development—a -muddy current, freshly formed islands, sandbars -innumerable, an unstable channel, and a shifting -bed which is never in the same place for two years in -succession.</p> - -<p>Among the most striking phenomena of a river like -the Missouri is the constant change that is going on -in the location of its channel. This seems to be in -some places a periodical matter. The forces of the -river get to working on particular lines and push their -devastations for many years in one general direction. -Being finally arrested by some insurmountable obstacle, -or turned, it may be, by trifling causes, they work -in another direction, and invade lands which have enjoyed -long immunity, and upon which the cottonwood, -walnut, and cedar have attained mature growth.</p> - -<div id="ip_76" class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/i096.jpg" width="2332" height="1565" alt="" /> - <div class="captionf"> - - <p class="floatc">A NEW “CUT OFF”</p> - - <p class="floatl">Old course of river<br /> - <span class="in2">toward background</span></p> - - <p class="floatr">Old course of river<br /> - <span class="l2">from background</span></p> -</div></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">77</span></p> - -<div class="sidenote">A WINDING WATERWAY.</div> - -<p>The river, in its unrestrained rambles from bluff -to bluff, performs some curious freaks. It develops -the most remarkable bends, varying in length from -one to thirty miles, with distances across the necks -but a small fraction of those around. In time these -narrow necks are cut in two, and the river abandons -its old course, which soon fills up near the extremities -of the bends and leaves crescent-shaped lakes in -the middle. This process is a never-ending one, and -the channel distances along the river are in a -state of never-ending change. There is one bend in -the upper river, known from the earliest times as the -Great Bend, which was not formed in the way just described. -The course of the river here is comparatively -permanent, and is evidently the same as that of -the original stream bed. The distance around is nearly -thirty miles, while that across is only a mile and a half. -It was a regular custom with travelers, when the Indians -were not too dangerous, to leave the boats at -the beginning of this bend and walk across, going on -board on the other side.</p> - -<p>The existence of so many bends increased the length -of the channel, but this drawback was more than offset -by the reduction of the slope which made the current -less strong and enabled steamboats to overcome it with -greater ease. The river is like a great spiral stairway -leading from the ocean to the mountains. A steamboat<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">78</span> -at Fort Benton is 2565 feet—two and one-half -times the height of the Eiffel tower in Paris—above -the level of the sea; yet so gentle is the slope nearly -all the way that, in placid weather, the water surface -resembles that of a lake. This wonderful evening-up -of the slope of the river by the extreme sinuosity of -its course is a fact not only interesting as a natural phenomenon, -but of the utmost importance in the behavior -and use of the stream.</p> - -<div id="ip_78" class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/i100.jpg" width="1581" height="2415" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"><p class="vspace">CHANGES OF THE CHANNEL<br /> -<span class="small">OF THE</span><br /> -<span class="large gesperrt">MISSOURI RIVER</span></p> - -<p class="smaller">THROUGH MONONA COUNTY, IOWA.</p> - -<p class="small"><i>Present Channel Distance, 44 Miles</i></p> - -<p class="small">(<span class="smcap">Compiled by</span> MITCHELL VINCENT, ONAWA, IOWA.)</p></div></div> - -<p>Not only does the general course of the river have -these larger windings, but in periods of low water they -are multiplied many fold. When a large proportion -of the river bed between its banks becomes exposed, as -it does in the low-water season, the stream flows back -and forth across this bed until its length is largely increased -over that at high water. Here again is to be -seen the wisdom of nature’s methods. In periods of -high water, when it is important to move the floods -rapidly down the valley, the river straightens out, -shortens its length, increases its slope, and accelerates -its velocity of flow.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">ANNUAL TONNAGE.</div> - -<p>Of the immense carrying power and potential energy -of this stream it is difficult to form an adequate conception. -It yearly carries into the Mississippi 550,000,000 -tons of earth, which has been brought an -average distance of not less than 500 miles. The work -thus represented is equivalent to 275,000,000,000 mile-tons,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">79</span> -or tons carried one mile. The railroads of the -United States carried in the year 1901 141,000,000,000 -mile-tons of freight.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">BEDS OF THE OLD RIVER.</div> - -<p>That such an exercise of power should leave its impress -deep upon the country through which the river -flows is not to be wondered at. Every year thousands -of acres of rich bottom lands are destroyed. Forests, -meadows, cultivated fields, farmhouses, and villages -fall before its tremendous onslaught, and the changes -that have been wrought in the topography of the -valley during the past one hundred years almost defy -belief.<a id="FNanchor_11" href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">11</a> To one familiar with its history, the many -crescent-shaped lakes and curvilinear benches show -where the river once flowed and where it may flow -again. In recent years the government has seriously -undertaken to set metes and bounds to the migratory<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">80</span> -habits of the stream; but it has found a most refractory -subject to deal with. Even with the expenditure -of vast sums of money in the construction of the most -powerful dikes and improved bank protection known -to engineering, it can never feel certain that its prisoner -will not break its bonds at any moment and -escape.</p> - -<div id="ip_80" class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/i103.jpg" width="2328" height="1552" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"><p>SNAGS IN THE MISSOURI RIVER</p> - -<p>(After Maximilian)</p></div></div> - -<div class="sidenote">SNAGS AND SAWYERS.</div> - -<p>As with most of our Western streams the principal -arboreal growths along the banks of the Missouri are -the willow and cottonwood. The willow matures very -rapidly, and well-grown forests are constantly met -with in places where the river flowed but two or three -years before. The cottonwood requires more time to -mature, but this is afforded by those longer cycles of -change in which the river passes back and forth across -the bottoms. On many of the islands along the central -portion of the river there were formerly extensive -growths of cedar. The walnut and other trees abound -to a less extent. Every year great numbers of trees -that line the river bank are undermined and fall into -the stream. They are borne along by the current until -they become anchored in the bottom, where they remain -with one end sticking up and pointing downstream, -sometimes above and sometimes below the -surface. These trunks or branches have always been -the most formidable dangers to navigation of the river. -They are called snags or sawyers, though sometimes,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">81</span> -from the ripple or break in the surface of the water, -“breaks.” It is, in fact, only by the appearance of -these breaks that a submerged snag can be discovered -by the pilot; and fortunately, in a rapid current, like -that of the Missouri, a snag will cause such a break -if it is near enough to the surface to touch the bottom -of a boat. These snags were the terror of the pilot, -as well they might be. The record of steamboat -wrecks on the Missouri, and it is an appalling one, -shows that about seventy per cent. were due to this -cause.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">THE MISSOURI IN WINTER.</div> - -<p>A large portion of the river is in a latitude where -it freezes over every winter. During the ice period -it is indeed effectually enchained. The banks are safe -for a season, and the water itself becomes comparatively -clear. But as soon as the breezes of spring -soften the ice the river resumes its customary wanderings, -with renewed vigor after its long rest. By -way of celebration of its release from its icy prison -it frequently gives exhibitions of power that far surpass -all its other manifestations. When the ice -“breaks” and begins to “run,” it is liable to strand -like a steamboat on the shallow bars. Other ice following, -and finding the way obstructed, piles up on -that before it. Gradually, sometimes, and sometimes -rapidly, the accumulation spreads, cutting off the -channel of the river, until, as often happens, it forms<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">82</span> -a veritable dam across the entire stream. These ice -“gorges” develop a power that nothing can withstand, -and the amount of property destroyed by them -in the history of the river has been very great. There -is almost nothing that can be done to break them. -Dynamite explosions are resorted to, but the ice piles -up so rapidly and in such vast quantities that the most -powerful blast seems harmless. In the face of this -appalling danger man is forced to stand a helpless -spectator until the river itself accumulates sufficient -force to burst through the dam. It has more than -once happened that, before the dam has given way, -the river has cut an entirely new channel.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">ICE GORGES.</div> - -<p>The moving of the ice, even when not accompanied -by serious blockades, is always an impressive sight. -Usually the warm weather loosens it from the shore -before it begins to move, and even disintegrates it, so -that it is unsafe to cross upon. The softer it becomes -before it begins to run the less danger is there of its -gorging. After the movement begins it continues for -several days, until the vast quantities of ice stored in -the river above have floated by, or melted away. During -the height of the movement the crushing of -innumerable ice cakes upon each other produces a -continuous roar which can be heard for a long distance -from the river.</p> - -<p>To the lonely dwellers of the valley in the early<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">83</span> -times the annual “break-up” of the ice was the most -welcome event of the year, for it was the knell of the -long and tedious winter, and the certain harbinger of -approaching spring.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">ANNUAL FLOODS.</div> - -<p>The river has two regular floods every year, one -usually in April and the other in June. The first -flood is short, sharp, and often very destructive. The -second flood is of longer duration and carries an immensely -greater quantity of water, but does less damage -than the first. The April flood is due to the -spring freshets along the immediate valley as the snow -melts off and the first rains come. The June rise -comes primarily from the melting snows in the mountains. -The great and exceptional floods, however, are -not due to these regular causes, but to periods of long -and excessive precipitation in the lower portions of -the valley.</p> - -<p>The slope of the river in the lower half of its course -is less than a foot to the mile, and the velocity of its -current varies from two to ten miles per hour, depending -upon the stage of the water.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">BEAUTY OF THE RIVER.</div> - -<p>From an æsthetic point of view, the Missouri River -has an unenviable reputation. People who never see -it except in crossing railroad bridges, from which they -look down into a mass of muddy, eddying water, are -liable to compare it unfavorably with other important -streams. But to him who is fortunate enough to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">84</span> -travel upon it, and study it in all its phases, it is not -only an attractive stream, but one of great scenic -beauty. As seen in its more placid periods, near -morning or evening, when the slanting rays of the -sun show the water mainly by reflection, robbing it of -its muddy tinge, and replacing it by a crimson hue or -silver glimmer that stretches away toward the horizon, -cut off again and again by the bends of the river, -but ever and anon reappearing until lost in the distance, -there are few scenes in nature that appeal more -strongly to the eye of the artist.</p> - -<p>Again, in its less peaceful moods, when the persistent -prairie winds blow day after day without ceasing, -there is a peculiar attractiveness about the weird -scene. In all directions, as far as the eye can reach, -the air is filled with clouds of sand, drifting along the -naked bars, and changing their forms almost as -rapidly as does the water those in the bed of the river. -The willows and cottonwoods bend complainingly -before the blast. The river is lashed into foam, and -often becomes so tempestuous that rowboats cannot -live in it, while larger craft, making a virtue of necessity, -lie moored to the shore until the wind has abated -its fury.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">PRAIRIE STORMS.</div> - -<p>Perhaps the most frightful scenes on the river are the -violent summer storms of thunder, hail, and rain, with -the characteristic tornado tendencies so common in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">85</span> -the central prairies. When these black storms gather, -and the incessant lightning seems to bind the clouds to -the earth, and the rolling and agitated vapors disclose -the terrible play of the winds, the river man discreetly -makes for shore, and loses no time in gaining -the shelter of some friendly bank. The fury of these -storms as they break into the valley, pouring down -wind and rain with terrific violence, until the river -yields up clouds of spray like the vortex of Niagara, -forms one of the wildest and most sublime manifestations -of the forces of nature. It cannot be truly enjoyed -by an eyewitness, because of the element of danger -which is present, but the impression produced -upon one who is fortunate enough to pass safely -through it remains ineffaceable in the memory. These -storms generally come from the southwest, and it was -a well-recognized rule on the river in boating days to -tie up for the night on the southwest, or right shore of -the river, so as to be under cover of a bank if a storm -should come before day. Accidents from these -storms were numerous. Boats were often torn from -their moorings and driven upon the bars, where they -were as good as lost. Smokestacks, hurricane deck, -and pilot-house were frequently carried away and -windows destroyed by the hail.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">INFLUENCE OF THE WEATHER.</div> - -<p>The condition of the weather had an influence -upon the business of navigating the river which was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">86</span> -of the highest importance, yet would never occur to -one unless his attention were directed to it. The excessively -uneven and broken condition of the bed of -the river, filled as it was with ever-shifting sand-drifts -or bars, sometimes called reefs by the river men, produced -an appearance upon the surface of the water -which was almost the only guide in tracing out the -sinuous channel. The experienced pilot could tell -from this appearance, not only where snags and other -hidden obstructions were, but the outlines of submerged -sandbars, and the position of the deepest -water. Anything, like wind or rain or a slanting sun, -which disturbed this normal appearance, disturbed the -serenity of the pilot’s mind. Wind was less troublesome -than rain, for it ruffled the deep water more than -the shallow, and thus left some indication of the -locality of each. Rain, on the other hand, reduced -everything to a common appearance. The sun, when -below forty-five degrees from the horizon, was exceedingly -troublesome on account of the reflection -from the water whenever the boat was sailing toward -it.</p> - -<p>Captain La Barge records a curious fact in regard -to the appearance of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers -as seen by night. He found the Missouri much easier -to “read,” and always experienced a feeling of relief -when he left the main stream and entered its great<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">87</span> -tributary. The Mississippi seemed black in the night, -and this appearance aggravated the darkness. The -Missouri, on the other hand, had a distinct whitish -tinge, and it seemed, as he entered the stream, as if a -faint light had been struck up along its surface.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">DISCOVERY OF THE MISSOURI.</div> - -<p>Such are some of the more striking physical characteristics -of this very remarkable stream. It is not -surprising that, in the early times, when it first came to -be known, it produced a profound impression on the -minds of explorers and drew from them expressions of -wonder and awe. Marquette and Joliet, who discovered -the river in 1673, were floating down the Mississippi -in a comparatively clear current, when they came -to a point where a mighty volume of water poured -itself into the Mississippi from the west shore, carrying -trees, stumps, and drift of all descriptions. It -filled them with amazement, as it has every person -since who has stood at the confluence of these two -mighty streams, particularly when the Missouri is -bringing down the great floods of spring.</p> - -<p>We do not know when the Missouri was first entered -by white men, but probably about the year 1700. -The French had made sufficient progress along its -course in the early years of the eighteenth century to -alarm the Spaniards, who, in the year 1720, sent an -expedition to destroy the Missouri Indians, the allies -of the French. This expedition was itself destroyed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">88</span> -by the Missouris, but the event caused the French to -build a post some two hundred miles up the river -on an island opposite the village of the Missouris. -This was Fort Orleans, and was, so far as we know, -the first structure erected by white men along the -course of the stream.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">NAME OF THE RIVER.</div> - -<p>The name of the river comes from the tribe of Indians -just mentioned, who once dwelt at its mouth, -but were driven from this position by the Illinois Indians. -The word means “dwelling near the mouth -of the river,” and has no reference to the muddy -quality of the water.</p> - -<p>The fact that the Missouri River is longer than the -entire Mississippi, and more than twice as long as that -portion of the latter stream above the mouth of the -Missouri, has led to the frequent observation that the -name which applies to the lower course of the Mississippi -should apply also to the tributary. But this -would evidently not be a fitting nomenclature. The -Mississippi is the trunk stream, receiving the drainage -from the Alleghenies on the east and the Rockies on -the west. It divides the continent into approximately -symmetrical portions. This division has entered into -the very life of our national development, and is so -natural and convenient that the stream itself from -north to south is appropriately known by a single -name. The Missouri is the great tributary from the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">89</span> -mountains on the west, as the Ohio is from the mountains -on the east. The characteristics of the Missouri -are so peculiarly its own that a separate name is more -befitting than one divided between itself and another -and very different stream.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">EARLY EXPLORATION.</div> - -<p>During the eighteenth century the French gradually -extended their knowledge of the river. It is not likely -that the voyageurs had ascended as far as to the Mandan -villages, a short distance above the modern capital -of North Dakota, when, in 1738–43, De la Verendrye -crossed over from the north and struck the river at that -point. But it is quite certain that at the time of the -founding of St. Louis, 1764, the river was well known -for a thousand miles above its mouth. From that -time knowledge of it increased more rapidly, and when -Lewis and Clark went up the river in 1804, they -found that white men had preceded them almost to -the mouth of the Yellowstone.</p> - -<hr /> - -<div id="chap_90" class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">90</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">KINDS OF BOATS USED ON THE MISSOURI.</span></h2> -</div> - -<div class="sidenote">RIVER BOATS.</div> - -<p>The swift and turbulent character of the Missouri -River led to exaggerated accounts by the early explorers -of the difficulty of navigating it. Such navigation -was at first considered wholly out of the question -except in the simplest craft. Tradition says that -Gregoire Zerald Sarpy was the first to introduce keelboats -on the river, but the date of this essay is not very -definitely fixed. It would seem that the French must -have used large boats at the time they were established -at Fort Orleans. In any event the advent of the keelboat -on the Missouri in connection with the fur trade -could not have been long after the founding of St. -Louis, and probably antedated it. Gradually these -boats made their way to points farther and farther up -the river, until in 1805 they were taken by Lewis and -Clark to the head of navigation. A similar experience -was gone through with in the case of the steamboat. -It was at first thought impossible for such boats -to navigate the river at all, but in 1819 the attempt -was made, and the <i>Independence</i> entered the Missouri<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">91</span> -on either the 16th or 17th of May, and ascended the -river two hundred miles. The <i>Western Engineer</i>, a -government boat, went as far as the old Council Bluffs -in the same year. From that time on steamboats remained -on the river, making farther and farther advances -toward the head of navigation, which was -finally reached forty years after the first boat entered -the river.</p> - -<p>The principal craft which have been used on the -Missouri and its tributaries are the canoe, mackinaw, -bullboat, keelboat, and steamboat. The yawl, a very -important boat, was not much used for independent -navigation, but rather as an appurtenance to the -steamboats.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<div class="sidenote">THE CANOE.</div> - -<p>The <em>canoe</em> was the simplest and most generally used -of all the river craft. It was the wooden canoe, or -“dugout,” and not the bark canoe which was so much -used where the proper material could be found. The -Missouri River canoe was generally made from the -logs of the cottonwood, though frequently from the -walnut, and occasionally from cedar. The cottonwood -in the river bottoms attained immense size, ample for -the largest canoes, for these boats rarely exceeded -thirty feet in length and three and one-half in width. -The ordinary length was between fifteen and twenty -feet. A suitable tree having been found, it was felled<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">92</span> -and a proper length of the trunk was cut out. The -exterior was straightened with the broad-ax, and reduced -to a round log shorn of all roughness and irregularity. -The top was then hewn off, so as to leave -about two-thirds of the log. The ends were given a -regular canoe model, and were sometimes turned up -on bow and stern with extra pieces for purpose of -ornament. The log was then carefully scooped out -from the flat surface so as to leave a thin shell about -two inches thick at the bottom and one at the rim. -To support the sides and give strength to the craft the -timber was left in place at points from four to six feet -apart, making solid partitions or bulkheads. A good-sized -canoe was easily built by four men in as many -days. They had tools especially adapted to the work, -the most important being the <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">tille ronde</i>, or the round -adz.</p> - -<p>These log canoes made excellent craft, strong, light, -and easily managed. A full crew generally consisted -of three men, two to propel and one to steer. The -paddle (French <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">aviron</i>) was always used. A mast -was occasionally placed in the center and rigged with -a square sail, but this could be used only with an aft -wind, for fear of capsizing the canoe.</p> - -<p>Sometimes these boats were made with a square -stern, and were then called pirogues; but this name -was more frequently used where two such boats were<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">93</span> -rigidly united in parallel positions a few feet apart and -completely floored over. On the floor was placed the -cargo, which was protected from the weather by the -use of skins. Oars were provided in the bow for rowing -and a single oar in the stern between the boats for -steering. Sails could be used with a quartering wind -on these boats without danger of upsetting. Dubé’s -ferry, on the Mississippi, one of the earliest ferries of -St. Louis, used a boat of this kind.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">BEAR’S OIL AND HONEY.</div> - -<p>The principal use of the canoe was for the local -business of the larger river posts. Often, however, -they were used in making trips to St. Louis, even from -the remotest navigable points of the main stream or its -tributaries. Many such a journey has been made -with a single voyageur running the gantlet of hostile -tribes all the way from the mountains to the Mississippi. -A common use of the canoe was for sending -express messages down the river, and there are several -records of their having been used to transport -freight. An example of this last use was the shipment -of bear’s oil, which was extensively used in St. -Louis as a substitute for lard in the early days when -swine were scarce and black bears plentiful. The oil -was extremely penetrating, and would rapidly filter -through skin receptacles. Barrels or casks not being -available, the center apartment of the canoe was filled -with the oil and tightly covered with a skin fastened<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">94</span> -to the sides of the boat. Honey was also transported -in this way. In those days bee trees were exceedingly -plentiful in the Missouri bottoms, and large -quantities of honey were taken from them.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<div class="sidenote">THE MACKINAW.</div> - -<p>The <em>mackinaw boat</em>, as the name implies, was an imported -design, having already been used on the -Eastern lakes and rivers. It was made entirely of -timber, and before nails were carried up the river all -the parts were fastened with wooden pins. The bottom -was flat, and was made of boards about one and a -half inches thick. On these rested cross-timbers, to -which, and to the bottom, were fastened the inclined -knees that supported the sides. The boats were sometimes -made as large as fifty feet long and twelve feet -beam. The plan was that of an acute ellipse, and the -gunwale rose about two feet from the center of the -boat toward both bow and stern. The keel showed a -rake of about thirty inches from the bow or stern to -the bottom. The hold had a depth of about five feet -at the two ends of the boat, and about three and one -half at the center.</p> - -<p>The central portion of the boat was partitioned off -from the bow and stern by two water-tight bulkheads -or partitions. Between these the cargo was loaded, -and piled up to a height of three or four feet above the -gunwale and given a rounded form. Over the cargo<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">95</span> -lodge skins were drawn tight and fastened with cleats -to the sides and gunwales of the boat, so as to make -practically a water-tight compartment. In the bow -were seats for the oarsmen, and in the stern an elevated -perch for the steersman, from which he could -see over the cargo in front, and give directions to the -crew in the bow or study the river ahead.</p> - -<p>The crew of the boat ordinarily consisted of five -men, four at the oars and one at the rudder. The -latter had charge of the boat, and was called the -<em>patron</em>. Only experienced, courageous, and reliable -men were chosen for this responsible work.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">CHEAP TRANS­PORT­ATION.</div> - -<p>These boats were only used in downstream navigation, -and the labor of handling them was not arduous. -The men found ample time for song and gossip, and -every hour or so, after a vigorous pull, would take advantage -of a good stretch of river to rest their oars -(<i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">laisser aller</i>) and take a smoke (<i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">fumer la pipe</i>). -Then they would let fall their oars (<i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">tomber les râmes</i>) -and bend to their work for another hour. They ran -from fifteen to eighteen hours per day and made from -75 to 150 miles. The boats carried about fifteen tons -of freight, and the cost per day was about two dollars. -Transportation by mackinaw boat was therefore inexpensive.</p> - -<p>These boats were cheaply made, and were intended -only for a single trip down to St. Louis, where they<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">96</span> -were sold for four or five dollars apiece. After the -advent of the steamboat the mackinaws were frequently -carried back to the upper rivers on the annual -boat, for even steam did not absorb the peculiar field of -usefulness of these craft. They were quite safe and -were preferred to the keelboat for downstream navigation.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">THE CHANTIER.</div> - -<p>The lumber for the mackinaws was manufactured -where the boats were built, or rather the latter were -built where suitable timber could be found. There -being no sawmills, the boards had to be sawed by -hand, and for this purpose the logs were rolled upon a -scaffold high enough for a man to work underneath. -They were first hewed square, and were then sawed by -two men, one standing above and the other below. -At all important posts there was a <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">chantier</i> (French -for boatyard) located where timber was to be had. -Here all woodwork was done. The Fort Pierre -chantier, always called the navy yard, was some fifteen -miles above the post, and was a very active place. -The Fort Union chantier was twenty-five miles above -the post, while that at Fort Benton was three miles below -at the mouth of Chantier (now Shonkin) Creek. -At all these workyards skilled artisans were employed.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<div class="sidenote">THE BULLBOAT.</div> - -<p>The <em>bullboat</em> of the fur traders, in distinction from<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">97</span> -the tubs which were used by some of the Missouri -River tribes, was an outgrowth of the conditions of -navigation on such streams as the Platte, Niobrara, -and Cheyenne. The excessive shallowness of these -streams precluded the use of any craft drawing more -than nine or ten inches. The bullboat was probably -the lightest draft vessel ever constructed for its size, -and was admirably fitted for its peculiar use. It was -commonly about thirty feet long by twelve wide and -twenty inches deep.</p> - -<div id="ip_97" class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/i122.jpg" width="2317" height="1532" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"><p>THE INDIAN BULLBOAT</p> - -<p>(After Maximilian)</p></div></div> - -<p>The frame of the bullboat was constructed by laying -stout willow poles, three or four inches in diameter, -lengthwise of the boat, and across these similar poles, -the two layers being firmly lashed together with rawhide. -The side frames were made of willow twigs -about an inch and a half in diameter at the larger end -and six to seven feet long. The smaller ends were -lashed to the cross-poles, and about two feet of the -larger ends were then bent up to a vertical position. -Along the tops of the vertical portions and on the inside -was lashed a stout pole like those forming the -bottom of the framework. To this gunwale were -lashed cross-poles, at intervals of four or five feet, to -keep the sides from spreading. No nails or pins were -used for fastenings, but rawhide lashings only. The -frame so constructed was exceedingly strong, and its -flexible quality, by which it withstood the continuous<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">98</span> -wrenching to which it was subjected, was an important -element of strength.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">METHOD OF CONSTRUCT­ION.</div> - -<p>The framework, being completed, was then covered -with a continuous sheet of rawhide formed by sewing -together square pieces as large as could be cut from a -single buffalo hide. Only the skins of buffalo bulls -were used for this purpose (whence the name of the -boat), for they were the strongest and best able to resist -abrasion from rubbing on the bottom of the river. -The pieces were sewed together with buffalo sinew. -Before this work was done the hides were carefully -dressed by the Indians so as to be free of hair and perfectly -flexible. When the covering was all sewed together -it was thoroughly soaked and then placed over -the framework and the sides and ends made fast to -the gunwale of the boat. The hides would then dry -and shrink until they were drawn as tight as a drumhead.</p> - -<p>The final operation in the work was to pitch the -seams. The material used was a mixture of buffalo -tallow and ashes, and it was carefully rubbed into all -seams or cracks until the whole covering was water-tight.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">NAVIGATION BY BULLBOAT.</div> - -<p>The boat so built was very light, and could be easily -turned over by two men. When in the water and -ready for its cargo, a layer of loose poles was laid -lengthwise on the bottom so as to keep the cargo five<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">99</span> -or six inches from the bottom and protect it from any -water that might leak in. The cargo nearly always -consisted of furs, securely packed in bales about thirty -inches long, fifteen inches wide, and eighteen inches -deep. They were placed one bale deep over the bottom -of the boat, leaving space in bow and stern for the -pole men. The bales were always laid flatwise, so -that if the water should reach them it would injure -only the bottom skins and not all, as it would if they -were set edgewise. The cargo rarely exceeded six -thousand pounds.</p> - -<p>The boat was handled by means of poles, and the -crew generally consisted of two men. The draft of -the boat, when placed in the water in the morning, -was about four inches, but the boat hide becoming -soaked during the day, and possibly some water leaking -in, it would probably be as much as six or eight -inches by night. Every evening when camp was -made the boat was unloaded, brought up on the bank, -and placed in an inclined position, bottom side up, to -dry. In this position it served as a shelter for both -cargo and crew. In the morning the seams were repitched, -and any incipient rents or abrasions were carefully -patched. The boat was then launched and reloaded -and the voyage resumed.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">FREAKS OF THE WIND.</div> - -<p>Low water, even on the Platte, was generally preferred -to high water for bullboat navigation, because<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">100</span> -in high water the current was too strong. Every -little while the boat would glide into deep pockets, -where the poles could not touch bottom, and it was -then necessary to drift with the current until a shallower -stretch would give the men control again. -Sometimes in those wide and shallow expanses, which -give the Platte such a pretentious appearance in high -water, the wind would play vexatious pranks with the -bullboat navigators. A strong prairie gale blowing -steadily from one direction during the day would drift -most of the water to the leeward side of the stream. -The boat would naturally follow the same shore, and -the night camp would be made there. If, as often -happened, the wind changed before re-embarkation, -the river would very likely be wafted to the other side -of its broad bed, and the crew would find themselves -with half a mile of sandbar between them and the -water.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">NOTED BULLBOAT VOYAGES.</div> - -<p>Bullboat navigation, as here described, was most -frequently resorted to in bringing the trade of the -Pawnees on the Loup Fork of the Platte to the Missouri, -but it was likewise extensively used on the -Cheyenne and Niobrara and other tributaries. There -were some very extensive bullboat voyages. A good -many were made from Laramie River to the mouth of -the Platte, but generally it was impossible to find -enough water to make a continuous voyage. In 1825<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">101</span> -General Ashley loaded one hundred and twenty-five -packs of beaver into bullboats at the head of navigation -on the Bighorn River, with the intention of conveying -them in that way to St. Louis. But at the -mouth of the Yellowstone he met General Atkinson, -who offered him the use of his keelboats for the rest -of the journey. In 1833 the Rocky Mountain Fur -Company, Captain Bonneville and Nathaniel J. -Wyeth, embarked all their furs, the product of a year’s -hunt, in bullboats on the Bighorn River, and together -went downstream to the mouth of the Yellowstone. -Sometimes these boats were actually given names, -and we have a record of the bullboat <i>Antoine</i>, in which -a free trapper, Johnson Gardner, shipped his furs from -the “Crossings of the Yellowstone” to Fort Union in -1832.</p> - -<p>The boats just described were quite different from -the hemispherical tubs used so extensively by the Mandans -and other tribes of the upper Missouri. These -little boats had a circular rim or gunwale, and the willow -supports passed from one side entirely under the -boat to the other. The frame was generally small -enough to be covered with a single hide, and was designed -to carry ordinarily but one person. A fleet of -these boats, numbering a hundred or so, was one of -the most singular sights ever witnessed on the river. -The squaws often used them, on occasions of buffalo<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">102</span> -hunts above the village, to transport the meat downstream. -In fact the women rather than the men -were the navigators of this picturesque little -craft.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<div class="sidenote">THE KEELBOAT.</div> - -<p>We now come to the <em>keelboat</em>, the representative -river craft of ante-steamboat days. It was in this -boat that the merchandise for the trade was transported -to the far upper river, and it was used on all -important military or exploring expeditions. It was -a good-sized boat, sixty to seventy feet long, and built -on a regular model, with a keel running from bow to -stern. It had fifteen to eighteen feet breadth of beam -and three or four feet depth of hold. Its ordinary -draft was from twenty to thirty inches. It was built -in accordance with the practice of approved shipcraft, -and was a good, stanch vessel. Keelboats were generally -built in Pittsburgh at a cost of two to three -thousand dollars.</p> - -<div id="ip_102" class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/i129.jpg" width="2303" height="1550" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"><p>MISSOURI RIVER KEELBOAT</p> - -<p>(After Maximilian)</p></div></div> - -<p>For carrying freight the keelboat was fitted with -what was called a cargo box, which occupied the entire -body of the boat excepting about twelve feet at -each end. It rose some four or five feet above the -deck. Along each side of the cargo box was a narrow -walk about fifteen inches wide, called the <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">passe -avant</i>, the purpose of which will be explained further -on. On special occasions when these boats were used<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">103</span> -for passenger traffic, as on expeditions of discovery or -exploration, they were fitted up with cabins, and made -very comfortable passenger boats.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">THE CORDELLE.</div> - -<p>For purposes of propulsion the boat was equipped -with nearly all the power appliances known to navigation -except steam. The cordelle was the main reliance. -This consisted of a line nearly a thousand -feet long, fastened to the top of a mast which rose -from the center of the boat to a height of about thirty -feet. The boat was pulled along with this line by -men on shore. In order to hold the boat from swinging -around the mast, the line was connected with the -bow by means of a “bridle,” a short auxiliary line -fastened to a loop in the bow and to a ring through -which the cordelle passed. The bridle prevented the -boat from swinging under the force of the wind or -current when the speed was not great enough to accomplish -this purpose by means of the rudder. The -object in having so long a line was to lessen the -tendency to draw the boat toward the shore; and the -object in having it fastened to the top of the mast was -to keep it from dragging, and to enable it to clear the -brush along the bank.</p> - -<p>It took from twenty to forty men to cordelle the -keelboat along average stretches of the river, and the -work was always one of great difficulty. There was -no established towpath, and the changing conditions<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">104</span> -of the river prevented the development of such a path -except along a few stable stretches. It was frequently -necessary to send men ahead to clear the most -troublesome obstructions away. In some places, -where it was impossible to walk and work at the same -time, a few men would carry the end of the line beyond -the obstruction and make it fast, while the rest would -get on board and pull the boat up by drawing in the -line. This operation was called warping.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">NAVIGATION BY CORDELLE.</div> - -<p>When the boat was being cordelled there stood at -the bow, near where the bridle was attached, an individual -called in French a <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">bosseman</i> (boatswain’s -mate), whose duty it was to watch for snags and other -obstructions, and to help steer the boat by holding it -off the bank with a pole. There was selected for this -place a man of great physical strength, prompt decision, -and thorough knowledge of the river. The -patron, or master of the boat, stood at the rudder, -which was manipulated by means of a long lever from -the rear end of the cargo box. This position gave -him an elevated point of view, from which he could -overlook everything.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">NAVIGATION BY POLE.</div> - -<p>There were many places where the keelboat could -not be cordelled at all, as along sandbars where the -water was too shallow for the boat to get near the -shore, or the alluvium too soft for the men to walk in. -At such times it was necessary to resort to the pole,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">105</span> -as it was called. This was a turned piece of ash wood -regularly manufactured at St. Louis. On one end -was a ball or knob to rest in the hollow of the shoulder, -for the voyageur to push against; and on the -other was a wooden shoe or socket. In propelling the -boat with these poles eight or ten voyageurs ranged -themselves along each side, near the bow, facing aft, -pole in hand, one in front of the other, as close together -as they could walk. The whole operation was -under the direction of the patron. At his command -“<i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">A bas les perches</i>” (down with the poles), the -voyageurs would thrust the lower ends into the river -close to the boat and place the ball ends against their -shoulders, so that the poles should be well inclined -downstream. They would all push together, forcing -the boat ahead, as they walked along the <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">passe avant</i> -toward the stern, until the foremost man had gone as -far as he could. The patron then gave the command -“<i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Levez les perches</i>” (raise the poles), upon which they -would be withdrawn from the mud, and the men would -walk quickly back to the bow and repeat the operation. -All steering was done while the poles were up, for the -boat could not change direction while the men were -pushing. It was always essential to give the boat -sufficient momentum at each push to keep her going -while the men were changing position. The <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">passe -avant</i> had cleats nailed to it to keep the feet from slipping,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">106</span> -and the men, when pushing hard, sometimes -leaned over far enough to catch hold of the cleats with -their hands, thus fairly crawling on all-fours.</p> - -<p>In some places where the water was too deep for -the poles and where cordelling was impracticable, oars -were resorted to. There were five or six of these on -each side of the bow. They often furnished assistance -also when the boat was being cordelled.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">NAVIGATION BY SAIL.</div> - -<p>A great reliance in propelling the keelboat, strange -as it may seem considering the nature of Missouri -River navigation, was the wind. A mast was rigged, -with a square sail spreading about one hundred square -feet of canvas, which often gave sufficient power to -propel the boat against the swift current of the river. -Unless the direction of the wind were altogether -wrong the sinuous course of the stream would every -now and then give an aft or quartering breeze. -In some places the wind seemed to follow the bends, -blowing up or down the river clear around. Thus -Brackenridge relates that when Manuel Lisa’s boat, -in June, 1811, was going around the Great Bend -below Fort Pierre, where in the course of thirty miles -the river flows toward every point of the compass, an -aft wind was experienced all the way, and the entire -circuit was made under sail. Some idea of sailing -speed up the Missouri under favorable conditions may -be gleaned from the fact that, on the day of passing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">107</span> -the Great Bend, Lisa’s boat made seventy-five miles, a -portion of the distance being made at night by the -light of the moon. And on another occasion on the -same trip Brackenridge records that “we had an -extraordinary run of forty-five leagues from sun to -sun.”</p> - -<div class="sidenote">KEELBOAT SPEED.</div> - -<p>Thus, by means of the cordelle and pole, the oar and -sail, the sturdy keelboat worked and worried its way -up the turbulent Missouri in the early days. It was a -slow and laborious process at best. A good idea of its -maximum accomplishment under rather unfavorable -conditions is furnished by Manuel Lisa’s voyage, already -referred to. It was made with an exceptionally -fine boat, a picked crew, and the most untiring and -energetic commander that ever ascended the Missouri. -There was especial necessity for rapid progress, for it -was of the greatest importance to overtake the -Astorian expedition, which was a long distance ahead, -before it should reach the dangerous Sioux country. -The difficulties from wind and storm were greater -than the average, and the rate of progress was not increased -by any fortuitous aids. Lisa left St. Charles, -28 miles above the mouth of the Missouri, April 2, -1811. He overtook Hunt at 1132 miles, on the morning -of June 11. He therefore made about 1100 miles -in sixty-one days, or about 18 miles per day. This, -however, was better than the average. A keelboat<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">108</span> -trip to the upper river was practically an entire summer’s -operation.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">LABORIOUS OCCUPATION.</div> - -<p>Above the mouth of the James or Dakota River keelboating -was easier than below, because the natural obstacles -of all sorts were less; but everywhere it was a -very laborious process. Captain La Barge often remarked -that it would be wholly impossible in this day -to get men to undergo such exertions as were required -of the keelboat crews. They worked early and -late, in water and out, and often to the very limit of -endurance. Their food was of the plainest description, -consisting mainly of pork, lyed corn, and navy -beans. From this allowance, slender as it was, meat -was cut off as soon as the game country was reached. -The cooking was done at the night camp for the following -day. On top of the cargo box there was sometimes -placed a cooking stove, in a shallow box filled -with ashes or gravel to protect the roof from fire. -The men’s baggage was stored in the front of the -cargo box, where there was also a place for anyone to -lie down who might fall sick. It was, however, a very -poor place to be sick in. There were no medicines, -no physicians, no nurses or attendants, and -nothing but the coarsest food. The prospect itself -was enough to frighten everyone into keeping well.</p> - -<p>The hired laborers who did the work on these river -expeditions were called voyageurs, and were generally<span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">109</span> -of French descent. They were an interesting class of -people, and presented a phase of pioneer life on the -Missouri which has become wholly extinct. They -were a very hard-working class, obedient, cheerful, -light-hearted, and contented. It was a marvel to see -them, after a hard day’s work, dance and sing around -the evening campfire as if just awakened from a refreshing -sleep. The St. Louis Creoles were regarded -as more desirable boatmen than the French Canadians. -The American hunter was not so useful in river work -as the French voyageur, but was far more valuable -for land work and in situations involving danger or -requiring the display of physical courage.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<div class="sidenote">DECAY OF ROMANCE.</div> - -<div class="sidenote">NOTEWORTHY SCENES.</div> - -<div class="sidenote">THE FIRE CANOE.</div> - -<p>Washington Irving, whose love of the romance -of early Western history was ardent and sincere, beheld -with unfriendly eye the introduction of the <em>steamboat</em> -upon the Missouri. He lamented the “march -of mechanical invention,” which was “fast dispelling -the wildness and romance of our lakes and rivers,” -and “driving everything poetical before it.” However -well-founded this fear may have been in the general -case, we are inclined to think that the exact reverse -was true of the Missouri River steamboat. This -remarkable craft introduced romantic features of -which the old keelboat and its Creole crew never -dreamed. The incidents of a single steamboat voyage<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">110</span> -from St. Louis to Fort Union would make an entertaining -chapter in any book of adventure. As to impressiveness -of appearance, certainly no craft on our -Western waters, if upon any waters of the globe, displayed -more majesty and beauty, or filled the mind -with more interesting reflections, than these picturesque -vessels of the early days in the boundless -prairies of the West. The very surroundings lent a -peculiar attraction to the scene. In every direction the -broad and treeless plains extended without water -enough anywhere in sight even to suggest a boat. -Winding through these plains was a deep valley several -miles broad, with a ribbon of verdure running -through it along the sinuous course of the river. -Everything was still as wild and unsettled as before -the advent of the white man, and there was little or -nothing to suggest the civilization of the outside -world. In the midst of this virgin wildness a noble -steamboat appears, its handsome form standing high -above the water in fine outline against the verdure of -the shore; its lofty chimneys pouring forth clouds of -smoke in an atmosphere unused to such intrusion, and -its progress against the impetuous current exhibiting -an extraordinary display of power. Altogether it -formed one of the most notable scenes ever witnessed -upon the waters of America. Naturally enough the -wild Indian viewed with feelings of awe this great<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">111</span> -“fire canoe,” whose power to “walk on the water” -had subdued the intractable current to its own will. -It is said to have been the advent of the steamboat -which finally turned the scale of the Indian’s favor toward -the Americans as against the British.</p> - -<p>In truth, the Missouri River steamboat was a most -attractive-looking craft. Unlike an ocean vessel, which -is in large part buried beneath the waves, the river -boat drew only three or four feet of water, and was -therefore almost entirely above the surface. This -gave it a great apparent size compared with its actual -dimensions and tonnage. Its architectural design was -pleasing to the eye. Its successive decks, surmounted -by the texas and pilot-house, all painted a clear, even -white, made it look like a veritable floating palace as -it moved majestically among the groves of cottonwood -and willow, or through the parched plains of the -ashen-colored sage brush.</p> - -<p>The criticism has been made that the river steamboat -is one of the few modern mechanical contrivances -which have shown no particular development, but remain -to-day as they were long ago. The criticism -is a mistaken one. If comparison be made between the -first river steamboats and the best of to-day it will -be found that progress in this development is quite up -to that in other lines, and it is doubtful if any other -machine is more perfectly adapted to its peculiar<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">112</span> -work. In very recent years there has naturally been -but little development, for the steamboat business on -Western rivers has largely passed away.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">THE FIRST “YELLOW­STONE.”</div> - -<p>The earlier boats were usually of the sidewheel pattern, -with only one engine, and an immense flywheel -to keep it from stopping on the dead point. Unlike -the modern boat, most of the accommodations for -freight and passengers were abaft of the wheels. The -stages for getting on and off were located there. The -forward part was mainly taken up with machinery. -The men’s cabins were in the hold. The shape of the -boat was ill adapted to its work. It had a model keel, -which gave it fully six feet draft with half of the load -which has since been carried on three feet.<a id="FNanchor_12" href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">12</a></p> - -<div class="sidenote">THE MODERN STEAMBOAT.</div> - -<p>Far different from this early boat was that used -in the later years of business on the Missouri. The -first-class modern river steamboat was about 220 feet<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">113</span> -long and 35 feet wide, and would carry 500 tons. It -was built with a flat bottom, so that it would draw, say, -thirty inches light and fifty loaded. It was propelled -by a stern-wheel, a most excellent arrangement, which -had become practicable through the invention of the -balanced rudder: that is, a rudder with a part of the -blade on each side of the rudder post. There were -two engines of long stroke, one on each side of the -boat, communicating directly with the wheel shaft -and thus avoiding all loss from the friction of gearing. -A proper distribution of the weight required -that the boilers be placed well forward. This left a -large space between them and the engine room, which -was well aft.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">FIGURATIVE DESIGN.</div> - -<p>The forecastle was equipped with steam capstans -and huge spars, which served a purpose similar to that -of the poles on a keelboat in pushing the boat over -sandbars. Steam hoisting apparatus was used, and -in the hold were light tramway cars to convey the -freight from the hatchway to its place of deposit. -Enormous stages, swung from derricks on either side -of the bow, facilitated communication with the high -banks of the river. The quarters of the crew and -steerage passengers were on the boiler deck. On top -of the hurricane deck was the texas—a suite of rooms -for the officers of the boat. Above the texas stood the -pilot-house, high over the river—a very important consideration,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">114</span> -for the more directly the pilot could look -down the better he could see the channel. The hurricane -deck, and particularly the pilot-house, were favorite -resorts for the passengers.</p> - -<p>High above all towered the lofty smokestacks, carrying -the sparks from the wood fire well away from -the roof of the boat and giving a strong draft to the -furnace. Between the two chimneys the name of the -company generally appeared in large initial letters, -legible for a long distance.<a id="FNanchor_13" href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">13</a> One or more flags displayed -their colors to the breeze, and a light armament, -consisting of one or two small cannon, answered the -double purpose of firing salutes and terrifying Indians -who became too defiant.</p> - -<hr /> - -<div id="chap_115" class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">115</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">STEAMBOAT NAVIGATION ON THE MISSOURI RIVER.</span></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="firstword">The</span> Missouri River pilot was beyond question the -most skillful representative of his profession. In no -other kind of navigation were the qualities of quick -perception, intuitive grasp of a situation, nerve to act -boldly and promptly, coolness and judgment in times -of danger, so important and so constantly in demand. -Navigation on the ocean was child’s play in comparison. -The Missouri represented in the highest degree -the peculiar dangers characteristic of alluvial -streams. Its current was swift, its channel full of -snags, its surface nearly always ruffled by the prairie -gale, and never for five minutes in succession in a condition -which would permit the pilot to take his hand -from the wheel or the engineer to let go of the -throttle. The elaborate system of communication between -the pilot-house and the engine room was always -in service, and the tinkle of signal bells in the engineer’s -ear was almost continuous. The position of -pilot was responsible and exacting, and called for a -high order of ability. And so it resulted that the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">116</span> -better class of pilots were men of high standing and -character, in whose care business men unhesitatingly -intrusted their property and the lives of their families.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">THE TWO BARKS.</div> - -<p>The ever-shifting condition of the river channel<a id="FNanchor_14" href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">14</a> -caused the pilot to seek all available information as to -its latest position. When other boats were met there -was an eager swapping of notes, for it was a common -practice in later years for pilots to assist each other -by keeping notes of the condition of the river over -which they passed.<a id="FNanchor_15" href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">15</a> The pilots thus came to know -the river by heart from its mouth to the head of navigation. -The extraordinary knowledge of its topography -and nomenclature which Captain La Barge retained -to the end of his life was almost incredible. -There was not a bend or rapid, a bed of snags, or other<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">117</span> -feature in all of its twenty-six hundred miles that was -not as familiar to him as the rooms of his own house.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">THE FUEL PROBLEM.</div> - -<p>The most serious problem with which the Missouri -navigator had to deal was that of procuring fuel. -Wood alone was used, and this was obtained from -the growths on the banks of the river. Cottonwood -was the main reliance, because of its greater abundance, -but it was not a first-class firewood. If green, -it was next to impossible to maintain steam with it -except by the aid of rosin. It was often found impracticable -to carry the boat from one established -wooding place to another, and it was then necessary -to gather drift logs, or anything else that could be -found. Whenever a trading post was abandoned its -palisades and buildings quickly found their way into -the steamboat furnaces, to the great, though transient, -delight of the crew.</p> - -<p>In the earlier years the fuel was cut by the crew -itself as the boat proceeded on her voyage. But as -the traffic became more regular, wood yards were established, -either by the boat-owners or by others who -cut wood for sale. The Indians themselves found the -business a profitable one, and finally refused to let the -whites cut wood at all. The sale of their wood thus -became a source of considerable revenue to them. In -later years, during the Sioux hostilities, the wooding -of boats was a most perilous matter. Crews were<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">118</span> -attacked at the landings and only the most vigilant -precaution prevented great loss of life at such times.<a id="FNanchor_16" href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">16</a> -To reduce this danger as much as possible, Captain -La Barge equipped one of his boats with a -sawmill, and took along a yoke of oxen. When he -had to have wood he swung out a large stage, drove -the team ashore, and dragged several logs on board -with the utmost speed. As soon as this was done the -boat proceeded on her way and the crew then sawed up -the wood.</p> - -<p>The “wooding” of a boat was an interesting performance. -The moment the boat touched the bank -for this purpose the mate called out “woodpile,” and -every available man leaped ashore, loaded himself with -wood, and hastened back to the boat. In an incredibly -short time the work was done and the boat was -again on her way.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">STEAMBOAT HOURS.</div> - -<p>Steamboat hours were as long as the light of day -would permit. It was not customary to run at night, -unless there was ample moonlight and the business -was extremely urgent. But every hour of daylight -was improved. In the higher latitudes morning and -evening twilight almost touched hands across the few -hours of intervening darkness. Three o’clock A. M. -was a common hour of starting, and 9 P. M. of stopping.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">119</span> -The crew were divided into four watches, so -that they could take turns in getting sleep during the -day.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">EFFECT OF WIND.</div> - -<p>The early morning run was liable to be the most -successful of the day, unless it were the late evening -run. At both times the wind was generally low -enough to form no serious drawback. The landscape -likewise appeared at its best, and the sight of sunrise -or sunset on the river was one to be remembered. -The water was comparatively calm at those hours, -particularly in the early morning. Later in the day -the wind generally began to rise, and the pilot always -viewed as an evil omen the first cloud of sand that -he saw drifting over the valley. If the wind increased -beyond a certain point he was compelled to make for -the shore and wait for it to subside. The area of the -boat exposed to the wind was so great that in narrow -channels it was impossible to keep within them, and -it was often necessary to lie at the bank for several -hours. This enforced idleness was generally improved -in cutting wood for present and future needs.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">SOUNDING THE CHANNEL.</div> - -<p>The danger from snags was always present and -sometimes very great, and the passage of these obstructions -was a matter of anxious solicitude on the -part of both officers and passengers. Less dangerous, -but not less annoying, was the passage of shallow bars -where there was not sufficient depth to float the boat.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">120</span> -This usually occurred at the “crossings,” or places -where the channel, after having followed one side of -the river-bed for a distance, crossed over to the other. -In these places the channel generally split up into -chutes, none of which might have the required depth -of water. The pilot’s first step would be to select the -most promising channel. If this failed, he retreated -and tried another. Always at such times one of the -deck hands was kept at the bow on the forecastle -sounding the channel—a function most interesting -and novel to one who had never witnessed it. On the -shallow Missouri a pole was used instead of a lead -line. A deck hand seized this pole and thrust it -into the water every five seconds, at the same time -calling out the depth in a drawling, sing-song voice. -The Canadian boatmen would generally preface these -calls with a snatch from some of their native songs, -winding up with the required information as a sort -of refrain. So novel was the performance to the uninitiated -that an expert sounder would attract around -him an audience of listeners.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">WALKING OVER SANDBARS.</div> - -<p>In case no channel was found by direct trial with -the boat, the pilot sent the mate out in a yawl, or more -generally went himself, and carefully sounded the -entire river over the shallow portion. Having determined -where the deepest water lay, he returned to the -boat, and if the obstacle were not too great, at once<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">121</span> -proceeded to move the boat over it. Steaming in the -proper direction, as determined from the sounding, he -would run the boat as far as she would go. The crew -then lowered the huge spars on either side, set them -in the sand with the lower ends pointing downstream -so that a pull on the lines would both lift the boat and -crowd it ahead; then hauled taut the lines, threw them -around the capstans, and proceeded to “walk” the -boat over the bar. The process was often long and -laborious, and instances were not uncommon where -one or two days were consumed in this way. An occasional -resource, which always puzzled the uninitiated, -was to set the wheel going with a reverse motion, as if -trying to back the boat. The object of this was to -dam the river up slightly and relieve as much as possible -the pressure on the bar. The water was sometimes -backed in this way up to a height of four inches, and -this meant a great deal. The backward power of the -wheel was so much less than the forward power of -the spars that it was not considered at all. This was -one of the scientific aspects of Missouri River navigation.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">WARPING OVER RAPIDS.</div> - -<p>The few rapids on the river which were too steep -for the boat to stem unaided were usually passed by -the method of warping. As soon as the boat reached -the foot of a rapid she made for the shore. The -moment her prow touched the bank a dozen men<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">122</span> -leaped out and started on the run up along the water’s -edge. The foremost carried a pick and spade and a -few stakes, the second a stick of timber a little smaller -than a railroad tie, and the rest at proper intervals a -strong line which was rapidly uncoiled from the boat. -Having arrived well beyond the head of the rapid the -men proceeded to plant a “dead man”: that is, they -dug a trench three or four feet deep in the hard -prairie soil, large enough to receive the stick of timber, -and with the long dimension at right angles to -the river. The timber was then buried and firmly -staked down, and the line fastened to it at its middle, -while the crew on the boat threw their end of the line -around the capstan, which was then slowly wound in -under the power of steam. The operation was a very -slow one, though less so as a general thing than sparring -over sandbars.</p> - -<p>Occasionally the pilots encountered genuine whirlpools -of such magnitude that steamboats could not -cross them. In 1867 the <i>Bishop</i> was swamped in an -eddy caused by a new cut-off on the river. The boat -was caught at the point where the swift current of the -cut-off entered the old channel. At about the same -time the <i>Miner</i> narrowly escaped disaster in a violent -eddy not far below Sioux City, Ia. The whirl of the -water was so swift that the center of the eddy was -nearly twelve feet below its circumference. The boat<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">123</span> -was trying to pull itself by with a line when it was -caught by the eddy, swung out into the stream, -whirled violently around and careened over until the -river flowed right across the lower deck. Wood and -all other movable material were swept off, and two -men were drowned. Only the mate’s presence of mind -in slacking off the line saved the boat.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">DANGER FROM INDIANS.</div> - -<p>One of the most formidable perils of Missouri -navigation during the period from 1860 to 1876 was -the hostility of the Indians. The Sioux tribes in particular -terrorized the boatmen all along the valley -from the Niobrara to Milk River. Many were their -actual attacks and many were the lives lost. It became -necessary on some voyages to barricade the -decks and staterooms, and the most careful vigilance -night and day was required in order to avoid disaster.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">STEAMBOAT EXPLOSIONS.</div> - -<p>An exciting and often dangerous pastime indulged -in by the river boats was racing. This was particularly -true of the period about 1858, when the boating business -was rather overdone and there was great competition -in the trade. Racing on the Missouri was -very risky in any case, owing to the uncertainty of -the channel and the abundance of shags; but the chief -danger arose from the temptation to raise the steam -pressure above a safe limit. Of all classes of steamboat -disasters, the most dreadful were those caused by -boiler explosions. There were six of these wrecks in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">124</span> -the history of the river, although it is not known that -they were all caused by racing. In 1842 the <i>Edna</i> was -destroyed at the mouth of the Missouri, and forty-two -German emigrants were killed. The most terrible -accident was that of the <i>Saluda</i>, April 9, 1852, at Lexington, -Mo. The boat was a sidewheeler, with two -large boilers, and was on her way up the river with a -load of merchandise and many Mormon passengers. -The river was very high and the current so strong that -the boat could not round the point just above town. -After waiting several days without any improvement -of the situation, the captain, Francis F. Belt, ordered -another trial. Going into the engine room, he inquired -how much steam was being carried. The -engineer replied that he was carrying every pound that -the boilers could stand. The captain recklessly ordered -more steam to be made, and declared with an -oath that he would round the bend or blow the boat -to pieces. He then went above, rang the bell, and -ordered the lines cast off. The boat swung into the -stream; the engines made but one or two revolutions -when the boilers burst with a terrific explosion that -blew the boat into splinters and scattered them far -and wide. Nearly all the officers were killed, among -them the pilot, Charles La Barge, Captain La Barge’s -brother, and the second pilot, Louis Guerette, Mrs. La -Barge’s brother. It is said that over one hundred<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">125</span> -bodies were found. Several children who escaped, but -had lost their parents, were adopted by the people of -Lexington and grew up to be citizens of Missouri instead -of Mormon residents of the future State of -Utah. The bell of this boat was blown out on the -bank while yet it was ringing under the hand of Captain -Belt. It was purchased with other wreckage by -a resident of Lexington, who sold it to the Christian -Church in Savannah, Mo., where it has done duty for -the past fifty years.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">HUNTERS FOR THE BOATS.</div> - -<p>After the time when the boats began to carry passengers -in considerable numbers, much more attention -was paid to the table fare than in the days when the -passenger list was made up almost entirely of men -going to service with the fur companies. In those -days pork, lyed corn, and navy beans made up the -substance of the bill of fare. It was always a rule, -when in the Indian country, to rely on game for meat. -For this purpose hunters were regularly employed -on the various boats, selected for their skill, and never -called upon for any other work. The hunter’s custom -was to leave the boat about midnight, some three or -four hours before she was to start, and to scour the -bank of the river, keeping well ahead. Whenever any -animal was killed it was hung up in some conspicuous -place, and was brought in by the steamboat yawl as -the boat came along.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">126</span></p> - -<p>Captain La Barge had many of these hunters in his -employ during his career. Henry Chatillon, the same -who appears in Francis Parkman’s “Oregon Trail,” -was one. He was a fine man, an excellent hunter, and -sensible and gentlemanly in all his relations. The Captain’s -favorite hunter, however, was Louis Dauphin, -who was more fearless than Chatillon and equally -skillful as a hunter. He had a very long career on -the Missouri River. He seemed to delight in danger, -and was never afraid of the Indians; but his lack of -prudence at last cost him his life, and he was killed by -the Sioux near the mouth of Milk River in 1865.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">PASSENGERS AND CARGO.</div> - -<p>Such are some of the peculiar features of Missouri -River navigation as it existed fifty years ago. To -bring back more of the reality of what has now become -only a reminiscence, let us follow one of these -steamboats on a typical voyage up the river. The -principal event on the annual trip was the embarkation -at St. Louis. The cargo consisted of a heterogeneous -assortment of goods, designed for the Indian trade -and for the equipment of hunting and trapping parties. -It frequently included also the government annuities -for the various tribes, and stores for the Indian agencies -and military posts. The passengers composed an -even more heterogeneous mixture than the cargo -itself. There were, first, the regular boat crew, numbering -from thirty to forty. Very likely there were<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">127</span> -several Indians returning home from St. Louis, or -even from Washington. Then there were recruits for -the various trading companies, consisting of hunters, -trappers, voyageurs, and mountaineers, and possibly -a company of soldiers for some military service. -Nearly always there were passengers distinguished for -wealth or scientific attainment, who were making the -journey for pleasure or research. Government exploring -parties generally traveled by boat to the initial -point of their expeditions. In all there were from one -hundred to two hundred people on board, with sufficient -variety to insure vivacity and interest, however -monotonous the journey might otherwise be.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">DEPARTURE FROM PORT.</div> - -<p>The departure from port was always attended with -more or less carousing and revelry, particularly in the -keelboat and early steamboat days, when a trip up -the river might mean years of absence. The kind of -farewell that captured the fancy of the average voyageur -was a general debauch, which often disqualified -him from being ready when the hour of departure arrived. -Sometimes these delinquents who failed to appear -hied themselves across the country to St. Charles, -and joined the boat there. In order to protect itself -from loss, the American Fur Company made all its -payments to the men conditional upon a certain -amount of service. It made an allowance of clothing -and blankets, but never delivered them until the men<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">128</span> -were on board and out of port. Wages were never -advanced except to trusted employees.</p> - -<p>As the boat swung out into the stream a running -salute of musketry was kept up by the mountaineers -and others until it was out of hearing. The roll was -then called, and the engagés were given their parcels -of clothing. Next began the work of putting the boat -deck in order for the trip. The bales of goods, which -were strewn about in disorderly heaps, were carefully -stowed away, and before night the boat was reduced -to the appearance which it would wear during the remainder -of the trip.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">SETTLING CHAMPION­SHIP.</div> - -<p>There still remained to be settled a final preliminary -to a successful and harmonious voyage—the championship -for physical prowess among the engagés -on the boat. As in a herd of cattle, so here, someone -must be recognized as the strongest—able to whip -anybody else in open contest. The crew being largely -strangers to each other in starting, there were more or -less friction and bickering until a settlement by fist -force was reached. Usually the contest would settle -down to a small number in a short time. It was a favorite -pastime with that veteran mountaineer, Etienne -Provost, who was often sent up in charge of recruits, -to compel an early settlement which would determine -all blustering and quarreling. He would form a ring -on the forecastle and compel every braggart to make<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">129</span> -good his claims before the assembled passengers and -crew. One after another would succumb, until one -man would emerge from the contest victorious over -all the others. He would then be awarded the championship, -and receive a red belt in token thereof.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">YANKEE JACK.</div> - -<p>Captain La Barge recalled an interesting incident -of this kind in which he himself had a hand. It was -on the <i>Robert Campbell</i>, in 1863. He had on board -a large quota of Irish engagés, in fact they were mostly -of this nationality; but there was one well-built, quiet, -rawboned American, whose full name he had forgotten, -but who was commonly known as Yankee -Jack. In modern slang, the Irishmen “had it in” for -this Yankee, and made his life as uncomfortable as -possible. Two men in particular made it a point to -harass and annoy him in every conceivable way, until -the Captain finally asked Jack why he did not resent -their conduct. Jack, who had a higher respect for -authority than his persecutors, had not felt at liberty -to take the matter up on the boat, but now told the -Captain that, if he would permit it, he would settle the -matter once for all very promptly. The Captain told -him to go ahead, and himself arranged the preliminaries, -and told the Irishmen that they would have to -stand up and “take their medicine.” With a good -deal of contempt for the Yankee they made ready for -the fray. A place was cleared on the deck and one of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">130</span> -the men stepped out before Yankee Jack, and the -battle began; but before the Irishman knew “where -he was at” he lay sprawling upon the floor totally <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">hors -de combat</i>. The next man stepped up and was led to -the slaughter with as little ceremony as the other. -For the rest of the voyage the Yankee was unmolested.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">INTERESTING DIVERSIONS.</div> - -<p>While the officers and crew were kept alert and -active the livelong day in getting their boat up the -troublesome stream, the passengers whiled away their -time as best they could. Games of all practicable -sorts were indulged in. It was a common pastime to -stand on the forecastle or boiler deck and shoot at -geese and ducks on the river. Now and then the sight -of deer and other animals enlivened the moment, and -occasionally the appearance of Indians on the bank -caused a flutter of excitement. To relieve the tedium -of the voyage it was a common thing, when there -was no danger from the Indians, to land at the beginning -of extensive bends, and ramble across the -country to the other side, rejoining the boat when it -came along.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">THE PILOT’S STORIES.</div> - -<p>The pilot-house was the favorite resort on the boat -when the condition of navigation would permit the -passengers to be there. The pilot was always an interesting -personage to get acquainted with. When in -the proper mood and sailing along some easy stretch -of river, he would unloosen his tongue and entertain<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">131</span> -his listeners with tales of <em>his</em> adventurous experiences, -in reality the accumulated stories of many years, but -as new to the tenderfoot as if told for the first time. -Here he would point out a dry sand waste where the -channel ran the year before and where now a fine crop -of willows was shooting vigorously upward. The -high bank yonder, with a grove of cottonwoods close -to the water’s edge, was where the boat was attacked -by Indians a few years before and two of the crew -killed. The holes where bullets tore through the -pilot-house were still visible as tragic reminders of a -hairbreadth escape. A little further on was where the -boat once had to stop to let a herd of buffalo cross the -river, for it would not do to try to run through the -herd lest their huge bodies become entangled in the -wheels and cripple it altogether. Sometimes these -delays amounted to several hours. In another place -the Captain would point out the grave of some Indian -chief reposing in the arms of a tree, where it had been -placed by his people years before, and the sight would -suggest many thrilling experiences, and even tragedies, -which marked the intercourse of these primitive -people with the navigators of the river. The recital -of these traditions appealed to the imagination of the -traveler, and helped allay the monotony of the voyage. -If the landscape might often be likened to the “uniform -view of the vacant ocean,” there were nevertheless<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">132</span> -a thousand features on every trip which the most -interesting ocean voyage lacks.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">ARRIVAL AT TRADING POST.</div> - -<p>Among the important events of every voyage were -the arrivals at the various trading posts. To the occupants -of these remote stations, buried in the depths of -the wilderness, shut out for months from any glimpse -of the world outside, the coming of the annual boat -was an event of even greater interest than to the passengers -themselves. Generally the person in charge -of the post, with some of the employees, would drop -down the river two or three days’ ride and meet the -boat. When she drew near the post, salutes would be -exchanged, the colors displayed, and the passengers -would throng the deck to greet the crowd which lined -the bank. The exigencies of navigation never left -much time for celebration and conviviality. The exchange -of cargo was carried on with the utmost dispatch, -and the moment the business was completed -the boat proceeded on her way.</p> - -<p>These are some of the typical features of steamboat -life as it used to exist on the Missouri River. In later -years, when the gold discoveries in Montana gave the -business such an astonishing impetus, other features -of interest developed. The business was always a -romantic one, and will stand in American frontier history -as one of its most picturesque and delightful -memories.</p> - -<hr /> - -<div id="chap_133" class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">133</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">THE STEAMBOAT IN THE FUR TRADE.</span></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="firstword">The</span> most important early use of steamboats upon -the Missouri River was in connection with the fur -trade, for this was the principal business conducted -along the valley in the first half of the nineteenth century.<a id="FNanchor_17" href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">17</a> -Steamboats had entered the river in 1819, but -that early experiment had not been very successful -and had led to no regular traffic as late as 1830. The -American Fur Company, which monopolized the fur -trade of the Missouri Valley, continued to send its -annual cargoes of merchandise up the river in keelboats. -The great difficulty, heavy cost, and extreme -delay by this method of transportation were a serious -handicap upon the business. It took an entire summer -to reach the far upper posts and not infrequently ice -closed the river before this could be done. A large -crew was required for a comparatively small cargo,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">134</span> -and it was necessary to bring them all back in order -not to have more men in the field than were needed.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">A STEAMBOAT FOR THE FUR TRADE.</div> - -<p>It was from considerations of this character that the -use of steamboats was determined upon in the summer -of 1830, and from that time the true history of Missouri -River navigation begins. The American Fur -Company then had its headquarters in New York. -John Jacob Astor was the real head of the company, -although his son, William B. Astor, was its president. -The Western Department of the Company was established -in St. Louis and managed by the firm of -Bernard Pratte & Company. Pierre Chouteau, Jr., -writing for the firm, August 30, 1830, to the house -in New York, thus describes the beginning of this new -undertaking:</p> - -<div class="sidenote">DIS­ADVAN­TAGES OF KEELBOATS.</div> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Since the loss of our keelboat and the arrival of -Mr. McKenzie,<a id="FNanchor_18" href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">18</a> we have been contemplating the -project of building a small steamboat for the trade of -the upper Missouri. We believe that the navigation -will be much safer in going up, and possibly also in -coming down, than it is by keelboat. The only serious -drawback will be the danger of breakage of some important<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">135</span> -pieces of machinery, which it would be difficult -and perhaps impossible to repair on the spot. However, -after consultation with some of the ablest steamboat -captains, we think that by having spare parts and -a good blacksmith outfit on board, we may be able to -overcome this difficulty. I imagine that there will -always be a little risk to run, but I also believe that, -if we succeed, it will be a great advantage to our -business. The expenses we are annually put to in the -purchase of keelboats and supplies, and in advances to -engagés before their departure, are enormous, and -have to be repeated every year. With the steamboat -we could keep all our men in the Indian country, -where we could pay the greater part of their wages in -merchandise instead of making the large outlay of -cash which we are now constantly required to do.<a id="FNanchor_19" href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">19</a> -The boat would make the voyage to the upper river -every spring. By starting from here [St. Louis] at -the beginning of April with the full season’s outfit of -merchandise, it would probably be back early in June, -and bring with it a portion of the peltries. The finer -furs could still be brought down in the ordinary way.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">136</span> -The merchandise would all reach its destination before -ice closed in the fall, which we now sometimes fail to -do, to our great loss. Furthermore, by having boats -on hand at the trading posts, we can always bring -down the returns in case of accident to the steamboat. -After the return of the latter from the annual trip it -can be used in freighting on the lower river during -the balance of the season. Such a boat as we require -we think will cost in Cincinnati or Marietta about -$7000, but as we shall want a number of duplicate -parts and extras the cost may amount to $8000.</p> - -<p>“Our plan, promising as it seems to us, has its difficulties, -and we submit it to you for approval before -taking definite action. We beg you to think it over -and reply as soon as possible, for, in case of your approval, -we have no time to lose in getting the work -under way, if the boat is to be ready by spring.”</p></div> - -<div class="sidenote">FIRST VOYAGE.</div> - -<p>Such is the clear statement of the origin of a business -which thirty years later assumed enormous proportions. -The house in New York gave its approval, -the boat was built, and was named, most appropriately, -the <i>Yellowstone</i>, and in the spring of 1831 started on -its first voyage for the far upper river.</p> - -<div id="ip_136" class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/i166.jpg" width="2331" height="1541" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"><p>THE FIRST YELLOWSTONE</p> - -<p>(After Maximilian)</p></div></div> - -<div class="sidenote">CHOUTEAU BLUFFS.</div> - -<p>The boat did not get as far as was expected on this -trip. A little above the mouth of the Niobrara River -it was stopped for a time by low water. Pierre Chouteau,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">137</span> -Jr., who, with McKenzie, was the soul of the -enterprise, was a passenger. Burning with impatience -at the delay, he sent to Fort Tecumseh for lighters to -take off a portion of the cargo. Every day he got -out upon the high bluffs overlooking the river and -paced up and down, watching for the desired assistance -and praying for a rise in the river. The bluffs -have ever since been known as the Chouteau Bluffs.</p> - -<p>At last three boats came down and relieved the -steamer of enough of her cargo to enable her to reach -Fort Tecumseh, where Fort Pierre, S. D., now -stands. No attempt was made to go farther, and in -a short time she returned to St. Louis.</p> - -<p>In spite of the failure to reach the mouth of the -Yellowstone the experiment was considered enough -of a success to justify its repetition. Accordingly, in -the spring of 1832, the <i>Yellowstone</i> set out again, and -this time reached Fort Union. The voyage was -highly successful, and the return trip was made at the -rate of a hundred miles a day. Pierre Chouteau, Jr., -was again a passenger. Since the previous year Fort -Tecumseh had been rebuilt in a situation less exposed -to the ravages of the river, and was ready for occupancy -when the <i>Yellowstone</i> arrived on her upward -trip. It was at that time christened <i>Fort Pierre</i>, in -honor of the distinguished visitor and member of the -company. George Catlin, the painter of Indian scenes<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">138</span> -and portraits, was also a passenger, and his writings -and sketches have added to the celebrity of the -voyage.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">SUCCESSFUL EXPERIMENT.</div> - -<p>The success of the second experiment in navigating -the Missouri gave great satisfaction to the company -and to the public in general, for it had never been -considered possible to take steamboats so far. It -added seventeen hundred miles to the internal navigable -waters of the United States, with every prospect -that this would be extended to the very foothills of the -Rocky Mountains. The voyage created great interest -both in this country and in Europe, and John Jacob -Astor, who was in France at the time, wrote home -that nearly all the public journals of the Continent -had made mention of it. Ramsay Crooks, general -agent of the company in New York, thus expressed -his pleasure to the house in St. Louis at the great success -which they had achieved:</p> - -<div class="sidenote">CONGRAT­ULATIONS.</div> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“I congratulate you most cordially on your perseverance -and ultimate success in reaching the Yellowstone -by <em>steam</em>, and the future historian of the Missouri -will preserve for you the honorable and enviable -distinction of having accomplished an object of immense -importance, by exhibiting the practicability of -conquering the obstructions of the Missouri, considered -till almost the present day insurmountable to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">139</span> -steamboats, even among those best acquainted with -their capabilities. You have brought the Falls of the -Missouri as near, comparatively, as was the River -Platte in my younger days.”</p></div> - -<p>The experiment thus inaugurated grew into a regular -business. The American Fur Company sent up -one or more boats every spring, as long as it continued -in the business. In the spring of 1833 it sent up -two boats, the <i>Yellowstone</i> and the <i>Assiniboine</i>. It -was this year that Maximilian, Prince of Wied, went -up and spent several months at Forts McKenzie, -Clark, and Union.<a id="FNanchor_20" href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">20</a> The <i>Assiniboine</i> went above Fort -Union for some distance, thus making another advance -toward the head of navigation. It was caught in this -advanced situation by low water, and was compelled -to remain there all winter.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">AN EARLY LOGBOOK.</div> - -<p>A most interesting and valuable relic of these early -steamboat days has survived in the form of a journal, -or logbook, covering the voyages from 1841 to 1847 -inclusive. It is all in French except that for the year -1847. It is very complete, and exhibits in the clearest -detail the manner of life which existed on the Missouri<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">140</span> -River steamboat in those early days. Captain -La Barge was pilot on some of these voyages, and -we shall now note a few of the interesting incidents -with which he was connected, for they furnish a living -picture of a condition of things which has long -since ceased to exist.</p> - -<hr /> - -<div id="chap_141" class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">141</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">VOYAGE OF 1843.</span></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="firstword">The</span> voyage of 1843 is known in more complete -detail than any other in the history of the river. -There are two complete journals of it—the Sire logbook, -just referred to, and the published journal -of the great naturalist, Audubon, who was one of the -passengers. Captain La Barge himself gave the present -author his full recollections of the trip. There -were in all about one hundred passengers, besides some -Indians returning to their country from a visit to St. -Louis. The passenger list included the usual picturesque -variety, but its most conspicuous and noteworthy -feature was, of course, the presence of Audubon -and his party of scientists. Captain Joseph Sire -was master of the boat and Captain La Barge pilot.</p> - -<p>The <i>Omega</i> left St. Louis April 25, 1843. Along the -lower course of the river the voyage was more than -ordinarily difficult. The waters were high and the -bottoms were badly overflowed, making shore excursions -very unpleasant. The current was strong and -the winds so severe and constant that the boat had to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">142</span> -lie at the bank for several hours nearly every day. -These delays were improved by the boat crew in procuring -wood, and by the scientists in studying the -country.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">AN INDISPENS­ABLE ARTICLE.</div> - -<p>No incident worthy of particular mention occurred -until the boat reached Bellevue, a few miles below the -modern site of Omaha, Neb. The importation of -liquor into the Indian country was prohibited under -the severest penalties, and inspectors were stationed at -Leavenworth and Bellevue to examine all cargoes -bound up the river. Now it so happened that liquor -was the one article above all others that the traders -considered indispensable to their business, and they -never failed to smuggle it through in some way or -other. In the earlier years there was only one place -at which the cargoes going up the river were inspected, -and that was Fort Leavenworth. Later, when an Indian -agency was established at Bellevue, that place -also became a point of detention. At this particular -time it was the <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">bête noire</i> of the American Fur Company -traders. The military authorities at Fort -Leavenworth, from long experience in the country and -intimate knowledge of conditions prevailing there, -exercised their office as inspectors with reasonable -judgment and discretion. They understood very well -that the small competing traders would smuggle liquor -past them in spite of all they could do, and that to deprive<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">143</span> -the only responsible company on the river of its -means of maintaining itself was simply to debauch the -trade with the Indians to a reckless and demoralizing -rivalry among a horde of irresponsible traders. They -were therefore very lenient in their inspections, and -the company rarely had any difficulty in getting past -them.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">A ZEALOUS CLERGYMAN.</div> - -<p>Not so, however, with some of the newly appointed -Indian agents. It was about this time that the Indian -Department tried the experiment of assigning clergymen -to the agencies—an example of good intentions -but bad judgment. These new agents showed more -zeal than discretion in their work, and although they -put the traders to a great deal of trouble, it is doubtful -if they lessened by a single drop the amount of liquor -carried into the country.</p> - -<p>On the occasion of the voyage of 1843 the agent at -Bellevue happened to be absent from his station when -the boat arrived. Elated at this unexpected good fortune, -Captain Sire lost no time in putting off the -freight destined for this point and in getting on his -way. He pursued his voyage until nine o’clock that -evening, and doubtless felicitated himself that he was -out of danger. But it appears that the agent had delegated -the function of inspector during his absence to -the commander of the United States troops in the -vicinity. The boat left her mooring at daylight next<span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">144</span> -morning, but had scarcely gotten under way when a -couple of rifle shots were fired across her bow. She -brought to at once and made for the shore. There -Captain Sire found a lieutenant in charge of a few -dragoons, who had come from his camp four miles distant. -The young officer came on board and presented -to Captain Sire a polite note from Captain Burgwin, -commander of the camp, stating that his orders required -him to inspect the boat before letting her proceed.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">A DASH OF COLD WATER.</div> - -<p>This was like a dash of cold water to the buoyant -spirits of Captain Sire, and none the less so to Audubon, -to whom, as well as to the company, the loss of -the liquid portion of the cargo would have been irreparable. -The naturalist had a permit from the government -to carry with him a quantity of liquor for the -use of himself and party, and upon showing his credentials -to the young officer he was, to use his own -words, “immediately settled comfortably.” But in -the moment of his good fortune he did not forget his -companions who were not yet “settled comfortably.” -He understood that time was required to prepare for -the approaching function, and he could at least help to -secure this time by delaying inspection as long as possible. -He accordingly expressed a desire to visit the -camp, and the lieutenant detailed a dragoon to accompany -him. The great naturalist rode four miles to call<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">145</span> -upon an obscure army officer whom he knew he could -see in a short time by waiting at the boat. The officer -was overwhelmed at the honor of the visit, and when -Audubon offered to present his credentials he politely -and gallantly replied that his name was too well -known throughout the United States to require any -letters. Audubon says of the occasion: “I was on -excellent and friendly terms in less time than it has -taken me to write this account of our meeting.” Between -his entertaining conversation and the shooting -of some birds he contrived to detain the Captain for -a good two hours before they returned to the boat.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">THE TRAMWAY IN THE HOLD.</div> - -<p>The time had not been wasted by Captain Sire and -his loyal crew. The shallow hold of the steamboat of -those days was divided lengthwise into two compartments -by a partition or bulkhead running the full -length of the boat. A narrow-gauge tramway extended -down each side of the hold its entire length, -the two sides connecting with each other by a curve -which passed under the hatchway in the forecastle. -Small cars received the cargo let down through the -hatchway, and carried it to its place in the hold or -brought it out again when the boat was being unloaded. -A car could pass from the stern of the boat -on one side of the hold around the curve in the bow -and to the stern of the boat on the other side. There -being no windows in the hold, everything was buried<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">146</span> -in blackness a few feet from the hatchway. Workmen -were lighted to their labors by means of candles.</p> - -<p>During the absence of Audubon the crew had loaded -all the liquor upon the cars, and had run them down -on one side of the hold far enough from the hatchway -to be entirely concealed in the darkness. They were -carefully instructed in the part they had to play in the -approaching comedy, and very likely were put through -a preliminary rehearsal or two.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">THE VIRTUOUS SIRE.</div> - -<p>When Captain Burgwin arrived in Audubon’s company, -he was received most hospitably and treated to -a luncheon, in which was included, as a matter of -course, a generous portion from the private store embraced -in Audubon’s “credentials.” By this time the -young Captain was in most excellent temper and was -quite disposed to forego the inspection altogether. -But the virtuous Sire would not have it so. “I insisted, -as it were,” says the worthy navigator in his -log of May 10, “that he make the strictest possible -search, but upon the condition that he would do the -same with other traders.”<a id="FNanchor_21" href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">21</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">147</span></p> - -<div class="sidenote">A FAIR PROPOSITION.</div> - -<p>A proposition so eminently fair was at once agreed -to by the inspector, whose mellow faculties were now -in a most accommodating condition. The shrewd -steamboat master, who never forgot to be sober when -his company’s interests were at stake, escorted the officer -down the hatchway, and together they groped -their way along the hold by the light of a not too -brilliant candle. It may be imagined with what zeal -the scrupulous Captain thrust the ineffectual flame -into every nook and corner, and even insisted that the -inspector move a box or bale now and then to assure -himself that everything was all right.</p> - -<p>Arrived at the foot of the hold, they passed through -an opening and started back on the other side. The -officer was doubtless too much absorbed with the effects -of his recent collation to notice the glimmer of -light under the hatchway at the other end of the boat, -where a miniature train with its suspicious cargo was -creeping stealthily around the curve and disappearing -toward the side which they had just left. The party -finished their inspection, and everything was found -quite as it should be. With many protestations of -good will the clever hosts and their delighted guest -parted company, and the good Captain Sire went on<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">148</span> -his way rejoicing. But woe to the luckless craft of -some rival trader which should happen along with no -Audubon in the cabin and no tramway in the hold.<a id="FNanchor_22" href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">22</a></p> - -<p>The ordeal of inspection being over, the boat proceeded -on her way with no further drawbacks than -those arising from the various hindrances to navigation. -One of the disagreeable features of the trip -above the mouth of the Big Sioux River was the vast -number of dead buffalo that were encountered. They -had been drowned on the upper river at the time of -the spring break-up in attempting to cross the ice after -it became too weak. Their bodies had then floated -downstream and had lodged all along the river on -sandbars, islands, or the low shores. Some time having -elapsed since they were drowned, their flesh was -now in a condition that rendered the air almost insupportable.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">AN INDIAN ATTACK.</div> - -<p>An incident which caused considerable excitement, -but luckily no misfortune, occurred at Handy’s Point -(where Fort Randall later stood) on the 22d of May. -A band of eight or ten Santee Indians, apparently -angered because the boat would not stop for them, -opened fire upon it from the bank. The bullets tore -through the cabins and pilot-house, but by the greatest -good luck no one was hurt. A Scotchman who was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">149</span> -asleep in his bunk was awakened and terribly frightened -by one of the bullets which entered his berth, -passing through his pantaloons, and flattening itself -against a trunk. Audubon saved two of the spent -bullets as relics. He was himself standing near one of -the chimneys and saw a bullet splash in the water just -in front of the boat. Considering the large number of -people on board, the escape of everyone was almost -miraculous.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">CAREFUL OF HIS EYESIGHT.</div> - -<p>Captain La Barge was at the wheel at the time. In -the pilot-house with him was a French negro from -Louisiana named Jacques Desiré, always known as -Black Dave. He was an excellent pilot and was on -board with a crew to return with the steamboat -<i>Trapper</i>, which had been left up the river the previous -autumn on account of low water. When the bullet -crashed through the pilot-house Black Dave walked -quietly out and took shelter behind one of the smokestacks, -where he remained until the boat was well -away from the scene of the attack. Captain La Barge -asked him why he did not remain in the pilot-house, -so as to be ready to take the wheel in case he himself -were disabled. Dave replied that it was not the fear -of bullets that drove him away, but that his eyesight -was all he had to make his living by, and he was afraid -of its getting injured by the flying glass.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">AN UNPOPULAR PASSENGER.</div> - -<p>As may readily be understood, a feature of first importance<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">150</span> -on this trip was the presence of so distinguished -a passenger as the naturalist Audubon. The -impression which the celebrated scientist made upon -the crew and those who were entertaining him was -quite unfavorable. He was very reserved, and when -he did hold intercourse with members of the crew it -was generally in an overbearing manner which -alienated their good will. It thus resulted that his -hunters rendered him inefficient service, and his journal -is full of complaints at their failure to keep their -promises. Certain personal habits aggravated this -defect, and altogether he was not a popular traveler -with the crew.</p> - -<p>Captain La Barge mentions several instances of his -ill treatment, one of which concerned himself, and is -here given in his own words, as he once prepared -them for publication in the <i>Missouri Republican</i>:</p> - -<div class="sidenote">THE BLACK SQUIRREL.</div> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“On one occasion he [Audubon] asked me if I had -ever seen any black squirrels during my voyages on -the upper Missouri River. My answer was that I had -often killed them. ‘Do you know what a black -squirrel is?’ he asked. I replied that I knew what -I called a black squirrel, and would try to get him one -at the first opportunity. A few days later we were -windbound. Seeing that we would be compelled to -remain tied to the bank most of the day I took my<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">151</span> -gun and started around to look for a black squirrel. I -was fortunate. I ran across a very fine one and shot -him. He proved to be a fine large buck. I brought -him aboard. The first person I met was Mr. Bell, -taxidermist of the Audubon party, who remarked, -after examining the squirrel, that it was certainly a -very fine specimen. He called Mr. Audubon’s attention -to it, who examined the animal carefully, and -then said to me: ‘<em>That</em> is what you call a black squirrel, -is it? I expected as much. It is very strange that -people born and raised in a country do not know the -names of the animals and birds which it produces.’ -After the squirrel had been thus criticised for some -time, I remarked that I would take it down to the cook -and have it baked for dinner. ‘No, no!’ said Mr. -Audubon, ‘Mr. Bell will take care of it’; and then -walked off.</p> - -<p>“Some few days after this one of his assistants -called to me to show me a painting that Mr. Audubon -had finished that morning. This was after dinner, as -Mr. Audubon had always to retire to his stateroom -after that meal and have his long afternoon nap. The -assistant took advantage of this opportunity to show -me some of the drawings which Mr. Audubon was -opposed to our seeing. On entering the room I saw -the drawing of the squirrel just finished, and certainly -I never saw anything representing life so strikingly.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">152</span> -The assistant then told me that Mr. Audubon had remarked -that it was the best specimen of a black squirrel -that he had ever painted.”</p></div> - -<div class="sidenote">THE OVER-WISE BOTANIST.</div> - -<div class="sidenote">A KERNEL OF CORN.</div> - -<p>The crew soon lost a good deal of the deference and -respect which were justly due to individuals of such -scientific attainments as were those of the Audubon -party; and it is to be feared that they played pranks -on them now and then which they would have avoided -with people of more congenial manner. Etienne -Provost was serving as guide to the party. No one -in that day knew the Western country better than he, -and he was quite astonished when Mr. Prou, Audubon’s -botanist, said to him one day that he could -tell the name of any plant in that country from the -leaf and stalk, even if he had never seen it growing. -“You may think so,” said Provost, “but I will undertake -to prove that you are mistaken; for I know -a plant that grows in this country whose name you -will not be able to tell, even with the aid of your -books.” Soon afterward the boat landed to take on -wood near the mouth of the Cheyenne River. A band -of Indians had spent the previous winter near by and -had dropped some of their corn on the ground. This -was now well sprouted and the tender blades were -just shooting up. Provost carefully cut the ground -around a spear of the corn so as not to disturb the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">153</span> -roots or the kernel, which was still attached thereto. -He deftly concealed everything except one leaf and -then showed it to Mr. Prou. The eager scientist was -looking for some test of a formidable character, and -anything like corn did not even occur to him. It is -doubtful if he realized at the time that corn was -grown in that country. He racked his brain for a -plant that he could identify with the specimen. He -grew nervous under the scrutiny of the on-lookers that -had gathered around him. Taking his book, he -searched back and forth, but to no purpose. It was -indeed a new species, and he finally acknowledged himself -beaten. Provost then, with provoking gravity, -pulled away the dirt around the roots and finally disclosed -to the astonished scientist—a kernel of <em>corn</em>.</p> - -<p>Above Omaha the boat made its way with more -than usual speed and good luck to its destination. It -reached Fort Pierre May 31 and Fort Union at sundown -June 12. It left Fort Union June 14, reached -Pierre June 21, and St. Louis June 29. The time consumed -was forty-nine days from St. Louis to Fort -Union and seventeen days returning. Mr. Audubon -and party remained at Fort Union until autumn, returning -in a mackinaw boat.</p> - -<hr /> - -<div id="chap_154" class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">154</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">VOYAGE OF 1844.</span></h2> -</div> - -<div class="sidenote">A POPULAR FALLACY.</div> - -<p>In the winter of 1843–44 the American Fur Company -built a new boat, the <i>Nimrod</i>, designed to correct -certain defects in the <i>Omega</i>, and in this boat the voyage -of 1844 was made. As in the previous year, Captains -Sire and La Barge were master and pilot. It -was in the spring and summer of this year that occurred -the great flood of 1844. This appears to have -been the greatest flood in the lower Missouri and central -Mississippi ever known before or since. The -entire bottoms in the vicinity of St. Louis were covered -with water to a width of several miles. The -flood had the curious effect of completely filling up -the old bed of the river, so that, when it subsided, the -river had to cut out a new channel, and it was many -years before the channel was restored to its condition -before the flood. The high water lasted far into the -summer. When Captain La Barge returned from his -trip to Fort Union he ran his boat up Washington -Avenue to Commercial Alley, where he made her fast -through a window in J. E. Walsh’s warehouse at the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">155</span> -corner of those streets. This great flood was mostly -from the lower country, and scarcely at all from the -mountains. When the <i>Nimrod</i> reached the Omaha -villages, a short distance below the modern site of -Sioux City, Ia., she found the water so low that she -was compelled to wait several days for a rise. This -fact is a noteworthy one, as another refutation of the -popular idea that floods in the Mississippi have their -origin in the melting snows of the Rocky Mountains. -As a matter of fact they always come from the heavy -rains of the lower country.</p> - -<p>The <i>Nimrod</i> passenger list, like that of the <i>Omega</i> -the year before, included some notable names. -Among these were the Comte d’Otrante, son of the -famous Fouché of France, and another Frenchman, -the Comte de Peindry. D’Otrante was much liked by -the crew. He was an accomplished gentleman, very -wealthy, and had with him a retinue of servants who -had been reared with him upon the ancestral domain -in France. He was making the present journey solely -for the purpose of pleasure. De Peindry was a different -sort of man. He and d’Otrante met by accident -on this trip and had little to do with each other. -It was noted that de Peindry treated his compatriot -with great deference and respect as being his superior. -He was silent and impenetrable, and spent much of his -time hunting. When leaving the boat on these hunts<span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">156</span> -he would give directions not to wait for him if he did -not return. He was repeatedly cautioned that the -boat could not wait for him, but his invariable reply -was: “Do not wait; I will turn up; if I do not, it is -no matter.” He caused a great deal of uneasiness on -several occasions by not getting back in time, and -Captain Sire in his journal comments severely upon -his conduct. He was said to be a noted duelist, who, -for some unknown cause, had been compelled to leave -Paris. He was very much of an enigma to the passengers -of the <i>Nimrod</i>. In 1845 he went to California, -whence the report came a few years later that -he had been assassinated.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">MORE SHARP PRACTICE.</div> - -<p>In passing the Indian agency at Bellevue this year -it was necessary to indulge in some more sharp practice -to get the annual cargo of alcohol past that point. -The new Indian agent at Bellevue was an ex-Methodist -minister of the name of Joseph Miller—as -zealous in his new role of liquor inspector as he had -ever been in the regular practice of his profession. It -was his boast that no liquor could pass his agency. -He rummaged every boat from stem to stern, broke -open the packages, overturned the piles of merchandise, -and with a long, slender, pointed rod pierced -the bales of blankets and clothing, lest kegs of alcohol -might be rolled up within. The persistent clergyman -put the experienced agents of the company to their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">157</span> -wit’s ends, and it was with great difficulty that they -succeeded in eluding his scrutiny.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">NECESSITY THE MOTHER OF INVENTION.</div> - -<p>The urgency of the problem, however, produced -its own solution. Captain Sire had the alcohol all -packed in barrels of flour. But he knew that even this -device would not alone be enough, for the energetic -agent would very likely have the barrels burst open. -The Captain therefore had them all marked as if consigned -to Peter A. Sarpy, the Company’s agent at -Bellevue, and they were labeled in large letters “P. A. S.” -The moment the nose of the boat touched the -landing at Bellevue, the Captain, as was his custom, -ordered the freight for that point placed on shore, and -the barrels were promptly bowled out upon the bank -and carried into the warehouse. The agent, never -suspecting this freight, went on board, and after a -most rigid search, found nothing wrong. The boat -was permitted to proceed, but, contrary to its usual -haste in getting away as soon as the loading and unloading -were complete, it remained the rest of the day, -and gave out that it would not sail until the following -morning. The extraordinarily good character of -the boat on this occasion, and the unusually long delay -in departing, roused the suspicions of the agent, who -stationed a man to watch the boat and to whistle if he -saw anything wrong.</p> - -<p>Everything remained quiet until some time after<span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">158</span> -midnight, except that a full head of steam was kept -up in the boilers. Presently there was great activity -on the boat, although with an ominous silence about -it all. The pilot, Captain La Barge, was quietly engineering -the reloading of the barrels. He had spread -tarpaulins on the deck and gang plank to deaden the -noise, and the full crew of the boat were hurrying -the barrels back in a most lively fashion. “What does -this mean?” one of the deckhands asked of another. -“We unloaded these barrels yesterday.” “Why, -don’t you see?” was the brilliant reply of another, -“they’re marked ‘P. A. S.’; they’ve got to pass.”</p> - -<div class="sidenote">THE PARTED LINE.</div> - -<p>The work was quickly over and every barrel was on -board, when the agent’s sleepy guard awoke to the -fact that something was going on. He uttered his -signal, and the agent made haste to turn out and see -what was the matter. La Barge and Captain Sire, -who knew full well what the whistle meant, did not -linger to make explanations. Captain La Barge -seized an ax and cut the line. “Get aboard, men!” -he shouted; “the line has parted!” The boat instantly -dropped back into the current and then stood -out into the river under her own steam. She was already -out of reach of the bank when the reverend inspector -appeared and wanted to know why they were -off so early. It was about 3 A. M. “Oh, the line -parted,” replied Captain La Barge, “and it was so<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">159</span> -near time to start that it was not worth while to tie -up again.”<a id="FNanchor_23" href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">23</a></p> - -<div class="sidenote">TOO MUCH FOR CREDULITY.</div> - -<p>This was a little too much for the agent, who -could not understand how it happened that the boat -was so thoroughly prepared for such an accident, with -steam up, pilot at the wheel, crew at their places, and -all at so early an hour. Next day he found that the -barrels consigned to Sarpy were gone, and saw how -completely he had been duped. Mortified and indignant, -he reported the company to the authorities, and -a long train of difficulties ensued, with ineffectual -threats of canceling the company’s license.<a id="FNanchor_24" href="#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">24</a> Meanwhile -the alcohol found its intended destination in the -stomachs of the Indians, and the company reaped the -enormous profit which traffic in that article always -yielded.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">160</span></p> - -<div class="sidenote">CAPTURED BY THE PAWNEES.</div> - -<p>As already noted, when the <i>Nimrod</i> arrived at the -site of the Omaha villages, the river was so low that -she could not proceed for several days. A crew was -kept constantly busy with the yawl, sounding the -channel to detect any favorable changes in its shifting -bed. On one of these sounding excursions, when -about five miles from the boat, and under a high cut -bank, La Barge was surprised and captured by a Pawnee -war party on their way to steal horses from the -Yanktonais. When the Captain heard them speak -Pawnee he felt safe, and at once opened conversation -with them in their own tongue. Although he knew -none of the Indians personally, he succeeded in inducing -them to come to the boat and partake of a -feast. Thus the Captain’s knowledge of the Pawnee -language, acquired in the villages of that tribe ten -years before, stood him in excellent stead. These Indians -might not have killed him, belonging as they -did to a friendly tribe; but war parties, even of -friendly Indians, were lawless and desperate, and -they would no doubt have handled the little boat crew -pretty roughly.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">THE LOST SAILORS.</div> - -<div class="sidenote">A TIMELY RESCUE.</div> - -<p>Among the crew of the <i>Nimrod</i> there were two -ocean sailors, good men, but with no river experience, -who had engaged for the trip to see the interior of the -country. They were employed principally in handling -the rigging. One Sunday morning, May 19, while<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">161</span> -the boat was still at the Omaha villages, they set off -together with a single gun to try their luck hunting. -They failed to return that day and likewise the next, -when general uneasiness began to be felt about them. -Parties were sent after them in all directions, guns -were fired, and everything done to find them, but to -no purpose; and the boat proceeded on her way without -them. The general opinion was that they had -been killed by some vagrant war party of Indians. -Some two weeks later, as the boat was setting out one -morning, a trader by the name of Kensler was seen -coming down the river with a small boatload of furs. -La Barge ran his boat to shore and hailed the trader, -who promptly hove to and came on board. La Barge -explained the circumstance of these two men having -been lost, gave Kensler some provisions for them, and -asked him to stop at the woodpile,<a id="FNanchor_25" href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">25</a> where the boat -had laid up so long, and see if he could find any traces -of the men. He did so, and actually found them there. -They had converted the woodpile into a rude fortress, -with one opening on the river just large enough to -enable them to get out for water. They were almost -starved to death, being reduced to mere skeletons, -scarcely able to crawl back and forth to the river. -Kensler took them to P. A. Sarpy’s trading post at<span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">162</span> -Bellevue, where the <i>Nimrod</i> found them on her way -back and took them to St. Louis. They gave La -Barge the following story: On the first day of their -hunt they became confused and lost, and after much -wandering came to the bank of the river. But they -were utterly unable to conjecture whether they were -above or below the steamboat, and in this dilemma -resolved to build a raft and float down the river. If -above the boat they would, of course, come to where -it was; if below, they would land after having proven -the fact, and return on foot. As a matter of fact they -were below the boat, and after drifting some thirty -miles concluded to start back. They were considering -the question of landing when their raft ran upon -a snag, broke to pieces, precipitated them into the -water, and lost them their gun. They swam ashore -and walked up the river bank until they reached the -place where the boat had been. They resolved to stay -there and wait for someone to come along. They disposed -the woodpile so as to make a rough fort, and -gathered into their fortress all remnants of camp -refuse left by the <i>Nimrod</i> which could sustain life. -Here they waited for several weeks, and had about -given themselves up as lost when they were rescued -in the manner already related.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">NOT “UP TO” BUFFALO.</div> - -<p>The fare provided by the company for its steamboat -crew was exceedingly plain and scanty. The men<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">163</span> -got very tired of it, and as they were much delayed by -low water in getting into the buffalo country, La -Barge told them that the first buffalo they came in -sight of they should have, even if he had to lie to half -a day to get it. La Barge had as first mate an excellent -man, John Durack, who had served in the English -navy, and had made his way to New Orleans and thence -to St. Louis. He had been on the river before, but had -never been engaged in a buffalo hunt, and the Captain -thought this a good opportunity to initiate him. -When the boat reached the vicinity of Handy’s post -four buffalo bulls were seen swimming the river. -“Man the yawl, John,” said La Barge. “I will go -with you and we will have a buffalo before we get -back.” The Captain gave orders to the men on the -boat to shoot the buffaloes, and he would then lasso -one of the wounded ones and drag it to the boat. He -put Durack in the bow with a line while he took the -rudder. The men on the steamboat fired and wounded -two of the buffaloes. To get to the wounded ones -the boat had to pass close to the two uninjured ones. -The Captain supposed that Durack fully understood -the programme, but the mate was not “up to buffalo,” -and to La Barge’s consternation slipped the -noose over the head of one of the uninjured animals. -Too late Captain La Barge shouted to him not to do -this—that he did not want to anchor to a live buffalo.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">164</span> -“Oh,” replied Durack, “he’s as good as any.” The -buffalo kept straight on his course. The men backed -their oars, but to no purpose; they could not stop -him. Finally his feet touched bottom and up the -bank he went with the boat and its helpless crew after -him. They might indeed have taken a boat ride over -the bare prairie had not the stem of the yawl given -way, being wrenched entirely out of the boat and carried -off by the terrified animal. There stood the sorry -crew, shipwrecked on a sandbar across the river from -the steamboat—and with no buffalo. A whole day -was consumed in getting back to the boat and in repairing -the broken yawl. Meanwhile the crew kept -on eating salt pork and navy bread.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">A TERRIBLE STORM.</div> - -<p>On the 23d of June, when the <i>Nimrod</i> was a little -below the site of the Aricara villages, near the mouth -of Grand River, there arose one of those frightful -tempests of wind, hail, and rain which were so frequent -on the central prairies. For a little while the -safety of the boat was despaired of. All the glass on -the windward side was broken and the interior of the -boat deluged with rain and hail. The hail accumulated -in the cabin to the depth of a foot, and some of -the hailstones were as large as turkey eggs. Captain -La Barge made clay impressions of some of them -and sent them to the St. Louis <i>Republican</i> as curiosities -deserving public notice. Besides the damage to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">165</span> -the cabins the wind carried away the pilot-house, which -had to be replaced with a skin roof.</p> - -<p>On another of Captain La Barge’s voyages he encountered -a storm which carried away the smokestacks. -He extemporized some skin chimneys, which -enabled him to complete the trip. The Captain was -once summoned as an expert witness in a trial which -grew out of a similar accident to another steamboat, -whose owners had been sued for damages for not delivering -freight. The defense was that a storm had -so wrecked the boat that she could not proceed. The -particular damage alleged was the blowing down of -the smokestacks. La Barge explained how he had -managed in a similar case, and the court instructed -the jury against the defendant.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">EXPERT WITNESS.</div> - -<div class="sidenote">ACCIDENT TO BE AVOIDED.</div> - -<p>In another case La Barge’s evidence, as an expert -steamboat man, was decisive. It was a case of collision -in which the pilot of the boat that was lost had -not followed strictly the recognized signals and rules -in passing the other boat. The owners had sued for -damages. The defense was that the defendant’s -pilot had followed the strict rules of steamboating, -and the other pilot had not. The main question was -whether the defendant’s pilot, when he saw the danger, -should not have given way if possible, even if the -other pilot was violating the rules, whether through -willfulness or ignorance. La Barge was asked what<span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">166</span> -course he would have pursued in the premises. He -replied that, under any circumstances, it was a pilot’s -duty to avoid accident, if possible. The court agreed -with this view.</p> - -<p>The rest of the voyage of the <i>Nimrod</i> passed off -without noteworthy incident. The boat reached Fort -Union on June 22, started back June 24, and reached -St. Louis July 9, after an absence of seventy-one days.</p> - -<hr /> - -<div id="chap_167" class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">167</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">CHANGED CONDITIONS.</span></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="firstword">Down</span> to the date to which our narrative has now -arrived, the steamboat business of the Missouri was -mainly that of the fur trade. A small traffic was carried -on with the settlements along the lower river and -with the government establishment at Fort Leavenworth. -In 1829 a regular packet was put on between -St. Louis and Leavenworth, and this was kept up at -intervals during the next fifteen years. But still the -main business was the trade with the Indians or with -Santa Fe and the parties of white hunters who roved -all over the Western country. Its single noteworthy -feature, as late as 1845, was the annual voyage of the -Fur Company’s boat to the mouth of the Yellowstone.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">FROM PILLAR TO POST.</div> - -<p>At about the date last mentioned a profound -change came over the business—a change inseparably -connected with the foundation of civilization in the -Far West. The emigration of the Mormons to Great -Salt Lake was one feature of this new development. -That singular sect, whose origin and doctrines have -excited the contempt of the civilized world, as its marvelous<span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">168</span> -growth and material achievement have commanded -its admiration, was at this time about fifteen -years old. Its founder was Joseph Smith, its birthplace -Fayette, in New York State, and the year of its -birth 1830. For causes which are differently stated by -the friends and enemies of the church, Smith and his -followers found it expedient to emigrate from New -York. They went to Kirtland, O., where they laid -the foundations of their New Jerusalem, and where -they flourished with varying fortune for several years. -In the meantime another location was also chosen, possibly -as a refuge in case of expulsion from Kirtland—a -situation on the very frontier of civilization, twelve -miles west of Independence, Mo. Here the corner-stone -of Zion was laid, under the sanction of divine -revelation, and here the church began to erect its -earthly temple. Hither in a few years came the faithful -from Kirtland, having been expelled by the community, -to whom their doctrine and practices had -rendered them obnoxious.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">JOSEPH SMITH.</div> - -<p>In western Missouri their experience was even more -discouraging than in Ohio. The neighboring communities -would have none of them. The State authorities -were appealed to by both sides, and finally -entered the contest; the militia was ordered out, and -things assumed the aspect of civil war. Blood was -shed, and the Mormons were finally compelled to flee<span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">169</span> -from the country, leaving Joseph Smith and Sidney -Rigdon prisoners in the hands of their enemies. These -worthies, however, soon escaped and joined the -refugees near Commerce, Hancock Co., Ill.</p> - -<p>Their first reception in Illinois was one of welcome, -for the people of that State believed that they had -been persecuted with uncalled-for severity by the citizens -and State of Missouri. Under the impulse of this -friendly feeling Smith secured a charter from the -State, and forthwith began building the city of -Nauvoo, on a site which has been universally admired -for its great natural beauty. The powers conferred -by this charter were very broad, and Smith became -virtually emperor of an <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">imperium in imperio</i>. He was -mayor of the city, <i>Lieutenant General</i> of the newly -created Nauvoo legion, and President of the church. -He acquired wide notoriety throughout the country, -and became a political factor of no little importance -in the State of Illinois. The colony flourished under -the impulse of missionary effort, which sent proselytes -hither from America and Europe alike. On the -6th of April, 1841, the corner-stone of still another -temple was laid.</p> - -<p>But the same causes which proved disastrous to the -settlements in Ohio and Missouri soon began to operate -in Illinois. The people were outraged at the immoral -doctrines of the new sect, and alarmed at the arrogant<span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">170</span> -defiance of civil authority by its spiritual and temporal -head. Finally an act of violence under Smith’s -authority led to his arrest and that of his brother -Hyrum, and their confinement in the Carthage jail, -under guarantee of safety by the Governor of the -State. But a mob was organized which overbore the -civil authority, broke into the jail, and slew the -brothers in cold blood.</p> - -<p>For the future development of the sect, this was -the most fortunate event in its history. It set the seal -of martyrdom upon the founder of the church; it -healed internal dissensions; it intensified the high purpose -to succeed; and finally it opened up the career of -the one man who above all others was qualified to -carry the movement to success. This was that astute -and gifted leader of men, prophet Brigham Young.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">NO ABIDING PLACE.</div> - -<div class="sidenote">A FINAL HOME.</div> - -<p>It was now apparent that there was no abiding place -for the church upon the soil of the United States, and -it was necessary to look beyond. From the narratives -of those who had visited the regions west of the Rocky -Mountains, Young determined to lead his people to -the valley of the Great Salt Lake, at this time a possession -of the Mexican Republic. In that remote and -benighted wilderness his people could at least have -freedom from persecution, for the civil authority of -Mexico could scarcely reach so far. The movement -was decided upon. Smith had been killed in June,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">171</span> -1844, and the general exodus began in the spring of -1846. In July, 1847, Young laid the foundation of -the final home of his people on the shores of the Great -Salt Lake.</p> - -<p>In the course of this movement large bodies of Mormons -remained encamped for long periods on both -shores of the Missouri near Council Bluffs and -Omaha. This situation became the great rendezvous -for the expeditions before starting across the plains, -and it was here that the Mormons came into relation -with the steamboat traffic of the Missouri. Large -quantities of freight and great numbers of passengers -were brought up and disembarked here. The <i>Saluda</i>, -whose tragic fate we have elsewhere described, was -loaded with Mormons. In 1851 the steamer <i>St. Ange</i> -carried up two hundred of these people, and the <i>Sacramento</i> -four hundred. Many other boats, for fully a -decade after 1846, brought up passengers and freight -destined to the distant colony in the heart of the Rocky -Mountains.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">WAR WITH MEXICO.</div> - -<p>Another of the great movements of the time, which -gave a marked impetus to Missouri River navigation, -was the War with Mexico. This great event—great -not so much in its battles as in its far-reaching results—had -been gathering force for years. The influx of -American settlers into the province of Texas caused -the Mexican Government to adopt repressive measures<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">172</span> -toward them. This led to successful revolution on the -part of Texas, and her independence was finally won -by force of arms in 1836. For the next ten years -Texas was practically an independent republic seeking -annexation to the United States. The question of -annexation was the determining issue in the national -election of 1844, and the pro-annexationists prevailed. -Texas was annexed in the spring of 1845, and in the -following December was admitted as a State, against -the protest of the Mexican Government. The administration -ordered American troops to occupy certain -disputed territory claimed by both Mexico and Texas. -Collision with the Mexican troops followed: blood -was shed, and the United States declared war.</p> - -<p>Among the minor operations of the war from a military -point of view, but of transcendent importance in -their results, were the conquests of New Mexico and -California under Harney, Doniphan, and Fremont. -All the country so won became a part of the United -States. It lay in the pathway of emigration to the -West, and must sooner or later have given rise to -grave complications. The inevitable issue was precipitated -sooner than was expected, but the result must -ultimately have been the same. The importance of -this acquisition in the history of the nation cannot be -overestimated.</p> - -<p>The invasion of New Mexico naturally followed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">173</span> -the line of the Santa Fe trail. The expeditions were -organized on the frontier, mostly at Fort Leavenworth, -but also at other points, such as Fort Kearney -and St. Joseph. The transportation of troops and -supplies to Westport, Leavenworth, and Kearney gave -a great deal of work to the Missouri River boats, -which thus became an important factor in one of our -national wars.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">DISCOVERY OF GOLD.</div> - -<p>Scarcely had the treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo, -which closed the war, been signed, when an event took -place in the newly acquired territory which completely -revolutionized the situation of things in the West. -This was the discovery of gold in California in 1848. -Emigration had been moving to the coast, principally -into Oregon, for the previous six years. The first -large movement took place in 1843. In 1845 and 1846 -several parties crossed the Sierras into California, and -there was a strong nucleus of American settlers there -when the conquest came. The discovery of gold -swelled this incipient stream into a mighty river. -From every part of the world, by land and by sea, the -rush to California began. The overland movement -was one of the greatest and most wonderful migrations -of a people which history records. It ran in full -strength for several years, beginning in 1849, and by -1854 a vast but unknown number had crossed the -plains.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">174</span></p> - -<p>There were various starting points from the Missouri -River in this migration, although the different -routes united before Fort Laramie was reached. -Westport, Leavenworth, Fort Kearney, and Omaha -became initial rendezvous, and a great deal of traffic -for the emigrants was done by the river boats from -St. Louis to these points.</p> - -<p>Following the three great movements just described -came the period of government exploration of the -entire Western country, and the search for practical -railroad routes across the mountains. Large exploring -parties were sent into the field, and bodies of troops -were dispatched to the Pacific Coast and to distant -points in the interior.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">LARGE RIVER BUSINESS.</div> - -<p>The aggregate amount of business brought to the -lower Missouri from these various causes was large. -Viewed from the standpoint of transportation, the -Western country in that day can be likened in shape to -a fan. The handle was that portion which extended -from St. Louis to the mouth of the Kansas River. -Thence the various routes to all parts of the country -diverged along the arms of the fan, which were outspread -from Santa Fe on the south to Fort Union on -the north. Most of the business below the point of -divergence was done by steamboat. Vessels in large -numbers plied the river over this first four hundred -miles, and the amount of freight and passenger traffic<span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">175</span> -carried by them was very great. Boats departed -daily from St. Louis, carrying an almost inconceivable -variety of articles for use of the emigrants, and nearly -as large a variety of emigrants themselves. To one -who witnessed this business in the noontide of its -activity, it would have seemed scarcely possible that -another generation should witness its total extinction.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">LA BARGE AND THE MORMONS.</div> - -<p>Of the river business which grew out of the several -movements just described, Captain La Barge had his -full share. He knew the Mormons well. He had -already seen much of them during their sojourn in -western Missouri, and came into business relations -with them on a considerable scale during their emigration -of 1846 and subsequent years. He always liked -them, and had several warm friends among them. -He was introduced to Brigham Young by Peter A. -Sarpy at Bellevue, where the American Fur Company -post for that section was situated. The Mormons -were encamped in this vicinity so long that they -brought to Sarpy’s post a large amount of business. -La Barge himself became well acquainted -with Young and with others of the principal men. -Young impressed him from the first as a man of -great ability. Apparently deficient in education and -refinement, he was fair and honest in his dealings, -and seemed extremely liberal in conversation -upon religious subjects. He impressed La Barge as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">176</span> -anything but a religious fanatic or even enthusiast; -but he knew how to make use of the fanaticism of -others and direct it to great ends. He was kind and -considerate, but a firm and strict disciplinarian. In -the Mormon movement he had found his niche. He -saw in it his opportunity to achieve power and fame, -to amass a fortune, and to become a great leader.</p> - -<p>The freight business which came to the steamboats -as a result of the gold rush was not of a desirable character. -Many of the emigrants were so poor that it -was difficult to collect from them, and once out of -reach there was scarcely a chance of ever hearing -from them again. This condition improved in later -years, and the emigrant trade on the whole was one of -great magnitude and importance.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">THE GOLD CRAZE.</div> - -<p>Referring to the gold craze, Captain La Barge said:</p> - -<p>“I was never seized with the craze. My wife -wanted me to go, but I was too busy and was already -making money. Had I been idle, or unsuccessful in -business, I should undoubtedly have gone. I saw -enough of the movement to show me how many -chances of failure there were to one of success; and -as I saw the thousands of disheartened adventurers -who turned back without ever reaching the desired -region, I never repented not going.”</p> - -<hr /> - -<div id="chap_177" class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">177</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">INCIDENTS ON THE RIVER (1845–50).</span></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="firstword">The</span> annual voyages of 1845–46 were made on the -steamer <i>General Brooks</i>. In the fall of the latter year -Captain La Barge bought this boat for twelve thousand -dollars, but sold her again at the close of the season. -This was the first boat he had ever owned. He -then went to Cincinnati, where he supervised the building -of a new boat. She was named the <i>Martha</i>, and -in her the voyage of 1847 was made. Captain Sire, -who for several years had gone up as master, now decided -to leave the river, and Captain La Barge accordingly -made the trip alone in full charge of the Company’s -business.</p> - -<p>Besides the regular freight for the company trading -posts, the boat carried up a large quantity of annuities -for the several Indian tribes. A more extended reference -to this annuity business and the abuses to which -it led will be made further on. It is enough here to -say that the agents were sent into the country without -any protection; that the Company traders adroitly -worked on their fears until they were fain to place -themselves under the shelter of the trading posts; and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">178</span> -that the Company was thus enabled to manage the -government business to its own great profit. On -this particular trip there was a new agent by the name -of Matlock, and a good deal of time had to be spent -at the various agencies to permit him to confer with -the Indians.</p> - -<p>At Crow Creek there was a band of Yankton Sioux -near a trading establishment under charge of Colin -Campbell. Here agent Matlock gave the Indians a -feast and left part of their annuities, but not all, being -induced by the Company’s agent to deposit the -balance at Fort Pierre. The Indians were sharp -enough to see that they had not received all they were -entitled to and naturally could not understand why. -Campbell assured them that they would receive the -balance at Fort Pierre. “Why not here?” asked the -Indians. “Why make this long journey for what we -can just as well get right here?” Campbell turned -them off by saying that the Indian agent could attend -to the matter there better.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">SULLEN ACQUIES­CENCE.</div> - -<div class="sidenote">BADLY SCARED.</div> - -<p>The Indians sullenly acquiesced, evidently much dissatisfied. -Campbell had cut ten or twelve cords of -wood at this place for use of the boat, but it was not -needed till the down trip. Captain La Barge feared, -however, that, if it was left, the Indians, in their -present temper, would burn it, and he therefore concluded -to take it along. The Indians refused to let<span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">179</span> -the wood be taken without pay, and seated themselves -on the pile so that the men could not get at it. The -captain was compelled to pay for the wood, although -it had been cut by Company men. But the matter did -not end here. Etienne Provost, who, as elsewhere -stated, was employed on these trips to take charge of -the rough and turbulent mountain men, was asked to -attend to the loading of the wood, as it was feared -there might be trouble. Provost came up on the -boiler deck and sat down by La Barge, saying: “We -are going to have some fun before that wood is on -board.” He then shouted “Woodpile! Woodpile!” -and enough men rushed out to the bank, to take the -whole woodpile at once. Provost ordered them to -pick up all they could carry and then to move on to -the boat one after another, so as to have no crowding -or confusion on the gang plank. Meanwhile a dozen -or more Indians were standing by, looking on. When -the men were loaded up and were jammed close together -in single file on their way to the boat, the Indians -jumped upon them and began to belabor them -with the rawhide horsewhips which they always had -fastened to their waists. The men were frightened -almost out of their wits, and dropping their wood, -scrambled on board the best way they could. Provost -lay back and roared with laughter, saying, “I told -you we should see some fun.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">180</span></p> - -<div class="sidenote">AFRAID OF PROVOST.</div> - -<p>He then went out himself onto the bank where the -Indians were, and said, “Now, men, come out here -and get this wood.” They came and loaded up. -“Now go on board,” he said, and they went entirely -unmolested. Provost went last, and before descending -the bank, turned toward the Indians and asked -them: “Why don’t you stop them? Are you afraid -of <em>me</em>?” The truth is they were afraid of him. -They knew him well and respected him, and understood -that he would stand no foolishness.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">PROMPT MEASURES.</div> - -<p>La Barge thought nothing further of the affair, for -the Indians soon disappeared, as he supposed, for good. -The wind was too high to proceed, and the boat remained -at the bank nearly all the afternoon waiting -for it to subside. “Everything quieted down,” said -the captain, in describing what followed, “and I was -sitting in the cabin reading a paper, when all of a sudden -there was a heavy volley of firearms and the -sound of splintered wood and broken glass. This -was instantly followed by an Indian yell and a rush for -the boat, and in the uproar someone cried out that a -man had been killed. The Indians got full possession -of the forward part of the boat and flooded the boiler -grates with water, putting out the fires. They had -learned something of steam in the fifteen years that -boats had been going up the river. My first act was -to rush to my wife’s stateroom, where I found Mrs.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">181</span> -La Barge unharmed. I told John B. Sarpy, who with -his son was making the trip, to barricade her door -with mattresses and to stay there until the trouble was -over. I then hastened to the front of the cabin, but -was met at the door by the Indians. Retreating, I -met Colin Campbell, and asked him what the Indians -wanted. Campbell replied that they wanted me to -give up the boat; that if I would do so they would let -the crew go, but if I resisted they would spare no one.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">EFFECT INSTANT­ANEOUS.</div> - -<p>“After the first rush the Indians seemed timorous -and uncertain, evidently fearing some unpleasant surprise -in the unknown labyrinths of the boat. This -gave me time for effective measures. I had on board -a light cannon of about 2½ inches caliber, mounted on -four wheels. Unluckily it was at this time down in -the engine room undergoing some repairs to the carriage. -I had in my employ a man on whom I could -absolutely rely—a brave and noble fellow, Nathan -Grismore, the first engineer. Grismore had just finished -the work on the cannon, and told me he thought -he could get it up the back way, since the fore part of -the boat was in possession of the Indians. He got -some men and lines and soon hoisted the gun on deck -and hauled it into the after part of the cabin. I always -kept in the cabin some powder and shot for use -in hunting. I got the powder, but the supply of shot -was gone. Grismore promptly made up the loss with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">182</span> -boiler rivets and the gun was heavily loaded and -primed, ready for action. By this time the forward -part of the cabin was crowded with Indians who were -evidently afraid something was going to happen. I -lost no time in verifying their fears. As soon as the -gun was loaded I lighted a cigar, and holding the -smoking stump in sight of the Indians, told Campbell -to tell them to get off the boat or I would blow them -all to the devil. At the same time I started for the -gun with the lighted cigar in my hand. The effect -was complete and instantaneous. The Indians turned -and fled and fairly fell over each other in their panic -to get off the boat. In less time than it takes to tell -it, not an Indian was in sight. I had the cannon -brought onto the roof, where it remained for an hour -or more.</p> - -<p>“As soon as the Indians were off the boat I began -to look up the crew who had ingloriously fled at the -first assault, leaving the boat practically defenseless. -They had hidden, some here and some there, but most -of them on the wheels (it was a sidewheel boat) where -I found them packed thick as sardines all over the -paddles. These were the brave mountaineers who -were never slow in vaunting their courage and valorous -performances! I was so disgusted that I was disposed -to set the wheels in motion and give them all a -ducking; but the fires had been put out by the Indians.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">183</span></p> - -<p>“The wind having subsided, we resumed our journey, -and about a mile further on attempted to cross to -the other shore. Failing in this we encamped for the -night. On the following morning we buried the deckhand, -Charles Smith, who had been killed when the -attack began.”</p> - -<p>Captain La Barge said that this was the only time -that he was ever caught napping by the Indians, and -it taught him a lesson that he did not forget.<a id="FNanchor_26" href="#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">26</a></p> - -<div class="sidenote">FIRST WHITE WOMAN AT FORT UNION.</div> - -<p>As already mentioned, Captain La Barge’s wife was -on board. It was always understood on the upper -river that she was the first white woman to ascend the -river from old Fort Lisa near the modern site of -Omaha, Neb., to Fort Union, at the mouth of the Yellowstone. -Her presence created great curiosity -among the Indians. They would come on board and -examine her with the liveliest interest, measuring her -waist and the length of her hair, and wondering at the -tastefulness and beauty of her dress. The leading -squaws in great numbers visited her, and several -adopted her as their sister. A good deal of time was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">184</span> -lost in satisfying their importunities to see her. Years -afterward they would inquire of La Barge after their -white sister, and would send her presents. She never -failed to send them something in return. As late as -1885, when La Barge was in the government service -on the survey of the Missouri River in the vicinity of -the ancient Aricara villages, an aged half-breed squaw, -old Garreau’s daughter, told La Barge that she remembered -seeing his wife on this early trip.</p> - -<p>In the year 1848 Captain La Barge again went up -the river with his boat <i>Martha</i>, on business for the -Company. There were no noteworthy incidents on -the trip except that the captain brought back quite a -menagerie of the native animals from the upper country. -There were buffalo, bear, beaver, antelope, elk, -and deer. A large tank was made for the use of the -beaver. All of the animals were for Kenneth -McKenzie except the buffalo, which were for Pierre -Chouteau, Jr.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">LEAVES COMPANY’S SERVICE.</div> - -<p>On this trip La Barge had some difficulty with the -Company, which induced him to sell his boat to them -at the close of the season. He immediately contracted -for a new boat which, when completed, he named the -<i>St. Ange</i>, in memory of St. Ange de Bellerive, the first -military governor of upper Louisiana. It was a fine -boat, and probably the only one ever built entirely -complete upon the ways, and launched with steam<span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">185</span> -up ready to start the moment she struck the -water.<a id="FNanchor_27" href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">27</a></p> - -<div class="sidenote">BLOODY ISLAND.</div> - -<p>As soon as the boat was done, La Barge, being no -longer in the Company’s service, went to work for the -Quartermaster Department of the Army, hauling supplies -up the river. He had made two trips to Fort -Leavenworth, and on his way back on the second trip -encountered a severe storm, which delayed him several -hours. This delay, vexatious enough at the time, -was a blessing in disguise. Instead of getting into -port at St. Louis before dark, it was nearly an hour -after midnight before he reached there. As he was -nearing the mouth of the Missouri a broad gleam of -light overspread the sky in the direction of the city. -Its extent and brilliancy clearly enough indicated a -great conflagration. When La Barge reached port -it was to find the river front wrapped in flames. He -steamed the whole length of the levee, seeking a safe -place to land, but finding none, turned back, crossed -the river, and tied up for the night at Bloody Island, -on the east shore.<a id="FNanchor_28" href="#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">28</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">186</span></p> - -<div class="sidenote">THE GREAT FIRE OF ST. LOUIS.</div> - -<div class="sidenote">A FLAMING FLEET.</div> - -<p>This conflagration, which is the historic “Great -Fire” of St. Louis, commenced at about 10 P. M. on -the night of May 17, 1849, and continued until 7 A. M. -next day. Fire alarms had been heard several times -early in the evening, but nothing had come of them, -until about the hour above mentioned, when it was -found that fire had broken out in earnest on the -steamer <i>White Cloud</i>, which lay at the wharf between -Wash and Cherry streets. The <i>Endors</i> lay just above -her and the <i>Edward Bates</i> below. Both caught fire. -At this time a well-intended, but ill-considered, effort -to stop the progress of the fire was made by some parties, -who cut the <i>Edward Bates’</i> moorings and turned -her into the stream. The boat was soon caught by<span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">187</span> -the current and carried down the river; but a strong -northeast wind bore it constantly in shore, and every -time it touched it ignited another boat. An effort was -now made to turn other boats loose before the <i>Bates</i> -could reach them, but a fatality seemed to attend every -effort. The burning boat outsped them all, and by -frequent contacts set fire to many more. These in -turn ignited the rest, until in a short time the river -presented the spectacle of a vast fleet of burning vessels -drifting slowly along the shore. The fire next -spread to the buildings, and before it could be arrested -had destroyed the main business portion of the city. -It was the most appalling calamity that had ever visited -St. Louis, and followed as it was by the great cholera -scourge of 1849, it was a terrible disaster. At the -levee there were destroyed twenty-three steamboats, -three barges, and one small boat. The total valuation -of boats and cargo was estimated at about -$440,000, and the insurance thereon was $225,000; -but this was not all paid, for the fire broke up several -of the insurance companies.<a id="FNanchor_29" href="#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">29</a></p> - -<p>Among the boats destroyed was the <i>Martha</i>, which -La Barge had sold to the Company. She was loaded<span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">188</span> -with a full cargo for the mountains. The day after -the fire La Barge received a note from Captain Sire, -requesting him to call at the Company’s office. He -complied, and was met with an urgent appeal to go to -the mountains with the Company’s annual outfit. He -was at that time engaged for a government trip to -Leavenworth, but offered to go as far as Fort Pierre -upon his return, if it were possible to do so. Sire replied -that that was all they could expect. The trip to -Leavenworth was completed in June, and La Barge -immediately started for Pierre. He made a quick and -successful voyage, and returned early in August.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">CHOLERA EPIDEMIC.</div> - -<p>The year 1849 was one of the terrible cholera years -in the West. Thousands died in St. Louis, and there -were many deaths on every boat that went up the -Missouri.</p> - -<p>In the following year, 1850, Captain La Barge went -to the mouth of the Yellowstone for the American -Fur Company. It was the quickest trip on record, -being made in the extraordinarily short time of -twenty-eight days up and back, doing all the Company’s -business at the various posts.</p> - -<hr /> - -<div id="chap_189" class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">189</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">INCIDENTS ON THE RIVER (1851–53).</span></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="firstword">The</span> <i>St. Ange</i> left St. Louis on her voyage to Fort -Union for the American Fur Company, June 7, 1851. -She had on board about one hundred passengers, -mostly employees of the Company. The cabin list -included two distinguished Jesuit missionaries, -Father Christian Hoecken and Father De Smet, -bound for the Rocky Mountains.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">CHOLERA BREAKS OUT.</div> - -<p>The spring had been particularly backward and -wet, and the Missouri was in one of its most dangerous -floods. The whole bottom country was overflowed, -and the river looked like a floating mass of -débris of every description. Navigation, though -relieved of the danger from snags, was much impeded -by these floating obstructions, and the gathering of -fuel was unusually difficult. The overflowed condition -of the country made it malarial and unhealthy—as -bad as possible for a year when the cholera was -abroad in the land. Sickness in one form or another -soon appeared among the passengers. In a little -while the vessel, according to Father De Smet,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">190</span> -resembled a floating hospital, and a feeling of gloom -fell over the passengers. Father De Smet himself -was seized with a bilious fever which completely -prostrated him, and for a time his recovery was -doubtful. When about five hundred miles up the -river the cholera broke out. A clerk of the American -Fur Company was the first victim, and from that -time on for the next few days there were several -deaths every day. The situation was a terrible one, -and oppressed passengers and crew alike with the -most dismal forebodings.</p> - -<p>There was a physician on board of the name of Dr. -Evans, a distinguished scientist who was making the -voyage in the interests of the Smithsonian Institution. -He did everything in his power to allay the -plague. Father De Smet was too ill to do anything, -but Father Hoecken worked incessantly, caring for -the sick and watching over their spiritual needs. -This heroic priest won the hearts of the passengers -by his untiring labors in their behalf; but he so completely -exhausted himself that he had no reserve -strength to combat the disease if it should attack himself. -He seemed everywhere at once, like a ministering -angel, and Father De Smet earnestly besought -him to spare himself somewhat or he would not hold -out. Father De Smet’s condition was so serious that -he had asked Father Hoecken to receive his confession;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">191</span> -but the latter did not think his brother in -immediate danger, and hastened to the bedsides of -those who were in a more precarious condition. In -the midst of his unselfish labors the zealous missionary -was himself stricken. Father De Smet thus -records the sad story of his death:</p> - -<div class="sidenote">DEATH OF FATHER HOECKEN.</div> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Between one and two o’clock at night, when all -on board was calm and silent, and the sick in their -wakefulness heard naught but the sighs and moans -of their fellow-sufferers, the voice of Father Hoecken -was suddenly heard. He was calling me to his assistance. -Awaking from a deep sleep, I recognized -his voice, and dragged myself to his pillow. -Ah, me! I found him ill and even in extremity. He -asked me to hear his confession: I at once acquiesced -in his desire. Dr. Evans, a physician of great experience -and remarkable charity, endeavored to relieve -him, and watched by him, but his care and -remedies proved fruitless. I administered extreme -unction; he responded to all the prayers with a recollection -and piety which increased the esteem that -all on board had conceived for him. I could see him -sinking. As I was myself in so alarming a state, and -fearing that I might be taken away at any moment, -and thus share his last abode in this land of pilgrimage -and exile, I besought him to hear my confession,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">192</span> -if he were yet capable of listening to me. I knelt, -bathed in tears, by the dying couch of my brother in -Christ—of my faithful friend—of my sole companion -in the lonely desert. To him in his agony, I, sick -and almost dying, made my confession! Strength -forsook him; soon, also, he lost the power of speech, -although he remained sensible to what was passing -around him. Resigning myself to God’s holy will, -I recited the prayers of the agonizing with the -formula of the plenary indulgence, which Christ -grants at the hour of death. Father Hoecken, ripe -for heaven, surrendered his pure soul into the hands -of his Divine Redeemer on the 19th of June, 1851, -twelve days after our departure from St. Louis.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">BURIAL OF FATHER HOECKEN.</div> - -<p>“The passengers were deeply moved at the sight -of the lifeless body of him who had so lately -been ‘all to all,’ according to the language of -the apostle. Their kind father quitted them at the -moment in which his services seemed to be the -most necessary. I shall remember with deep gratitude -the solicitude evinced by the passengers to -the reverend father in his dying moments. My -resolution not to leave the body of the pious -missionary in the desert was unanimously approved. -A decent coffin, very thick, and tarred -within, was prepared to receive his mortal remains: -a temporary grave was dug in a beautiful forest, in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">193</span> -the vicinity of the mouth of the Little Sioux, and the -burial was performed with all the ceremonies of the -Church, in the evening of the 19th of June, all on -board assisting.”</p></div> - -<p>On the return trip from Fort Union, Captain La -Barge, despite the protests of the passengers, took -Father Hoecken’s remains on board and delivered -them to the Jesuits at St. Louis, and they were buried -in the Novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Florissant, -whither Father De Smet was to follow twenty-two -years later.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">ABATEMENT OF THE PLAGUE.</div> - -<p>After the burial of Father Hoecken near the mouth -of the Little Sioux River, Captain La Barge put -everyone ashore, made the passengers roam around -the neighborhood, unloaded and aired all the baggage, -and completely renovated the boat. These -measures, with the increasing healthfulness of the -country as the boat entered the more arid sections, -brought complete relief from the plague. Only one -more death occurred, and in a short time everything -assumed a normal aspect. The boat reached Fort -Union on the 14th of July, and here Father De Smet -left it to make a journey overland, southward to Fort -John, on the Laramie River, where a great council of -plains Indians was to assemble. Captain La Barge -went on a hundred miles further, to the mouth of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">194</span> -Poplar River, it being, as he then understood, the -highest point reached by any steamboat; but it was -not much, if any, farther than the <i>Assiniboine</i> went in -1834.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">CHARACTER OF FATHER DE SMET.</div> - -<p>This may be a proper place to record some incidents -in the career of Father De Smet which fell -under Captain La Barge’s observation. De Smet, -as is well known, traveled a great deal in nearly all -parts of the far northwest. Sometimes he went -around by sea, and then came overland to the headwaters -of the Missouri; sometimes he went by the -Oregon trail; and at others by the Missouri River. -La Barge, who saw much of him, found him always -a pure and excellent man, very companionable, full -of anecdotes, and fearless and brave in all situations. -He was liked by everyone who knew him. The -Mormons were well acquainted with him and thought -much of him. The Indians had the very highest regard -for his character, and he seemed always to be -safe in their hands. The Government of the United -States likewise held him in high esteem, and on -several occasions called on him for responsible and -delicate work among the Indians.</p> - -<p>Father De Smet entertained the most affectionate -regard for Captain La Barge. He presented him -with autograph copies of all his works, and always -referred to him in terms of deepest affection. The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">195</span> -incidents which follow were witnessed by La Barge -himself.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">DE SMET AND THE BLACKFEET.</div> - -<p>On one occasion near Poplar River a band of -Blackfeet came down to the bank near where the boat -was. In addition to the well-known traditional -hostility of these Indians to the whites, there were -other reasons for believing that they were at this -time in an ugly temper and meditated trouble. -Father De Smet, grasping the situation, said, “It -looks as if those Indians mean mischief. I will go -out and meet them.” La Barge remonstrated, saying -that De Smet was not acquainted with these -particular Indians, and that they might kill him, -when, if they knew who he was, they might spare -him. But De Smet knew that his reputation had -traveled where he himself had not been, and he believed -that they would recognize and protect the -Black Robe, as they called him. He accordingly -donned his cassock, and with the crucifix before him, -went ashore and walked boldly to where the Indians -were. As he had expected, they received him well, -made him sit down on a buffalo robe, and then lifted -him up and carried him on the boat. La Barge gave -them a feast and presented the chief with a suit of -clothes, which greatly pleased his vanity. After a -time the Indians withdrew without attempting any -harm.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">196</span></p> - -<div class="sidenote">MAKING IT RAIN.</div> - -<p>Although the spring of 1851 had been very backward -and wet in the lower country, it was not so -higher up, and when the <i>St. Ange</i> arrived at the -Aricara villages the corn crop of those Indians was -found to be actually suffering from drouth. The -Aricara chief, White Shield, came on board and said -to La Barge, who understood his language well:<a id="FNanchor_30" href="#Footnote_30" class="fnanchor">30</a></p> - -<p>“I am glad to see you, and I hear the Black Robe -is on board.”</p> - -<p>La Barge replied that that was so. The chief then -continued:</p> - -<p>“I want to ask him a favor. It is very late in the -season and no rain. Corn ought to be up now. We -want the Black Robe to send us rain.”</p> - -<p>La Barge took the Indian back to De Smet’s room -and said to the priest, “Father, here is the White -Shield, who wants you to make it rain, for the corn -is not up yet.”</p> - -<p>De Smet, who knew the White Shield well, -laughed heartily, and said he would do all he could. -He then asked La Barge if the boat was going to -remain there all day, and being informed that it was, -he said to the White Shield: “Go to your village and -put your lodge in order, and call in some of the chiefs.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">197</span> -I will come and offer prayer to the Almighty and ask -him to be merciful and grant your requests; and I -am satisfied that, if you deserve it, the Great Spirit -will look down and favor you.”</p> - -<div class="sidenote">A COPIOUS SHOWER.</div> - -<p>Captain La Barge and several of the passengers -went along with the father, and the interpreter translated -the prayer to the Indians. They left the Indians -satisfied, and at noon had them on the boat for -a feast, after which they returned to their village. -As good fortune would have it, along about three or -four o’clock in the afternoon, there came up a heavy -thunder shower which fairly deluged the place. -Father De Smet laughed and said:</p> - -<p>“They will think I did it. They will give me all -the credit for it.”</p> - -<p>Some time after the shower Pierre Garreau, a -French Canadian, who had spent all his life among -the Indians, and had become almost an Indian himself, -came to the boat and said to La Barge:</p> - -<p>“I want you to help me. I want to find out how -Father De Smet did that.”</p> - -<p>“Did what?” asked La Barge.</p> - -<p>“Made it rain. I will pay a good price if he will -tell me. I will give him ten horses.”</p> - -<p>La Barge took him back to De Smet, where he -presented his request himself. De Smet told him to -be a good Christian, and pray when he wanted it to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">198</span> -rain, and if he deserved it, it would come. Garreau -went away disappointed, for he fully believed that the -father had some secret art by which he produced so -signal a result. After he had gone, De Smet laughed -and said: “Did I not tell you they would say I did -it?”</p> - -<div class="sidenote">ATTEMPTED RETIREMENT.</div> - -<p>After La Barge returned from this trip he laid the -boat up for repairs, and soon after sold her. He had -now about made up his mind to quit the river and -retire from active business. He had already accumulated -a snug fortune for those days, and concluded -to enjoy it. He made the best financial move -of his life in the purchase of a large tract of land in -what is now Cabanné Place in St. Louis. Had he -held on to this purchase, the mere growth of the city -would have made him immensely wealthy.<a id="FNanchor_31" href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">31</a> But -retirement from business is one of the hardest things -for a man to do, even in old age. For a man in the -prime of life, as La Barge was at this time, being only -thirty-six, it was not to be expected; and fate soon -threw in his way a temptation that brought him back -to the river.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">199</span></p> - -<div class="sidenote">PURCHASES THE “SONORA.”</div> - -<p>In the spring of 1852 he met in town one day -Captain Edward Salt-Marsh, who had just arrived -from Ohio with a handsome new boat. She was -called the <i>Sonora</i>, as almost everything in those days -was given a California name. “Nothing would do -but that I should go and inspect his boat,” said La -Barge. “I found her an excellent craft, and soon -learned that Salt-Marsh was disposed to sell her. A -desire to purchase at once took possession of me and -led to a lengthy negotiation, which ended in my buying -the boat for thirty thousand dollars. Next day I -went into town and raised the entire amount.”</p> - -<p>The Captain this year made a contract with the -Company to take their annual outfit up the river. -He went to Union and back, but there were no -especial incidents on the trip. After the return -of the <i>Sonora</i> he ran in the New Orleans trade for the -rest of the season. This was a yellow-fever year in -that section, and so many boats had left the river that -Captain La Barge found plenty of business.</p> - -<p>There were some untoward incidents on the Fort -Union trip this season which decided La Barge not -to go up for the Company the following year. He -sold the <i>Sonora</i> in the fall of 1852, purchased a small -boat, the <i>Highland Mary</i>, with which he ran in the -lower river the entire season of 1853. He sold his -boat in the fall of that year.</p> - -<hr /> - -<div id="chap_200" class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">200</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">ICE BREAK-UP OF 1856.</span></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="firstword">During</span> the season of 1854 Captain La Barge was -in the employ of the government most of the time. -In the previous winter Colonel Crossman, of the -army, Quartermaster at St. Louis, contracted with a -company of boat-builders on the Osage River for a -steamboat for government use. When the hull was -nearly completed Captain La Barge went up and -brought the boat down by the use of sweeps. He -supervised her completion and remained on her as -pilot during the entire season. This boat was called -the <i>Mink</i>, from the color selected in painting her.</p> - -<p>The American Fur Company chartered a boat to -take up the outfit of 1854, but the crew mutinied, and -the voyage proved a failure. Mr. Chouteau then -asked La Barge to recommend him a boat for the -next year’s trade and join with him in purchasing her. -It so happened that two St. Louisans, Sam Gaty and -a man named Baldwin, had recently won a prize of -forty thousand dollars in the Havana lottery, and -were using it in building a boat. They sold the boat<span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">201</span> -in her unfinished state, the Company purchasing a -half interest and La Barge and John J. Roe each one-fourth. -La Barge supervised her completion and -named her the <i>St. Mary</i>, after a new town which -P. A. Sarpy had just laid out a few miles below -the modern Council Bluffs, Ia., and which has been -long since entirely washed into the river.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">TRANSFER OF FORT PIERRE.</div> - -<p>Captain La Barge made the annual voyage of 1855 -in this new boat. Mr. Charles P. Chouteau, son of -Pierre Chouteau, Jr., accompanied the trip. The only -incident of particular moment on this voyage was the -transfer of Fort Pierre to the United States Government -in accordance with the terms of a sale which -had been consummated the previous spring. This -important event, which will again be referred to more -at length, marked the beginning of the conquest of -the upper Missouri country by the army of the -United States. The <i>St. Mary</i> was used in making -the transfer of the post to the War Department and -in moving the Fur Company’s property to a new -situation some distance above the old site, near -the mouth of Chantier Creek.</p> - -<p>General Harney was in command of the troops -sent to the upper Missouri in 1855, and La Barge -saw him at Fort Pierre. The Captain always liked -him, and considered him one of the best friends of -the Indians that the army ever produced—a terrible<span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">202</span> -fighter when fight was unavoidable, but always -desirous of accomplishing his purposes by peaceful -means. The Captain recalled an incident of Harney’s -intercourse with the Sioux which created a -great deal of mirth on the frontier at the time.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">THE POWER OF THE WHITE MAN.</div> - -<div class="sidenote">MEDICINE TOO STRONG.</div> - -<p>While holding a council at Pierre with about three -thousand Sioux, the General told them of the great -power of the American people and the uselessness -of their trying to resist them. He was anxious -to exhibit some proof that would appeal to the -native imagination. Finally a thought struck him. -Chloroform was just coming into use in surgery, and -the hospital equipment with the expedition had -some of it along. “I will show you the great power -of the white man,” said the General with impressive -gravity. “I will show you how he can even kill and -bring to life again.” He called the surgeon, explained -what he wanted, and then, through the interpreter, -commanded that a dog be killed and -afterward restored to life. He cautioned the surgeon -to be extremely careful not to overdo the matter. -The surgeon proceeded to chloroform the dog, while -the Indians looked on in mute astonishment, if not -with superstitious awe. After the dog was insensible -the General called the chiefs and told them to satisfy -themselves that he was actually dead. The surgeon -was then ordered to resurrect the dog. He applied<span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">203</span> -the usual restoratives, but the dog slept on. He -nipped his tail with a pair of pincers, but still no -sign of life. The surgeon finally gave it up, and the -white man’s marvelous power did not materialize. -The Indians looked on, and putting their hands to -their mouths said: “Medicine too strong, too -strong.”<a id="FNanchor_32" href="#Footnote_32" class="fnanchor">32</a></p> - -<div class="sidenote">ICE BREAK-UP OF 1856.</div> - -<p>After the return of the <i>St. Mary</i> to St. Louis, -Captain La Barge, as was his wont, ran in the lower<span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">204</span> -river trade the rest of the season. In the following -winter, February 27, occurred the famous ice “break-up” -of 1856 on the Mississippi River at St. Louis. -The winter had been very cold and the ice was three -or four feet thick and the water low. The break-up -was not caused in the usual way by the thawing of the -ice, but by a rise in the river from above, which -caused the ice to move before it had become much -disintegrated. It was an appalling and terrible example -of the power of a great river when restrained -in its course. The following account is from the pen -of an eyewitness:</p> - -<div class="sidenote">TERRIBLE DISPLAY OF POWER.</div> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“The ice at first moved very slowly and without -any perceptible shock. The boats lying above -Chestnut Street were merely shoved ashore. Messrs. -Eads & Nelson’s Submarine No. 4, which had just -finished work at the wreck of the <i>Parthenia</i>, was -almost immediately capsized and became herself a -hopeless wreck. Here the destruction commenced. -The <i>Federal Arch</i> parted her fastenings and became -at once a total wreck. Lying below were the -steamers <i>Australia</i>, <i>Adriatic</i>, <i>Brunette</i>, <i>Paul Jones</i>, -<i>Falls City</i>, <i>Altona</i>, <i>A. B. Chambers</i>, and <i>Challenge</i>, -all of which were torn away from the shore as -easily as if they were mere skiffs, and floated down -with the immense fields of ice. The shock and the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">205</span> -crashing of these boats can better be imagined than -described. All their ample fastenings were as nothing -against the enormous flood of ice, and they were -carried down apparently fastened and wedged together. -The first obstacles with which they came -in contact were a large fleet of wood-boats, flats, and -canal-boats. These small fry were either broken to -pieces or were forced out on the levee in a very -damaged condition. There must have been at least -fifty of these smaller water craft which were destroyed, -pierced by the ice or crushed by the pressure -of each against the other.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">A DESOLATE SCENE.</div> - -<p>“In the meantime some of the boats lying above -Chestnut Street fared badly. The <i>F. X. Aubrey</i> was -forced into the bank and was considerably damaged, -the noble <i>Nebraska</i>, which was thought to be in a -most perilous position, escaped with the loss of her -larboard wheel and some other small injuries. A -number of the upper-river boats, lying above Chestnut -Street, were more or less damaged. Both the -Alton wharf-boats were sunk and broken in pieces. -The old <i>Shenandoah</i> and the <i>Sam Cloon</i> were forced -away from the shore and floated down together, lodging -against the steamer <i>Clara</i>, where they were soon -torn to pieces and sunk by a collision with one of the -ferryboats floating down. The Keokuk wharf-boat -maintained its position against the flood and saved<span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">206</span> -three boats below, viz., the <i>Polar Star</i>, <i>Pringle</i>, -and <i>Forest Rose</i>, none of which was injured.</p> - -<p>“After running about an hour the character of the -ice changed, and it came down in a frothy, crumbled -condition, with an occasional heavy piece. At the -end of two hours it ran very slowly, and finally -stopped about 5 1-2 o’clock P. M. Just before the -ice stopped and commenced to gorge, huge piles, -twenty and thirty feet in height, were forced up by -the current on every hand, both on the shore and at -the lower dike, where so many boats had come to a -halt. In fact these boats seemed to be literally buried -in ice.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>“The levee on the morning after the day of the -disaster presented a dreary and desolate spectacle, -looking more like a scene in the polar regions than in -the fertile and beautiful Mississippi Valley. The -Mississippi, awakened from her long sleep, was pitching -along at a wild and rapid rate of speed, as if to -make up for lost time. The ice coat of mail was -torn into shreds, which lay strewn along the levee, -and was in some places heaped up to a height of -twenty feet above the level of the water. Where the -boats had lain in dense crowds only a few hours before, -nothing was to be seen save this high bulwark -of ice, which seemed as if it had been left there purposely<span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">207</span> -to complete the picture of bleak desolation. -The whole business portion of the levee was clear of -boats, except the two wrecked Alton wharf-boats, -which were almost shattered to pieces, and cast like -toys upon the shore in the midst of the ridge of ice. -There was not a single boat at the levee which entirely -escaped injury by the memorable breaking up -of the ice on February 27, 1856.”</p></div> - -<div class="sidenote">LA BARGE RESCUES HIS BOAT.</div> - -<p>Captain La Barge retained a vivid recollection of -this great catastrophe, for he was the only steamboat -man who succeeded in extricating his boat from the -wreck. The sight was something terrible to him, -and a marvelous exhibition of power. The ice piled -up in enormous masses as easily as a child would -heap up sand, and then it collapsed and gave way. -There were three of these pilings-up, or gorges. -The noise of the crushing ice was terrific. Some of -the boats were smashed to splinters; some were sunk, -and others were pushed far up onto the bank.</p> - -<p>The <i>St. Mary</i> was lying at the wharf when the -movement began. La Barge at once got up steam -and prepared to do what he could to save her. -Sarpy came down to see him, and said to him, “Do -just what you think best with the boat. If anyone -can save her you can. Draw on me for anything -you want.” It was a very risky thing to trust one’s<span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">208</span> -life in a chaos of wreckage like that. Hooper, the -mate, came and said that he should go too if the -Captain was going to risk the river. He thought he -could get five or six men to venture. The final give-way -came about dark, and La Barge backed the boat -away from the shore, let her drift in the ice, and -thus escaped the crush which came along the shore. -He drifted some twenty miles downstream before -he could extricate himself from the ice.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">GOUVENEUR K. WARREN.</div> - -<p>La Barge went to Fort Union for the Company -again in 1856. On this trip Lieutenant Gouveneur -K. Warren, afterward general and corps commander -in the Civil War, took passage on the boat nearly all -the way from St. Louis. He had with him a corps -of scientific assistants, among them the eminent -geologist Dr. F. V. Hayden, who was then just beginning -his explorations of the West. Lieutenant -Warren sketched the course of the river from the -pilot-house as the boat proceeded, taking compass -bearings and estimating the distances. He speaks in -his report of the uniform courtesy extended him by -Captain La Barge in facilitating his operations. The -Captain remembered him well, as he was in the pilot-house -nearly all the time. He was very active, and -kept his men vigorously employed gathering information. -At night he went on shore and took observations. -La Barge became very much interested<span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">209</span> -in his work, and assisted him in every possible way, -often stopping the boat to allow him to do some -particular work. He seemed so interested and -pleased with everything, and so intelligent and well -posted, that he quite won the Captain’s admiration. -He was, as Captain La Barge remembered him, a -handsome man, with a fine head and clear eye, at -that time rather slender, but well built and erect. -He was always pleasant, and was liked by his men, -but was nevertheless a strict disciplinarian. We can -easily discover in the Captain’s recollections the -youthful portrait of the future hero of Little Round -Top at Gettysburg, and the accomplished leader of -the Fifth Corps.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">DR. F. V. HAYDEN.</div> - -<div class="sidenote">DANGEROUS BUSINESS.</div> - -<p>The Captain also distinctly remembered Dr. Hayden, -and related a certain incident which came very -near proving disastrous to that enthusiastic explorer. -Hayden was a man of rather small stature, talkative -and companionable, well informed, and very energetic -and eager in his work. On one occasion his -devotion to his scientific pursuits came very near -getting him into danger. The incident in question -occurred at the site of old Fort Clark, which stood -upon a high cut bank. “We laid up here for an -entire day,” said the Captain in narrating this event. -“The bank was full of fossils, some of them very -rare. I had told Hayden of this on a former trip,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">210</span> -and he was anxious to investigate the place. He went -down under the bank, pick in hand and his rifle over -his shoulder. An Aricara village was on the top, -and while he was absorbed in his investigations some -young bucks took it into their heads to have a little -fun at his expense. They commenced pelting him -with small pebbles, corncobs, etc., from the top of the -bank, at the same time keeping themselves concealed -from his view. For some time Hayden could not see -where the missiles came from, but at length caught -sight of the Indians, and instantly leveled his rifle at -them. I had been a quiet spectator from the boiler -deck of the boat, and quick as thought called to him -to desist or he was a dead man. He lowered his -gun and came on board and hunted no more fossils -under that bank. If he had fired he would certainly -have been killed, and as it was, the Indians were -greatly incensed that he should have leveled his gun -at them.”</p> - -<div class="sidenote">A DISAGREE­ABLE INCIDENT.</div> - -<p>Upon this trip a disagreeable incident happened -which led Captain La Barge to leave the Company’s -service for good. He had as clerk of the boat a son -of one of the partners. The young man’s wife was -also on board, going up for the pleasure of the voyage. -La Barge had been particularly requested by -the clerk’s father to use his best offices for her protection, -comfort, and pleasure in the wild and lawless<span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">211</span> -country to which she was going, and he promised -to do so. Everything passed off pleasantly until -Fort Clark was reached, when one of the partners of -the Upper Missouri Outfit, the bourgeois of the post -at Fort Clark, came on board to accompany the boat -to Fort Union. He was naturally a rough, arrogant, -blustering character, disposed to override everyone, -and on two previous occasions La Barge had been -compelled to deal pretty severely with him. He was, -nevertheless, a man of great energy, well versed in -the business of the fur trade, and a good man for the -Company. He was therefore tolerated where a less -capable man with his faults would have been gotten -rid of.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">INSULTING INSINU­ATIONS.</div> - -<p>“When he came on board,” said Captain La Barge, -“he went to the office and told the clerk to assign -him a stateroom so that he could have his baggage -sent to it. The clerk promised to attend to it and -the bourgeois withdrew. The clerk and myself then -looked over the register to see what we could do for -him. There was only one room that could be made -available except by causing passengers who had -secured and paid for their rooms to vacate them. -This room was occupied by two clerks, who were -compelled to give it up and sleep on cots outside. It -was a forward stateroom, and hence not so desirable -as those further aft, but still a good room, and the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">212</span> -only one that was available. I directed the clerk to -have the bourgeois’ baggage put in, and to show -him the room when he should request it. About -9 P. M., when the boat was tied up for the night, and -I was in the office writing up the journal, the bourgeois -came in and asked the clerk for his room. -The clerk took him out and showed him his room -and told him that two of the clerks had given it up -for him. The bourgeois turned up his nose and exclaimed, -‘What! that room for ——, a member of the -firm? Can’t I have a room in the after cabin, where -the bourgeois are usually assigned?’ He was told -that it was impossible without ousting others who -could not reasonably be disturbed. He did not ask -me, for he knew I would not grant it. Then drawing -himself up in a pompous fashion, he said to the -clerk, calling him by name: ‘I will occupy your room -to-night and you may occupy this,’ and added other -suggestions not calculated to mollify the feelings of -the young husband.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">SEVERE DISCIPLINE.</div> - -<p>“The clerk came into the room deathly pale, but -made no response to the bourgeois’ insulting insinuations. -I overheard the whole conversation, and -determined to remain up and see the affair out. -After a while the bourgeois came to the door of the -office and said to the clerk: ‘Good-night, Mr. ——.’ -‘Good night, Mr. ——,’ replied the clerk, and the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">213</span> -bourgeois withdrew and started for the ladies’ cabin. -I immediately stepped out and followed him. He -walked directly back to the clerk’s stateroom and -was about to take hold of the door knob, when I -seized him by the collar, jerked him around, gave -him a smart kick in the direction of the forward -cabin, followed it up by two or three others, and in -short order landed him in front of the boat yelling -‘Murder!’ and calling for help. Culbertson and -others came out, but I told them not to interfere, as -I was simply protecting a lady from insult. The -bourgeois would not be quiet, and I ordered my mate -Hooper to put him on the bank. This was promptly -done, the boat was held off shore by a spar, the gang -plank drawn in, and the bourgeois could not get -back on board. The weather was so warm that he -would not suffer from the cold, and the pestering -mosquitoes, which swarmed in the willows, kept him -active all night.</p> - -<p>“When I returned to St. Louis I made no report -of this affair, leaving it to the clerk, whose wife’s -honor had been protected, to lay the matter before -his father. Instead of reporting the facts he represented -that I had treated the bourgeois with uncalled-for -severity, and that such things ought not -to be allowed to go on. He said nothing of the real -cause of the trouble, although his wife, a refined,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">214</span> -cultured, and beautiful woman, drove to my house as -soon as she returned, and told my wife how thankful -she was for what I had done.</p> - -<p>“A few days after my return from Union I was -summoned to the office, and was there informed that -the men in the upper country thought me altogether -too hard on them, and that, to avoid future difficulty, -it was best to terminate our relations. I replied that -I felt so fully justified in my action that I should retire -from their service with the utmost willingness if -such was their view of the affair. This was in the -fall of 1856, and was the last time that I worked for -the Company.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">THE TRUTH DISCLOSED.</div> - -<p>“Three years later I was again called to the office -and thus addressed by the father of my ungrateful -clerk:</p> - -<p>“‘I have called you in to scold you for your conduct.’</p> - -<p>“‘Why so, Mr. ——?’</p> - -<p>“‘You remember the cause of the trouble in 1856 -that led to our separation?’</p> - -<p>“‘Very distinctly.’</p> - -<p>“‘Why did you not defend yourself? Why did -you not make me a full report?’</p> - -<p>“‘I thought, sir, it was your son’s place to lay the -matter before you, as the whole trouble had been on -his and his wife’s account. I had promised you that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">215</span> -I would protect her, and all I did was in fulfillment -of that promise. I am glad that you now know the -truth of the matter.’</p> - -<p>“‘Perhaps you are right; it was my son’s place to -tell me; but he was influenced by others and never -mentioned it.’</p> - -<p>“The old gentleman was very indignant over the -affair, and ever after treated me with the greatest -consideration.”</p> - -<div class="sidenote">LEAVES AMERICAN FUR CO.’S SERVICE.</div> - -<p>As has been stated already, this was the last service -of Captain La Barge for the American Fur Company. -Many years of the most active part of his life had -been spent in their interest. They never had a pilot -on whom they could more confidently rely, and -his careful management of their expeditions was -worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to them. -But their hard and exacting ways, often sullied with -open injustice, gave rise to misunderstandings, which -on several occasions virtually compelled him to quit -their service and finally led to permanent separation.</p> - -<hr /> - -<div id="chap_216" class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_216">216</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">THE HEAD OF NAVIGATION REACHED.</span></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="firstword">The</span> decade from 1850 to 1860 saw a very rapid -growth in the steamboat business of the Missouri -River. The stream of emigration across the plains -continued practically unchecked. Settlement was -rapidly filling up the lower valley of the river, and by -1856 had reached as far as Sioux City, and all the -modern towns below that point had commenced their -existence. Government exploration was being pushed -with vigor in all directions into the country beyond. -The Indians were becoming restive under the pressure -of settlement; their annuities were increasing, and the -presence of troops in all parts of their country was -becoming more imperative. The long Indian wars of -the Missouri Valley were beginning.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">STEAMBOAT STATISTICS.</div> - -<p>All these developments had their effect upon the -steamboat traffic of the Missouri River, for that -stream was the one great transportation route into -the heart of the West. Some idea of the magnitude -of the business may be gleaned from the records of the -times as published in the newspapers along the river.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">217</span> -In the year 1858 there were 59 steamboats on the -lower river and 306 steamboat arrivals at the port of -Leavenworth, Kan. The freight charges paid at that -point during the season amounted to $166,941.35. In -1859 the steamboat advertisements in the St. Louis -papers showed that more vessels left that port for the -Missouri River than for both the upper and lower -Mississippi. In 1857 there were 28 steamboat -arrivals at the new village of Sioux City before July -1. There were 23 regular boats on that part of the -river, and their freight tonnage for the season was -valued at $1,250,000. The period from 1855 to 1860 -was the golden era of steamboating on the Missouri -River. It was the period just before the advent of the -railroads. No other period before or after approached -it in the splendor of the boats. All the boats -were sidewheelers, had full-length cabins, and were -fitted up more for passengers than for freight. It -was an era of fast boats and of racing. It was the -heyday of that most important personage, the Missouri -River pilot.<a id="FNanchor_33" href="#Footnote_33" class="fnanchor">33</a></p> - -<div class="sidenote">PROGRESS UP THE RIVER.</div> - -<p>While this rapid development of traffic on the lower -river was going on, the American Fur Company was -laying its plans to carry steamboat navigation to Fort<span class="pagenum" id="Page_218">218</span> -Benton. We have elsewhere told how the <i>Assiniboine</i> -in 1834 reached a point near the mouth of Poplar -River, a hundred miles above the Yellowstone, and -being caught by low water, was compelled to stay -there all winter. For the next nineteen years this remained -the farthest point reached by steamboats. In -1853 the <i>El Paso</i> went about 125 miles further, to a -point five miles above the mouth of Milk River. El -Paso point, as this place came to be called, marked the -limit of steamboat progress up the river for the next -six years.</p> - -<p>In 1859 the final step, or very nearly so, was taken -in reaching the real head of navigation. The record -of this event is quite as definite as are those of the entrance -of steamboats into the mouth of the Missouri -in 1819 and the voyage of the <i>Yellowstone</i> to Fort -Union in 1832. In the spring of 1859 the American -Fur Company sent up two boats with its annual outfit, -its own boat, the <i>Spread Eagle</i>, and a chartered boat, -the <i>Chippewa</i>. The <i>Chippewa</i> was a light boat, and -her owner, Captain Crabtree, contracted to take her to -Fort Benton, or as far as it was possible to go. At -Fort Union he defaulted in his contract and sold the -boat to the Company for just about the charter price -for the voyage. Such freight as the <i>Spread Eagle</i> -carried for Fort Benton was then transferred to the -<i>Chippewa</i>, making a total cargo of 160 tons. Captain<span class="pagenum" id="Page_219">219</span> -John La Barge,<a id="FNanchor_34" href="#Footnote_34" class="fnanchor">34</a> brother of Joseph La Barge, and -pilot of the <i>Spread Eagle</i>, was assigned to charge of -the <i>Chippewa</i> on her adventurous undertaking. Mr. -Charles P. Chouteau went along as the Company’s -representative.</p> - -<p>The boat made her way successfully, and without -any notable incident, to within fifteen miles of Fort -Benton, and discharged her freight at Brulé bottom, -where Fort McKenzie stood in former years. Her -arrival at this point was on July 17, 1859, forty years -and two months after the <i>Independence</i> entered the -mouth of the river.<a id="FNanchor_35" href="#Footnote_35" class="fnanchor">35</a></p> - -<p>This noteworthy event must be classed as one of the -celebrated feats in steamboat navigation. The <i>Chippewa</i> -had reached a point further from the sea by a -continuous water course than any other boat had ever -been. She was now 3560 miles from, and 2565 feet -above, the ocean, and the whole distance had been made -by steam on a river unimproved by artificial works.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">HEAD OF NAVIGATION REACHED.</div> - -<p>In 1860 the <i>Chippewa</i> and the <i>Key West</i> completed -the short remaining distance to Fort Benton, and made<span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">220</span> -fast to the bank in front of the old post July 2 of that -year. On June 16, 1866, the steamer <i>Peter Balen</i> -ascended the river to the mouth of Belt Creek, six -miles from the Great Falls, and thirty-one miles above -Fort Benton. This is believed to be the farthest point -reached by steam on the Missouri River.<a id="FNanchor_36" href="#Footnote_36" class="fnanchor">36</a> The feat -was accomplished during the June flood and would -have been impossible at ordinary stages. Fort Benton -has always been considered the head of navigation -on the Missouri River.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">LOSS OF THE “CHIPPEWA.”</div> - -<div class="sidenote">ALCOHOL AND CANDLES.</div> - -<p>In 1861 the heroic <i>Chippewa</i> made her last trip up -the river. Again bound for Fort Benton, she reached -the end of her voyage and of her career at a point a -little below the mouth of Poplar River, Mont., since -known, from this connection, as Disaster Bend. She -was loaded with American Fur Company goods and -Blackfeet annuities, and had a goodly quantity of -alcohol on board. One Sunday evening in the month -of May, while supper was being served, the boat was -discovered to be on fire. She was immediately run -ashore, the passengers were put off, and she was set -adrift to avoid the danger from an expected explosion<span class="pagenum" id="Page_221">221</span> -of gunpowder that was in the hold. The boat floated -across the river and about a mile downstream, when -she blew up, just as the upper works were fairly consumed -to the water’s edge. The explosion was terrific, -and packages of merchandise were found at a -great distance from the place. No lives were lost, and -the personal effects of the passengers were saved. -The fire was caused by some deckhands, who went into -the hold with a lighted candle to steal some liquor.</p> - -<hr /> - -<div id="chap_222" class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">222</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">FORT BENTON.</span></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="firstword">Few,</span> if any, towns in the Far West country possess -so unique and varied a history as Fort Benton. With -the exception of some of the old Spanish villages in -the southwest it is the oldest settlement in the mountain -country, for the traders made their first establishment -there in 1831. The true historic career of Fort -Benton did not embrace more than half a century, yet -in that brief space it saw more of romance, tragedy, -and vigorous life than many a city of a hundred times -its size and ten times its age.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">OPENING TRADE WITH THE BLACKFEET.</div> - -<p>The commercial importance of Fort Benton arose, -of course, from its situation at the head of navigation -on the Missouri River; but this was not the cause of -its first location there. The surrounding country was -the home of the Blackfeet Indians—great fur producers, -but in early times inveterate enemies of the -whites. From the time when the traders began to -penetrate those distant regions it was their ambition -to open up trade relations with this fierce and refractory -tribe. Attempts were made in the years<span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">223</span> -1807–10 and again in 1822–23, but wholly without success. -The Indians always evinced a deadly hostility, -attacked the trappers, killed a great many, drove them -out of the country, and gave them no opportunity to -explain their pacific purposes.</p> - -<p>In 1831 Kenneth McKenzie, ablest of the American -Fur Company traders on the upper Missouri, resolved -to make another attempt. He had already securely -established himself at Fort Union, near the mouth of -the Yellowstone. Fortune threw into his hands at -this time the very instrument required for his purposes—an -old trapper who had long served under the Hudson -Bay Company in the Blackfoot country north of -the boundary. His name was Jacob Berger. He -understood perfectly the language of these Indians -and knew many of them personally. McKenzie prevailed -upon him to go to their country with overtures -of peace and the promise of a trading post. The real -origin of the enmity of the Blackfeet had been the -apparent favoritism of the whites, in years gone by, -toward their hereditary enemies, the Crows; and -McKenzie felt confident that, if he could once get -their ear and explain the true purpose of the traders -toward them, he would secure their friendship and -custom.</p> - -<p>Berger set out with a small party in the fall of 1830, -carrying unfurled an American flag, and traveled<span class="pagenum" id="Page_224">224</span> -upward of four weeks before he saw an Indian. -Finally he came upon a large village in the valley of -the Marias River. The sight so terrified the little -band that they were for instant flight before they -should be discovered. Berger, however, persisted in -his mission, and the party moved forward, scarcely -expecting to be alive another hour. They were -quickly discovered, whereupon a number of mounted -warriors started at full gallop to meet them. The -whites halted and Berger advanced with his flag. The -Indians paused and Berger made signs of peace, and -called out his own name. As he was well known to -the tribe, they recognized him at once. There was a -rush to shake hands and Berger and his party were -taken to the village, where, to their infinite relief, they -were received with every demonstration of good will.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">A FAIR PROPOSITION.</div> - -<p>Berger remained at the village for some time, and -made the Indians fully acquainted with the purpose -of his mission. He finally induced about forty of the -leading men to return with him to Fort Union, where -they could confer with McKenzie direct. The journey -was long, and the fickle nature of the Indians -showed signs of weakening before it was nearly completed. -They began to fear treachery, and it took all -of Berger’s ingenuity to keep them from turning back. -Finally, as a last resort, when almost at their journey’s -end, he pledged them his scalp and his horses if they<span class="pagenum" id="Page_225">225</span> -did not reach the fort in one day more. They agreed -to this eminently fair proposition, and before the day -had passed they saw, from the top of a hill, in the plain -below them, the imposing palisades and bastions of -Fort Union. This was about the beginning of the -year 1831.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">SUCCESSFUL NEGOTIA­TIONS.</div> - -<p>McKenzie did all in his power to impress the delegation -favorably. He made them liberal presents, and -sent a trader with an outfit of goods to remain in their -village during the winter. Finally he promised them -a permanent trading post the following year. Before -the year had passed he induced the Blackfeet and -Assiniboines to make a treaty with each other, and he -thus established peace all along the northern border. -In the fall of 1831 he sent a complete outfit under -James Kipp to the Blackfoot country for the purpose -of establishing the promised post. After a long and -tedious voyage Kipp reached the mouth of the Marias -River and selected the point of land between the two -streams for the proposed establishment. It was begun -about the middle of October. The Indians -appeared soon after his arrival, but Kipp requested -them to withdraw for seventy-five days, until he could -finish the work. They went away and returned -punctually on the day fixed. To their astonishment -they found the fort entirely finished and everything -ready for the trade. This post was very properly<span class="pagenum" id="Page_226">226</span> -named, from the sub-tribe of the Blackfeet in whose -country it was located, Fort Piegan.<a id="FNanchor_37" href="#Footnote_37" class="fnanchor">37</a></p> - -<div class="sidenote">THE BLACKFEET NATION.</div> - -<p>Thus was the white man’s first foothold established -in the land of the Blackfeet, near where the great post -of Fort Benton stood in later years. Kipp drove a -thriving trade during the winter, and in the spring -went down to Union with the returns and with all his -men, for they refused to remain if he went. It is said -that the Indians burned the post after Kipp withdrew. -Whether from this cause or from some other, it was -not rebuilt upon the original site. D. D. Mitchell, one -of the Company’s most capable servants, was sent up -in 1832 to reopen trade with the Blackfeet. On his -way up he lost his boat in a storm, with all the property,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_227">227</span> -worth some thirty thousand dollars, and two -men, one of them a Piegan Indian. The Indians who -were with him suspected foul play and Mitchell had -all he could do to maintain himself while sending back -to Union for another outfit. He succeeded, however, -and in due time reached the mouth of the Marias.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">FOUNDING OF FORT MCKENZIE.</div> - -<p>Not liking the situation selected by Kipp, he went up -the river some seven miles farther, and chose a spot on -the left bank in a fine bottom with abundant growths -of timber near by. The erection of the new post was -one of the dramatic incidents of the early fur trade. -There were several thousand Indians present, suspicious -of the whites and ready for trouble upon any -pretext. The men worked like beavers in getting up -the pickets, and during this time slept on the keelboat. -It required the utmost tact and firmness on the part of -Mitchell to prevent an outbreak, and several times it -seemed as if all were lost. The work was finally completed, -and once within the fort the little party felt -safe. The new post was named Fort McKenzie, a -merited tribute to the man who had accomplished a -feat which the traders had hitherto considered impossible.</p> - -<p>In the summer of 1833 Alexander Culbertson, next -to McKenzie the greatest of the American Fur Company -traders, went up with Mitchell from Fort Union, -and began his long and eventful career on the upper<span class="pagenum" id="Page_228">228</span> -river. Prince Maximilian was a guest of the party, -and remained at Fort McKenzie nearly all summer. -While there he was treated to a genuine Indian battle. -The Assiniboines, becoming weary of peace, broke the -treaty of two years before, and fell upon a band of -Piegans who were encamped around the fort. They -killed several Indians in the first onset, but were -quickly repulsed by aid of the inmates of the post, and -were finally driven back beyond the Marias. Mitchell -and Culbertson took part in the fight, and the venerable -Prince became its historian.</p> - -<div id="ip_228" class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/i259.jpg" width="1453" height="2098" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">ALEXANDER CULBERTSON</div></div> - -<div class="sidenote">BLACKFEET AND CROWS.</div> - -<p>The history of Fort McKenzie had more of excitement -and incident about it than any of the other early -trading posts. The Blackfeet and the Crows were -deadly enemies of each other, and many were the -bloody encounters between them. The Crows often -came to seek their enemy in his own country, and the -Blackfeet went to the Crow country on the Yellowstone, -where the inmates of Fort Cass witnessed the -counterpart of scenes which fell under the eyes of the -traders at Fort McKenzie. It is said, but upon uncertain -authority, that the Crows once actually laid -siege to Fort McKenzie, but as they were a friendly -tribe to the whites, this may be taken with some allowance. -It is certain, however, that for many years the -warfare between these two tribes raged with great -fury, though not with much loss to the traders, for the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_229">229</span> -booty captured from one party found its way directly -to the trading post in the country of the other.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">SMALLPOX AMONG THE BLACKFEET.</div> - -<p>The thrilling incidents with which the annals of -Fort McKenzie abounded in these early years would -fill a volume; but we can note only the more important. -The year 1837 was the year of the terrible smallpox -scourge among the tribes of the Missouri Valley. -Great care was taken at Fort Union to dispatch the -annual outfit for Fort McKenzie without carrying the -smallpox along with it. The expedition was in charge -of Alexander Harvey, one of the most noted and desperate -characters which the fur trade produced. Harvey -took every possible precaution, but in spite of his -efforts the disease broke out in his party. He therefore -thought it prudent to stop before he reached Fort -McKenzie and send word to Culbertson, who had been -in charge of the fort since 1834, when Mitchell left. -Culbertson wisely decided to leave the cargo at the -mouth of the Judith until the disease had run its -course. There were large numbers of Indians encamped -near the fort awaiting the arrival of the boat, -and when they learned of the proposed delay they became -suspicious and insisted that the boat should be -brought up. Culbertson expostulated with them, but -all in vain, and to avoid the capture and destruction of -the boat and its crew, he yielded to their demands.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">TERRIBLE MORTALITY.</div> - -<p>The result was exactly what had been foreseen.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_230">230</span> -The disease was communicated to the inmates of the -post and to the Indians as well. The latter completed -their trade and left the fort before the pest actually -broke out among them, and the garrison remained for -some time in ignorance of what their fate had been. -For upwards of two months not an Indian was seen, -and Culbertson, fearing the dreadful truth, resolved -to go in search of them. With a single companion he -set out for the Three Forks of the Missouri, where the -Piegans usually spent their autumns hunting beaver. -They finally came upon a village of about sixty lodges, -only to find it absolutely deserted, with dead bodies -strewn in every direction, and carrion birds of prey the -only sign of life anywhere around. The smallpox had -done its work well, and the few survivors of the village -had fled in scattered groups among the surrounding -mountains. The mortality among the Bloods and -Blackfeet had been as great as among the Piegans, -and Culbertson estimated the total loss among the -three bands at six thousand souls. The Grosventres, -for some cause, escaped with small loss.</p> - -<p>The annals of Fort McKenzie during the next six -years find their chief sensational interest in the exploits -of Alexander Harvey. Many were the desperate -deeds committed by him, and it required all the steadying -authority of Culbertson to offset his sinister influence -among the Indians. Harvey was, however, an<span class="pagenum" id="Page_231">231</span> -excellent trader, and rendered the company good -service. He was left in charge of the post during the -occasional temporary absences of Culbertson at Fort -Union, and in spite of his many outrages upon the Indians, -and even upon the whites, was considered too -valuable a man to lose.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">CULBERTSON TRANSFERRED.</div> - -<p>Under Culbertson’s prudent management Fort -McKenzie had become, next to Union, the most paying -establishment on the river. The Company were -so pleased with his record that they decided to send -him to Fort John, on the Laramie River, to build up -the trade of that post, which was doing a losing business -on account of bad management. Culbertson protested -that it would be a mistake to take him away -from McKenzie, but the Company overruled him, and -Francis A. Chardon, one of their most experienced -clerks, was sent to relieve him.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">REVOLTING CRIME.</div> - -<p>Chardon was the same manner of man as was Alexander -Harvey, and it goes without saying that such a -pair traveled rapidly the highway to commercial ruin. -Chardon, being new to his duties and new to the post, -relied a great deal upon Harvey, who became the real -head of the establishment. The natural consequences -of this arrangement quickly followed. Some little -offenses committed by the Indians, which a prudent -trader would have passed by without trouble, were -made the excuse for one of the most atrocious crimes<span class="pagenum" id="Page_232">232</span> -ever committed by either white man or Indian upon -the other. The plan was to fall upon the unsuspecting -Indians the next time they should come in to trade, -and to kill all they could and confiscate their property. -It only partly succeeded, owing to the failure of the -actors to co-operate exactly; but it went far enough to -arouse the hatred of the Indians to the highest pitch. -They began a war of vengeance, and soon rendered -the situation at Fort McKenzie untenable. Chardon -accordingly moved down to the Judith River, and -erected a new post on the left bank of the Missouri, -opposite the mouth of the smaller stream. He named -the post Fort Chardon. Fort McKenzie was burned, -some say by Chardon himself and some by the Indians. -The fort lost its old name and became known as Fort -Brulé, or burned fort, a name which still survives in -Brulé bottom, where Fort McKenzie stood. The -massacre took place early in the winter of 1842–43.<a id="FNanchor_38" href="#Footnote_38" class="fnanchor">38</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_233">233</span></p> - -<div class="sidenote">RETURN OF CULBERTSON.</div> - -<p>As a result of their reckless management, Chardon -and Harvey had by this time ruined the trade with -the Blackfeet tribes. In this emergency the Company -turned to Culbertson, acknowledged their error in removing -him from Fort McKenzie, and besought him -to return and restore things to their old-time condition. -Culbertson went back in the summer of 1844, -abandoned and burned Fort Chardon, and established -a new post twelve miles above the modern Fort Benton. -The fort was built on the right bank of the Missouri, -and was named Fort Lewis, in honor of the -great explorer, Captain Meriwether Lewis.</p> - -<p>On his way up from Fort Union this season Culbertson -was accompanied by Jacob Berger, James Lee, and -Malcolm Clark. Clark had served at Fort McKenzie -five years before. He was a noted frontier character -of good family connections, an unsuccessful student at -the West Point Military Academy, a man of fine physical -presence, and possessed of a bold and desperate -character, which brought to his name the stigma of -more than one crime.<a id="FNanchor_39" href="#Footnote_39" class="fnanchor">39</a> Clark and his companions<span class="pagenum" id="Page_234">234</span> -seem to have plotted the murder or severe punishment -of Alexander Harvey; for when Harvey came down -from Fort Chardon to meet the boat, he was attacked -by Clark and Lee and barely escaped with his life. -He fled to the post, barricaded himself, induced the -inmates to stand by him, and would not admit even -Culbertson without a guarantee of personal safety. -He then closed up his affairs at the post, left the Company’s -service, went down the river, and soon after -became senior member in the opposition firm of -Harvey, Primeau & Co. He returned to the upper -river, built a small post near the mouth of Shonkin -Creek, and did a fair business for several years, when -he sold out to his old employers.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">BLACKFEET TRADE RESTORED.</div> - -<p>With Chardon and Harvey away, Culbertson soon -won back the trade of the Blackfeet. The site of Fort -Lewis, however, proved unsatisfactory. The valley -of the Teton River, a tributary of the Marias, which -flowed parallel with the Missouri for many miles, was -a favorite camping ground of the Indians. Fort -Lewis was a long way off, and across the Missouri -from this valley. Accordingly, in the spring of 1846<span class="pagenum" id="Page_235">235</span> -the post was dismantled, moved down the river, and -set up in the fine open bottom where the village of Fort -Benton now stands.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">FORT BENTON FOUNDED.</div> - -<p>The post was thus finally settled in its future permanent -location, although the name, Fort Lewis, was -still retained for several years. Business flourished -under Culbertson’s management, and he at one time -had three outlying posts in the country round about. -In 1850 he determined to rebuild the post of adobe, -after the manner of Fort John, on the Laramie. The -soil was well adapted to the purpose, and although -the work was begun late in the season, it was completed, -thanks to an open fall, before winter set in. -On Christmas night, 1850, it was dedicated with a -grand ball, and was rechristened Fort Benton, in honor -of Senator Thomas H. Benton, who had so often rescued -the Company from the peril of its own malefactions. -The name Fort Benton, as applied to the post -of the Blackfeet, and to the head of navigation on the -Missouri River, thus dates from the year 1850, nineteen -years after the first trading post was established -in that vicinity.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">THE STEVENS EXPLORATION.</div> - -<p>No events of other than a routine nature transpired -at Fort Benton until the year 1853, when the extensive -exploring expedition of Governor I. I. Stevens took -the field to find a northern railroad route to the Pacific -Ocean. These explorations brought a great deal of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_236">236</span> -business to Fort Benton, and added a new feature to -the life of that hitherto almost unknown post. Growing -out of this work came the effort to negotiate -treaties with the Blackfeet similar to those which had -been formed at Fort Laramie three years before with -most of the plains tribes. Congress made a large appropriation -to cover the expense of the negotiations, -and Governor Stevens and Alfred Cummings were -appointed treaty commissioners. The necessary gifts -for the Indians were purchased, the American Fur -Company was awarded the contract for their transportation, -and in due time Commissioner Cummings -and party left St. Louis on the Company’s steamboat -<i>St. Mary</i>.</p> - -<p>There were on board, besides Commissioner Cummings, -Major Culbertson, Indian agents Vaughn and -Hatch, and a friend of Captain La Barge, an army -officer, who later became paymaster in the army. At -Fort Union the goods were transshipped in keelboats -for Fort Benton, while the passengers took wagons -for the same destination. Arrived at Milk River -crossing, the party met Governor Stevens just returning -from the Pacific Coast, and here the details of -organization of the Commission were decided upon. -There was much dispute over the question of precedence, -and although Governor Stevens finally -yielded to his colleague, the relations of the two men<span class="pagenum" id="Page_237">237</span> -were so embittered that their subsequent work lacked -harmony and effectiveness.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">CHANGE OF CONDITIONS.</div> - -<p>From Milk River the party went on to Fort Benton, -but the boats were not able to get up that far except -with very great delay, and it was decided to hold the -expected council at the mouth of the Judith River. The -goods were stopped at that point and hither repaired -the Commissioners and the various Blackfeet bands to -the number of about two thousand. The work was -completed and in about ten days the Indians departed -with their lavish presents. The era of the fur trader -had ended and that of the Indian agent had come. In -this case, as in all that had preceded it, the change, so -far as the Indians were concerned, was a change for -the worse.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">GREATNESS OF FORT BENTON.</div> - -<p>These events bring our sketch of the history of Fort -Benton down to the point already reached in our regular -narrative. The arrival of the first steamboat in -1859 was an epoch in her history. Followed, as it -was, almost immediately by the discovery of gold in -Montana, and the consequent rush of emigration, it -changed the whole order of things at the post. Stores -and other buildings began to appear, and in 1865 a -town site was laid off.<a id="FNanchor_40" href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor">40</a> The young city grew with -astonishing rapidity and became a place of very great<span class="pagenum" id="Page_238">238</span> -importance. Strange indeed must it have seemed to -the Indians and to the old trappers to behold upon this -spot, where for so many years there had been only a -single palisade—sole habitation of white men within -five hundred miles—buildings of metropolitan style -and quality, trains of wagons coming and going, and -lines of noble steamboats lying at the bank along the -entire front of the town.<a id="FNanchor_41" href="#Footnote_41" class="fnanchor">41</a> It was a wonderful metamorphosis, -scarcely paralleled in any other city of the -country. Mushroom towns have sprung up all over -the West, but no permanent city from causes like those -which built up Fort Benton. Her rise and greatness -were due solely to her position as a strategic point in -the commerce of the far Northwest, not from any -great mineral discovery in her neighborhood. Her -supremacy she maintained until other commercial -routes had rendered useless the great natural highway -which found its terminus at her door.<a id="FNanchor_42" href="#Footnote_42" class="fnanchor">42</a></p> - -<div id="ip_238" class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/i271.jpg" width="2328" height="1544" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">FORT BENTON LEVEE</div></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_239">239</span></p> - -<div class="sidenote">AMERICAN FUR CO. LEAVES THE RIVER.</div> - -<p>The American Fur Company, founders of Fort -Benton, continued to do business on the upper river -until 1864, when they sold out to the firm of Hawley, -Hubbell & Co., under the style of the Northwestern -Fur Company. The negotiations were concluded in -the winter of 1864–65, and the actual transfer accomplished -in the following season. In 1869 the Northwestern -Fur Company sold out all its interests below -Fort Union to Durfee & Peck, and in 1870 abandoned -all the trade above Fort Union.</p> - -<hr /> - -<div id="chap_240" class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_240">240</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">LINCOLN ON THE MISSOURI.</span></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="firstword">Having</span> permanently left the service of the American -Fur Company, Captain La Barge spent the three -years, 1857–59, mainly on the lower river, not generally -going above Council Bluffs. In the summer of -1859 he built a fine new boat, one of the best that ever -went up the river. Pierre Chouteau, Jr., having heard -of his undertaking, sent to him and offered any assistance -that might be needed. The Company still cherished -a high appreciation of Captain La Barge’s -services and would gladly have taken him back into -their employ. The captain thanked Mr. Chouteau, -but never took advantage of his offer. When he had -finished his boat he named her the <i>Emilie</i>, for one of -his daughters. Soon after this he received a polite -note from Mr. Chouteau, telling him to order a complete -stand of colors for the boat and he would pay the -bill. The captain was much embarrassed, for he -knew that Mr. Chouteau had made the offer under the -impression that the boat had been named in honor of -his wife. When La Barge declined his generous<span class="pagenum" id="Page_241">241</span> -offer and explained why, Mr. Chouteau said: “That’s -all right. I am glad you have told me so frankly. -You did well to name the boat for your daughter.”</p> - -<div class="sidenote">THE “EMILIE.”</div> - -<p>The <i>Emilie</i> was one of the famous boats of the Missouri -River. She was 225 feet long, 32 feet beam, -with a hold 6 feet deep, and could easily carry 500 -tons. She was a sidewheel boat, built on the most -approved lines, and an exceedingly beautiful craft. -Captain La Barge was designer, builder, owner, and -master, and set out on his first voyage with her -October 1, 1859, his forty-fourth birthday.</p> - -<p>Before the boat was completed he entered into a contract -with the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, -which had just reached the Missouri River at St. Joseph, -to run from that point up and down the river in -connection with the road. The <i>Emilie</i> was accordingly -taken at once up the river, and remained all the -fall in that section, going up as far as Fort Randall -once or twice.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">LINCOLN AT COUNCIL BLUFFS.</div> - -<div class="sidenote">LINCOLN’S SPEECH.</div> - -<p>It was during the boating season of 1859 that Captain -La Barge first saw Abraham Lincoln. Among -the more obscure incidents in that great man’s career -were his visits to the Missouri River in the summer -and fall of this year. In August he visited Council -Bluffs, and in December several towns in Kansas. -The purpose of his first visit was not political, although -during his stay at the Bluffs he was induced to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_242">242</span> -make a political speech.<a id="FNanchor_43" href="#Footnote_43" class="fnanchor">43</a> He had evidently come out -to take a look at the great West, and possibly also to -make some investments in real estate. At any rate, in -November following he purchased from N. B. Judd -lot 3, block 1, of Riddle’s Subdivision of Council<span class="pagenum" id="Page_243">243</span> -Bluffs. In 1867 this property was conveyed back to -Mr. Judd by the Lincoln heirs. It is a very singular -fact that the adjoining lot 4 of this subdivision was -owned by Clement L. Vallandigham, Mr. Lincoln’s -greatest political enemy.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">UNION PACIFIC.</div> - -<p>General Grenville M. Dodge, who later became a -distinguished officer in the Civil War, was at this time<span class="pagenum" id="Page_244">244</span> -engaged in surveys for the proposed Union Pacific -railroad. He had just come in from the plains, and -Lincoln, hearing of the fact, sought him out and had -a long talk with him in regard to his surveys. His -great interest in the matter and his skill in drawing -out information soon gave him all that the young surveyor -knew. The latter thought no more of this at -the time than that possibly he had been giving away -secrets that belonged to his employers only. In 1863, -while in command of the district of Corinth, Miss., he -received a dispatch from General Grant directing him -to proceed to Washington and report to the President. -He was a good deal perturbed over the matter, for -he feared it might be something pertaining to his military -work that had not given satisfaction. When he -appeared before Mr. Lincoln he found that the President -wanted to consult with him in regard to the -eastern terminus of the proposed Pacific railroad, -which would soon have to be determined. Mr. Lincoln -had remembered the conversation in Council -Bluffs, and now sought assistance from the same -source from which he drew so freely on the former -occasion. The result was that Council Bluffs instead -of Omaha was fixed as the terminus, and that is why -the Union Pacific railroad begins just across the river -in Iowa, and not, as would have seemed natural, on -the west shore of the river.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_245">245</span></p> - -<div class="sidenote">LINCOLN IN KANSAS.</div> - -<p>Late in the fall of 1859 Mr. Lincoln visited Kansas. -He arrived at St. Joseph December 1, <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">via</i> the new -Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad. He was met at -the station by D. D. Wilder and M. W. Delahay, who -escorted him at once to the ferry. Mr. Wilder was -a member of the reception committee, and had spent -several days in the office of Lincoln & Herndon the -previous summer. While waiting for the boat they -sat down on the bank, and Lincoln talked freely of -the recent exciting political events in Illinois. The -party then crossed to Kansas, the first stop being at -Elwood, where Lincoln spoke on the night of December -1. The next day he went to Troy, Kan., -where he gave an address, and in the evening he made -a speech at Doniphan. The following day he went to -Atchison and spoke in the Methodist church. Lincoln’s -speeches on these occasions were essentially the -same as that delivered at a later date at Cooper Union, -New York. Lincoln seems to have gone to Leavenworth -on the 4th of December. He remained there -two or three days, delivering two speeches at Stockton’s -Hall and holding a public reception. His long -stay at this place was probably due to his having to -wait for the steamboat to take him back to St. Joseph. -He left Leavenworth on the 7th of December, accompanied -by Mr. Parrott, the Kansas delegate to Congress.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_246">246</span></p> - -<div class="sidenote">LINCOLN ON LA BARGE’S BOAT.</div> - -<p>It was on the occasion of one of these visits to the -Missouri River that Captain La Barge met Mr. Lincoln. -It is understood that Mr. Lincoln made his -journey to Council Bluffs by boat, either from St. -Louis or St. Joseph, and returned home across the -State; and that on his Kansas visit he went back by -boat from Leavenworth to St. Joseph in December. -On one of these trips he traveled on Captain La -Barge’s boat. The Captain retained with great distinctness -his impressions of the appearance and -personal peculiarities of the distinguished passenger. -The tall and relatively slender build of Mr. -Lincoln, his high hat, sallow complexion, and not -very elegant costume, gave him a somewhat comical -appearance at first sight. He seemed to La Barge -rather quick in his movements, and apparently a good -walker. The captain noticed that he was scarcely -ever alone, there being always someone listening to -him. Although he made no speeches on his way up, -he had an audience all the time, and his agreeable -address, and interesting way of putting things, made -him a constant center of attraction.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">LINCOLN’S ELECTION.</div> - -<p>La Barge remembered that he frequently came into -the pilot-house, and asked many questions, particularly -about the fur trade and the Indians. He expressed -his desire to make a visit to the upper country. Before -he left the boat he asked La Barge if he would<span class="pagenum" id="Page_247">247</span> -not procure for him a fine buffalo robe and send it to -him, giving him to understand that he should of -course expect to pay him well for all expense he -might be put to. La Barge promised to do so. Lincoln -was not at this time much talked of for the -Presidency, and in Missouri was unpopular on account -of his attitude toward slavery.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<div class="sidenote">THE NEGROES FREED.</div> - -<p>Captain La Barge did not take his boat down the -river in the fall of 1859, because the ice cut him off. -She was laid up a little below Atchison. He himself -went to St. Louis, and in February returned with his -family. In the spring of 1860, when the ice was about -to break up, the citizens of Atchison offered to furnish -fuel for the boat if La Barge would attempt to cut -through the ice to St. Joseph. He undertook it, running -his boat up on the ice until her weight broke it -in, and in that way succeeded in getting through. The -captain remained in the service of the railroad all -summer, running to Kansas City and Omaha and -intermediate points. In the fall he started for St. -Louis, but was caught by the ice at Liberty, Mo., and -compelled to lay up his boat there. It was at this -point that he first heard of Lincoln’s election. When -John Baxter, keeper of Liberty Landing, came on -board with the news, La Barge said to him: “Up go -all your niggers.” “Oh, you don’t think that’ll make<span class="pagenum" id="Page_248">248</span> -any difference, do you?” “Up go all your niggers,” -replied La Barge; “they will all be set free.” “And -they were all set free,” remarked the captain in narrating -this dialogue, “and mine with the rest, for I -had some.”</p> - -<div class="chapter"><div class="footnotes"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="FOOTNOTES">FOOTNOTES</h2> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="fnanchor">1</a> There is in the possession of the La Barge family in St. -Louis a large pocketbook, still in a state of excellent preservation, -which was brought from Canada by Captain La Barge’s -father. In this book is a slip of paper, worn and mutilated with -age, which contains the record of the elder La Barge’s birth.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="fnanchor">2</a> “I can safely recommend him to any traveler, as the best person -in his line I have ever met—intelligent, sober, obliging, -and never afraid to encounter any difficulty that may occur.”—<cite>Three -Years in North America</cite>, by James Stuart, who traveled -in the United States, 1828–30, and employed La Barge to convey -him on his journeys in the vicinity of St. Louis and as far -east as Vincennes, Ind. He was very anxious to adopt the -young child, Joseph La Barge, and take him to England and -educate him, but the parents would not consent.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="fnanchor">3</a> For a history of this exciting affair see “The American Fur -Trade of the Far West,” p. 267.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="fnanchor">4</a> The expeditions of General W. H. Ashley to the Rocky -Mountains in quest of beaver fur were very celebrated in those -days. They occurred in the years 1822–26.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="fnanchor">5</a> The data for the sketch here given of the ancestry of the La -Barge family are mainly derived from letters by Dr. Philemon -Laberge, Sheriff of the district of Beauharnois, Quebec, to -Captain La Barge. Dr. Laberge had chanced to come across a -copy of the St. Louis <i>Republic</i> of January 9, 1898, in which there -were a biographical sketch and photograph of Captain La Barge. -Knowing that there was but one family of the name in America, -he set about to trace the relationship, and presently sent to Captain -La Barge a complete genealogical table of the family from -Robert Laberge down.</p> - -<p>The data relating to the maternal line are gleaned from -Scharff’s “History of St. Louis.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="fnanchor">6</a> The following tradition concerning the Lafayette visit is -taken from the obituary sketch of Captain La Barge in one of -the St. Louis papers:</p> - -<p>“When General Lafayette visited the city in 1825 the populace -turned out to greet him. He was a French nobleman and an -American patriot—two distinctions that entitled him to the -greatest courtesy. The children of the town had gathered to -welcome his coming. When he was driven away hundreds paid -homage by following the route of his carriage. To follow was -not enough for Joe La Barge. He broke from the crowd and -ran to the carriage in which Lafayette rode. Jumping upon the -rear axle, he remained there a considerable time. The crowd -was horrified, but Lafayette was too great a man to be thus -wounded. Gently stroking the lad on the head, he asked his -name. The boy responded: ‘La Barge.’ ‘Ah,’ said the General, -‘then we are both Frenchmen, and the only difference is in the -ending of our names.’”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7" class="fnanchor">7</a> The term <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">engagé</i> was applied to the common hands who did -the ordinary work of the fur trade. The term <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">bourgeois</i> was -used to designate the person in charge of a trading post.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8" class="fnanchor">8</a> “Captain Pratt of the <i>Assiniboine</i> reports that he met the -<i>Yellowstone</i> at the mouth of the Kansas River, having lost her -best pilot from the cholera, and four or five men in the space of -twenty-four hours. I fear that, in this situation, she will not be -able to continue her voyage.”—<cite>Pierre Chouteau, Jr., to John -Jacob Astor, July 12, 1833.</cite></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9" class="fnanchor">9</a> See account of American and Rocky Mountain Fur Companies, -in “American Fur Trade of the Far West.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10" class="fnanchor">10</a> This man had a long and honorable career in the West. As -late as 1859–60 he was in the service of the government as interpreter -on the expedition of Captain W. F. Reynolds, Corps of -Engineers, U. S. A.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_11" href="#FNanchor_11" class="fnanchor">11</a> A curious illustration of the great changes which have taken -place along the Missouri Valley occurred a few years ago. In -1896 a farmer was digging a well near the mouth of Grand River, -Mo., several miles from the present channel of the Missouri. A -Bible was found in the excavation, and on its cover was the -name <i>Naomi</i>. The book was sent to Captain La Barge to see if -he could suggest any explanation of its presence where it was -found. The Captain recalled perfectly the fact that the steamer -<i>Naomi</i> was wrecked at that precise spot fifty-six years before. -In those days the missionaries always left Bibles on board the -various boats, attached by chains to the tables or other parts of -the cabin, and lettered with the names of the boats to which -they belonged.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_12" href="#FNanchor_12" class="fnanchor">12</a> The first <i>Yellowstone</i>, built in the winter of 1830–31, is a -good example of the original river boat. It was 130 feet long, -19 feet beam, 6 feet hold: beautiful model; side wheels; single -engine; flywheel; cabin aft of shaft; ladies’ cabin in stern hold; -boiler decks open; no hurricane roof; pilot-house elevated; two -smokestacks; one rudder; 6-foot wheel bucket; 18-foot wheel; -stages aft; draft, light, 4½ feet; loaded to 75 tons, 5½ feet.</p> - -<p>In the river boats the main or forecastle deck was the first -above the water, and the one covering the hold; the boiler deck -was the second one, just over the boilers, covered by the hurricane -roof; the hurricane deck was the third deck. Upon this -were situated the texas and the pilot-house.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_13" href="#FNanchor_13" class="fnanchor">13</a> A noted steamboat that ran on the lower river during a portion -of the fifties was the <i>Felix X. Aubrey</i>. Between the -smokestacks was the figure of a man riding at full speed on -horseback. The reference was to a horseback ride, very celebrated -in its day, from Santa Fe to Westport, where Kansas -City now stands. In the year 1853 Felix X. Aubrey made this -ride in five days and thirteen hours. The distance was 775 -miles.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_14" href="#FNanchor_14" class="fnanchor">14</a> “Of all the variable things in creation the most uncertain -are the action of a jury, the state of woman’s mind, and the condition -of the Missouri River.”—<cite>Sioux City Register</cite>, March 28, -1868.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_15" href="#FNanchor_15" class="fnanchor">15</a> As an example of primitive lighthouse or fog-signal work, -the story is told of a steamboat captain who always made a certain -crossing on the lower river, if at night, by the aid of the -bark of a dog belonging to a farmhouse directly in line with the -course of the boat. The dog came out on the bank whenever -boats were approaching, and saluted them vigorously until -they had passed. The captain ran by this bark with the most -implicit confidence. But unhappily the dog <em>did</em> change his -position—once—and the captain ran by its bark no more, for the -next morning his own bark was a hopeless wreck upon a neighboring -sandbar.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_16" href="#FNanchor_16" class="fnanchor">16</a> About 1856 this matter was made the subject of military investigation -under General Harney.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_17" href="#FNanchor_17" class="fnanchor">17</a> The practicability of commercial steamboating on the Missouri -River had begun to be recognized about 1829. In the summer -of that year the <i>W. D. Duncan</i> commenced a regular -packet trade to Fort Leavenworth.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_18" href="#FNanchor_18" class="fnanchor">18</a> Kenneth McKenzie, the ablest trader the American Fur -Company produced, was at this time in charge of Fort Union, -at the mouth of the Yellowstone, and of all the company’s operations -in the tributary country along the upper rivers.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_19" href="#FNanchor_19" class="fnanchor">19</a> This affords a glimpse at the crafty and oppressive methods -of the company, which bore with intolerable hardship upon its -employees. To pay wages in merchandise at an advance of -three or four hundred per cent. upon their cost was a great saving -to the company, but an unqualified fraud upon its servants.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_20" href="#FNanchor_20" class="fnanchor">20</a> Fort McKenzie was six miles above the mouth of the -Marias River; Fort Union was three miles above the mouth of -the Yellowstone: and Fort Clark was about fifty-six miles above -the modern Bismarck, N. D.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_21" href="#FNanchor_21" class="fnanchor">21</a> Log of steamboat <i>Omega</i>, May 10, 1843: “Nous venons très -bien jusqu’aux cotes à Hart où, à sept heures, nous sommes sommés -par un officier de dragoons de mettre à terre. Je reçois une -note polie du Capitaine Burgwin m’informant que son devoir -l’oblige de faire visiter le bâteau. Aussitôt nous nous mettons à -l’ouvrage, et pendant ce temps M. Audubon va faire une visite -au Capitaine. Ils reviennent ensemble deux heures après. Je -force en quelque sorte l’officier à faire un recherche aussi stricte -que possible, mais à la condition qu’il en sera de même avec les -autres traiteurs.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_22" href="#FNanchor_22" class="fnanchor">22</a> The above description of this inspection is from “The -American Fur Trade of the Far West,” by the present author.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_23" href="#FNanchor_23" class="fnanchor">23</a> Captain Sire, in the logbook of the <i>Nimrod</i>, Friday, May -10, 1844, says: “Il s’est passé encore longtemps avant que -Messieurs les agents faisaient leur visite. Tout se trouvait satisfaisante. -J’ai décidé de ne partir que demain matin, et pour -cause.—May 11. Nous nous mettons en route avant le jour.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_24" href="#FNanchor_24" class="fnanchor">24</a> It appears that the company’s bond was to have been put in -suit; but the United States Attorney would not bring the case -to trial unless he could get La Barge as a witness. When La -Barge got back to St. Louis Sarpy came on board and told him -to make himself scarce immediately. The Captain hastened to -St. Charles and took service on the <i>Iatan</i>, where he remained -until the storm had blown over. The case was finally compromised -through the influence of Thomas H. Benton.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_25" href="#FNanchor_25" class="fnanchor">25</a> While detained at the Omaha villages the crew had cut and -piled about fifty cords of wood.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_26" href="#FNanchor_26" class="fnanchor">26</a> The original journal is silent about this affair, but the facts -were suppressed, says Captain La Barge, by clerk Finch, of the -American Fur Company, in order not to expose the questionable -conduct of Campbell and Matlock in regard to the annuities. -La Barge himself wrote the following marginal note opposite the -entry for June 9: “The Indians fired on the boat while we were -lying there and killed Charles Smith, deckhand.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_27" href="#FNanchor_27" class="fnanchor">27</a> <i>The Republican</i>, March 19, 1849, in an editorial notice of the -event, thus referred to Captain La Barge: “There is no Captain -on the Western waters more highly esteemed than Captain La -Barge. He is a St. Louisan born, and has been familiar with -the river from early life.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_28" href="#FNanchor_28" class="fnanchor">28</a> This island took its name from the fact that it was a famous -dueling ground. Its history in this connection dates from the -past century, but its fame rests upon a few celebrated contests, -among which the following may be noted: Thomas H. Benton -and Charles Lucas fought here twice, on August 12 and September -27, 1817. In the last encounter Benton killed his antagonist. -Joshua Barton, brother of the first U. S. Senator from -Missouri, and Thomas C. Rector fought here June 30, 1823, and -Barton was killed. The most celebrated duel of all took place -August 27, 1831, between Major Thomas Biddle, Paymaster -U. S. A., and Congressman Spencer Pettis of St. Louis. Both -principals were killed. Another duel occurred in which one of -the principals, B. Gratz Brown, editor of the <i>Democrat</i>, received -a wound in the knee. When dueling fell into disuse the island -became a noted resort for prize-fighters. Overlooking the island -stood a large cottonwood tree, near which these duels were -fought. It was certainly more than two hundred years old, and -it fell from old age, July 18, 1897.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_29" href="#FNanchor_29" class="fnanchor">29</a> The City of St. Louis passed an ordinance at this time that -vessels should be moored with iron cables, and it placed permanent -rings in the levee for that purpose, so that boats could not -be cut loose in case of fire.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_30" href="#FNanchor_30" class="fnanchor">30</a> The Aricara language is related to that of the Pawnees, -which La Barge, as we have seen, had learned in his first years -in the Indian country.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_31" href="#FNanchor_31" class="fnanchor">31</a> La Barge Avenue, St. Louis, extending from Union Avenue -west to the city limits, was in part given by Captain La Barge -and recorded in his name. A later generation, with an amazing -indifference to the work of one of the most noted characters in -the history of the city, has changed the name to “Maple -Avenue.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_32" href="#FNanchor_32" class="fnanchor">32</a> One of the medical officers accompanying the troops, and -possibly the surgeon in this case, was Dr. George L. Miller of -Omaha, Neb., who had early established himself in the West to -seek his fortune there, and afterward became one of Nebraska’s -most eminent citizens and well known throughout the country. -He had gone up with the troops for temporary service because -they had no regular surgeon. Dr. Miller returned to Omaha on -the <i>St. Mary</i>, and many years later prepared an account of his -personal experiences on the trip. His reference to Captain La -Barge is interesting in this connection. He described him as -“a short, stout, alert, and energetic man, with the eye of an -eagle, which had been trained by twenty years’ service as a -student of the mysterious and muddy waters of the Missouri.” -A few years before these reminiscences were written by Dr. -Miller, Captain La Barge’s brother John died, and Dr. Miller had -mistakenly understood it to be his old river friend of 1855. The -event called forth this further reference to the Captain: “The -death of Joe La Barge, the brown-faced and black-eyed pilot, -two or three years ago, caused a pang of regret in the hearts of -tens of thousands who dwell along the valley of the great -river, and who knew and admired him both in character and -calling.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_33" href="#FNanchor_33" class="fnanchor">33</a> For a vivid picture of those early steamboat days, see -<cite>Everybody’s Magazine</cite>, October, 1892.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_34" href="#FNanchor_34" class="fnanchor">34</a> “Captain John La Barge, one of the oldest and best steam -boat men on the river, takes command of the <i>Chippewa</i>, and if -the trip to Fort Benton can be made, he will make it!”—<cite>Sioux -City Eagle</cite>, July 23, 1859.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_35" href="#FNanchor_35" class="fnanchor">35</a> For a complete record of this event, see letter from Alfred -Vaughn, Indian Agent for the Blackfeet—Report Commissioner -of Indian Affairs for 1859.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_36" href="#FNanchor_36" class="fnanchor">36</a> The <i>Tom Stevens</i> is said to have gone to the mouth of Portage -creek, within five miles of the Great Falls the same year, -and one authority states that the <i>Gallatin</i>, either in 1866 or -1867, went nearer to the Falls than any other boat before or -since. The exact point is not stated.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_37" href="#FNanchor_37" class="fnanchor">37</a> The Blackfeet nation, as understood by the early traders -and trappers, comprised four bands—the Piegans, the Bloods, -the Blackfeet, and the Grosventres of the Prairies. Only the -first three were really Blackfeet. The tribal affinity of the Grosventres -was with the Arapahoes. In some way these two tribes -had become widely separated, the Arapahoes going far to the -south, and the Grosventres to the country of the Blackfeet. -So far did the Grosventres adopt the language and customs of -the Blackfeet that they were ordinarily considered in early times -as a part of that tribe and were commonly referred to as Blackfeet. -They were relentlessly hostile to the whites during the -first twenty-five years after Lewis and Clark passed through -their country. Next to them in point of hostility came the Blood -Indians. The Piegans were the most favorably disposed of any -of the Blackfeet tribes and were also the best beaver hunters, -and it was with this band that trade relations were first opened.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_38" href="#FNanchor_38" class="fnanchor">38</a> There has been a good deal of confusion about this date, -and it cannot yet be considered as definitely settled. The -weight of authority is as given above. Chardon had other difficulties -with the Indians which may have been confused with -this affair. Thus the journal of one of the inmates of the Blackfoot -post (whether Fort McKenzie or Fort Chardon is uncertain) -says: “February 19, 1844. Fight with the north Blackfeet, in -which we killed six and wounded several others; took two children -prisoners. The fruits of our victory were four scalps, -twenty-two horses, 350 robes, and guns, bows, and arrows, etc.” -This answers very closely to the description of the “Blackfoot -Massacre” at Fort McKenzie. If it is the same, the founding of -Fort Chardon was in 1844 instead of 1843.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_39" href="#FNanchor_39" class="fnanchor">39</a> In 1864 Malcolm Clark shot and instantly killed Owen McKenzie, -son of Kenneth McKenzie. The affair took place on the -<i>Nellie Rogers</i>, American Fur Company boat, near the mouth of -Milk River. McKenzie and Clark had some standing cause of -dispute between them, and Clark shot his opponent while the -latter was in a state of intoxication. The family of Clark have -tried to screen his name from any blame in this affair, and have -claimed that the deed was done in self-defense. On the river it -was everywhere considered at the time a cold-blooded murder.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_40" href="#FNanchor_40" class="fnanchor">40</a> By W. W. DeLacy, a civil engineer of high reputation, and -closely identified with the early history of Montana.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_41" href="#FNanchor_41" class="fnanchor">41</a> June 11, 1866, there were seven steamboats at one time at -the levee of Fort Benton.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_42" href="#FNanchor_42" class="fnanchor">42</a> In this sketch of Fort Benton I have drawn somewhat, for -the period after 1843, from the notes of Lieutenant James H. -Bradley, as published in vol. iii. Proceedings Mont. Hist. Soc. -The notes were taken by dictation from Alexander Culbertson. -Unfortunately, as in most cases of personal narrative, this one -abounds in errors, and is controlled throughout by the desire of -the narrator to magnify his own importance in the events he -describes. The notes possess, however, great intrinsic value, -and are an important contribution to the history of the West. -Their preservation is due to the zealous forethought of an army -officer who recognized the importance of collecting original data -on the history of the West before its principal actors should have -passed away. He did not live to prepare these notes for publication -himself. They found their way to the Montana Historical -Society, which, with the intelligent zeal that has always characterized -that body, has given them to the public in a well-gotten-up -volume of the society’s proceedings.</p> - -<p>Lieutenant James H. Bradley was born in Sandusky, O., May -25, 1844; enlisted as a private in the 14th Ohio Volunteers, April, -1861; re-enlisted in the 45th Ohio Volunteers, June, 1862; mustered -out as Sergeant, July, 1865; appointed Second Lieutenant -18th U. S. Infantry, February 23, 1866; promoted to First Lieutenant, -July 9, 1866, transferred to 7th Infantry, November 28, -1871; killed in the Battle of the Big Hole by the Nez Percé -Indians, August 9, 1877.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_43" href="#FNanchor_43" class="fnanchor">43</a> “Hon. Abe Lincoln, and the Secretary of State for Illinois, -Hon. O. M. Hatch, arrived in our city last evening, and are -stopping at the Pacific House. The distinguished ‘sucker’ has -yielded to the earnest importunities of our citizens,—without -distinction of party,—and will speak upon the political issues of -the day, at Concert Hall, this evening. The celebrity of the -speaker will most certainly insure him a full house. Go and -hear ‘Old Abe.’”—<cite>From the Council Bluffs “Weekly Nonpareil,” -Saturday Morning, August 13, 1859.</cite></p> - -<p>The reports upon this speech in the Republican and Democratic -papers of the town were as follows:</p> - -<p>From the <cite>Nonpareil</cite>, August 20, 1859:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p class="center larger">“ABE LINCOLN.</p> - -<p>“This distinguished gentleman addressed a very large audience -of ladies and gentlemen at Concert Hall in this city, Saturday -evening. The clear and lucid manner in which he set -forth the true principles of the Republican party—the dexterity -with which he applied the political scalpel to the Democratic -carcass—beggars all description at our hands. Suffice it, that -the speaker fully and fairly sustained the great reputation he -acquired in the memorable Illinois campaign as a man of great -intellectual power—a close and sound reasoner.”</p></div> - -<p>From the <cite>Weekly Bugle</cite>, August 17, 1859:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p class="center larger">“ABE LINCOLN ON THE SLOPE.</p> - -<p>“The people of this city were edified last Saturday evening -by a speech from Honorable Abe Lincoln. He apologized very -handsomely for appearing before an Iowa audience during a -campaign in which he was not interested. He then, with many -excuses and a lengthy explanation, as if conscious of the nauseous -nature of the black Republican nostrum, announced his -intention to speak about the ‘eternal negro,’ to use his own language, -and entered into a lengthy and ingenious analysis of -the nigger question, impressing upon his hearers that it was the -only question to be agitated until finally settled. He carefully -avoided going directly to the extreme ground occupied by him -in his canvass against Douglas, yet the doctrines which he -preached, carried out to their legitimate results, amount to precisely -the same thing. He was decidedly opposed to any fusion -or coalition of the Republican party with the opposition of the -South, and clearly proved the correctness of his ground, in -point of policy. They must retain their sectional organization -and sectional character, and continue to wage their sectional -warfare by slavery agitation; but if the opposition South would -accede to their view and adopt their doctrines, he was willing -to run for President in 1860, a Southern man with Northern -principles, or in other words, with abolition proclivities. His -speech was of the character of an exhortation to the Republican -party, but was in reality as good a speech as could have been -made for the interest of the Democracy. He was listened to -with much attention, for his Waterloo defeat by Douglas has -magnified him into quite a lion here.”</p></div> -</div> -</div></div> - -<hr /> - -<div class="chapter"><div class="transnote"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Transcribers_Notes">Transcriber’s Notes</h2> - -<p>Old English lettering on the pages preceding the Table of -Contents is represented here in <b>boldface</b>.</p> - -<p>Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made -consistent when a predominant preference was found -in the original book; otherwise they were not changed.</p> - -<p>Simple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced -quotation marks were remedied when the change was -obvious, and otherwise left unbalanced.</p> - -<p>Illustrations in this eBook have been positioned -between paragraphs and outside quotations. In versions -of this eBook that support hyperlinks, the page -references in the List of Illustrations lead to the -corresponding illustrations.</p> - -<p>Running page headers are shown here as -Sidenotes, usually positioned just above the -paragraph they summarize. When such -Sidenotes summarize footnotes, they are -positioned above the paragraphs that -referenced those footnotes.</p> - -<p>This is Volume I of a two-volume set. The Index for both volumes is -at the end of Volume II, and that volume also is available at -Project Gutenberg.</p> - -<p><a href="#Page_196">Page 196</a>: “drouth” (drought) was printed that way, and in use in the -1800s.</p> - -<p><a href="#Page_206">Page 206</a>: “5 1-2 o’clock” was printed that way.</p> -</div></div> - -<div style='display:block;margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF EARLY STEAMBOAT NAVIGATION ON THE MISSOURI RIVER, VOLUME I (OF 2) ***</div> -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0;'>This file should be named 64136-h.htm or 64136-h.zip</div> -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0;'>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in https://www.gutenberg.org/6/4/1/3/64136/</div> -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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