USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, Volume I > Part 37
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carry thirty to forty tons of freight. The pirogue was poled in shallow water. It was towed by a long line like a canal boat. Three months was the time required to make the trip from New Orleans to St. Louis. The freight rate on most arti- cles was a cent a pound. A short stub mast and a square sail helped when the wind favored.
While steamboating was in the experimental period Missourians navigated their rivers with longhorns, pirogues and keelboats. Cottonwood logs, trimmed and lashed together and floored, made flats that carried great quantities of produce to market. These longhorns were built for one trip. They were not designed to be brought back up stream.
The keelboat was of lighter draft, narrower and of greater speed than the pirogue. Edwin Draper, who moved to Missouri in 1815, told of the keelboat which did duty as a ferryboat. It was "without upper deck or cabin, and was propelled by four oars by hand. The wagons, then the only means of land travel, were run by hand on to the boat, across which were placed broad planks transversely, resting on the gunwales of the boat. while the tongue of the wagon projected beyond the side of the boat, and as the latter swayed gracefully to the motion of the waves the tongue-chains would dip politely into the water, as if acknowledging the power of the mighty monarch they were daring to stride. The horses, wagon, and saddle, family, slaves, and dogs were stowed in the bottom of the boat between the wagons, and thus we triumphantly entered Mis- souri. Our crossing, with many other families, was detained several days by high winds and waves preventing the safe crossing of the boat."
Nat-wye-thiums and Bull Boats.
A marvelous marine conception was the nat-wye-thium. There was a fleet of the nat-wye-thiums. This wonderful craft was designed to travel on both land and water. It had wheels. The body was shaped partly like a canoe, partly like a gondola. The inventor was Captain Nathaniel Wyeth Jarvis, a Harvard man. As early as 1830 there were Boston people who felt competent to take care of the rest of the world. Headed by Hall J. Kelly, they organized the "American Society for Encouraging the Settlement of. Oregon Territory," thereby in- tending to forestall their British brethren across the water. Two Wyeths were among the earliest converts to the propaganda. They got up a company and rolled into Missouri with their fleet of boats on wheels. Each man had a bayo- net and a small ax in the belt of his coarse woolen suit. The boat wagons were loaded with axes, glass beads, looking glasses and other notions to be exchanged for immense quantities of furs. The plan was to exchange the Yankee notions for enough furs to load a ship when they reached Oregon and then sail home, by the ocean route. The Missourians were kind to the Harvard tenderfeet, explained the fur trade to them and permitted those who wished to go on to accompany one of the regular fur trading expeditions. The nat-wye-thiums were discarded before the party left Missouri. John B. Wyeth, brother of Nat., was one who turned back. He wrote a journal in which he told of the mistakes made and said some of the members, the flower of Boston and Cambridge, were so hard up they had to work their way back by helping to "wood up" to pay for steamboat deck passage. His journal was published as a warning to other
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Harvard men. The vessel which was to have loaded with furs was ship- wrecked.
In his journal John B. Wyeth told about a craft which was as astonishing to the Massachusetts party as the nat-wye-thium was to the Missourians. This was the bull boat built to carry loads of pelts down the Missouri to St. Louis at the time when buffalo and deerskins by the ten thousands were counted in the season's catch of the fur traders. Wyeth said :
"They first cut a number of willows, which grow everywhere near the banks of all the rivers we had traveled by from St. Louis, of about an inch and a half diameter at the butt end, and fixed them on the ground at proper distances from each other; and as they approached nearer one end they brought them nearer together, so as to form something like the bow. The ends of the whole were brought and bound firmly together, like the ribs of a great basket. And then they took other twigs of willow and wove them into those stuck in the ground, so as to make a sort of firm, huge basket of twelve or fourteen feet long. After this was completed, they sewed together a number of Buffalo skins, and with them covered the whole. After the different parts had been trimmed off smooth, a slow fire was made under the bull boat, taking care to dry the skins moderately, and as they gradually dried and acquired a due degree of warmth, they rubbed buffalo tallow all over the out- side, so as to allow it to enter into all the seams of the boat, now no longer a willow basket. As the melted tallow ran down into every seam, hole and crevice, it cooled into a firm body, capable of resisting the water, and bearing a considerable blow without damaging it. Then the willow-ribbed, buffalo-skin, tallowed vehicle was carefully pulled up from the ground, and behold a boat capable of transporting man, horse and goods over a pretty strong current. At the sight of it we Yankees all burst out into a loud laugh, whether from surprise or pleasure, I know not. It certainly was not from ridicule; for we all acknowl- edged the contrivance would have done credit to old New England."
Up the Missouri by Pirogue.
What navigation on the Missouri meant during the pioneer period Henry M. Brackenridge described in his Journal. He accompanied a fur trading expe- dition :
"We set off from the village of St. Charles on Tuesday, the 2nd of April. 1811, with delightful weather. The flood of March, which immediately succeeds the breaking up of the ice, had begun to subside and yet the water was still high. Our barge was the best that ever ascended this river and was manned by twenty stout oarsmen. Mr. Lisa, who had been a sea captain, took much pains in rigging his boat with a good inast and main and top sail, these being great helps in the navigation of this river. Our equipage is chiefly composed of young men, though several have already made a voyage to the upper Missouri, of which they are exceedingly proud, and on that account claim a kind of precedence over the rest of the crew. We are in all twenty-five men, and completely prepared for defense. Besides a swivel on the bow of the boat, which, in case of attack, would make a formidable appearance, we have, also, two brass blunderbusses in the cabin, one over my berth and the other over that of Mr. Lisa. These precautions were abso- lutely necessary from the hostility of the Sioux bands, who, of late, had committed several murders and robberies on the whites and manifested such a disposition that it was believed to be impossible for us to pass through their country. The greater part of the merchan- dise, which consisted of strouding, blankets, lead, tobacco, knives, guns, heads, etc., was concealed in a false cabin, ingeniously contrived for the purpose; in this way presenting as little as possible to tempt the savages. But we hope that as this was not the season for wandering tribes to come on the river, the autumn being the usual time, we might pass by unnoticed. We came in sight of Fort Osage, at the distance of three miles off the bluff and a long stretch of river before us. We had now come three hundred miles upon our
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voyage. And for the last hundred had seen no settlement or met anyone, except a few traders or hunters who passed us in canoes. With the exception of a few spots, where the ravages of fire had destroyed the woods, we passed through a continued forest pre- senting the most dreary aspect. Our approach once more to the haunts of civilization, to a fort where we should meet with friends, and perhaps find a temporary resting place,. inspired us with cheerfulness. The song was raised with more than usual glee; the can of whiskey was sent around and the air was rent with shouts of encouragement."
Brackenridge described Fort Osage as handsomely situated, "about one hun- dred feet above the level of the river, which makes an elbow at the place, giv- ing an extensive view up and down the river. Its form is triangular, its size but small, not calculated for more than a company of men. A group of build- ings is formed by the factory and settler's house. The place is called 'Fire Prairie.' It is something better than three hundred miles from the mouth of the river."
"We have now passed the last settlement of whites," Brackenridge con- tinued in his journal, "and probably will not revisit them for several months. This reflection seemed to have taken possession of the minds of all. Our men were kept from thinking too deeply by their songs and the splashing of oars, which kept time with them. Lisa, himself, seized the helm and gave the song, and, at the close of every stanza, made the woods ring with his shouts of encour- agement. The whole was intermixed with short and pithy addresses to their fears, their hopes or their ambition."
Brackenridge said of the creole boatmen: "I believe an American could not be brought to support with patience the fatiguing labors and submission which these men endure. At this season when the water is exceedingly cold, they leap in without a moment's hesitation. Their food consists of lye corn hominy for breakfast, a slice of fat pork and biscuit for dinner, and a pot of mush with a pound of tallow in it for supper."
The Voyageurs.
In his "Scenes and Adventures in the Army," Philip St. George Cooke de- scribed the voyageurs of the Missouri :
"These men are generally French Creoles and form a small class as distinct in char- acter from any other as is the sailor from his fellow bipeds who dwell on shore. But if possible, he somewhat resembles the said sailor,-isolated on the prairie desert, as the other on the sea. He has a patient and submissive obedience, with a seeming utter care- lessness of privations, such as would drive a seaman to mutiny. With the same reckless abandon to some transient and coarse enjoyments, he is a hardy and light-hearted child of nature in her wildest simplicity; and in these, her solitudes, he receives a stepmother's care, and battles with a stout heart against her most wintry moods. He resembles the Indian, too, and is generally of kindred blood; he possesses his perseverance, his instinctive sagacity, and his superstition. A very Gascon, he has the French cheerful facility of accommodation to his fated exigencies, and lightens all by an invincible and contagious mirth. He is handsome, athletic, active; dresses chiefly in buckskin; wears a sash and knife; lives precariously, generally on flesh alone; is happy when his pipe is lit; and when he cannot smoke sings a song. He is armed and vigilant while at his severest labors. He joyously spends his ten dollars a month on alcohol, tobacco, coffee, and sugar, and in gaudy presents to some half-breed belle, paying the most incredible prices for these extravagant luxuries."
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CAPTAIN DANIEL G. TAYLOR War mayor of St. Louis
A SCENE ON THE ST. LOUIS LEVEE, 1850
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A Ballad of the Missouri.
A favorite ballad with the fur traders' crews, as they plied the oars of their pirogues on the Missouri, before the steamboat era, ran, according to Bradbury's translation, in this way :
I
Behind our house there is a pond, Fal lal de ra. There came three ducks to swim thereon ; All along the river clear, Lightly my shepherdess dear, Lightly, fal de ra.
II
There came three ducks to swim thereon, Fal lal de ra. The prince to chase them he did run, All along the river clear, Lightly my shepherdess dear, Lightly, fal de ra.
III
The prince to chase them he did run, Fal lal de ra. And he had his great silver gun, All along the river clear, Lightly my shepherdess dear, Lightly, fal de ra.
A Steamboat Monopoly Turned Down.
In 1810, Robert Fulton, of steamboat fame, addressed a memorial "To the Honorable Legislature of Upper Louisiana." Associated' with Fulton in the proposition was Robert R. Livingston. According to the memorial both Fulton and Livingston were "native citizens of the United States and residing in the State of New York." The memorial set forth that New York, to encourage the establishment of steamboats on the waters of that state, had granted to them exclusive right to navigate boats, impelled by force of steam, for twenty years for the first boat and five years for each succeeding boat, the whole term not to exceed thirty years. The petitioners explained that they had already con- structed two boats, one of which they called the North River steamboat and the other the Car of Neptune. The North River steamboat, they said, had been running voyages of 160 miles between New York and Albany since July, 1807. The car of Neptune had been making voyages between New York and Albany since September, 1809.
The petitioners stated that their associate, Mr. Roosevelt, had made an exam- ination of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers in the summer of 1809, examining the depths and velocities of the two rivers. He had reported such conditions as led Mr. Fulton and Mr. Livingston to conclude these rivers might be navi- gated by steamboats. The petitioners were willing to make the venture provided they could secure what they deemed proper encouragement in the way of
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exclusive privilege. The memorial concluded with the following proposition to the legislative body of Upper Louisiana, of which St. Louis was the seat of government :
"For these reasons, and to encourage the immediate establishment of steamboats on the waters of your state, and particularly on the Ohio and Mississippi, your petitioners pray that, after the example of the State of New York, you will grant them the exclusive right to navigate the waters of your state or territory, with boats moved by steam or fire, on the following conditions : -
"First, that three years from the time of passing the law your petitioners will build a boat on the Ohio or Mississippi river, to move by the force of steam, which shall be capable of carrying seventy tons of merchandise, produce or material, and move at the rate of at least three and one-half miles an hour in still water-if they do not comply with these conditions the law shall be null and void.
"Second, that in all cases they will not charge more than three-fourths of the sum which is usually paid for carrying merchandise or materials of any kind on said rivers to any given or equal distance to which the boats now transport them.
"Third, that they will perform the voyage in less than three-fourths of the time which is now usually required by the mercantile boats to navigate said rivers to any given point where steamboats can go with safety.
"Fourth, that on establishing the first boat, the governor will appoint a committee of three persons to report on the performance of the boat; and if they find that your petitioners have complied with the terms of the contract, the law to be confirmed in favor of said Livingston and Fulton."
The petition as the memorandum on the back of it indicates, was "presented October 10, 1810." The disposition is indicated by the following endorsement : "Ordered to lie on the table October 23, 1810. Taken into consideration and postponed until next session." The legislature sitting at St. Louis did not accept the proposition of Robert Fulton.
The First Steamboat.
Seven years elapsed before the first steamboat reached St. Louis. That was the Zebulon M. Pike. It was a primitive affair. The hull was built like a barge. The power was a low pressure engine, with a walking beam. The wheels had no wheel houses. The boat had but one smokestack. Where the current was rapid the crew used poles to help out the steam power. The Pike ran only by daylight. The trip from Louisville to St. Louis and return required four weeks. One account of it gives the time as six weeks. The General Pike was such an object of curiosity that Captain Jacob Reed charged the St. Louisans who wished to come on board a dollar apiece. The admission was not prohibitive. Several times the boat became so crowded that the captain stopped receiving and waited for those on the deck to go ashore. The mention of the coming and going of the Pike was made very briefly by the Missouri Gazette.
The year after the coming of the Pike, some Ohio river men built a steam- boat they called the St. Louis and sent her around to that port. Captain Hewes invited a number of leading citizens to take a ride up to the mouth of Missouri. The Gazette in its next issue reported that "the company on board was large and genteel and the entertainment very elegant." One thing that affected the
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early interest of St. Louis in steamboating was the general doubt about steam navigation of the Missouri. The Pike had made three and three-quarter miles against the Ohio current. If that was the best the steam engine afloat could do, the motive power would not succeed on the Missouri.
About the first of May, 1819, the Maid of Orleans came into port at St. Louis. She had steamed from Philadelphia to New Orleans and then up the Mississippi to St. Louis. That same month the Independence left St. Louis and went up the Mississippi and the Missouri as far as Franklin, near Boonville. She was thirteen days on the way but she did it and unloaded her cargo of flour, whiskey, sugar, iron castings. Then indeed the town of Laclede sat up and marveled. Colonel Charless acknowledged his skepticism and glorified the new era of steam navigation. He published in the Gazette this congratulation: "In 1817, less than two years ago, the first steamboat arrived at St. Louis. We hailed , it as the day of small things, but the glorious consummation of all our wishes is daily arriving. Who would or could have dared to conjecture that in 1819 we would have witnessed the arrival of a steamboat from Philadelphia or New York? Yet such is the fact. The Mississippi has become familiar to this great American invention and another new avenue is open."
A month later when the Independence had returned from the first naviga- tion of the Missouri by steam the Gazette said: "This trip forms a proud event in the history of Missouri. The Missouri has hitherto resisted almost effectually all attempts at navigation. She has opposed every obstacle she could to the tide of immigration which was rolling up her banks and dispossessing her dear red children, but her white children, although children by adoption, have become so numerous and are increasing so rapidly that she is at last obliged to yield them her favor. The first attempt to ascend her by steam has succeeded, and we anticipate the day as speedy when the Missouri will be as familiar to steam- boats as the Mississippi or Ohio. Captain Nelson merits and will receive deserved credit for his enterprise and public spirit in this undertaking."
The First Steamboat on the Missouri.
The centennial of steamboat navigation on the Missouri river came in 1919. On the 28th day of May, 1819, Captain John Nelson brought his boat, the Independence, to the bank at Franklin in Howard county. He had made the trip of one hundred and fifty miles from St. Louis in thirteen days although upon only seven of the thirteen had the paddle wheels been moving. Franklin cele- brated the arrival of the Independence. A cannon salute was fired from the town and returned from the boat. Among the passengers were Colonel Elias Rector, Stephen Rector, Captain Desha, J. C. Mitchell, Dr. Stewart J. Wanton and Major J. T. Wilcox. Rector and other citizens of St. Louis had encouraged the trip by Captain Nelson. Under the agreement with them the boat was to ascend the Missouri river to Chariton, near Glasgow. The St. Louis people contributed the money necessary for the charter in order to show that steam navigation was possible on the Missouri river. The Independence carried a con- siderable cargo of flour, whiskey, sugar, iron castings. The significance of the trip was set forth in the Missouri Intelligencer, the second newspaper to be established west of the Mississippi. It was published by Nathaniel Patton and
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Benjamin Holliday, and had been issued only three or four weeks previous to the arrival of the Independence. The press upon which the Intelligencer was printed is treasured among the relics of the Missouri Historical Society in Jeffer- son Memorial at St. Louis. The Intelligencer commented on the importance of this arrival of the Independence :
"The grand desideratum, the important fact, is now ascertained, that steamboats can safely navigate the Missouri river."
"A respectable gentleman, a passenger on the Independence, who has for a great num- ber of years, navigated the great western waters, informs us that it is his opinion, with a little precaution in keeping clear of sandbars, the Missouri river may be navigated with as much facility as the Mississippi or the Ohio.
1 "Missourians may hail this era from which to date the growing importance of this section of the country, when they view with what facility by the aid of steamboats they may ascend the turbulent waters of the Missouri and bring to this part of the country the articles requisite to its supply, and return laden with various products of this fertile region. At no distant period we may see the industrious cultivator making his way as high as the Yellowstone and offering the enterprising merchant and trader a surplus worthy of the fertile banks of the Missouri, yielding wealth to industry and enterprise."
In a later issue the Intelligencer ventured this prophetic editorial :
"We may, truly regard this event as highly important, not only to the commercial but agricultural interests of the country. The practicability of steamboat navigation, being now clearly demonstrated by experiment, we shall be brought nearer to the Atlantic, West India and European markets, and the abundant resources of our fertile and extensive region will be quickly developed. This interesting section of country, so highly favored by nature, will at no distant period, with the aid of science and enterprise, assume a dignified station among the great agricultural states of the West. The enterprise of Capt. Nelson cannot be too highly appreciated by the citizens of Missouri. He is the first individual who has attempted the navigation of the Missouri by steam power, a river that has hitherto borne . the character of being very difficult and eminently dangerous in its navigation, but we are happy to state that his progress thus far has not been impeded by any serious accident."
The Banquet at Franklin.
In celebration of the arrival of the Independence the Franklin citizens gave a banquet to Captain Nelson and his passengers, at which numerous toasts were offered. Captain Asa Morgan presided and Nathaniel Hutchison was vice- president. Walter Williams has written this account of the banquet :
"The celebration was no affair of midnight revelry, but of midday enjoyment. The dinner began at noon and the speeches lasted until sundown. Everybody was toasted and nearly everybody made an after-dinner speech. Nor were the toasts drunk in Missouri river water, either, but in a stronger beverage.
"Toasts at the Nelson dinner were of two kinds, regular and volunteer. 'The Missouri River' was, with appropriateness, first toasted with the sentiment thus rather curiously expressed : 'Its last wave will roll the abundant tribute of our region to the Mexican gulf, in reference to the auspices of this day.' Then followed, with equal appropriateness, 'The Memory of Robert Fulton,' of whom it was said: 'One of the most distinguished artists of his age. The Missouri river now bears upon her bosom the first effect of his genius for steam navigation.' The memory of Franklin, the philosopher and statesman, was next toasted: 'In anticipation of his country's greatness, he never recognized that a boat at this time would be propelled by steam so far westward to a town bearing his name,
WATER POWER IN THE OZARKS
THE GREAT REPUBLIC 1 Salon of a St. Louis steamboat of 1875, in the days of popular river travel
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EARLY TRANSPORTATION ON THE MISSOURI RIVER
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on the Missouri.' After the Missouri river, Fulton and Franklin, the captain of the boat was toasted: 'Capt. Nelson-the proprietor of the steamboat Independence. The imaginary dangers of the Missouri vanished before his enterprising genius.'
"Of Louisville, Franklin and Chariton it was said: 'They became neighbors by steam navigation.'
"Other regular toasts were: 'The Republican Government of the United States: By facilitating the intercourse between distant points, its benign influence may be diffused over the continent of North America.'
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