History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 24

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358

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" A voyage from St. Louis to New Orleans and re- turn occupied from four to six months ; consequently

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HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

only two round trips could be made in a ycar. Even with the assistance of sails, a row-boat could not make the ascent in less than seventy or eighty days. A keel-boat could be brought by cordelle from Louisville to St. Louis in twenty-five days."1 In addition to the use of sails and oars, " warping," "cordelling," and " poling" were employed as means of propulsion. " In 'warping' a long rope was fastened to some im- movable object on the bank, and then the crew, stand- ing in the bow and pulling hand over hand, drew the boat forward ; the hands of the crew serving the pur- poses of a capstan. The progress was slow but steady. In ' cordelling' the crew walked along the bank and drew the boat after them by means of a rope. It was, in fact, identical with canal-boat navigation, except that the motive-power was men instead of mules or horses. 'Poling' consisted in pushing the boat up stream by the aid of long poles. The men succes- sively took their places at the bow, and firmly resting their poles on the bed of the river, walked towards the stern pushing the boat forward. Whenever a man reached the stern, he pulled up his pole and ran rap- idly back to resume his place in the line. Hence the spaces on each side of the boat where this con- stant circuit was going on were called the 'running boards.'" 2

The boatmen were a class by themselves, a hardy, adventurous, muscular set of men, inured to constant peril and privation, and accustomed to severe and un- remitting toil. For weeks, and even months at a time, they saw no faces but those of their companions among the crew or in some passing craft, and their days from dawn until dark were spent in constant work at the oars or poles, or tugging at the rope either in the boat or on the shore, as they were employed either in warping or cordelling. At night, after " tying up," their time was generally spent in gaming, carousing, story-telling, etc., the amusements of tlie evening being varied not infrequently with a fisticuff encounter.

The labor involved in their occupation was of the severest character, and the constant and arduous ex- ercise produced in most of them an extraordinary physical development. So intense was the exertion usually required to propel and guide the boat that a rest was necessary every hour, and from fourteen to twenty miles a day was all the progress that could be made against the stream. The sense of physical power which naturally accompanied the steady exer- cise of the muscles inspired the average boatman not merely with insensibility to danger, but a bellicoseness

of disposition which seems to have been characteris- tic of his class. The champion pugilist of a boat was entitled to wear a red feather in his cap, and this badge of pre-eminence was universally regarded as a challenge to all rivals.8

In summer the boatmen were usually stripped to the waist, and their bodies, cxposed to the sun, were tanned to the swarthy hues of the Indian ; in winter they were clothed in buckskin breeches and blankets, (capots), a grotesque combination of French and In- dian styles which gave their attire a wild and peculiar aspect. . Their food was of the simplest character. " After a hard day's toil," says Monctte,4 " at night they took their ' fillee' or ration of whiskey, swallowed their homely supper of meat half burned and bread half baked, and retiring to sleep they stretched them- selves upon the deck without covering, under the open canopy of heaven, or probably enveloped in a blanket, until the steersman's horn called them to their morn- ing ' fillee' and their toil.

" Hard and fatiguing was the life of a boatman, yet it was rare that any of them ever changed his vocation. There was a charm in the excesscs, in the frolics, and in the fightings which they anticipated at the end of the voyage which cheered them on. Of weariness none would complain, but rising from his bed at the first dawn of day, and reanimated by his morning draught, he was prepared to hear and obcy the wonted order, 'Stand to your poles and sct off !' The boatmen were masters of the winding horn and the fiddle, and as the boat moved off from her moorings, some, to cheer their labors or to 'scarc off the devil and secure good luck,' would wind the animating blast of the horn, which, mingling with the sweet music of the fiddle and reverberating along the sounding shores, greeted the solitary dwellers on the banks with news from New Orleans."

Levity and volatility were conspicuous traits of the boatman's character, and while he was willing to perform excessive and long-continued labor, he would render such service only to a " patroon" whom he respected. In fine, the average keel-boatınan was cool, reckless, courageous to the verge of rashness,

. . ] Professor S. Waterhouse.

2 Ibid.

3 " Their athletie labors gave strength incredible to their muscles, which they were vain to exhibit, and fist-fighting was their pastime. He who could boast that he had never been whipped was bound to fight whoever disputed his manhood. Keel-boatmen and bargemen looked upon flat-boatmen as their natural enemies, and a meeting was the prelude to a ' battle- royal.' They were great sticklers for 'fair play,' and whoso- ever was worsted in battle must bide the issue without assist- ance."-Monette's History of the Valley of the Mississippi, p. 20.

4 Ibid., pp. 19 and 20.

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NAVIGATION ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.

and pugnacious, but, notwithstanding certain grave shortcomings, an unmitigated hater of all the darker shades of sin and wrong-doing, such as stealing, rob- bing, and murdering for plunder, crimes that in his day were frequently and boldly perpetrated along the sparsely-settled banks and at lonely islands of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.

" The departure of a boat was an important inci- dent in the uneventful village life of St. Louis. On such occasions it was customary for their friends to assemble on the banks to bid adieu to the voyageurs. Sometimes half the population of the village was present to tender their wishes for a prosperous trip.

" For years it was believed that no keel-boat could ascend the Missouri. The rapidity of the current was supposed to be an insuperable obstacle to naviga- tion by such craft. The doubt was settled by the enterprise of George Sarpy, who sent a kecl-boat under Capt. Labrosse to try the difficult experi- ment of ascending the Missouri. The success of the undertaking marked a signal advance in Western navigation, and supplied the merchants of St. Louis with new facilities for the transportation of their goods," 1 while it also greatly extended the operations of the boatmen and increased their numbers.

Of the keel-boatmen, when classed by nativity, the Kentuckians bore the most unenviable reputation, on account of the fact that they were generally charac- terizcd by excessive recklessness and bellicoseness, and we are told so gloomy was the reputation of the Kentuckians that travelers were liable at every place (except the miserable wayside taverns) to have the door shut in their face on applying for refreshments or a night's lodgings. Nor would any plea or cir- cumstance alter the decided refusal of the master or mistress, unless it might be the uncommonly gentecl appearance and the equipage of the travelcr.

For a similar reason, possibly, badly-built boats, with poor or injured plank in their bottoms, which had been sold to unsuspecting or inexperienced per- sons, were known as " Kentucky boats."

" In 1807," says a writer on "Early Navigators" in a St. Louis newspaper, "a Mr. Winchester's boat struck a rock in the Ohio, below Pittsburgh a short distance, and one of her bottom planks being badly stove in, she sunk immediately, having on board a valuable cargo of dry-goods. The proprietor, not being with the boat at the time, conceived, when informed of the disaster, that it had been caused by carelessness of the person to whom he had intrusted the boat and cargo, and brought suit against him for

damages ; and indeed it was somewhat evident, from all that could be ascertained, that the patroon had no business in the neighborhood of the rock, and could and should have avoided it. The defendant's position was rather gloomy, but his resources proved equal to the emergency. The suit was before (Dr.) Justice Richardson, of Pittsburgh, who himself had had some sad experiences with Kentucky boats. The defendant knowing or being informed of this, hired two men, went down to the wreck, and with some difficulty procured several pieces of the plank that had given way. On the day of trial, after the plaintiff had, as every one present thought, fully established his charges and demands, the justice asked the defendant if he had any rebutting evidence to offer. 'Yes, your Honor,' he replied, ' I have ;' and reaching down under his seat, he drew out the pieces of plank aforementioned and said, ' I have no evidence to offer, your Honor, ex- cept these pieces, which I can prove to your Honor are part of the same plank, the breaking of which caused the boat to sink, whichi, I say, would not have occurred if the plank had been reasonably sound. Look at them ! Your Honor will see that it was my misfortune to have been placed in charge of one of these d-d Kentucky boats.' Without in any way noticing the blasphemous expression, the justice ex- amined the pieces, which proved to be thoroughly rotten and defective, unfit to be put anywhere, much less in the bottom of a boat. After hearing from the defendant's helpers that these pieces were taken from the boat in question, at the identical place where she lad broken, the court delivered its mind as follows : ' This court had the misfortune once to place a valu- able cargo on a Kentucky boat, not knowing it to be such, which sunk and went down in seventeen fcet of water, this court verily belicved, by coming in contact with the head of a yellow-bellied catfish, there being no snag, rock, or other obstruction near her at the time; and this court, being satisfied of the premises in this cause, dotlı order that the same be dismissed at plaintiff's costs, to have included therein the ex- penses of the defendant in going to and returning from the wreck, for the purpose of obtaining such damnable and irrefutable evidence as this bottom plank has furnished.' And the bottom plank was deemed proof so conclusive, and the prejudice against Kentucky boats in the public mind was so extended and settled, that it was thought inadvisable to urge the suit any further."

Besides the ordinary dangers of the treacherous cur- rents, " cave-ins," shoals and snags of the Mississippi, and occasional assaults from prowling savages, the early boatmen were often called upon to face the more

1 Professor Waterhouse.

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HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

serious peril of an attack by river pirates. "Many a boatload of costly merchandise intended for the ware- houses of St. Louis never reached its destination. The misdeeds of the robbers were not always limited to the seizure of goods. The proof of rapinc was often ex- tinguished by the murder of the witnesses. The caves of the pirates were rich with the spoils of a plundered commerce, and the depredations became more frequent in proportion to the impunity with which they were committed. At last the interruption of trade became so grave and the danger to life so imminent that the Governor-General of Louisiana was constraincd to take more effective steps for the suppression of the bandits. An official order excluding single boats from the Mis- sissippi granted the privilege of navigation only to flotillas that were strong enough to repel their assail- ants. The plan succeeded and the pirates were ulti- mately driven from their haunts. The arrival at St. Louis in 1788 of the flotilla of ten boats was a memor- able occasion in the annals of the village." 1

The arrival of this flotilla gave the name of " l'an- née des dix bateaux" to the year 1788, which was the last year of Don Francisco Cruzat's second ad- ministration. In the year before, M. Beausoliel, a New Orleans merchant, had been captured by pirates near the island that still bears his name, and subse- quently escaping, recaptured his boat and killed the pirates. He then returned to New Orleans and re- ported his experience to the Governor, who thereupon issued the order already. referred to that all boats bound for St. Louis the following spring should sail together for mutual protection. This was carried out, and the flotilla " des dix bateaux" made the voyage, capturing at Cottonwood Creek the camp and supplies of the pirates, with a valuable assortment of miscel- laneous plunder which had been taken from many boats on previous occasions.

" In an advertisement published in 1794 the patrons of a special line of boats were assured of their safety. The statements which were made to allay apprehen- sions showed that the fear of pirates was not then groundless. A large crew skillful in the use of arms, a plentiful supply of muskets and ammunition, an equipment on each boat of six one-pound cannon and a loop-holed rifle-proof cabin for the passengers were the means of defense provided, on which were based the hopes of security. So formidable an array of weapons was not well calculated to inspire timid na- tures with confidence in the safety of the voyage." ?

The boatmen were very active and energetic in rooting out the nests of pirates, and not infrequently

administered lynch-law in summary fashion. One of the most sanguinary incidents of this character was that which occurred in 1809.

Island 94 (called Stack Island, or Crows' Nest), one hundred and seventy miles above Natchez, was notorious for many years for being a den for the ren- dezvous of a gang of horse-thieves, counterfeiters, robbers, and murderers. It was a small island located in the middle of Nine-Mile Reach. From hence they would sally forth, stop passing boats, and murder the crew, or if this appeared impracticable, would buy their horses, flour, whiskey, etc., and pay for them. Their villanies became notorious, and several years' pursuit by the civil law officers failed to produce any results in the way of punishment or eradication. But they were at length made to disappear by an application of lynch-law from several keel-boat crews. The full his- tory of this affair has never been fully unfolded, and perhaps never will be, but for terrible retribution and complete annihilation, outside of any authorized de- crees, it never had its equal in any administration of lynch-law, the recitals of which cast so many shadows on the annals of the West and South. The autumn and winter immediately preceding the month of April, 1809, had been marked by numerous atrocities on the part of the bandits of the Crows' Nest. Several boats and their entire crews had disappeared at that point, and no traces could be found of them afterward. The country around and up and down the river had been victimized and robbed in almost every conceiv- able form by depredators whose movements could be satisfactorily traced as tending towards the Crows' Nest. In that month it occurred that seven keel- boats were concentrated at the head of Nine-Mile Reach, within speaking distance of each other, being detained by heavy contrary winds. The crews of these were well informed as to the villanies of those who harbored on the little island a few miles below them. Many of them had friends and old comrades who were known to have been on the missing boats. By what means it was brought about, at whose sug- gestion or influence was never made known, but one dark night, a few hours before daylight, eighty or ninety men from these wind-bound craft, well armed, descended silently in their small boats to the Crows' Nest and surprised its occupants, whom they secured after a short encounter, in which two of the boatmen were wounded and several of the robbers killed. Nineteen men, a boy of fifteen, and two women were thus captured. Shortly after sunrise the boy (on ac- count of his extreme youth) and the two women were allowed to depart. What was the manner of punish- ment meted out to the men, whether shot or hanged,

1 Professor Waterhouse.

2 Ibid.

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NAVIGATION ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.

was never ascertained with any degree of certainty. None but the boatmen, the boy, and the two women, however, ever left the island alive, and by twelve o'clock noon the erews were back to their boats, and the wind having calmed the night previous they shoved out, and by sunset were far down the river and away from the scene of the indisputably just though unlawful retribution. Two years afterward eame the terrible earthquake, which, with the floods of 1811-13, destroyed every vestige of the Crows' Nest, leaving nothing of it to be seen but a low sand- bar, and with it passed away from public sight and mind all signs of its bandits, their crimes, and the awful doom that befell them.

Some years later a new type of river desperadoes appeared, who, if tradition and history do not greatly belie them, were not much more exemplary in their con- duct than the pirates and buccaneers who preceded them. " Mike" Fink in particular, the model hero of the Mississippi boatmen, who has figured on the pages of popular romance, was a ruffian of surpassing strength and courage. His rifle was unerring, and his eon- science was as easy and accommodating as a man in his line of business eould wish. His earliest vocation was that of a boatman, but he had belonged to a com- pany of government spics or scouts whose duty it was to watch the movements of the Indians on the fron- tier. At that time Pittsburgh was on the extreme verge of the white population, and the spies, who were constantly employed, generally extended their recon- noissances forty or fifty miles west of that place. Going out singly and living in Indian style, they as- similated themselves to the habits, tastes, and feelings of the Indians. In their border warfare the scalp of a Shawnee was estecmed about as valuable as the skin of a panther. " Mike" Fink, tiring of this after a while, returned to the water life, and engrafting sev- eral other occupations on that of the boatman, put all mankind, except his friends and employer, to whom he was honest and faithful, under contribution, and · became nothing more nor less than a freebooter. " Mike," having murdered " Joe" Stevens, was killed by one of Joe's brothers. James Girty, another of the famous Mississippi boatmen, was represented as a " natural prodigy," not "constructed like ordinary men, for, instead of ribs, bountiful nature had pro- vided him with a solid bony casing on both sides, without any interstices through which a knife, dirk, or bullet could penetrate." He possessed amazing muscular power, and courage in proportion, and his great boast was that he had " never been whipped."1

The trade conducted by these boats was of consid- erable proportions. As early as 1802 the annual ex- ports of the Mississippi valley amounted to $2,160,000, and the imports to $2,500,000. Up to 1804 the annual value of the fur trade of Upper Louisiana amounted to $203,750. The province then exported lead, salt, beef, and pork, and received Indian goods from Canada, domestics from Philadelphia and Bal- timore, groceries from New Orleans, and hardware from the Ohio River.

Short notices in the newspapers of that day, an- nouncing, " Wanted to freight, from this place to Louisville, about sixteen hundredweight, apply at the printing-office,"? or " thirteen boatmen are wanted to navigate a few boats to New Orleans, to start about the 15th of next month ; the customary wages will be given,"3 or that " the barge ' Scott' will start from St. Louis on the 1st of March, and will take freight for Louisville or Frankfort, in Kentucky, on reasonable terms, apply to John Steele,"" are too laconic to more than indicate the existence of a commerce, without affording any reliable data of its dimensions or the appliances by which it was carried on.5

2 Missouri Gazette, July 5, 1809.

$ Ibid., Aug. 30, 1809.

4 Ibid., Dec. 22, 1809.

5 " FREIGHT FROM NEW ORLEANS TO KASKASKIA IN 1741 .- We doubt whether so unique or so old a bill of lading can be found in the valley of the Mississippi as that which follows. It is a translation from a bill of sale executed the 18th of May, 1741, by Barois, notary in Kaskaskia. What would our steam- boatmen say now at receiving such a price for an old salt-kettle, when they are in the practice of transporting one thousand to twelve hundred tons of goods between the ports of New Orleans and St. Louis, and are in a very bad humor if by chance they fail to make the trip in six days ? ' And has been further agreed that said Mettager promises to deliver to said Bienvena, at the landing-place of this town of Kaskaskia, at his own risks, the fortunes of war excepted, an iron kettle, weighing about two hundred and ninety pounds, used for the manufacture of salt, and which said Bienvena owns in New Orleans, and said Bien- vena promises to pay to said Mettager, for his salary and freight, after the delivery of said kettle, a steer in good order, three bushels of salt, two hundred pounds of bacon, and twenty bushels of Indian corn, under the penalty of all costs, etc.'"- Republican, Nov. 30, 1850.

PETER PROVENCHERE'S BILL OF LADING.

Shipped by Peter Provenchere, of the town of St. Louis, merchant, on board the boat "J. Maddison," whereof Charles Quirey is master, now lying at the landing before the town of St. Louis and ready immediately to depart for Louisville, Ky.

F. T. Six packs of deer-skins, marked and numbered as per margin, and a barrel of bear-oil, containing about thirty- two gallons, all in good order and well conditioned, which 96 I promise to deliver in like good order and condition (unavoidable accident excepted) unto Mr. Francis Tar- 99 ascon, merchant, Louisville, or to his assigns.

109 And, moreover, I acknowledge to have of the said Peter Provenchere a note of Peter Menard on Louis

1 Lloyd's Steamboat Directory, p. 38.

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HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

At the period of the introduction of steam upon the Mississippi, 1817, the whole commerce from New Orleans to the upper country was transported in about twenty barges of an average of one hundred tons each, and making but one trip in a year. The number of kecl-boats on the Ohio was estimated at one hundred and sixty, carrying thirty tons each. The whole tonnage was estimated at between six thousand and seven thousand.

The advent of steam, of course, supersedcd the use of the keel-boat, and the picturesque features of the earlier navigation passed away. In the presence of the mighty energy which lias revolutionized the com- merce of the world, the warp and cordelle, the pole and running-board forever disappeared from the bosom of the Mississippi.

" The commerce of St. Louis had humble begin- nings. The facilities for transportation were limited to the rudest row-boats, but in course of time there has grown from the birch canoe a vast inland fleet, which in 1880 bore to the port of St. Louis about two million tons of merchandise." 1

Steamboating .- In " The First Steamboat Voyage on the Western Waters," John H. B. Latrobe says, " Whether steam could be employed on the West- ern rivers was a question that its success between New York and Albany was not regarded as having entirely solved, and after the idea had been suggested of building a boat at Pittsburgh, to ply between Natchez and New Orleans, it was considered necessary that investigations should be made as to the currents of the rivers to be navigated in regard to the new sys- tem." These investigations were undertaken by Nich- olas J. Roosevelt, who repairing in May, 1809, to Pittsburgh, there constructed a flat-boat in which he proceeded to New Orleans for the purpose of studying and investigating the new conditions of navigation to which the steam system was about to be subjected. These investigations proved entirely satisfactory, not

only to Mr. Roosevelt but also to Messrs. Fulton and Livingston, who were to furnish the capital, and Mr. Roosevelt in 1811 took up his residence in Pittsburgh, to superintend the construction of the boat and engine that were to open the Western waters to the new sys- tem of steam navigation.

The "New Orleans" was the first steamboat con- structed on Western waters. She was one hundred and sixteen feet in length, with twenty feet beam, and her engine had a thirty-four-inch cylinder, with boiler and other parts in proportion. She was about four hundred tons burden, and cost in the neighborhood of thirty-eight thousand dollars. There were two cabins, one aft for ladics, and a larger one forward for gentlemen. The ladies' cabin, which was comfortably furnished, contained four berths. The " New Orleans" was launched in March, 1811; left Pittsburgh in October of the same year ; passed Cincinnati October 27th, and reached Louisville the next day, in sixty- four hours' running time from Pittsburgh. The water was too low for her to cross the falls, and while at Louisville waiting for sufficient water she made several short excursions. She also made one trip to Cincin- nati, arriving there in forty-five hours' running time from Louisville, Nov. 27, 1811. While here she made an excursion trip to Columbia, charging one dol- lar per head. Shortly afterward, the river rising, she left this place for New Orleans, December, 1811: Her voyage down the river was perilous in the ex- treme, as shortly after leaving Louisville the great earthquakes began. She ran between Natchez and New Orleans, her trips averaging about three weeks. July 13, 1814, she landed on her upward voyage two miles above Baton Rouge, on the opposite side, and spent the night taking in wood, the night being thought too dark to run with safety. At daylight the next morning she got up steam, and on starting the engine it was found she would not move ahead, but kept swinging around. The water had fallen during the night, and the captain found slie was resting on a stump. An anchor was put out on her starboard quarter, and by the aid of her capstan she was soon hove off; but on clearing her it was discovered she had sprunk a leak and was sinking rapidly. She was immediately run into the bank and tied fast, but sunk so rapidly her passengers had barely time to get off with their baggage.2

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History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 24

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898 Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts Number of Pages: 1358

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358