History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 25

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

USA > Missouri > St Louis County > St Louis City > History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men > Part 25

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111 Lorimier, inhabitant of Cape Girardeau, for one thou- sand pounds of receiptable deer-skins, the said note 112 transferred to my order, and I bind and engage myself to ask of the said Louis Lorimier the payment of the 113 said note, and if I reclaim it to deliver to the said Fran- cis Tarascon or assign the thousand pounds of deer- skins, together with the six packs and the barrel now received, and in case of no payment to return the note to Mr. Tarascon, he or they paying freight.

In witness whereof I have set my hand to three bills of lading, all of the same tenor and date, one being accomplished, the others null and void.

CHARLES QUIREY.

Test, WILLIAM C. CARR.

St. Louis, the 8th, A.D. 1809.

1 Professor Waterhouse.

% The "Navigator," an old and rare book printed at Pittsburgh, Pa., in the early part of this century, records many interest- ing facts concerning the " early navigators." From this source we learn something of the expenses and profits of the "New Orleans" when a packet between Natchez and New Orleans. This old chronicle says, " Her accommodations are good and

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NAVIGATION ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.

The history of the early steamboats following the " New Orleans" will be found interesting, as showing

her passengers generally numerous, seldom less from Natchez thian from ten to twenty, at eighteen dollars per head, and when she starts from New Orleans generally from thirty to fifty, and sometimes as many as eighty passengers, at twenty-five dollars each to Natchez. According to the observations of Capt. Morris, of New Orleans, who attended her as pilot several trips, the boat's receipts for freight, upwards, have averaged the last year seven hundred dollars, passenger money nine hundred dollars; downward, three hundred dollars for freight, five hun- dred for passengers. She performs thirteen trips in the year, which, at two thousand four hundred dollars per trip, amount to thirty-one thousand two hundred dollars. Her expenses are, twelve hands at twenty dollars per month, four thou- sand three hundred and twenty dollars ; captain, one thousand dollars ; seventy cords of wood each trip, at one dollar and seventy-five cents, which amounts to one thousand five hundred and eighty-six dollars; in all six thousand nine hundred and six dollars. It is presumed that the boat's extra trips for pleasure or otherwise, out of her usual route trade, have paid for all the expenses of repairs, and with the profits of the bar- room, for the boat's provisions, in which case there will remain a net gain of twenty-four thousand two hundred and ninety- four dollars for the first year The owners estimate the boat's value at forty thousand dollars, which gives an interest of two thousand four hundred dollars; and by giving one thousand eight hundred and ninety-four dollars more for furniture, etc., we have the clear gain of twenty thousand dollars for the first year's labor of the steamboat 'New Orleans.'

"The steamboat goes up in about seven or eight days, and de- scends in two or three, stopping several times for freight, passen- gers, ete. She stays at the extremes of her journey, Natchez and New Orleans, about four or five days to discharge and take in loading."

The first sea-vessel on the Western waters was a brig called the "St. Clair," one hundred and twenty tons burden, built at Marietta, Ohio, by Commodore Preble, in 1798 or'99, who went down the rivers in her to New Orleans, from thence to Havana and Philadelphia, and at the latter port he sold her. From 1799 to 1805 there were built at Pittsburgh four ships, three brigs, and several schooners, but misfortunes and accidents happening to most of them in going down the rivers to the gulf, ship-building at Pittsburgh and the upper Ohio went into a decline, until revived some years after in the shape of steam- boat architecture. One of these ships took out her clearance papers at Pittsburgh for Leghorn, Italy, and in illustrating the commercial habits and enterprise of the American people, Henry Clay, in a speech in Congress, related the following anecdote about her : When the vessel arrived at Leghorn, the captain presented his papers to the eustom officer there, but he would not credit them, and said to the master, "Sir, your papers are forged, there is no such place as Pittsburgh in the world, your vessel must be confiscated." The trembling captain asked if he had a map of the United States, which he fortunately had, and produced, and the captain, taking the officer's finger, put it down at the mouth of the Mississippi, then led it a thousand miles up that river, and thence another thousand up to Pittsburgh, and said, "There, sir, is the port whence my vessel eleared from." The astonished officer, who, before he saw the map, would as soon have believed the vessel had been navigated from the moon, exclaimed, "I knew that America could show many wonderful things, but a fresh-water seaport is something I never dreamed of."

how quickly the innovation made itself felt, and how speedily the new system obliterated the old.

The second boat was the " Comet," of twenty-five tons, owned by Samuel Smith, built at Pittsburgh by Daniel French ; stern-wheel and vibrating cylinder, French's patent granted in 1809. The " Comet" made a voyage to Louisville in 1813, and to New Orleans in the spring of 1814; made two trips to Natchez, and was sold, the engine being put up on a plantation to drive a cotton-gin. Third boat, the " Vesuvius," three hundred and forty tons, built at Pittsburgh by Robert Fulton, and owned by a com- pany belonging to New York and New Orleans ; left Pittsburgh for New Orleans in the spring of 1814, commanded by Capt. Frank Ogden. She started from New Orleans, bound for Louisville, the 1st of June, 1814, and grounded on a bar seven hundred miles up the Mississippi, where she lay until the 3d of De- cember, when the river rose and she floated off. She returned to New Orleans, where she ran aground the second time on the batture, where she lay until the 1st of March, when the river rose and floated her off. She was then employed some months between New Orleans and Natchez, under the command of Capt. Clemment, who was succeeded by Capt. John De- Hart. Shortly after she took fire near New Orleans and burned to the water's edge, having a valuable cargo aboard. The fire was supposed to have been communicated from the boiler, which was in the hold. The bottom was raised and built upon at New Or- leans, and she went into the Louisville trade, but was soon after sold to a company at Natchez. On ex- amination subsequent to the sale she was pronounced unfit for use, was libeled by her commander, and sold at public auction. Fourth boat, the " Enterprise," forty-five tons, built at Brownsville, Pa.,. by Daniel French, under his patent, and owned by a company at that place, made two trips to Louisville in the summer of 1814, under the command of Capt. J. Gregg. On the 1st of December she took in a cargo of ord- nance stores at Pittsburgh, and left for New Orleans, commanded by Capt. Henry M. Shreve, and · ar- rived at New Orleans on the 14th of the same month. She was then dispatched up the river in search of two keel-boats laden with small-arms which had been delayed on the river. She got twelve miles above Natchez, where she met the keels, took their masters and cargoes on board, and returned to New Orleans, having been but six and a half days absent, in which time she ran six hundred and twenty-four miles. She was then for some time actively employed in transporting troops. She made one trip to the Gulf of Mexico as a cartel, and one trip to the rapids of the

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HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

Red River with troops, and nine voyages to Natchez. She left New Orleans for Pittsburgh on the 6th of May, and arrived at Shippingport on the 30th, twenty- five days out, being the first boat that ever arrived at that port from New Orleans. She then proceeded on to Pittsburgh, and the command was given to D. Worley, who lost her in Rock Harbor, at Shipping- port. Fifth boat, the " Ætna," three hundred and forty tons, built at Pittsburgh, and owned by the same company as the " Vesuvius," left Pittsburgh for New Orleans in March, 1815, under the command of Capt. A. Gale, and arrived at that port in April follow- ing; was placed in the Natchez trade; was then placed under the command of Capt. Robinson De Hart, who made six trips on her to Louisville.

The sixth boat was the " Zebulon M. Pike,"1 built by Mr. Prentiss at Henderson, Ky., on the Ohio River, in 1815. The " Pike" deserves special men- tion, as she was the first steamboat to ascend the Mississippi above the mouth of the Ohio, and the first to touch at St. Louis. Her first trip was made in the spring of 1815 to Louisville, Ky., two hundred and fifty miles in sixty-seven hours, making three and three-quarter miles per hour against the current. On her voyage to St. Louis she was commanded by Capt.

1 Named after Zebulon Montgomery Pike, formerly a briga- dier-general in the United States army, who was born at Lamber- ton, N. J., Jan. 5, 1779, and killed at York, near Toronto, Upper Canada, on the 27th of April, 1813. Zebulon, his father, was born in New Jersey in 1751, and died at Lawrenceburg, Ind., July 27, 1834. He was a captain in the Revolutionary army, was present at St. Clair's defeat in 1791, and was brevet lieu- tenant-colonel in the United States army July 10, 1812. His son was appointed a cadet in the regiment of his father March 3, 1799, and was made first lieutenant in November and captain in August, 1806. Skilled in mathematics and in the languages, he was appointed after the purchase of Louisiana to conduct an. expedition to trace the Mississippi to its source. Leaving St. Louis, Aug. 9, 1805, he performed this service satisfactorily, re- turning after eight months and twenty days of exploration and exposure to constant hardship. In 1806-7 he was engaged in geographical explorations of Louisiana, during which, being found on Spanish territory, he with his party was taken to Santa Fé, and after a long examination and the seizure of his papers was escorted home, arriving at Natchitoches July 1, 1807. In 1810 he published a narrative of his expeditions, with valuable maps and charts. Receiving the thanks of the government, he was made major of the Sixth Infantry, May 3, 1808; lieutenant-colonel of the Fourth Infantry, Dec. 31, 1809 ; deputy quartermaster-general, April 3, 1812; colonel Fifteenth Infantry, July 3, 1812; and brigadier-general, March 12, 1813. Early in 1813 he was assigned to the principal army as adjutant- and inspector-general, and was selected to command an expedi- tion against York, the capital of Upper Canada. Landing under a heavy fire, he charged the enemy in person, and put them to flight, carried one battery by assault, and was moving to the attack of the main works, when the explosion of the British magazine mortally wounded him, speedily causing his death on April 27, 1813.

Jacob Read. "The hull," says Professor Water- house, " was built on the model of a barge. The cabin was situated on the lower deck, inside of the ' running-boards.'

" The boat was driven by a low-pressure engine, with a walking-beam. The wheels had no wheel-houses. The boat had but one smoke-stack. In the encounter with a rapid current the crew reinforced steam with the impulse of their own strength. They used the poles and running-boards just as in the push-boat navigation of barges. The boat ran only by day, and was six weeks in making this first trip from Louis- ville to St. Louis. It landed at the foot of Market Street Aug. 2, 1817. The inhabitants of the village gathered on the bank to welcome the novel visitor. Among them was a group of Indians. As the boat approached, the glare of its furnace fires and the volumes of murky smoke filled the Indians with dis- may. They fled to the high ground in the rear of the village, and no assurances of safety could induce them to go one step nearer to the object of their fears. They ascribed supernatural powers to a boat that could ascend a rapid stream without the aid of sail or oar. Their superstitious imaginations beheld a monster breathing flame and threatening the ex- tinction of the red man. In a symbolic sense, their fancy was prophetic : the progress of civilization, of which the steamboat may be taken as a type, is fast sweeping the Indian race into the grave of buried nations."

The first notice we have of the expected arrival of the " Pike" at St. Louis is the following announce- ment in the Missouri Gazette of the 14th of July, 1817 :

" A steamboat is expected here from Louisville to-morrow. There is no doubt but what we shall have a regular communi- cation with Louisville, or at least the mouth of the Ohio, by a steam packet."

On the 2d of August the Gazette published this notice :

"The steamboat 'Pike' will be ready to take in freight to- morrow for Louisville or any of the towns on the Ohio. She will sail for Louisville on Monday morning, the 4th August, from ten to twelve o'clock. For freight or passage apply to the master on board.

" JACOB READ, Master."

The return trip of the " Pike" is also mentioned in the Gazette of September 2d as follows :

" The steamboat ' Pike' will arrive in a day or two from Louis- ville. This vessel will ply regularly between that place and this, and will take in her return cargo shortly after her arrival. Per- sons who may have freight, or want passage for Louisville or any of the towns on the Ohio, will do well to make early application to the master on board. On her passage from this to Louisville I she will make a stop at Herculaneum, where Mr. M. Austin will

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NAVIGATION ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.

act as agent; also at Ste. Genevieve and Cape Girardeau. At the former place Mr. Le Meilleur and at the latter Mr. Stein- beck will act as agents, with whom freight for the 'Pike' may be deposited and shipped.

" Persons wanting passage in this vessel will apply as above. She will perform her present voyage to and from Louisville in about four weeks, and will always afford an expeditious and safe passage for the transportation of freight or passengers.

" JACOB READ, Master."

Again on the 22d of November the Gazette an- nounced that "the steamboat ' Pike' with passengers and freight arrived here yesterday from Louisville."

The " Pike" had a capacity of thirty-seven tons, old government tonnage. She made a trip to New Or- leans, and several between Louisville and Pittsburgh, after which she was engaged in the Red River trade. She was snagged in March, 1818.1

1 The seventh boat on the Mississippi was the "Dispatch," twenty-five tons, built at Brownsville, Pa., by the same com- pany that owned the "Enterprise," and under French's patent. She made several trips from Pittsburgh to Louisville, and one to New Orleans and back to Shippingport, where she was wrecked and her engine taken out. She was commanded by Capt. J. Gregg.

The cighth boat was the "Buffalo," three hundred tons, built at Pittsburgh by Benjamin H. Latrobe, Sr., the distinguished architect of the capitol at Washington. She was afterwards sold at sheriff's sale in Louisville for eight hundred dollars.

We find in the American Weekly Messenger, published in Philadelphia, July 2, 1814, the following letter, which relates the circumstances of the launch of the steamboat "Buffalo":

" PITTSBURGH, June 3, 1814.

"We omitted to mention that the steamboat 'Buffalo' was safely launched on the 13th ult. from the yard of Mr. Latrobe. This boat, which was intended to complete the line of steam- boats from New Orleans to Pittsburgh, is a fine and uncom- monly well built vessel of two hundred and eighty-five tons burden, carpenters' measurement, and is intended to trade reg- ularly between Louisville and Pittsburgh once a month as long as the water will admit. She has two cabins and four state- rooms for private families, and will conveniently accommodate one hundred persons with beds. Should it be found that her draught of water, which will be about two feet six inches when her machinery is on board, is too great for the summer months, it is intended immediately to put on the stocks another boat or boats of smaller draught and less bulky construction. It is expected that the 'Buffalo' will be finished in time to bring up the cargo of the steamboat ' Vesuvius' from New Orleans."

A succceding number of the same paper, the Weekly American Messenger, contains the following items from St. Louis :

"ST. Louis. (I. T.), July 2, 1814.

" On Sunday last an armed boat arrived here from Prairie du Chien, under the command of Capt. John Sullivan, with his company of militia and thirty-two men from the gunboat ' Gov - ernor Clark,' their terms of service (sixty days) having expired. Capt. Yeizer, who commands on board the 'Governor Clark,' off Prairie du Chien, reports that his vessel is completely manned, that the fort is finished, christened Fort Shelby, and occupied by the regulars, and that all are anxious for a visit from Dick- son and his red troops. The Indians are hovering around the

The next vessel after the " Pike" to arrive at St. Louis was the " Constitution," Capt. R. T. Guyard, which arrived Oct. 2, 1817. The steamboat ceased in 1818 to be a novelty on the Mississippi, and be-

village, stealing horses, and have been successful in obtaining a prisoner, a Frenehman, who had gone out to look for his horses."

Ninth boat, the "James Monroe," one hundred and twenty tons, built at Pittsburgh, by Mr. Latrobe, owned by a company at Bayou Sara, and run in the Natchez trade.

Tenth boat, the "Washington," four hundred tons, a two- decker, built at Wheeling, Va., constructed and partly owned by Capt. Henry M. Shreve." The engine of the " Washing- ton" was built at Brownsville, Pa., under the immediate direc- tion of Capt. Shreve; her boilers were on the upper deck, being the first boat on that plan, a valuable improvement by Capt. Shreve, which is now generally in use. The "Washington" crossed the falls in September, 1816, under the command of Capt. Shreve, bound for New Orleans, and returned to Louis- ville during the following winter. In the month of March, 1817, she left Shippingport a second time, and proceeded to New Orleans, and returned to Shippingport, being absent only forty-five days. This was the trip that convinced the despair- ing public that steamboat navigation would succeed on the Western waters.

Eleventh boat, the "Franklin," one hundred and twenty- five tons, built at Pittsburgh, by Messrs. Shiras & Cromwell, engine built by George Evans, left Pittsburgh in December, 1816, was sold at New Orleans, and was subsequently employed in the Louisville and St. Louis trade. She was sunk in the Mississippi, near Ste. Genevieve, in 1819, on her way to St. Louis, commanded by Capt. Revels.

Twelfth boat, the "Oliver Evans" (afterwards the " Con- stitution"), seventy tons, built at Pittsburgh, by George Evans, engines his patent. She left Pittsburgh in December, 1816, for New Orleans; she burst one of her boilers in April, 1817, off Point Coupée, by which eleven men lost their lives, principally passengers. Owned by George Sulton and others of Pitts- burgh.

Thirteenth boat, the "Harrict," forty tons, built at Pitts- burgh, constructed and owned by Mr. Armstrong, of Williams- port, Pa. She left Pittsburgh, October, 1816, for New Orleans, crossed the falls in March, 1817, made one trip to New Orleans, and subsequently ran between that place and Muscle Shoals, on the Tennessee River.

Fourteenth boat, the "Kentucky," eighty tons, built at Frankfort, Ky., in 1817, and owned by Hanson & Beswell, en- gaged in the Louisville trade.

* The St. Louis Republican of March 7, 1851, thus notes the death of this eminent steamboat-man : "This worthy citizen died at the resi- dence of his son-in-law in this city yesterday. He was for nearly forty years closely identified with the commerce of the West, either in flat- boats or steam navigation. During the administrations of Adams, Jackson, and Van Buren he filled the post of United States superin- tendent of Western river improvements, and by the steam snag-boat, of which he was the inventor, contributed largely to the safety of West- ern commerce. To him belongs the honor of demonstrating the prac- ticability of navigating the Mississippi River with steamboats. He commanded the first steamer that ever ascended that river, and made several and valuable improvements, both of the steam-engine and of the hull and cabins of the Western steamboats. While the British were threatening New Orleans in 1814-15, he was employed by Gen. Jack- son in several hazardous enterprises, and during the battle of the 8th of January served one of the field-pieces which destroyed the advancing column led by Gen. Keane. His name has become historically associated with Western river navigation, and will long be cherished by his numer- ous friends throughout this valley."

1098

HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

came a recognized agent of the commerce of the valley.

The arrivals and departures of vessels about this time were occasionally noticed by the Gazette as fol- lows :

Fifteenth boat, the "Governor Shelby," ninety tons, built at Louisville, engine by Bolton & Ebolt, of England. In 1819 she was running very successfully in the Louisville trade.

Sixteenth boat, the "New Orleans," three hundred tons, built at Pittsburgh by Messrs. Fulton & Livingston in 1817, for the Natchez trade, sunk near Baton Rouge, but was raised, and sunk again near New Orleans in February, 1819, about two months after her first sinking.

Seventeenth boat, the "Vesta," one hundred tons, built at Cineinnati in 1817, and owned by Messrs. Bosson, Cowdin & Co. She plied regularly as a packet between Cincinnati and Louisville.

Eighteenth boat, the "George Madison," two hundred tons, built at Pittsburgh in 1818, by Messrs. Voorhees, Mitchell, Rodgers & Todd, of Frankfort, Ky., was engaged in the Louis- ville trade in 1819.

Nineteenth boat, the "Ohio," four hundred and forty-three tons, built at New Albany, Ind., in 1818, by Messrs. Shreve & Blair, in the Louisville trade.

Twentieth boat, the "Napoleon," three hundred and thirty- two tons, built at Shippingport in 1818, by Messrs. Shreve, Miller & Breckinridge, of Louisville, engaged in the Louisville trade.

Twenty-first boat, the "Voleano," two hundred and fifty tons, built at New Albany, Ind., by Messrs. John & Robinson De Hart in 1818. She was purchased in 1819 by a company at Natehez, and ran between that port and New Orleans.

Twenty-second boat, the "General Jackson," one hundred and fifty tons, built at Pittsburgh in 1818, and owned by R. Whiting, of Pittsburgh, and Gen. Carroll, of Tennessee, in the Nashville trade.

Twenty-third boat, the "Eagle," seventy tons, built at Cin- cinnati in 1818, owned by James Berthoud & Son, of Ship- pingport, Ky., in the Natchez trade.

Twenty-fourth boat, the "Hecla," seventy tons, built at Cincinnati in 1818, and owned by Messrs. Honoris & Barbaror, of Louisville, in the Louisville trade.

Twenty-fifth boat, the " Henderson," eighty-five tons, built at Cincinnati in 1818, and owned by Messrs. Bowers, of Hen- derson, Ky., in the Henderson and Louisville trade.

Twenty-sixth boat, the "Johnson," eighty tons, built at Wheeling, Va., in 1818, and in 1819 engaged in the Yellow- stone expedition.

Twenty-seventh boat, the "Cincinnati," one hundred and twenty tons, built at Cineinnati in 1818, and owned by Mesers. Paxon & Co., of New Albany, Ind., in the Louisville trade.

Twenty-eighth boat, the "Exchange," two hundred tons, built in Louisville, Ky., in 1818, and owned by David L. Ward, of Jefferson County, Ky., in the Louisville trade.

Twenty-ninth boat, the "Louisiana," forty-five tons, built at New Orleans in 1818, and owned by Mr. Duplisa, of New Orleans, in the Natchez trade.

Thirtieth boat, the "James Ross,'' three hundred and thirty tons, built at Pittsburgh in 1818, and owned by Messrs. Whit- ing & Stackpole, of Pittsburgh, in the Louisville trade.

Thirty-first boat, the "Frankfort," three hundred and twenty tons, built at Pittsburgh in 1818, and owned by Messrs. Voor- hees & Mitehell, of Frankfort, Ky., in the Louisville trade.

Thirty-second boat, the "Tamerlane," three hundred and

"On Saturday last the steamboat 'Franklin,' of about one hundred and forty tons burden, arrived here in thirty-two days from New Orleans with passengers and an assorted eargo. The ' Franklin' is admirably ealeulated for a regular paeket-boat to ply between St. Louis and New Orleans. Her stowage is eapa-

twenty tons, built at Pittsburgh in 1818, and owned by Messrs. Bogart & Co., of New York, in the Louisville trade.

Thirty-third boat, the " Perseverance," forty tons, built at Cincinnati in 1818, and owned at that place.

Thirty-fourth boat, the "St. Louis," two hundred and twenty tons, built at Shippingport, Ky., in 1818, and owned by Messrs. Hewes, Douglass, Johnson, and others, in the St. Louis trade.

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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 25

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