History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 99

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1198

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time employed in securing the safety of these people precluded the removal of the boat's books and records. It was thought best to cut the boat loose and let her drift down stream. This was done, and the flaming vessel swing away from shore and drifted to the opposite bank, where it grounded. She was now a mass of flames, roaring like a Niagara. Daylight had waned and the blazing boat illuminated the surrounding plains for miles. It formed an amazingly brilliant picture, but those who saw it were in no condition of mind to appreciate its mag- nificent features. And now came the climax of the grand spectacle, The hull of the boat was lifted up from the water, a deafening roar was heard, the waters of the river were forced up in great waves and columns, the ground trembled under the feet of the appalled spectators. Even the trees were swayed violently, and the air was literally filled with the blazing embers of the boat and its con- tents. The magazine had been reached by the flames and the phenomena of trembling earth and spouting water were the effect of the explosion. It was a scene of vivid reality, surpassing in its awful grandeur the power of ordinary language to describe. The plains were covered for a long distance with charred fragments of the boat and cargo. It was evident that the work of destruction had been very complete.

From the time when the fire was first discovered to the moment when the giant explosion occurred just sixty minutes elapsed. The work of many months was eaten up and scattered to the winds in just an hour. The destruction was so rapid and so complete and the direful disaster coming upon them so minex- pected, like a bolt of lightning from a cloudless sky, that none realized the extent and thoroughness of the calamity for some time after the explosion occurred, and only when the tension of mind and body relaxed and gave way to Nature's appeal for repose, and the darkling veil of night had been drawn over the scene, the small colony of castaways on the shore began to look about for a resting place only to discover how complete was their destitution, how every trace of comfort had been obliterated by the destruction of the boat, Their situation was appar- ently one of extreme peril, particularly to the women. They had not a mouthful of food, no shelter, no beds but the bare earth, no weapons, simply the clothes that covered their bodies. They were nearly seven hundred and eighty miles by river from Fort Benton and 120 miles by river back to Fort Union, the nearest point where they could expect to find any relief, There was no boat above them and they knew nothing of the boats that were coming up the river. One might come along in a day and more likely not for a week. They felt that their sitna- tion was bordering on the desperate. In this forlorn and dangerous dilemma. Captain Humphries remembered a camp of "Wood Hawks," men who kept cordwood to sell to the steamboats, a few miles below and he soon had the entire party on the march for that camp, which was reached shortly after midnight. where a good-sized cabin was found well supplied with buffalo robes, some blankets, and coarse food. Especial attention was given to the comfort of the ladies, whose welfare was the first consideration.

The next morning the captain was able to procure canoes and a good-sized rowboat for the trip down to Fort Union, at which post an abundance of small boats and provisions could be had for those who wished to return. At Union everything needful was procured and all that desired were given free transpor- tation and accommodations on the mackinaws for the trip home, intending to change to the first steamboat they should overtake bound downstream. As luck would have it, they were still on the outlook for a returning boat when they reached Yankton, but were quite indifferent about finding one, for they had grown accustomed to their narrow quarters, were having the finest of weather. and under more fortunate circumstances would claim that they were enjoying the voyage. A few of the male passengers and also a number of the crew had left the small boats at various points on the down trip, taking passage on the boats that were met bound for Benton, and there were a number. The four ladies of the party were doing their best to be cheerful, but all of them had lost

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heavily in personal apparel and stocks of goods they were taking into the mines. They were going back home to receive the condolences of relatives and friends, but intended to make another effort the following year. All the people were most emphatic in praising the conduct of the captain. He had been everything that was manly and noble, patient, cheerful, bearing the hardest part like a brave, Christian gentleman. It was worth some small misfortune at least io have earned such sincere testimonials to his merits as a man and a steamboat com- mander. It was the intention of Commodore Choteau, who represented the fur company, to charter another boat at St. Louis and endeavor to take a stock of supplies through to Benton before the close of navigation. The Chippewa had been in the upper river trade for five years and was credited with making the first trip to Benton. It was a favorite craft with the Dakota people, who learned of its destruction with sincere regret.

The party passed on in a few hours. They were traveling at the rate of 75 to 100 miles a day, and expected to reach St. Joseph, Missouri, the first railroad point, inside of a week, where the passengers would board the cars for home.

PROFITS OF STEAMBOATS-INCIDENTS OF MACKINAW TRAVEL

A large number of steamboats engaged in the transportation of passengers, merchandise and supplies, to the upper Missouri country, including the forts, Indian agencies, supply depots and the gold fields of Idaho and Montana, in 1866. Beginning April Ist, the steamboats going up the river were the Deer Lodge, Cora, Waverly, St. Johns, Jennie Brown, Big Horn, Marcella, Mollie Dozier, William J. Lewis, Only Chance, Tacony, Iron City, Peter Balen. Favorite, Amelia Poe, Goldfinch, Ontario, W. B. Dance, Desmet, Ned Tracy, Dora, David Watts, Huntsville, Helena, Miner (Northwest Fur Company), Lillie Martin, Luella, Jennie Lewis, Tom Stevens, Mary McDonald, Gallatin, Lexington with troops, Marion, Agnes, Montana, Ben Johnson, H. S. Turner, Nellie Rogers, Amanda, Pocahontas, Jennie Brown, and Rubicon, with Colonel Reeves, of the Thirteenth Infantry, commander of the Military District of Dakota.

The owners of steamboats that carried on the Missouri River traffic from 1863, for several years, found their business very profitable. A St. Louis author- ity gathered some statistics on this point from a number of the boat owners in 1866 that showed the profits of the Mollie Dozier for that year to be $50,100 : the St. Johns, exclusive of the trip made for the Government with the Sherman Indian Peace Commission, $17,000 ; the W. J. Lewis, $40,000; the Deer Lodge, $70,000; the Peter Balen, irip of ninety-six days, $65,000; the Tacony, $16,000. The steamboats Goldfinch, Iron City and Peter Balen were owned by one com- pany, and cleared a profit of $100,000. A large number of the owners declined to state their profit, but the statistician averred that none were less than $10,000, and from that sum to $40,000. There were in the neighborhood of forty steam- boats engaged in this traffic, and the aggregate net profits of the entire fleet was set down at $1.500,000.

During the fall of 1866 the arrival of miners at various Dakota ports, coming in mackinaw boats and skiffs, from the gold fields of Montana and Idaho, was much greater than during the year preceding, an evidence that the Missouri River route was in great favor among the gold diggers. Yankton being the capital and having an excellent boat landing, was about the only desirable halting place for these parties until Sioux City was reached. It was estimated that two thousand of these home-seeking adventurers stopped over at this point during October and November, and employed land transportation to the nearest railway point. As a rule the miners had a good-sized sack of gold, and how much more could only be conjectured. An inquiry as to the amount of treasure they had accumulated was met by an evasive answer as a rule. Where they made pur- chases they paid in gold dust and nuggets, all the merchants and one of the saloons, having provided scales for weighing the yellow metal. Nearly all the

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available horses, mules and vehicles that could be procured, were engaged during this period in transporting these people from Yankton to the nearest railroad point, and many more passed on to points below before abandoning the river. After October, the weather turned quite cold, and the open boat travel became so uncomfortable that Yankton became the transfer point for nearly all arrivals. Some boats, however, were built and fitted out for all sorts of weather. One large craft arrived on the ist of November. She was seventy-five feet in length, fitted up with a deck, covering a cabin and sleeping bunks. She had on board eighty-two passengers, and was owned and commanded by Zina French, of Fort Benton, where the boat was built. The craft drew nine inches of water and could easily make 100 miles a day, with her canvas spread. She was fitted for rowing and sailing, and her owner claimed that he would elcar a net profit of $5,000 from this one trip. As a rule, the boats found ready purchasers at the various stopping places-parties buying to obtain the pine lumber, of which they were mainly constructed. A number of the older buildings in the Missouri River towns were partially constructed of material that was grown near the headwaters of the Missouri.

A party of three miners who, with seven others, were making the trip from Fort Benton to civilization, reached Yankton October 20th. About sixty miles above Fort Randall the party tied their craft up for the night near a sandbar and close to shore, and the men went out on the bar to sleep. During the night one of the party procured an axe, and with one blow crushed the skull and instantly killed one of his companions. He struck another in the shoulder, nearly severing the arm. The wounded man made an outery and awoke the entire camp, when the murderer seized a rifle and escaped into the timber. The miners supposed they had been attacked by Indians, and without stopping to investigate hurried the wounded man to their boat, into which they jumped and pushed off downstream, leaving the dead man on the bar. The absence of the murderer and the wounded miner's story soon convinced the party that the Indians had had no part in the tragedy; but anxiety for the condition of their wounded companion determined the party to continue on to Fort Randall, where he could get medical aid. The party reached the fort during the day following. and placed their injured comrade in care of the post surgeon, informing the authorities at the post of the tragedy that had occurred. The commanding officer immediately dispatched a detachment of troops, accompanied by a number of the miners, to the locality of the homicide, but the slayer had made his escape. The slain man was given a decent burial. It was conjectured that the murderer had planned to kill the entire party with the axe, while they slept, seize their gold, and make his escape, after disposing of the bodies, by taking the boat. His plan failed, and he was then an outeast in the wilderness.

A few weeks later a man answering to the description of the murderer, which had been left with the sheriff, was arrested at Yankton and locked up. He had that day reached the settlement from the west, traveling afoot, and represented that he had left the steamboat Miner some distance up the river for the purpose of hunting ; that the boat left him and he was obliged to walk, and for a time was lost on the prairie. He had a preliminary examination before Justice of the Peace George Pike. Sr .. and was able to prove an alibi to the satisfaction of the court. A member of a mackinaw party that had reached town the night before the trial testified that the aceused was at Fort Benton as late as October 12th. Such being the case. he could not possibly have been a member of the unfortunate crew, and he was discharged. He gave his name as Burton Baker. His close resemblance given of the murderer. and his arrest under circumstances that seemed to justify suspicion was all there was in the case against him. He was overjoyed when the judge released him. He had been apprehensive that some- thing might be found to confirm the charge, and possibly Judge Lynch would take him in hand. as was frequently done in Montana in similar cases. He had been having a year of hard luck in the mines, he claimed, and had become familiar

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with the frowns of fortune. He reasoned that it would be in keeping with his luckless year to be held up here on a murder charge. The action of the judge led him to hope that he had reached a turn in the road, and might expect a change of fortune.

BATTLE WITH TILE IIOSTILES

Steamboating on the Missouri River was a precarious occupation in 1863. The country was in the midst of the Civil war and the State of Missouri was overrun with guerilla bands which did not hesitate to attack the steamboats engaged in transportation, claiming they were in the Confederate service and justified in their depredations by the well known laws of war. For this reason, the boats were compelled to wear a heavy iron armor, as the rebel bandits in some cases were supplied with artillery, and all had good rifles, therefore the boats were likewise fitted with artillery, and as a rule their armor consisted of heavy boiler iron. Running the gauntlet from the rebels, and reaching Dakota, as in the case of boats ladened with Indian, military and Montana freight and passengers, the boats entered the field of the active Indian war, and after reaching the vicinity of Fort Pierre the hostile Sioux were encountered, and for a thousand miles above there was a daily liability of attacks from marauding bands of the Sioux, well armed with rifles and supplied with an abundance of ammunition. Boats insufficiently armored frequently returned riddled with bullets.

Eighteen hundred and sixty-three was the first full year of the great Indian war which broke out in the fall of 1862. It was the dryest year ever known by Missouri steamboatmen, the season of the lowest water in all the western rivers, the Mississippi included, and boats found it difficult to make any headway in the upper Missouri even with half a load. The Indians were defiant and bold and cunning. General Sully's first campaign was undertaken this year, and he con- sumed the whole season in getting his necessary supplies to a point near Fort Pierre, where, abandoning his dependence on the river, he made up a hasty equip- ment for a brief land campaign, and learning of the whereabouts of a large force of hostiles pursued and overtook them and fought the battle of Whitestone Hills.

In May the steamboat Robert Campbell, Jr., left St. Louis, heavily loaded, for Fort Benton. This boat met with the usual hostilities of the guerilla bands, and finally reached the theater of Indian warfare in Dakota in July, its voyage having been seriously hampered by the low water and meeting with Indian hos- tilities at a number of points. It had on board the Government Indian agent, Major Latta, in charge of a large quantity of Indian goods which the Govern- ment was sending to these same hostile Indians as presents, a custom that had been in vogue for some years, and designed as rewards for the peaceful conduct of the Sioux. These goods the agent would land at certain points where the Indians would gather to receive them, but this season they refused them, and the death penalty had been threatened against any that accepted them. But the Government representative insisted on landing the supplies at the appointed places and did so at great personal risk. Meeting with frequent warlike inci- dents, the Campbell finally reached Fort Berthold, where a good portion of its cargo was left, and then concluded to go on to Fort Union and store the remainder. It had reached a point forty or fifty miles below the mouth of the Yellowstone.

At Fort Berthold, Captain La Barge, in command of the Campbell, learned that he had been followed for a week by a Sioux war party numbering 500, which designed to seize the boat at the first favorable opportunity. The Sioux were on the right or west bank of the stream, and doubtless expected to find its opportunity when the boat had landed for fuel. At this time the Campbell had been joined by the steamer Shreveport, and the latter had been engaged to take a portion of the Campbell's cargo to Fort Union, and had already made a trip and returned for another load, when they were overtaken by the hostile Indian force. Joseph La Barge was master of the Campbell, and John Gunsolis

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and James P. Mckinney, pilots. Col. C. J. Atkins was a passenger on the Camp- bell, also Alexander Culberson and his Indian wife. Mr. Atkins related the incidents of the battle, which are reproduced from Volume 2, Collections of the North Dakota Historical Society, 1908, Prof. O. G. Libbey, secretary.

(At this time, July, General Sibley, with his army, was advancing across Northern Dakota to meet these hostiles.)

Opposite Tobacco Garden, which was on the timbered side of the river, there was on the right hand, a high bluff. We saw that the woods on the left swarmed with Indians and that many ponies were tied there. We saw that the Indians were making great demonstrations of friendship, throwing their tomahawks down and scraping dirt.over them and calling out for the boat to land. Alexander Culbertson and his squaw both tokl Captain La Barge that this was a dangerous war party and that they meant mischief. From what the Indians said among themselves Culbertson warned every one to be on guard against treachery. Cap- tain La Barge called for volunteers to go ashore in the yawl and bring the chiefs on board. Atkins volunteered, but Captain Mckinney would not let him go, as Culberson warned him that the Sioux would kill every man in the yawl. The captain, with the Shreveport near at hand, stopped at a sandbar in the river, and the yawl was ordered to go to a dry bar that ran out into the river several rods from the steep wooded bank, which was at that point four or five feet high. When the Indians saw the yawl coming they crowded eagerly down on the sandbar, filling it completely from the water's edge to the bank. They reminded one of wild beasts about to spring on their prey. The yawl was manned by one of the deckhands and six roustabouts as oarsmen, and as it neared the shore an Indian picked up a dead tree top and threw it down to indicate where the landing was to be made. When the yawl reached the sandbar, one of the men got out and pulled it up and held it steady, while one of the Indians got in and seated himself with the steersman at the stern. Others shook hands with the oarsmen, standing in the water near the boat or with one foot on the gunwale. When the man on the bank made ready to shove off the boat, an Indian suddenly reached back over his shoulder for an arrow, seeing which Atkins, who had been keeping a sharp lookout from the deck of the MeDonald, leveled his gun and fired at him. At the same instant he saw the Indian sitting in the stern of the yawl raise his spear and thrust the stroke oarsman through the body and leap out of the boat into the water. The steersman instantly sprang overboard and hidden by the gunwale managed to pull the boat off from the shore amid a shower of bullets and arrows, and swam with it back to the steamboat Campbell.

On board this boat a barricade had been erected of boxes and flour sacks, extending around the front of the boat, and behind this lay eighteen well-armed men, mostly passengers. A signal was now given, when a heavy volley from both the Campbell and the Shreveport cut through the mass of Indians on the bar like a reaper through grain. The dead lay thick all over the sand, while among them the wounded struggled to escape to the woods before the second volley was fired. From the shelter of the timber the Indians opened fire on the boats and a sharp fusillade was continued on both sides for some time. Then the boys on the boats began firing on the ponies tied in the timber, and the Indians made every effort to save them. One Indian, hideously painted with a white stripe down the middle of his breast and transverse stripes like ribs extending from it on each side, rode out on the bank in full view, and sat there waving a lance upon which were several scalps. All the whites on the boats appeared to have fired at him simultaneously, for both Indian and pony went down as if struck by light- ning. Two of the pilots were firing from the rear of the pilot-house and an Indian who had crawled down far enough to command a view of their position. opened fire on them at close range. By watching carefully they finally located their assailant by the smoke of his discharge, and killed him at the first fire.

Of the men in the yawl, besides the one killed by the spear thrust in the first of the fight, two more were shot while trying to escape in the boat, one of whom

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died instantly, and the other died soon after being taken aboard. One man received an arrow wound nine inches deep, but recovered, being just able to walk when the boat returned from its voyage.

A day or two after this battle, which was called the Battle of the Shreveport, there was a report at Fort Union that the Indian loss in the fight was twenty- eight killed and forty-seven wounded, beside eight ponies killed and four wounded. The whites' loss totaled three, as already narrated, who were buried the following day under a heavy guard. But it was evident that the Indians were not seeking a renewal of the conflict, for they were not afterwards seen.

Capt. Abe Hutchinson, it appears, navigated the Yellowstone River during the Civil war, according to the St. Louis Republican. In 1864 he started from La Crosse, Wisconsin, with the steamers Chippewa Falls and Cutler for Fort Benton. The Chippewa Falls was ordered up the Yellowstone in September, 1864, proceeding ninety miles above the mouth and relieving the Eighth Minne- sota Regiment, or a portion of it that had been left in that quarter at the time of Sully's expedition in 1864. The Cutler was low water bound during the season at the mouth of the Marias River, which empties into the Missouri a few iniles below Benton. She returned to La Crosse in 1865.

The Key West, Coulson line, Capt. Grant Marsh, master, was the first steam- boat to reach the mouth of Powder River, a tributary of the Yellowstone. This was in 1873, and the achievement gave new importance to the Yellowstone as a navigable stream. The purpose of the trip was to enable General Forsythie, U. S. A., to select sites for two military posts in that section then overrun with hostile Sioux Indians. The sites were selected, but the posts were not built until 1877-78.

The people of Yankton were taken by surprise on Thursday, the 17th of November, 1864, to find the town literally overrun with a large number of gold miners who had reached here that morning from the gold fields of Idaho and Montana. They came in a fleet of seventeen mackinaw boats and numbered 180 men. Among them was William Thompson, who is mentioned in the early part of this history as one of the party who came to Dakota in company with M. K. Armstrong, and who went to the mines during the summer of 1863. Mr. Thomp- son had about three thousand dollars in gold on his person, most of it in leather belts supported by his shoulders and strapped around his body, the weight of which made him appear somewhat awkward as he moved around shaking the hands of his old pioneer friends. The party left Virginia City, Montana, on the Ist of October, and traveled overland about one hundred and fifty miles to a point on the head of the Yellowstone where they had arranged for the building of eighteen boats, which they found all in good condition and ready for the long voyage which they were about to undertake. They reached the Yellowstone October 8th, and started down the river on the 11th. Two days later one boat was wrecked by striking a rock, and was abandoned. On the 27th they came out into the Missouri and halted at Fort Union to purchase supplies. The first sign of Indians was met about one hundred and fifty miles below Union, but the savages did not trouble them. Near Painted Woods they passed a large camp of hostiles who opened fire on them but did no damage. The weather turned very cold after leaving Fort Rice and they suffered considerably. As they were in the hostile country they were continually on their guard and cautious about landing. They traveled all night after reaching Fort Sully, but had no trouble except from the extreme cold weather and floating ice. They landed at Yank- ton on the I7th having made the voyage in the boats, a distance of 1.700 miles in forty-seven days. Every man was well supplied with gold dust and nuggets. and paid for their purchases in town by exchanging gold at $45 an ounce. gold being worth about two dollars and sixty-five cents in greenbacks, which was then the currency of the realm. They were a high-spirited body of men, temperate, orderly and intelligent, and from Mr. Thompson's statement their aggregate gold supply was in excess of half a million dollars in gold, or a million and a half in

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History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 99

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920 Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company Number of Pages: 1198

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1198