THE HEAD OF NAVIGATION REACHED.
The decade from 1850 to 1860 saw a very rapid growth in the steamboat
business of the Missouri River. The stream of emigration across the
plains continued practically unchecked. Settlement was rapidly filling
up the lower valley of the river, and by 1856 had reached as far as
Sioux City, and all the modern towns below that point had commenced
their existence. Government exploration was being pushed with vigor
in all directions into the country beyond. The Indians were becoming
restive under the pressure of settlement; their annuities were
increasing, and the presence of troops in all parts of their country
was becoming more imperative. The long Indian wars of the Missouri
Valley were beginning.
[Sidenote: STEAMBOAT STATISTICS.]
All these developments had their effect upon the steamboat traffic of
the Missouri River, for that stream was the one great transportation
route into the heart of the West. Some idea of the magnitude of the
business may be gleaned from the records of the times as published
in the newspapers along the river. In the year 1858 there were 59
steamboats on the lower river and 306 steamboat arrivals at the port
of Leavenworth, Kan. The freight charges paid at that point during the
season amounted to $166,941.35. In 1859 the steamboat advertisements
in the St. Louis papers showed that more vessels left that port for
the Missouri River than for both the upper and lower Mississippi. In
1857 there were 28 steamboat arrivals at the new village of Sioux City
before July 1. There were 23 regular boats on that part of the river,
and their freight tonnage for the season was valued at $1,250,000.
The period from 1855 to 1860 was the golden era of steamboating on
the Missouri River. It was the period just before the advent of the
railroads. No other period before or after approached it in the
splendor of the boats. All the boats were sidewheelers, had full-length
cabins, and were fitted up more for passengers than for freight. It
was an era of fast boats and of racing. It was the heyday of that most
important personage, the Missouri River pilot.[33]
[Sidenote: PROGRESS UP THE RIVER.]
While this rapid development of traffic on the lower river was
going on, the American Fur Company was laying its plans to carry
steamboat navigation to Fort Benton. We have elsewhere told how the
_Assiniboine_ in 1834 reached a point near the mouth of Poplar River,
a hundred miles above the Yellowstone, and being caught by low water,
was compelled to stay there all winter. For the next nineteen years
this remained the farthest point reached by steamboats. In 1853 the _El
Paso_ went about 125 miles further, to a point five miles above the
mouth of Milk River. El Paso point, as this place came to be called,
marked the limit of steamboat progress up the river for the next six
years.
In 1859 the final step, or very nearly so, was taken in reaching the
real head of navigation. The record of this event is quite as definite
as are those of the entrance of steamboats into the mouth of the
Missouri in 1819 and the voyage of the _Yellowstone_ to Fort Union
in 1832. In the spring of 1859 the American Fur Company sent up two
boats with its annual outfit, its own boat, the _Spread Eagle_, and a
chartered boat, the _Chippewa_. The _Chippewa_ was a light boat, and
her owner, Captain Crabtree, contracted to take her to Fort Benton,
or as far as it was possible to go. At Fort Union he defaulted in his
contract and sold the boat to the Company for just about the charter
price for the voyage. Such freight as the _Spread Eagle_ carried for
Fort Benton was then transferred to the _Chippewa_, making a total
cargo of 160 tons. Captain John La Barge,[34] brother of Joseph La
Barge, and pilot of the _Spread Eagle_, was assigned to charge of the
_Chippewa_ on her adventurous undertaking. Mr. Charles P. Chouteau went
along as the Company’s representative.
The boat made her way successfully, and without any notable incident,
to within fifteen miles of Fort Benton, and discharged her freight at
Brulé bottom, where Fort McKenzie stood in former years. Her arrival at
this point was on July 17, 1859, forty years and two months after the
_Independence_ entered the mouth of the river.[35]
This noteworthy event must be classed as one of the celebrated feats
in steamboat navigation. The _Chippewa_ had reached a point further
from the sea by a continuous water course than any other boat had ever
been. She was now 3560 miles from, and 2565 feet above, the ocean, and
the whole distance had been made by steam on a river unimproved by
artificial works.
[Sidenote: HEAD OF NAVIGATION REACHED.]
In 1860 the _Chippewa_ and the _Key West_ completed the short remaining
distance to Fort Benton, and made fast to the bank in front of the old
post July 2 of that year. On June 16, 1866, the steamer _Peter Balen_
ascended the river to the mouth of Belt Creek, six miles from the Great
Falls, and thirty-one miles above Fort Benton. This is believed to be
the farthest point reached by steam on the Missouri River.[36] The feat
was accomplished during the June flood and would have been impossible
at ordinary stages. Fort Benton has always been considered the head of
navigation on the Missouri River.
[Sidenote: LOSS OF THE “CHIPPEWA.”]
[Sidenote: ALCOHOL AND CANDLES.]
In 1861 the heroic _Chippewa_ made her last trip up the river. Again
bound for Fort Benton, she reached the end of her voyage and of her
career at a point a little below the mouth of Poplar River, Mont.,
since known, from this connection, as Disaster Bend. She was loaded
with American Fur Company goods and Blackfeet annuities, and had a
goodly quantity of alcohol on board. One Sunday evening in the month of
May, while supper was being served, the boat was discovered to be on
fire. She was immediately run ashore, the passengers were put off, and
she was set adrift to avoid the danger from an expected explosion of
gunpowder that was in the hold. The boat floated across the river and
about a mile downstream, when she blew up, just as the upper works were
fairly consumed to the water’s edge. The explosion was terrific, and
packages of merchandise were found at a great distance from the place.
No lives were lost, and the personal effects of the passengers were
saved. The fire was caused by some deckhands, who went into the hold
with a lighted candle to steal some liquor.