CAPTAIN LA BARGE IN MONTANA.
Captain La Barge sold the _Emilie_ late in the winter of 1862–63. In
the following winter he made an unexpected sale of the _Shreveport_.
Henry Ames & Co., pork packers, sent their clerk one day to see if the
Captain would sell the boat. He replied that he did not care to, but
would if the price were satisfactory. Being invited to come to the
office of the firm, he was told that the boat suited them and was asked
to name a price.
“Twenty-five thousand dollars,” he said.
“Give the Captain a check for twenty-five thousand dollars,” said Ames,
turning to his clerk.
“Don’t you want a bill of sale and the customary evidence that she is
clear of debt?” asked the Captain, in some surprise.
“No,” was the reply; “you say she is so, and I will take your word.”
La Barge went down to the levee, transferred the boat, and then went to
the bank and cashed the check. He recalled this last circumstance by
the fact that the teller handed him the amount in twenty-five notes,
each of one thousand dollars.
[Sidenote: PURCHASE OF THE “EFFIE DEANS.”]
This sale took place in the winter, and it behooved the Captain to
cast about at once for a boat for the next annual voyage. A new boat
was being built on the Ohio River by the Keokuk Packet Company, John
S. McCune, President. Not proving satisfactory for their purposes,
she was brought to St. Louis and offered for sale. La Barge found her
well fitted for his work, and negotiated a purchase at forty thousand
dollars. McCune retained a one-fourth interest. She was called the
_Effie Deans_.
The boat was loaded with the usual assortment of freight, and left
St. Louis March 22, 1864, with forty-nine passengers and a cargo of
160 tons. She succeeded in getting only to the Marias River, where
the cargo was discharged. The boat was sent back in charge of John La
Barge, and the Captain himself remained in the upper country. He hired
wagons and took his property up the river, selling part of it in Benton
and the rest in Virginia City. He remained in the mining regions upward
of two months, although he finished his business in much less time. On
account of the danger from outlaws, or road agents, it was necessary to
await an exceptionally good opportunity for getting away. The Captain
had decided to return _via_ Salt Lake City, because to go by way of
the Missouri in an open boat would have meant little less than suicide.
The feeling of the Indians was so bitter at this time that no one could
pass their country in safety unless well protected.
The Captain had almost a hundred thousand dollars in golddust to take
with him, and he knew that this was not a secret with himself. He
caused it to be given out that he expected to depart on a certain day,
but actually stole away several days before, and was safely in Salt
Lake City before the announced date of his departure. The coach he was
to have taken was held up by the road agents and a passenger of the
name of Hughes was killed.
[Sidenote: COSTLY TRANSPORTATION.]
In Salt Lake City Captain La Barge remained for some time arranging
for the rest of his journey home. He could not hire a coach from Ben
Holiday, proprietor of the overland line, for less than eighteen
hundred dollars. The Wells-Fargo Express Company wanted twenty-five
hundred dollars to send the dust by way of San Francisco, and would
assume no responsibility. These conditions were not satisfactory, and
the Captain purchased a team and wagon, with which he and three or four
others undertook the journey alone. Their golddust was carried in bags
of thick buckskin.
[Sidenote: TEMPTING INDUCEMENTS.]
While in Salt Lake City the Captain renewed his acquaintance with
Brigham Young and other Mormons whom he had known on the Missouri. An
old friend of his of the name of Hooper, who had turned Mormon, and
later became a delegate from the Territory to Congress, called as soon
as he heard that La Barge was in town. He also found there another
friend, Hopkins by name, whom he had known from boyhood. Hopkins tried
his best to induce La Barge to join the Mormons. He assured the Captain
that if he would sell out in St. Louis and come to Utah it would be
his fortune. As proof of this, he referred to himself and others, who,
he said, had gone into Mormonism, not for any love of the doctrine,
but as a simple business proposition. Hooper and Hopkins had both been
unsuccessful in St. Louis. La Barge had taken them up on his boat to
Fort Kearney, about 1852, and had always esteemed them good men. He
asked the wife of one of them one day why her husband had never married
again, since the doctrine of the Church and the sentiment of the
community sanctioned it. “He doesn’t dare to; he knows _I_ would leave
him if he did,” she replied.
[Sidenote: DIGNITARIES OF THE MORMON CHURCH.]
The Captain called on Young several times. That dignitary received
him very hospitably, took him to the Tabernacle and other places of
interest, and presented him to several of his families. They went to
the theater together, where they sat in a box with Young’s favorite
wife, the other wives being ranged in seats below. Young never said
anything intended to convert La Barge to his religion. Other members
of the Church did, and particularly Orson Hyde, who was a man of
education and a very persuasive talker. La Barge heard a sermon by
Heber Kimball--a rough old fellow who took off his coat, rolled up his
sleeves, and waded in. His language was coarse and vulgar, and would
not bear repetition in refined ears.
The route of the Captain’s party, on leaving Salt Lake City, was
through Weber Cañon to Fort Bridger. They stopped there a short time
with Captain Carter, who, for many years, did business at that frontier
post. From there they made their way east, and left the mountain
country _via_ the valley of the Cache à la Poudre River. In the valley
of the South Platte they met an old man of the name of Geary, who told
them that a band of hostile Indians was scouring the country between
them and Denver, and that they had better conceal themselves for a few
days on an island in the Platte River. They acted upon this advice,
and when they judged the danger to be past they resumed their journey.
They had gone but a little way when they came to a spot where a party
of emigrants had been massacred only a day or two before. Their timely
measure of precaution was therefore well taken.
[Sidenote: A LONG VOYAGE.]
The rest of the journey was made without noteworthy incident. The
party reached the Missouri at Nebraska City just in time to catch the
last boat to St. Louis. They arrived home about December 1. Captain
La Barge found that the _Effie Deans_ had returned and had been
chartered by McCune’s company to go to Montgomery, Ala. She made this
trip in safety, returning to St. Louis before ice closed in. Probably
no other boat ever made so long a trip on inland waters in a single
season, including also a sea voyage, as did the _Effie Deans_ in 1864.
The distance on the Missouri up and back was 4570 miles; that on the
Mississippi to the Gulf and back was 2522 miles; that from Mobile to
Montgomery and back was 676 miles; and that across the Gulf from the
mouth of the Mississippi to Mobile and back not less than 600 miles.
The whole distance traveled was about 8400 miles.
[Sidenote: ANOTHER DILEMMA.]
In April, 1865, Captain La Barge started up the river again on the
_Effie Deans_. At Nebraska City came the news of Lee’s surrender,
and at Decatur that of the assassination of Lincoln. There was great
commotion among the passengers at the news of this terrible deed.
There were many ex-Confederates on board, some of whom expressed their
satisfaction at the event, and there might very easily have been
trouble between them and the Union passengers; but Captain La Barge
skillfully avoided all difficulty.
The voyage, though a tedious one, was completed without serious delay
or accident. Captain La Barge sent the boat back in charge of the
pilot, Captain Ray, and himself started with another outfit of goods
for the mines. This time he went to Helena, which had sprung into
existence since his last trip to Montana. He bought a small house in
which to store his goods and he and his son acted as salesmen.
[Sidenote: A TIMELY RESCUE.]
In the meanwhile Captain La Barge’s brother had again involved St.
Louis parties in serious difficulty on account of the non-delivery of
freight. John S. McCune had shipped to Fort Benton a fine cargo of
goods on the _Kate Kearney_, Captain John La Barge, master. The very
hostile attitude of the Indians caused the Captain to abandon the trip
a little above Fort Union. When the news reached the mines suits were
brought against McCune aggregating some three hundred thousand dollars.
As soon as word reached St. Louis, McCune saw the gravity of the
situation, and instantly dispatched a message to La Barge in Montana
_via_ the overland route. It fortunately reached the Captain before he
had finished his business in Helena, and he set out forthwith for Fort
Benton, leaving his son in charge of the store. He felt certain that
Captain Ray, the pilot of the _Effie Deans_, would not abandon the
cargo, and he was not mistaken. When Ray met the _Kate Kearney_, on his
return trip, he transferred the cargo to the _Effie Deans_, and brought
it back to Fort Galpin, a little above the mouth of Milk River, but
could get no further on account of low water. He then sent an express
to Fort Benton for teams. Captain La Barge was there at the time, and
at once procured thirty ox teams of five yoke each, with the necessary
wagons, and started for Fort Galpin. There he took all the freight and
delivered it safely at its destination. It was a prodigious task, but
its timely completion saved McCune from a disastrous loss. The suits
were all withdrawn, and the cost of transportation by wagon was the sum
of the extra expense.
La Barge left the Territory late in the season with fifty thousand
dollars in golddust. He went by way of Salt Lake City, where he and
two others chartered a coach to take them through to Nebraska City.
When within about fifty miles of Denver the stage driver refused to go
farther on account of the Indians, and the party were compelled to hire
a wagon and go the rest of the way alone. At Nebraska City they found
the steamboat _Denver_, on which they went to St. Joseph, and thence by
the railroad to St. Louis.
[Sidenote: AN UNEXPECTED DELIVERANCE.]
Captain La Barge had not been heard from in two months. He at once went
to McCune’s office to relieve the fears under which that gentleman had
so long been laboring. McCune came up to him, looked the travel-worn
Captain in the face, and said: “I don’t dare to ask you any questions.
I am afraid to know the worst.”
“Don’t be alarmed,” said La Barge; “I think I have straightened
everything out all right.”
“Are there no suits pending?” asked McCune.
“No; they are all settled, and here are the receipts.”
“How much has the misadventure cost me?”
“Not to exceed ten thousand dollars all told.”
McCune was overjoyed at the news, for he feared that he was ruined. As
it was, in spite of the extra expense, he would reap a handsome profit.
He threw his arms around La Barge and embraced him for joy at the
unexpected deliverance, and could never thereafter do enough for him.