LAST VOYAGES TO BENTON.
As soon as the ice broke up in the spring of 1868 Captain La Barge
commenced work on the river, and after two trips to St. Joseph
advertised for a trip to Benton. He received a good cargo and had
a fairly profitable voyage, but in no sense so satisfactory as the
year before. After his return in the fall to St. Louis he received
a proposition for the charter of the boat in the government river
work. Terms were arranged with General McComb of Cincinnati, through
Captain Charles R. Suter, who was later for many years in charge of the
government work on the Missouri River. Captain La Barge remained on the
boat, working for the government, during the rest of the season, when
he sold the boat to the Engineer Department for $40,000.
[Sidenote: THE MISSOURI HIS HOME.]
“And here,” said the Captain, “I have to record another of the great
mistakes of my life. I was now well ‘fixed,’ as the world goes. I had
the $40,000 which I had received for my boat. I had about $50,000 in
the bank. My home, forty acres in Cabanné place, was easily worth
$40,000 even at that time; and I was entirely out of debt. I had
thought much of retiring from the river and ought to have done so. It
was only too evident that the steamboat business on the Missouri had
seen its day. It had passed its meridian in the middle of the sixties,
and henceforth it was sure to decline. The reluctance of an active
man, still in the prime of life (I was fifty-three), to lay aside the
pursuits of a thrifty career, may have blinded my eyes to the certain
and early fate of the business I had been engaged in, and have led me
to hope that it would continue to be what it had been in the past. I
had no desire to go on any other river. The Missouri was my home. I had
grown up on it from childhood. I liked it, and knew I could not feel at
home on any other.
“And so I unwisely concluded to continue at my old business, and went
into it on a larger scale than ever before. I built the _Emilie La
Barge_, a larger and finer boat even than the _Octavia_, costing me
$60,000. The hull was built on the Ohio and brought to St. Louis for
completion. This was in the winter of 1868–69.”
Government business up the river was still very good, but competition
for it was getting closer, as other lines of steamboat trade declined,
and Captain La Barge failed to secure a contract. He went to work,
however, for the successful bidder and did a paying business during
the summer. He returned to St. Louis in September and made two trips
to New Orleans, when the boat was laid up until the spring of 1870. He
then entered into a contract with the government to transport Colonel
Gilbert and 480 men with over 400 tons of freight to Fort Buford. It
was a low-water season and the trip was slow and tedious; but the boat
got through all right. After his return Captain La Barge ran in the
lower river the balance of the season. But the profits were small, for
the railroads had thoroughly gotten the upper hand. There was no longer
any money in the lower river trade.
[Sidenote: AN OPEN BAR.]
“I recall a little incident that amused me somewhat while on this
summer’s trip,” said the Captain. “Colonel Gilbert was a strict
disciplinarian, yet withal much liked by his men. When he came on board
he told me that I need not close the bar on the boat unless I chose
to do so. If any of his men wanted a drink and had money to pay for
it, let them have it. ‘That’s something very unusual,’ said I, for
generally when troops were in transport I had to close the bar. ‘All
right, I’ll take my chances,’ he replied. ‘If any of them get drunk,
they will not get drunk again.’ I noted throughout the trip that there
was not a single drunken soldier, although the bar was open all the
time.
[Sidenote: COLONEL AND LIEUTENANT.]
“It was customary whenever we stopped to have a guard posted near the
gangway, and this was done on our arrival at Fort Randall. A guard
from the post was also ordered down, presumably to prevent the post
soldiers from getting on the boat. The young lieutenant in charge made
his way on board past Colonel Gilbert’s guard, on telling who he was.
He inquired of me for Colonel Gilbert, and I took him up and introduced
him. After a few minutes’ conversation he noticed the open bar on the
boat and some soldiers there, drinking. He said to Colonel Gilbert that
he would like to have the bar closed, as such were his orders. ‘Why
don’t you have it closed, then?’ said Colonel Gilbert bluntly. ‘Well,
I don’t like to order it when you are aboard with troops.’ ‘It suits
me to have it open,’ returned the Colonel. The lieutenant explained
that they were afraid that some of the post soldiers would get aboard
and get drunk. ‘You have a guard out there, haven’t you?’ asked the
Colonel. ‘Yes, sir.’ ‘Well, if they get past your guard they won’t
mine,’ and he turned and walked off, leaving the lieutenant quite
crestfallen at the encounter.
“It was while we were here at Randall that I was subpœnaed by a United
States marshal to appear at the trial of the murderer of Captain Spear.
I had the greatest difficulty in getting permission to continue my
trip, although the trial was not to come off for several months. I had
to give $20,000 bonds for my appearance.
[Sidenote: DISASTROUS CONTRACT.]
“After my return to St. Louis that fall I made several Mississippi
River trips and laid the boat up late in the season. In the summer of
1871 I ran in what is called the Omaha line all the season. In the fall
I sold the boat for $30,000. She had paid me just about what she cost.
I remained at home all the winter of 1871–72, when I again got tired
of doing nothing; and being bred to the steamboat business, and not
daring to turn my hand to anything else, commenced building another
boat. She was completed by the middle of the summer, and named _De
Smet_, in honor of the distinguished Jesuit missionary. I at once took
a contract to transport freight from St. Louis to Shreveport, La., for
the construction of the Southern Pacific railroad. This enterprise
was disastrous in the extreme. I found the Red River without water
enough at the mouth for me to enter, all of it going down the Bayou
Atchafalaya. I did not get away from there until January, having had to
import one hundred mules at my own expense to get the freight through.
The enterprise was so disastrous that I was released from the contract.
I secured fifteen hundred bales of cotton for my return trip to St.
Louis, but the winter was severe and I was stopped by ice at Helena,
Ark., and had to send the freight on by rail. Take it all in all, the
season’s venture was a most ruinous one.”
[Sidenote: AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE.]
While engaged in this work Captain La Barge found it necessary to run
down to New Orleans with his boat. He went to transact some business
with Jesse K. Bell, a man closely connected with Mississippi River
business and a capitalist well known throughout the valley. While in
his office someone came in and asked to see Dave McCann. “What McCann
is that?” asked La Barge. “Dave McCann.” “Dave McCann?” “Yes. Do you
know him?” “I used to know a Dave McCann over forty years ago.” “Well,
I guess it’s the same man. Let’s see if he knows you,” and Bell sent
his servant to call McCann in. When La Barge was on the _Warrior_
during the Blackhawk war in 1832 McCann was second engineer on the
boat. The two young men became intimately acquainted and very fond of
each other. They were together for a time during the cholera scourge
and promised to take care of each other if either were taken sick.
Finally their ways parted and neither had seen or heard of the other
since. McCann quickly appeared in Mr. Bell’s office and glanced at
where La Barge was sitting. “Well, if here isn’t Joe La Barge!” he
exclaimed, grasping his old associate by the hand. “And if this isn’t
Dave McCann!” was the Captain’s warm rejoinder. McCann was at the time
president of the Cotton Compress Company and of the New Orleans Foundry
Company.
Captain La Barge did not reach St. Louis until February, 1873. He
remained there for a while and made a second, and this time profitable,
trip to Shreveport. He then advertised for Benton, secured a good
cargo, and made a successful trip.
[Sidenote: INCIDENT AT FORT RICE.]
[Sidenote: CUSTER AND STANLEY.]
“An incident occurred on this voyage at Fort Rice,” said the Captain,
“which illustrates some traits of General Custer’s military character.
Custer was daily expected to arrive opposite Fort Rice, and General
Stanley, who was commanding there, wanted me to delay a day or two
and ferry him over. I made an arrangement with him to do this, and
when Custer arrived I crossed the river with an order from Stanley
to bring him over. I cleared the deck of the _De Smet_ entirely, and
rigged stages so that the horses and wagons could be driven directly on
board. As the command approached, I saw an officer come riding down,
clad in buckskin trousers from the seams of which a large fringe was
fluttering, red-topped boots, broad sombrero, large gauntlets, flowing
hair, and mounted on a spirited animal. I had never seen Custer, but
of course had heard a great deal of him, and there was no mistaking
this picture. I went out on the bank to meet him. He stopped his horse,
but did not get off. I said, ‘General Custer, I suppose?’ He nodded
assent. I showed him my order for the transportation of the command and
told him that if he would have the wagons brought down I would see to
their proper disposition on the boat. ‘Stand aside, sir,’ he replied;
‘my wagon-master will take charge of the boat and see to ferrying the
command over.’ ‘Not if I know myself,’ I replied, and started for the
boat. Custer sent for a guard to arrest me, but I took time by the
forelock, drew in the stage, and steamed across the river and reported
to General Stanley. Stanley immediately sent me back with an officer
and guard, who arrested Custer and brought him to his headquarters.
“Custer seemed to me to be generally unpopular, that is, I rarely heard
him well spoken of. Stanley, on the other hand, always appeared to be a
gentleman of rare qualities, one who never forgot to treat a civilian
as a man--something that many officers were little disposed to do.”
[Sidenote: LA BARGE IN ARREST.]
While at Benton awaiting passengers for a return trip Captain La Barge
had some new experiences of the character of men who were delegated
by the government to do its business with the Indians. He was one day
arrested by Mr. C. D. Hard, deputy U. S. marshal, sub-Indian agent,
and special Indian detective at this point, on charge of selling
and trading whisky on Indian reservations. The second day afterward
Captain La Barge was brought up for examination, but not being allowed
to introduce any evidence in his own behalf, made no effort to clear
himself. The agent then seized his boat in the following words: “I
seize the boat as sub-Indian agent, and turn her over to myself as
deputy marshal for safe keeping.” Being requested to produce papers
for such a proceeding, he replied that verbal seizure was sufficient
for him, and others would have to accommodate themselves accordingly.
He immediately placed a fellow criminal over the boat and applied
to Captain Kirtland, the military officer in charge, for a squad of
soldiers to aid him in his rascality. This request was peremptorily
refused. Hard became very insolent and abusive after the seizure, and
it was soon evident that the object of himself and his confederates was
to levy blackmail upon the Captain. Being determined to defeat this
outrageous scheme, he left for Helena to consult legal authorities.
When Captain La Barge reached Helena he had no difficulty in securing
a telegraphic order from Chief Justice Wade, of the Territory,
directing the release of the boat, and he returned to Benton and
resumed possession of her, much to the chagrin of the authors of this
high-handed proceeding. This virtuous public officer had endeavored to
work a similar game on another boat the same season, but was defeated
by some of the passengers.
The boat had been detained by this incident upward of two weeks, and
it was not until the middle of July that she set out on her return
trip. Among the passengers was the family of Colonel Wilbur F. Sanders,
already known in these pages as counsel for the plaintiffs in the case
against La Barge, Harkness & Co. The Captain and he were always on good
terms, however, and their former relations had nothing to do with their
subsequent friendship.
[Sidenote: A SERVICE REWARDED.]
On the way up the river this season two Catholic Sisters came on
board on a begging visit in the interest of the Chicopee Mission in
Minnesota. The Captain gave them passage to Benton and back. They
visited Helena and Virginia City, and were very successful. They came
back from Helena with the Sanders family and returned to Sioux City.
About a month later Captain La Barge received by express a beautiful
specimen of needlework handsomely framed, representing St. Joseph. It
is still in the possession of the La Barge family.
[Sidenote: LA BARGE SELLS HIS BOAT.]
After Captain La Barge’s return to St. Louis he entered the Alton
trade, and made daily trips in opposition to the Eagle Packet Company.
He entered the same trade again in 1874 under an arrangement with John
S. McCune, who had long controlled the trade on this part of the river.
But in March of this year, while Mr. McCune was in Jefferson City to
settle some details in regard to the sale of lands constituting the
present Forest Park of the City of St. Louis, he was taken sick with
pneumonia and died one day after his return to St. Louis. This broke up
all the Captain’s plans, and as he was not able, unaided, to compete
with the Eagle Packet Company, he sold his boat to them.
Captain La Barge spent the remainder of the season in St. Louis, and in
the fall commenced building a new boat, which he christened the _John
M. Chambers_, in honor of the infant son of B. M. Chambers, President
of the Butchers’ and Drovers’ Bank. The boat was ready for use in the
spring of 1877. Captain La Barge made a trip as far as to Fort Rice,
loaded mainly with quartermaster stores. He then entered the Yankton
trade, that being at the time an important terminus for the declining
river business. Certain defects in the boat’s machinery, which could
not be remedied at Yankton, compelled an early return to St. Louis
and the loss of some important work. Captain La Barge remained in St.
Louis until the following spring. He then returned to Yankton under
a government contract to transport goods from that point. He finished
this work early, but had scarcely returned to St. Louis when he was
called upon to go up the river again, as we have elsewhere related, for
service in the Custer campaign.
[Sidenote: LAST COMMERCIAL VOYAGE.]
In 1877 La Barge took the _Chambers_ as far up the Missouri as to the
mouth of the Yellowstone, and up the latter stream to the mouth of
Tongue River. In the following year he made a trip to Benton, arriving
there on the 4th day of June. This is believed to have been the last
commercial trip from St. Louis to Fort Benton. Upon his return to St.
Louis he sold his boat and retired permanently from the business of
boat owner and builder. He served as pilot on the lower river during
the summer of 1879, and then finally withdrew from connection with
commercial boating on the Missouri.
[Sidenote: LA BARGE RETIRES FROM THE RIVER.]
From 1880 to 1885 Captain La Barge was in the service of the government
as pilot of the steamer _Missouri_, which was then engaged in making
a survey of the river valley. This duty was little enough like the
active business of his better days. It was filled with reminiscences of
his past career which could not but bring regretful reflections. His
intimate knowledge of the river was of great help in recovering the
proper geographical nomenclature of the valley, and might have been
of far greater value had the surveyor under whose charge he worked
possessed an ordinary appreciation of the mine of knowledge which lay
at his disposal. In 1885 the boat was taken from St. Louis to Fort
Benton, this being the very last through trip ever made. The year 1885
closed Captain La Barge’s career on the Missouri River, and he took his
hand from the wheel after a record of service unequaled by any other
pilot in its history. Three years more than half a century had elapsed
since he made his first voyage up the river.