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The Project Gutenberg eBook of History of Early Steamboat Navigation on the
Missouri River, Volume II (of 2), by Hiram Martin Chittenden
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
using this eBook.
Title: History of Early Steamboat Navigation on the Missouri River,
Volume II (of 2)
Life and Adventures of Joseph La Barge
Author: Hiram Martin Chittenden
Release Date: December 28, 2020 [eBook #64137]
Language: English
Character set encoding: UTF-8
Produced by: Charlie Howard and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
generously made available by The Internet Archive)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF EARLY STEAMBOAT
NAVIGATION ON THE MISSOURI RIVER, VOLUME II (OF 2) ***
IV
AMERICAN EXPLORERS SERIES
=Early Steamboating on Missouri River=
_VOL. II._
[Illustration: KENNETT MCKENZIE]
HISTORY OF EARLY
STEAMBOAT NAVIGATION
ON THE
MISSOURI RIVER
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
OF
JOSEPH LA BARGE
PIONEER NAVIGATOR AND INDIAN TRADER
FOR FIFTY YEARS IDENTIFIED WITH THE COMMERCE OF THE
MISSOURI VALLEY
BY
HIRAM MARTIN CHITTENDEN
_Captain Corps of Engineers, U. S. A._
AUTHOR OF “AMERICAN FUR TRADE OF THE FAR WEST,” “HISTORY
OF THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK,” ETC.
_WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS_
IN TWO VOLUMES
VOL. II.
NEW YORK
FRANCIS P. HARPER
1903
COPYRIGHT, 1903,
BY
FRANCIS P. HARPER.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER XXI.
THE CIVIL WAR, 249
CHAPTER XXII.
GOLD IN MONTANA, 265
CHAPTER XXIII.
INCIDENTS ON THE RIVER (1862–67), 277
CHAPTER XXIV.
LA BARGE AGAIN IN OPPOSITION, 287
CHAPTER XXV.
VOYAGE OF 1863--THE TOBACCO GARDEN MASSACRE, 298
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE BLACKFOOT ANNUITIES, 315
CHAPTER XXVII.
COLLAPSE OF THE LA BARGE-HARKNESS OPPOSITION, 324
CHAPTER XXVIII.
CAPTAIN LA BARGE IN MONTANA, 331
CHAPTER XXIX.
CAPTAIN LA BARGE IN WASHINGTON, 340
CHAPTER XXX.
THE INDIAN OF THE MISSOURI VALLEY, 351
CHAPTER XXXI.
THE ARMY ON THE MISSOURI, 365
CHAPTER XXXII.
THE STEAMBOAT IN THE INDIAN WARS, 382
CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE PEACE COMMISSION OF 1856, 394
CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE MURDER OF CAPTAIN SPEAR, 408
CHAPTER XXXV.
THE BATTLE WITH THE RAILROADS, 417
CHAPTER XXXVI.
LAST VOYAGES TO BENTON, 425
CHAPTER XXXVII.
DECLINING YEARS, 438
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
DESTINY OF THE MISSOURI RIVER, 445
INDEX, 449
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
_VOL. II._
KENNETH MCKENZIE, _Frontispiece_
_Facing page_
LA BARGE ROCK, 299
A STEAMBOAT AT THE BANK, 331
REMOVING SNAGS FROM THE MISSOURI, 421
“IMPROVING” THE MISSOURI RIVER, 424
STEAMBOAT WRECK ON THE MISSOURI RIVER, 439
HISTORY OF
EARLY STEAMBOAT NAVIGATION
ON THE MISSOURI RIVER
CHAPTER XXI.
THE CIVIL WAR.
In a great many ways the War of the Rebellion affected the commerce
of the Missouri River. Missouri was a slave State, and most of her
citizens along the river were Southern sympathizers. It is stated that
all the Missouri River pilots except two were in sympathy with the
South, and that General Lyon had to go to the Illinois River for pilots
when he wanted to move his troops up the river in June, 1861.
The steamboat business on the river felt the weight of the war almost
immediately upon its breaking out. Most of the business was with the
loyal people and was, of course, considered by the Confederates as
a legitimate subject of confiscation. Guerrilla bands infested the
country along the river, fired into the boats, and did all they could
to break up the business. They succeeded in driving most of the
traffic off the lower river; but at the same time the demands of the
war stimulated the trade higher up. There was an increased movement of
government troops and stores, and in the later years of the war many
refugees from both armies passed up the river to the mountains. The
discovery of gold in Montana added greatly to the river commerce during
these years. The injurious effects of the war, therefore, were mainly
confined to the river below Kansas City.
[Sidenote: GUERRILLAS IN MISSOURI.]
The peril to navigation due to the operations of the guerrillas was
a formidable one. Wherever the channel ran close to the high wooded
banks or other sheltered localities, ambush and attack could always
be expected. The danger was mainly from the south bank. It became
necessary to tie up at night away from this bank, and Captain La Barge
followed the practice of anchoring in mid-stream. The pilot-houses
were regularly equipped with shields of boiler iron, semi-cylindrical
in form, inclosing the wheel, and capable of being moved so as to be
adjusted to the changing course of the vessel. These shields were of
great service on the upper river also, for the Indians at this time
were as dangerous in that section as were the guerrillas farther down.
Occasionally, when there was much government freight aboard, troops
were sent up on the boat until Kansas City was passed.
The passions aroused by this internecine strife deadened human
kindness, and made men as ferocious and brutal as wild beasts. This was
particularly true of the lawless bands of guerrillas whose desultory
operations have been in all wars the most cruel and most difficult to
suppress or control. Brigadier General Loan, of the Missouri State
Militia, in reporting the tragedy which we shall next relate, said:
“The guerrillas and Rebel sympathizers are waging a relentless, cruel,
and bloody war upon our unarmed and defenseless citizens, and are
determined to continue it until the last loyal citizen is murdered, or
driven from the State for fear of being murdered.” Such was the true
situation along the south bank of the Missouri River, and it was only
by the most vigilant precaution on the part of the steamboat men that
they did not suffer more than they did. We shall relate one instance in
which these precautions did not avail.
[Sidenote: AFFAIR OF THE “SAM GATY.”]
In the latter part of March, 1863, the steamboat _Sam Gaty_ was on her
way up the Missouri with a heavy load of freight and passengers, bound
for the far upper river. There were on board several persons of wealth
on their way to the newly discovered gold fields of Montana. There
were besides quite a number of paroled Union soldiers and some forty
contrabands, as the negroes freed by the war were called. While passing
under a high wooded bank near Sibley, Mo., the boat was attacked by a
band of guerrillas under the leadership of one Hicks, who had for some
time been the terror of the surrounding country. The boat was ordered
to come to the bank and promptly obeyed, whereupon the guerrillas
immediately boarded her. The attack was unexpected, and the passengers
were seated around the cabin engaged in games and conversation when
the appalling fact of their situation dawned upon them. A rush was
made to conceal valuable property, and the paroled soldiers made haste
to get into citizens’ clothes. The poor negroes could do nothing. The
guerrillas made quick and heartless work. They robbed the passengers of
all the valuables to be found on their persons, and one man narrowly
escaped summary death for attempting to slip his gold watch into his
boot. All the property on board that seemed to be of any use to the
government was thrown into the river. The safes were broken open and
robbed. Some of the paroled soldiers were taken off the boat and shot.
All of the contrabands were driven ashore, where they were shot down
in cold blood. Their shrieks and cries were plainly heard on the boat.
After this attack the boat was allowed to proceed.
[Sidenote: AN ATROCIOUS CRIME.]
Vengeance followed quickly in the wake of this atrocious crime. A
body of Kansas troops under a Major Ransom pursued and overtook the
guerrillas, attacked and destroyed their camp, took twenty-one horses,
killed seventeen men in combat and hanged two, and completely dispersed
the organization.[44]
[Sidenote: A UNION MAN]
Captain La Barge had his full share of troublesome experiences that
followed the outbreak of the war. As a slave-owner in a small way,
and as a man born and bred in the old ante-bellum atmosphere that
surrounded the institution of slavery, his natural sympathies were with
the South. But when it came to a decision he did not hesitate a moment.
As between union and disunion he was for union. It required a degree
of self-denial and patriotism which many Northerners have never fully
appreciated to stand by the country when one’s training and natural
sympathies would have led him to the other side. Captain La Barge
remained a Union man, took the oath of allegiance, and throughout the
war rendered constant service to the government. He soon came to see
the wisdom of his decision, and before the war was over his sympathies
had swung into full line with his action.
[Sidenote: THE GALLOWS CHEATED.]
In 1861 Captain La Barge was coming down the river on the _Emilie_ from
Omaha, and, as usual, stopped at St. Joseph for freight and passengers.
A good many people got on board, most of them Southern sympathizers
going south. When the boat rounded out into the stream the passengers
went up on deck and cheered for Jefferson Davis. The news of this
event was telegraphed to Colonel R. D. Anthony of Leavenworth[45].
This distinguished agitator and ardent Union man called a meeting of
the citizens, and it was decided to hang La Barge the moment the boat
arrived. The Captain had a stanch friend in Leavenworth of the name of
Alexander Majors, of the firm of Russell, Majors & Waddell, overland
freighters. He was waiting to take passage to his home in Lexington,
Mo. When the boat approached there was a great crowd on the levee.
The instant the prow touched the bank Majors leaped on board and told
the Captain not to make fast, as the crowd proposed to hang him. The
Captain asked the clerk what business they had for Leavenworth. He
replied that there were only a few bills to collect. “Let them go for
now,” said the Captain, and tapping the bell to depart, drew back
into the stream. When the crowd saw that they were outwitted, they
swung their rope into the air and yelled that they would get him at
Wyandotte. “All right,” replied the Captain, “I expect to stop there,”
but when he reached that place he kept right on.
[Sidenote: SERVING UNDER DURESS.]
[Sidenote: AN UNPLEASANT DILEMMA.]
On one of the down trips in the season of 1861 the _Emilie_ arrived at
Boonville just as the Confederates were evacuating that place upon the
approach of the Federals under General Lyon. La Barge knew nothing of
what was transpiring there, and his first intimation of any unusual
state of things was a volley of cannon shot whistling over the boat.
The Captain signaled that he would halt, and rounded to above the
town. The Confederate General Marmaduke came on board and with him
Captain Kelly and a company of troops. “I knew Marmaduke well,” said La
Barge, “and asked him as soon as he got on board what the matter was.
He replied, ‘I want you to turn around and take General Price up to
Lexington. He is sick and cannot stand the overland ride.’ I replied
that I could not think of such a thing; that I was in the service of
the government. He then took possession of the boat, placed me in
arrest, and forced me to take the boat back to Lexington. I protested
again, saying that the crew would look to me for pay for this extra
work, and the government would hold me responsible for failure to
fulfill my contract. Marmaduke replied, ‘I will pay you every cent you
have to disburse on account of this trip.’ After Price came on board
Marmaduke left, and we then steamed up to Lexington, where the boat
was turned over to me and I was told to shift for myself. I suppose
they thought I ought to consider myself fortunate to get off at all.
They never paid me anything, although they might easily have done so,
for the first thing done upon landing at Lexington, as I was told, was
to sack all the banks of that town. As to my getting away, that was far
from being a matter of much satisfaction. It was, of course, known in
the Federal lines that I had carried Price up the river. How should I
answer for myself upon my return? I went to Price, told him the dilemma
I was placed in, and asked him to help me. He gave me a very strong
letter, stating that I had acted under duress, and had been forced to
go back against my repeated protest.
[Sidenote: GENERAL LYON.]
[Sidenote: LA BARGE RELEASED.]
“It was with no slight misgivings that I turned the _Emilie_ downstream
and started in the direction of Boonville. I knew that there was
trouble in store for me. When I approached the Federal lines a volley
was fired at the boat, apparently with the definite purpose of hitting
her. I promptly rounded to and the firing ceased. A young Lieutenant by
the name of White came on board with a guard of a dozen men to arrest
me. I had known White in St. Louis as a commission clerk, a young man
of no account, but who, having now some authority, felt disposed, like
all inferior men, to exercise it with a severity in inverse proportion
to his ability. He doubtless thought it a great feather in his cap to
have as prisoner a man who would scarcely have deigned to notice him
in any other situation. He was insolent and arbitrary, and lunging his
sword toward me, would order me to walk faster. I was taken to General
Lyon’s quarters, and when in that officer’s presence, he said to me:
‘You are in a very bad scrape here, sir.’ I took Price’s letter from
my pocket and handed it to him, saying, ‘General, please read that; it
may help to straighten matters out.’ He read the letter, but pretended
not to think much of it. After hemming and hawing over the matter for a
while he said: ‘Do you know anyone here who can tell me who you are?’
He knew very well who I was, for he had been with Harney in the Sioux
War of 1854–55 and we had met then. I asked him to name the members of
his staff, and I could tell. He finally mentioned Frank Blair. I said
with some irony, ‘I know Frank Blair very well, and I think _he_ knows
me.’ We then walked up to Blair’s quarters. He shook hands cordially
and said, ‘I understand that you are in a bad fix here.’ ‘It looks like
it,’ I replied. ‘Rather be at home than here, I presume,’ he continued
jokingly. ‘Much rather,’ I replied. Lyon showed Blair Price’s letter.
They consulted together for a little while and Lyon then said to
me, ‘You can take possession of your steamboat and go home.’ I found
the boat in Lyon’s fleet where it had been taken, and all of her
provisions confiscated. I was not long in getting up steam, and left
the inhospitable region with the utmost expedition.
“I did not like Lyon. He was a Yankee, and his disposition seemed to be
to crush everyone who did not think as he did. His language and bearing
toward me were so insolent and exasperating that they left a lasting
rancor in my mind.[46]
“This affair cost me about five thousand dollars, although I was
partially reimbursed for the stores taken. I did not go up the river
again that season, being too much vexed and disgusted with my late
experience. I sent the boat up under charge of a man of the name of
Nick Wall, who ran her until my government contracts were completed.”
In the year 1862 Captain La Barge was again impressed temporarily
into the service of guerrillas. On October 16 of that year a body of
Confederates was at Portland, Mo., when the steamboat _Emilie_ came
along. The _Emilie_ stopped to put two men ashore, when a gang of
Rebels concealed behind a woodpile took possession of the boat and
compelled Captain La Barge to set them across the river. He was forced
to unload his deck freight and take on 175 horses and as many men.
Scarcely had they started across when a force of Union cavalry of the
Missouri State Militia arrived, but not in time to arrest the operation.
These were the only occasions on which Captain La Barge had trouble on
the river on account of the War. Like all other boatmen, he welcomed
the close of this conflict and the tranquillity which it brought to the
river business.
[Sidenote: UNITED STATES VOLUNTEERS.]
[Sidenote: A NOTABLE CHARACTER.]
There was an organization in the military establishment of the United
States, growing out of the progress of the war, of which very little
is known. It was called the United States Volunteers, and consisted
of six regiments and one independent company. It was composed chiefly
of deserters from the Confederate army and prisoners of war who had
taken the oath of allegiance to the United States. These troops served
continuously on the Western plains and in the Northwest, except the
1st and 4th regiments, which served mainly at Norfolk, Va. On the
Missouri River, and perhaps elsewhere, they were commonly spoken of as
“Galvanized Yankees.” In 1864, when Fort Rice was established near the
mouth of the Cannon Ball River, it was garrisoned by the 1st Regiment
of U. S. Volunteers under Colonel Charles A. R. Dimon. This officer was
one of the remarkable characters of Missouri River history, and made a
great impression along the valley, considering his brief service there.
He was the particular bugbear of the traders, and the character which
they have given him can be best expressed by spelling his name with an
“e” in the first syllable. It was said that he ordered his men shot
down on the least provocation, and that many of the regiment were slain
in this way. Numbers of his men are said to have deserted through fear
of his tyrannical and ungovernable temper. One of the traders has left
a record of his own special grievance.
[Sidenote: DRASTIC MEASURES.]
In the winter of 1864–65, as already stated, the American Fur Company
sold out to the Northwestern Fur Company, more commonly known as the
firm of Hawley & Hubbell. In the following spring these two gentlemen
went up the river with Mr. C. P. Chouteau on the American Fur Company
boat, the _Yellowstone_, to make the transfer of the posts and
property. There were many passengers of different political creeds on
board, including a number of ex-Confederates. At a point about one
hundred miles above Fort Sully news of Lincoln’s assassination was
received, and the passengers of all shades of opinion expressed their
horror of the event. When the boat arrived at Fort Rice, Colonel Dimon,
according to this authority, came down to the boat with a large guard
of soldiers and placed the whole party under arrest on the charge of
jubilating over the assassination of the President. The traders thought
the whole proceeding was a scheme of Colonel Dimon to advertise his
intense loyalty. He told Chouteau, whose Southern proclivities were
well understood along the river, that he would take him out on the
bank and shoot him like a dog. Chouteau was thoroughly frightened and
trembled like a leaf, for there was no knowing what the impetuous
officer might take a notion to do.
Hubbell and Hawley determined to go down to Sioux City and report to
General Sully the detention of their boat and the conduct of Colonel
Dimon toward themselves and others. Chouteau gave them a yawl and
wrote a letter to the General. Dimon ordered them not to go without
first reporting to him. Although his authority to give such an order
is doubtful, the men did not dare to disobey for fear of being shot.
When they appeared they were required to submit all their letters to
his inspection. The particular letter he was after was one he believed
Chouteau had written, but Hubbell and Hawley had slipped it into the
breech of a Henry rifle and left it in the boat. Finally they were
permitted to go. They made a rapid trip, partly by river and partly
by land, and immediately reported their grievances to General Sully.
The General promptly gave them a written order to Colonel Dimon to
release their boat. Armed with this they returned to Fort Rice by the
steamer _G. W. Graham_, and in an incredibly short time, considering
the distance and mode of travel, appeared before Colonel Dimon. General
Sully’s order eased matters up somewhat, but still the traders had a
good deal of trouble with the irate post commander.
[Sidenote: FACT AND FICTION.]
How much there was in the stories about Colonel Dimon is doubtful, but
probably about an equal mixture of fact and fiction. Certainly the
view of the traders concerning him was not shared by General Sully, if
we judge from the following extracts from his own correspondence with
General Pope. Writing from Sioux City under date of June 10, 1865, he
says:
[Sidenote: GENERAL SULLY’S VIEWS.]
“I admire his energy and pluck, the determination with which he
carries out orders; but he is too young--too rash--for his position,
and it would be well if he could be removed. He is making a good
deal of trouble for me, and eventually for you, in his over-zealous
desire to do his duty.... His regiment was raised and organized by
Ben. Butler, and he is too much like him in his actions for an Indian
country, but he is just the sort of a man I would like to have under
me in the field.” Upon his arrival at Fort Rice a month later he thus
commented upon Colonel Dimon:
“I am much pleased with the appearance of this post and the way
military duty is performed. Colonel Dimon is certainly an excellent
officer. A few more years of experience to curb his impetuosity would
make him one of the best officers in our volunteer service.”
Pope in the meanwhile authorized Sully to take such action in regard
to Colonel Dimon as he saw fit. A board of officers was convened to
investigate complaints against him, and on the strength of their report
he was relieved July 21, 1865. He resumed command of the post, however,
October 10, 1865, but was mustered out of the service on the 27th of
the following month. He was subsequently brevetted Brigadier General of
Volunteers for gallant and meritorious service during the war.
[Sidenote: A FAIR PROBABILITY.]
Colonel Dimon probably showed an excess of severity toward the traders
where the average officer showed far too little. That explains their
chief ground of dislike of him. Add to this the “impetuosity” of
temperament referred to by General Sully, and we have a pretty close
analysis of a situation which caused a great flurry on the Missouri
River in its day. As a matter of fact a great many of the men in
the 1st Volunteers died at Fort Rice, but from disease, and not
by execution under Dimon’s order. A number of men did desert, and
seventeen of them walked all the way to Fort Union. One of these men
made a pen drawing of that post which is probably the most accurate now
in existence.
CHAPTER XXII.
GOLD IN MONTANA.
[Sidenote: FIRST GOLD IN MONTANA.]
If the Civil War operated to drive commerce from the lower Missouri
River, other forces were at work at the head waters of that stream
to multiply it many fold. At the time when the attention of the
nation and of the world was centered on the tempest that had burst
over the eastern portion of the Republic, a few hardy miners were
prospecting the country around the upper tributaries of the Missouri
in their ever-restless search for gold. It is a singular fact that
the gold-bearing regions of western Montana, the very first in the
mountain country to be extensively frequented by white men, should
have been the last to give up the secret of their hidden wealth. For
nearly twenty years emigration had been pouring into the West. The
Mormons had settled a few hundred miles to the south. Settlement had
gained a permanent foothold on the Pacific Coast from Mexico to the
British line. The Pike’s Peak gold discoveries were rapidly filling
up Colorado. The reflex wave of emigration was rolling back from the
Pacific Coast across the Sierras and the Cascades into Nevada, eastern
Oregon, and Idaho. But as yet there were no settlers to speak of in the
mountains of Montana, and that country was still practically unknown to
the general public. It is a remarkable fact that a section of country
in that neighborhood, which is now considered the most wonderful in the
world, was the very last of all the national domain to be discovered
and explored.
[Sidenote: FIRST SALE OF GOLD DUST.]
The wave of gold discovery in the Northwest moved from the west toward
the east. In 1860–61 it made known the rich deposits in Idaho on the
Salmon and Clearwater rivers. Next came the findings just west of the
Continental Divide, and then the rich discoveries on the head waters of
the Missouri. The existence of placer deposits within the limits of the
present State of Montana had been asserted as early as 1852. A Canadian
half-breed of the name of Beneetse is said to have found pay dirt in
that year on a small tributary of Deer Lodge River, one of the sources
of the Columbia. The stream has since been known as Gold Creek, and the
place of discovery is about fifty miles northwest of the modern city of
Butte. Four years later, 1856, the discovery was confirmed by a party
who were traveling from Great Salt Lake to the Bitter Root Valley. In
the same year a man turned up at Fort Benton with what he asserted
was golddust. He came from the mountains in the Southwest, most likely
from the Deer Lodge Valley. None of the people at the post were gold
experts, and they hesitated about receiving the dust; but Culbertson
finally took it on his own responsibility, giving for it a thousand
dollars’ worth of merchandise. Next year he sent it down the river, and
it was found to be pure gold, worth fifteen hundred dollars. This was
the first exchange of golddust in Montana.
The next step in the progress of discovery must be credited to James
and Granville Stuart, two of Montana’s most distinguished pioneers.
They had been spending the winter of 1857–58, with a number of other
people, in the valley of the Bighole River, a tributary of the
Missouri, and in the spring of 1858 went over to the Deer Lodge Valley
to investigate the reported findings on Gold Creek. They remained there
for a time and found paying prospects, but were so harassed by the
Blackfeet Indians that they were compelled to leave. They moved to a
safer locality, but here James Stuart met with an accident which came
near proving fatal, and the two brothers left the country and went to
Fort Bridger. Although they had made no great discovery, their report
was considered as confirming those already made of the existence of
gold in the Deer Lodge Valley.
Before these prospects were any further developed attention was wholly
diverted to the important discoveries in Idaho already referred to. A
great stampede to the Salmon and Clearwater rivers began. Emigrants
poured in both by way of Salt Lake and the Missouri River, and an even
larger inflow came from the Pacific Coast. But before the rush from the
East had gathered full force discoveries in Montana arrested its course
and held it permanently in a new and greater Eldorado.
[Sidenote: BEGINNING OF MINING IN MONTANA.]
In the winter of 1861–62 a considerable floating population, among them
the Stuart brothers, remained in the Deer Lodge Valley. The Stuarts
commenced sluicing in a systematic way on Gold Creek, and their work
was the beginning of the gold-mining industry in Montana. Although
nothing particularly remarkable was found, it was enough to attract
attention, and reports soon got abroad that the findings were very
rich. The greater part of the emigration from the East in the year 1862
was bound for the Idaho mines, but did not get beyond the Deer Lodge
Valley, or other points in western Montana. Among these parties was one
from Colorado, including J. M. Bozeman, for whom the town of Bozeman,
in the beautiful Gallatin Valley, is named. The newcomers made a rich
discovery on a branch of Gold Creek, which was named, from the place
whence the party came, Pike’s Peak Gulch.
[Sidenote: BANNOCK CITY.]
Another party from Colorado, bound for the Idaho mines, were deflected
north by the difficulty of getting through the Lemhi Mountains and
by favorable reports from the Deer Lodge Valley. Two of their number
discovered gold on Grasshopper Creek, in the southwestern corner of
the present State of Montana. They carried the news to the main party,
who had gone on to the Deer Lodge, and all returned to investigate
the discovery. The report of the two men was found to be true, and
prospecting in that part of the country was carried on extensively.
This work resulted in the finding of a very rich deposit by a party
under one White, for whom the spot was named White’s Bar. Here the
town of Bannock sprang up, and before the end of the year boasted a
population of five hundred souls. Other rich discoveries were made in
that vicinity, while far to the north the deposits on the Big Prickly
Pear Creek were found. It was now apparent that the whole country on
the head waters of the Missouri abounded in gold, and the work of
prospecting assumed enormous proportions.
[Sidenote: NORTHERN OVERLAND EXPEDITION.]
Two other important expeditions came from the East this season, bound
for the Idaho mines, but were stopped in their course, like that
from Colorado, by the new discoveries in Montana. One of these was
the firm of La Barge, Harkness & Co. of St. Louis, and the other was
a body of emigrants who accompanied what was known in its day as
the Northern Overland Expedition from St. Paul. This expedition was
of a semi-official character, under a Federal appropriation of five
thousand dollars, and its ostensible object was to open a wagon road
from St. Paul to Fort Benton. It was under the command of Captain James
L. Fisk, who, a private soldier in the 3d Minnesota Volunteers, was
appointed Captain and Quartermaster and placed in charge. About 125
emigrants accompanied the expedition. The journey was made in safety,
and was full of interesting happenings. It contributed one of the most
important additions ever made to population of the rising State.[47]
The spring of 1863 was marked by one of the most noted gold discoveries
ever made. During the previous winter a considerable party, under the
leadership of James Stuart, was organized at Bannock City, to explore
and prospect the country on the sources of the Yellowstone. A portion
of this party, including William Fairweather and Henry Edgar, went by
the way of Deer Lodge Valley to secure horses, having fixed on the
mouth of the Beaverhead River as the place of joining the main party.
Through some unavoidable delay the smaller party did not arrive on
time and Stuart went on without them. The Fairweather party discovered
Stuart’s trail and made forced marches to overtake him. The route
lay up the Gallatin Valley and across the divide to the Yellowstone,
and thence down the valley of that stream. Soon after reaching the
Yellowstone the smaller party were plundered by a band of Crows of
everything except their guns and mining tools. The Indians had the
generosity to give them in exchange for their mounts old broken-down
horses of their own.
[Sidenote: ALDER GULCH.]
The party gave up their pursuit of Stuart and started back for Bannock
City. On the 26th of May they stopped for noon on Alder Creek, a
little branch of one of the main tributaries of Jefferson Fork of the
Missouri. Here, as a result of a chance examination of a bar by two
men, Fairweather and Edgar, the famous Alder Gulch discovery was made,
and the richest placer deposit in the history of gold mining came to
the knowledge of the world. The news of this wonderful discovery drew
to the spot a large part of the population of the Territory, and the
town of Virginia City sprang up as if in a night. For several years it
was the principal town in the Territory and became its first capital.
In less than two years it had grown to a city of ten thousand souls.
[Sidenote: LAST CHANCE GULCH.]
The next important discovery was made in the fall of 1864, in what
was named at the time Last Chance Gulch. The deposits were very rich,
and the history of Alder Gulch was re-enacted here. The town which
arose on the spot was named Helena, and soon outgrew its sister to the
south. It became, and for many years remained, the principal town of
the Territory. In 1874 it was made the Territorial capital, and after
Montana was admitted to the Union, it was made the permanent capital of
the State.
Other discoveries followed those here mentioned, many of them rich and
of permanent value, but none equaling those of Alder and Last Chance
gulches. The Territory at once took rank with California and Colorado
as a gold-producing territory, and has held its high place ever since.
The mighty metamorphosis which, in the space of five years, came over
the country at the headwaters of the Missouri, produced an equally
marvelous change in the commercial business of that stream. The river
gave a sure highway for travel to within one hundred to two hundred
miles of the mines. There was no other route that could compete with
it, for this could carry freight from St. Louis to Fort Benton, in
cargoes of one to five hundred tons, without breaking bulk. The
emigrants themselves went in large numbers by overland routes, but a
great number also by the boats; while nearly all merchandise, including
every necessary of life, and all mining machinery and heavy freight,
came by the river.
[Sidenote: HIGH WATER MARK.]
[Sidenote: AN EXTRAORDINARY SCENE.]
The steamboat trade jumped suddenly to enormous proportions. Prior
to 1864 there had been only six steamboat arrivals at the levee of
Fort Benton. In 1866 and 1867 there were seventy arrivals. The trade
touched high-water mark in 1867, and at this time presented one of
the most extraordinary developments known to the history of commerce.
There were times when thirty or forty steamboats were on the river
between Fort Benton and the mouth of the Yellowstone,[48] where all
the way the river flowed amid scenes of wildness that were in the
strictest sense primeval. To one who could have been set down in the
unbroken wilderness along the banks of the river, where nothing dwelt
except wild animals and wilder men, where the fierce Indian made life
a constant peril, where no civilized habitation greeted the eye, it
would have seemed marvelous and wholly inexplicable to find this river
filled with noble craft, as beautiful as any that ever rode the ocean,
stored with all the necessaries of civilization, and crowded with
passengers as cultured, refined, and well dressed as the cabin list of
an ocean steamer. What could it all mean? Whence came this handful of
civilization and what brought it here? Certainly a most extraordinary
scene, flashed for a moment before the world and then withdrawn forever.
[Sidenote: PERILOUS VOYAGE.]
It was not the steamboat alone, however, that made up the romantic
history of Missouri navigation in these exciting times. There were
every year many men from the mines who wanted to return to the States
because they were weary of the country or wished to carry down the
crude wealth which they had secured. The steamboats came up only in the
spring, and if passengers were not ready to go down it was necessary
to seek other conveyance. The usual resource in such cases was the
mackinaw boat. It was a perfectly comfortable and very cheap mode of
traveling, with only one drawback--danger from the Indians, who, at
this time, were intensely hostile all along the river. It was regarded
as a sort of forlorn hope to go down in an open boat, and yet many
tried it every year. Generally they got through all right, with their
precious freight, but there were some terrible tragedies as the penalty
of such reckless daring.
Some statistics have survived showing the magnitude of the steamboat
business on the Missouri River during these years. In the year 1865,
1000 passengers, 6000 tons of merchandise, and 20 quartz mills went to
Fort Benton. In the year 1867 forty steamboats had passed Sioux City
before June 1 on their way up the river. They carried over 12,000 tons
of freight, most of it for Fort Benton. There was not much downstream
traffic, although all the boats carried golddust. In 1866 one boat,
the _Luella_, had on board $1,250,000 worth of dust.
[Sidenote: FABULOUS PROFITS.]
The profits of a successful voyage were enormous. The reported profits
for some of the trips of 1866 were as follows: The _St. John_, $17,000;
the _Tacony_, $16,000; the _W. J. Lewis_, $40,000; the _Peter Balen_,
$65,000. In 1867 Captain La Barge cleared over $40,000 on the trip of
the _Octavia_.
Freight rates from St. Louis to Fort Benton in 1866 were 12 cents per
pound. Insurance rates were 6 1-2 per cent. in the case of sidewheel
boats and 8 per cent with sternwheel boats. The fare for cabin
passengers was $300. It was not everyone, however, who had a share
in the high prices of those times. The master of the boat received
$200 per month; the clerk $150; the mate and engineer each $125. The
pilot was the only member of the crew who could command what salary he
pleased. So indispensable were his services that as high as $1200 per
month was paid for the best talent.
CHAPTER XXIII.
INCIDENTS ON THE RIVER (1862–67).
In the summer of 1863 a party of twenty-one men and three women went
down the Missouri in a mackinaw boat from Fort Benton. They reached the
vicinity of the mouth of Apple Creek, near where Bismarck, N. D., now
stands, just as the Sioux Indians, whom General Sibley was driving out
of Minnesota and across the country to the Missouri, arrived on the
banks of that stream. They had just been defeated in three engagements
with General Sibley and were in a very angry temper. They attacked the
boat and fought the little party an entire day, and finally killed
them all and sunk the boat. It was reported that the whites killed
ninety-one Indians in the fight, and that the captain of the boat,
whose name is supposed to have been Baker, “made such a brave defense
that the Indians were struck with admiration for him and wanted to save
him.” The boat had a large amount of golddust on board, and some of
it was recovered by the Mandan and Aricara Indians. An air of mystery
has always hung over this affair, and the details will probably never
be known. For some unexplained reason, certain individuals who were
believed to have had some knowledge of it refused to disclose anything.
[Sidenote: THE STOLEN MACKINAW.]
In 1864, while Captain La Barge was at Fort Benton, a number of miners
applied to him to purchase a mackinaw boat. He refused to sell because
he felt sure that it meant death to them to try to run the gantlet
of the Indians in that way. They replied that they were afraid to go
overland on account of road agents. The Captain told them they had less
to fear from road agents than from Indians. The road agents might take
their gold, but the Indians would spare neither treasure nor life.
They were unconvinced, however, and as the Captain would not sell the
boat, they stole it and set out. While passing a high cut bank, about
thirty miles below Fort Berthold, where the channel ran close to the
shore, they were attacked by a war party of Sioux and all killed.
Pierre Garreau, the well-known interpreter, went down from Berthold and
recovered a part of the golddust. La Barge saw some of it among the
Indians the following year.
In 1865 the steamer _St. Johns_, on her way down the river, was
attacked by the Indians and the mate instantly killed. The boat was
under full headway and out of reach before it was possible to return
fire.
[Sidenote: SOWING THE WIND.]
In the same year the _General Grant_ lost three men. They had been sent
ashore at a wooding place to make fast a line, when they were pounced
upon by the Indians and killed.
On April 23, 1865, a band of Blood Indians near Fort Benton stole
about forty horses belonging to a party of beaver-trappers, of whom
Charley Carson, a nephew of “Kit” Carson, was one. On the night of May
22 these men, having gotten on a drunken spree, attacked a small party
of Blood Indians who happened to be near Fort Benton, but were not
known to be the thieves, killed three, and threw their bodies into the
Missouri. The survivors fled toward the south and met a large band of
warriors near Sun River, on their way north. Exasperated at the outrage
upon their brethren, they were ready for any measure of revenge, and
accident soon threw the desired opportunity in their way.
[Sidenote: REAPING THE WHIRLWIND.]
At the mouth of the Marias River lay the steamboat _Cutter_. A town
site had been laid off at this point and named Ophir, and some timber
had been cut in the valley of the Marias for use in the erection of
buildings. The principal proprietor of the nascent village was a
passenger on the _Cutter_, and the business of that boat seems to have
been connected with the building of the town. On the afternoon of May
25, about half-past two o’clock, eight men left the boat with a wagon
and three yoke of oxen to bring down some of the timber, and an hour
later two men went on horseback to join them, for it was felt that
there might be trouble from the Indians, and that the party should be
as strong as possible. These men were all well armed. Their route lay
up the valley of the Marias along its right bank, which they ascended
about three miles. At this point the valley, which was quite broad
below, narrowed to a width of four hundred yards. There was a growth
of timber quite dense close to the river, but open farther back. Just
above this point the bluffs crowded close upon the river, seamed with
ravines and gullies, like all the river bluffs along the Missouri. The
roadway at the foot of these bluffs was very narrow.
Beyond this defile the valley opened out again, and there was another
belt of timber. In the upper opening the Indians seem to have been
in camp and to have been discovered by the wood-choppers just as the
latter were passing the defile. It was probably the same band which we
have noted as being near Sun River two days before. The wagons were
instantly turned about, although in a most disadvantageous situation.
The Indians saw the whites at about the same time. They were lying in
wait for another party with a mule train, and were intending, after
attacking it, to try to take the steamboat. As soon as they saw the
wood-choppers they at once attacked them and killed every man and
captured all the property. The bodies of the slain were found scattered
along the river, fifty to one hundred yards apart, except one, that of
N. W. Burroughs, which was found half a mile further downstream, where
he was overtaken on his flight to the boat. Of the Indians the head
chief and one other were killed and a third dangerously wounded. The
Indians, to the number of about two hundred, immediately moved toward
the British line.
[Sidenote: ENTIRE PARTY SLAIN.]
The attack occurred about four o’clock and the firing was distinctly
heard on the boat. A party prepared to go out and investigate when a
hunter came riding in from the bluffs, saying that the whites were
being assailed by a large party of Indians. Three scouts set out
immediately, and after proceeding about two miles and a half found the
body of Mr. Burroughs. It being certain that all the rest had been
killed, and not knowing where the Indians were, it was not thought best
to go farther at the time. Next morning a party went out with wagons
and brought in the bodies, all of which were found. They were buried
in one grave, side by side, with a head board giving the names and
date.[49]
[Sidenote: YANKEE JACK AGAIN.]
Captain La Barge arrived at the mouth of the Marias on the _Effie
Deans_ soon after this affair and saw the fresh graves. He remembered
the circumstance particularly, because, among the guard, which had been
stationed there after the massacre, was the identical “Yankee Jack” who
had whipped the two Irishmen on the _Robert Campbell_ in 1863.
About September, 1865, eight men left Fort Benton in a skiff for the
States. They were attacked by some forty Indians near the mouth of Milk
River and five of their number were killed. The fight lasted over five
hours. One of the men who was killed, T. A. Kent by name, is said to
have actually killed thirteen Indians before he himself fell.
In the year 1866 there were several noted open-boat voyages down the
river. One of these was made by a party of ten miners, who purchased
a mackinaw at Fort Benton in which to transport themselves and their
golddust. When in camp on an island about sixty miles above Fort
Randall, one of the men, of the name of Thompson, got up in the night,
took an ax, killed one companion and wounded another. He was apparently
bent on the destruction of the entire party. The rest of the men,
suddenly awakened by the cries of their comrades, and believing that
they were attacked by Indians, rushed to the boat with the wounded man
and made off, leaving the murderer and his victim alone on the island.
Whether robbery was the motive of the deed, or whether it was caused by
insanity, was never known.
More fortunate was another mackinaw party that went down the same
season. It consisted of seventeen men, and made the trip from Fort
Benton to Sioux City in twenty-two days. They brought down over two
hundred thousand dollars in golddust.
The third party of this season consisted of one man in a yawl and about
twenty others in a mackinaw. They made the entire trip without loss,
although they were attacked, some 225 miles below Benton, by about five
hundred Blackfeet. The river was in flood stage, and thanks to its
great width and swift current the boats were able to keep out of range
of the Indians and to pass quickly beyond their reach.
[Sidenote: HUBBELL’S MACKINAW.]
The most important mackinaw trip ever made down the river was in 1866
under the leadership of J. B. Hubbell of the firm of Hawley & Hubbell.
Hubbell had advertised that his steamboat would leave Fort Benton on
her second trip about September 15, promising, if she did not get to
Fort Benton, to take the passengers down in a mackinaw until they met
her. As late as October 20 she had not appeared, and accordingly about
thirty passengers started down in a mackinaw. The boat was a very
elaborate one, built for this particular trip. It was eighty feet long,
twelve feet beam, housed in on both sides by bulletproof walls for a
distance of fifty feet, with sleeping bunks along the sides, and open
spaces at bow and stern for managing the boat. Two masts rigged with
square sails were provided.
[Sidenote: A SUCCESSFUL VOYAGE.]
The boat was run until after dark every night and was started before
daylight in the morning. Wherever possible she was tied to a snag out
in the stream for the night so as to make it impossible for the Indians
to attack by surprise. When the party arrived at Fort Union they
learned that the steamer had been up, but had gone back. After some
deliberation it was decided to undertake the rest of the journey and
trust to luck not to be caught by the ice. Everyone took a hand at the