CHAPTER XVIII.

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.