riverboat era

When Deadly Steamboat Races Enthralled America

In July 1852, the “Henry Clay” caught fire during a contest on the Hudson River, killing an estimated 80 people

Greg Daugherty

History Correspondent

A lithograph of the 1870 Great Mississippi Steamboat Race

During the 19th century, hundreds of steamboats traversed America’s waterways, carrying passengers faster and more luxuriously than ever before.

“The steamboat was the first American invention of world-shaking importance,” wrote historian James Thomas Flexner in 1944. In fact, he added , it “was one of those crucial inventions that change the whole cultural climate of the human race.”

Defined broadly as any vessel powered by a steam engine, the term “steamboat” is more often used to describe paddle wheel -propelled crafts that roamed the rivers of the United States, particularly the Mississippi, in the 19th century. An early prototype set sail in 1787, but it was only in 1807 that the first commercially successful steamboat made its debut . High-stakes—and sometimes deadly— steamboat races followed soon after.

The Clermont, the first commercially successful steamboat

What made the steamboat revolutionary was its ability to travel on rivers and other waterways regardless of which way they flowed. Prior to steamboats, says Robert Gudmestad , a historian at Colorado State University and the author of Steamboats and the Rise of the Cotton Kingdom , water transportation was largely limited to rectangular, flat-bottomed boats that could only move in one direction. Sailors would load the flatboats “up in Tennessee or Kentucky, … float them down the Mississippi and break them up for scrap once they’d reached their destination,” Gudmestad explains.

Useful as steamboats were, they came with one big problem: They were inherently dangerous . The boilers they used to make steam were prone to exploding and igniting fires. Not only were the boats built mostly out of wood, but their cargos also often included highly flammable cotton bales, along with barrels of turpentine and gunpowder. The waterways themselves presented numerous hazards, including “ snags ”—large tree limbs and uprooted trees that either floated atop the water or lurked beneath the surface. As rivers became more congested with traffic, steamboats also ran the risk of colliding with other boats, particularly at night when they had to use torches to light their way.

Between 1816 and 1848, boiler explosions alone killed more than 1,800 passengers and crew and injured another 1,000, according to government records . The sinking of the steamboat Sultana in 1865, also the result of a boiler explosion, claimed as many as 1,800 lives —still the worst maritime disaster in U.S. history. “Western steamboats usually blow up one or two a week in the season,” Charles Dickens observed after an 1842 tour of the U.S.

The Sultana, pictured the day before it sank in 1865

One of the most horrific accidents occurred in 1838, when the Moselle , a fast and nearly new Ohio River steamboat, exploded off Cincinnati. “All the boilers, four in number, burst simultaneously,” reported one contemporary author. “The deck was blown into the air, and the human beings who crowded it were doomed to instant destruction. Fragments of the boiler and of human bodies were thrown both to the Kentucky and Ohio shores, although the distance to the former was a quarter of a mile.” At least 120 people died, but the exact death toll remains unknown.

“Western steamboats showed an appalling accident record,” wrote historian Daniel J. Boorstin in 1965. “A voyage on the Mississippi, it was often said, was far more dangerous than a passage across the ocean.”

As if these hazards weren’t enough, steamboats soon began racing each other in what quickly became a nationwide sensation. In some cases, the races were planned and advertised in advance, with spectators lining the riverbanks beforehand to enjoy the spectacle. Others were impromptu affairs, sometimes urged on by thrill-seeking passengers. Steamboat captains competed as a matter of pride and ego, while boat owners believed that establishing a winning record would draw more passengers and sell more tickets. Gamblers also bet on the outcomes; in one celebrated 1870 race, total wagers amounted to more than $1 million (around $23 million today).

In addition to bragging rights, the winning boat was typically awarded a large pair of deer antlers , often painted gold, that could be mounted in a prominent place for all to admire.

“I think that much the most enjoyable of all races is a steamboat race,” wrote Mark Twain in his 1883 memoir, Life on the Mississippi . “Two red-hot steamboats raging along, neck-and-neck, straining every nerve—that is to say, every rivet in the boilers—quaking and shaking and groaning from stem to stern, spouting white steam from the pipes, pouring black smoke from the chimneys, raining down sparks, parting the river into long breaks of hissing foam—this is sport that makes a body’s very liver curl with enjoyment.”

Twain deemed horse races “pretty tame and colorless in comparison,” noting that he’d never seen anybody killed at one. Deaths were all too common in steamboat racing. Passengers and crew were scalded or blown to pieces in boiler explosions; burned alive in fires; or forced to take their chances in the water, where they often drowned. Boiler explosions were even more likely during races, when crews often circumvented safety valves in order to pour on extra speed.

Just as Flexner saw the steamboat as a distinctly American innovation, the 19th-century humorist Charles Godfrey Leland said much the same about steamboat racing. “From the days of the Romans and Norsemen down to the present time, there was never any form of amusement discovered so daring, so dangerous and so exciting as a steamboat race,” he wrote in 1893, “and nobody but Americans could have ever invented or indulged in it.”

The races begin

What Flexner calls “the first steamboat race in American history” occurred in July 1811. It pitted a brand-new steamboat, the Hope , against inventor Robert Fulton ’s The North River in what was supposed to be a race down the Hudson River from Albany to New York City. Unfortunately, the two boats, traveling at the then-astonishing speed of about five miles an hour, got too close and collided near the town of Hudson. Neither boat was seriously damaged, but their captains decided to call it a draw.

Steamboat racing soon spread to other rivers, as well as to the Great Lakes .

P.T. Barnum (left) and Jenny Lind (right)

In 1851, the showman P.T. Barnum arranged a steamboat race on the Ohio River, from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh, to promote local appearances by Jenny Lind , a celebrated songstress known as the Swedish Nightingale. The Messenger No. 2 , with Barnum and Lind aboard, took on a rival boat, the Buckeye State . The latter won, but Barnum got his money’s worth and then some in newspaper publicity .

Meanwhile, steamboat racing continued on the Hudson, all too often with catastrophic results. In July 1852, the Henry Clay caught fire off Yonkers, New York, possibly from overheated boilers, resulting in an estimated 80 deaths , many from drowning. “There was a wild panic, the terror-stricken men and women fighting for possession of the life preservers and struggling with one another even after landing in the water,” wrote David Lear Buckman in his 1907 book, Old Steamboat Days on the Hudson River . Though the Clay ’s captain and owners denied that the ship had been racing, passengers testified otherwise, identifying the other ship as the Armenia , which had apparently dropped out of the race well before the disaster.

The New-York Daily Tribune denounced the Clay ’s recklessness as “ wholesale murder ,” a sentiment apparently shared by much of the American public. The incident became a major catalyst for the Steamboat Act of 1852 , which imposed stricter safety and inspection requirements and called for the licensing of river pilots and engineers.

A romanticized depiction of the 1870 race between the Robert E. Lee and the Natchez

Not every steamboat race ended in tragedy, of course. In 1847, for example, robber baron Cornelius Vanderbilt bet $1,000 that his namesake steamer, the C. Vanderbilt , could beat the steamboat Oregon in a round-trip race between New York City and Ossining, New York. The competition got so intense that the Oregon ’s crew began burning the ship’s furnishings to fuel its boilers. “Berths, settees, chairs and doors went into the flames in order to keep up steam,” noted American Heritage magazine in 1989. The Oregon won the race, and Vanderbilt, a man unaccustomed to losing, had to pay up.

In 1870, the steamboats Robert E. Lee and Natchez competed to determine which was the fastest boat on the Mississippi. The much-publicized event , billed as the Great Mississippi Steamboat Race , began in New Orleans and ended in St. Louis, taking nearly four days from start to finish.

Steamboats like the Lee and Natchez used enormous amounts of fuel and had to stop periodically to take on more coal or firewood, as well as freight and passengers, during the course of a race. Newspapers provided frequent updates , telegraphed in by reporters at various points along the route, revealing which boat was ahead and by how many minutes or hours.

Some papers covered the gambling on the race—which produced bets totaling upwards of $1 million—as avidly as the race itself. The Daily Arkansas Gazette , for example, reported that “New Orleans was wild with excitement and betting going on furiously. One enthusiastic admirer of the Natchez in that city has staked all his cash and closed by betting his house and lot against $30,000.”

Nor was the excitement limited to New Orleans. “Betting by telegraph between Cincinnati, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Louisville and Chicago exceeds anything ever done or heard of,” the Gazette added.

The Lee won the race, but by then, the era of the steamboat was largely past. Historian Gudmestad says it peaked in the 1850s, as railroads became the country’s dominant mode of transportation, facilitated in part by large government subsidies .

The end of the steamboat era also meant the demise of steamboat racing, though the tradition is still celebrated today in the annual Great Steamboat Race on the Ohio River, part of the festivities surrounding the Kentucky Derby. The 14-mile race has been held nearly every year since 1963, with the exception of the pandemic year of 2020. This year, it’s scheduled for May 3.

A longtime competitor and frequent winner is the Belle of Louisville , built in 1914 and billed as the “only remaining authentic steamboat from the great American packet boat era.”

In a departure from steamboat racers of yore, the Belle of Louisville ’s caretakers conduct thorough tests of its safety valves and boilers, and they don’t push the boilers to full pressure when the ship is running, says Eric Frantz, guest and education programs manager for Belle of Louisville Riverboats . “Even when racing,” he explains, the goal is “safety over speed.”

Still, some things never change: If the Belle wins this year, its prize will be a pair of silver antlers.

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Greg Daugherty | READ MORE

Greg Daugherty is a magazine editor and writer, as well as a frequent contributor to Smithsonian magazine. His books include You Can Write for Magazines .

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A History of Riverboats in Mississippi

The mighty Mississippi river stretches from Northern Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. The second-longest river in the United States, the Mississippi is integral to the history of America — particularly in the state of Mississippi. Riverboats facilitated travel, commerce, and cultural exchange within Mississippi and beyond. Learn more about the impact of Mississippi riverboats in this post from Visit Mississippi .

Riverboats: The Early Days

While people have navigated the waters of the Mississippi River for centuries, steamboat technology was not viable until the early 1800s. The first steamboat to travel the Mississippi was the New Orleans, whose October 1811 maiden voyage began in Pittsburgh, PA, and ended in New Orleans after traveling along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.

The New Orleans stopped in Natchez in December 1811 before continuing to its final port in New Orleans. First established by French colonists and later ruled by the Spanish, Natchez was an important center of trade and cultural exchange.

The Golden Age of the Steamboat

By the 1830s, steamboats existed all along the Mississippi River and its major tributaries. The growth of Mississippi’s riverfront communities, such as Bolivar, Commerce, and Greenville, can largely be attributed to the riverboat trade. Riverboats also brought new settlers to the state, helping to speed up agricultural development in the fertile Mississippi Delta.

Propelled by steam-driven paddle wheels, steamboats could navigate the river more quickly and effectively than barges or flatboats. They carried goods such as cotton, timber, and livestock up and down the river, expanding trade throughout the growing U.S. However, steamboats could be dangerous — the boilers used to create steam could build up too much pressure and explode. Steamboats were also susceptible to hitting obstacles such as rocks or logs, which could cause them to sink. This created a growing industry for a smaller type of riverboat called a “snagboat.” Snagboats patrolled the Mississippi River looking for tree stumps, debris, or other hazards and removing them before they damaged larger steamboats.

Wealthy Mississippians could enjoy leisure travel on a showboat — a riverboat used for theater and musical performances. Showboats were ornately decorated and would announce their arrival at a port by playing music that could be heard for miles.

Riverboats During the Civil War

During the years after Mississippi’s secession from the Union, many steamboats were used to support the Confederate Army. Riverboats carried troops, provisions, and supplies along the Mississippi during the Civil War. Demand for ships was so high that both the Union and Confederate governments chartered steamboats. Riverboats also played a role in the defense of Vicksburg, an important Confederate stronghold that connected the South to the Western states.

Gaming on the River

Riverboat gambling became popular in the early 1900s due to legislation surrounding gaming. By keeping poker, roulette, and other games of chance restricted to a riverboat, business owners could evade the anti-gambling laws that were in effect on land in states along the Mississippi River. Riverboat gaming in Mississippi was legalized in 1993, but unfortunately, Hurricane Katrina destroyed many riverboat casinos. In response, Mississippi lawmakers allowed casinos to move 800 feet inland.

However, you can still find a few riverboat casinos throughout the U.S. In Mississippi, visitors can try their luck at the Ameristar Casino Hotel in Vicksburg , a riverboat-style casino and hotel located right on the water.

Mississippi Riverboats in the Present Day

According to National Geographic, by 1900, the growth of railroads across the U.S. significantly reduced the demand for transporting goods and people via steamboat. Many riverboats were retired, but a few showboats remained as a testament to this period in history.

The popularity of riverboats continues to thrive in the Magnolia State. Today, tourists can enjoy the relaxing and immersive experience of river cruising. These luxury expeditions offer a unique way to travel the Mississippi, where guests can admire the breathtaking scenery along the waterway. First-class accommodations, fine dining, and a variety of things to do can be expected on a luxury tour on the Mississippi. Companies such as American Cruise Line and Viking River Cruises offer a variety of cruises that vary in duration and cities visited, like Vicksburg and Natchez.

Plan Your Trip With Help From Visit Mississippi

If you’re planning a trip to one of our historic riverfront cities like Natchez, Vicksburg, or Greenville — or anywhere else in the Hospitality State — Visit Mississippi is here for assistance.

Plan your next trip to Mississippi using our complimentary trip planner tool that helps you map out all your must-see attractions, restaurants, and lodging options. Whether you’re here for a week or just passing through, you’ll find a wealth of information about Mississippi history and culture on the Visit Mississippi website. For more information, contact us today.

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The Age of Steamboats

O ne of Marion County’s distinguishing characteristics is our central location in a very long state.

In recent years, big name logistics centers including FedEx, Chewy, AutoZone and Amazon have come to town, bringing jobs and helping move goods along that concrete river that is Interstate 75. While the vehicles and warehouses are modern and impressive, the idea of Marion County serving as an inland port and commerce center is not new.

As early as the 1860s, commercial riverboats with steam engines and paddle wheels traversed the twists and turns of local waterways. The real boom in business came after the Civil War, when government contracts were made to clear the Ocklawaha River of snags and debris. This allowed for the delivery of mail, passengers and other cargo. By the 1890s, several competing riverboat lines were making runs to Silver Springs from ports at Fernandina, Jacksonville and Palatka.

Nineteenth century travel across the wilds of Florida was largely done by foot, horseback, wagon or boat, so it didn’t take many trips to realize that travel aboard a riverboat, complete with staterooms and a cook, was the way to go.

The steamers came in various configurations. If you picture a pint-sized Mississippi paddle wheeler from a Huck Finn adventure, you’re in the ballpark. Average boats were about 85 feet long by 20 feet wide and needed only three to four feet of water to float. They had names like the Metamora, Okahumkee, Hiawatha, Sharpshooter and Hel-Kat (a combination of the owner’s daughters’ names Helen and Katherine). They carried wealthy socialites from northern cities on winter pilgrimages to Silver Springs, local folks traveling to and from town, and cargo such as citrus, cotton, turpentine, stock for merchants and even chickens.

While transportation is certainly more efficient now, I can’t help but imagine how nice it would be to cruise our rivers aboard one of these quaint vessels.

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Steamboats of the 1800s: Robert Fulton, "Father of Steam Navigation" Robert Fulton (1765-1815) built his first steamboat after the death of John Fitch, and it was Robert Fulton who became known as the "Father of steam navigation."

Steamboats of the 1800s Thomas Jefferson was the 3rd American President who served in office from March 4, 1801 to March 4, 1809. This was the era of the Industrial revolution and the steamboats.

Flatboats and Steamboats The picture of the flatboat and steamboats illustrate these different forms of transportation navigating down a river. The flatboats preceded the steamboats, and could only go downstream, with the flow of the river. Powered by steam the steamboats were far more efficient and faster and had the advantage of also being able to travel upstream.

The cargo transported on flatboats included corn, furs, flour, fruit, whiskey, and vegetable and pork. Passengers were taken on flatboats with tent-like coverings for shelter. They were slow and uncomfortable. When they reached their destination the flat boatmen dismantled their 'flat', sold it for lumber and often the crew would walk home.

Steamboats of the 1800s for kids The Steamboats of the 1800s started to appear on western rivers in 1807. The picture of the steamboats reflect this Important form of transportation in the United States in the 1800's. The invention of steam power made it much easier to travel along the rivers. The steamboats had a steam engine which turned a paddle wheel in back of the boats. Some steamboats had two paddle wheels on each side of the steamboat which could then reach even greater speeds. These paddle wheels powered the steamboats both up and down river. Steamboats could go downstream twice as fast as the flatboats that they replaced. Steam boats could also go upstream, which was a Important improvement over the flatboats.

The Steamboats of the 1800s for kids The steamboats could travel at the astounding speed of up to 5 miles per hour. Steamboats quickly revolutionized river travel and trade, and dominated the waterways of the expanding areas of the United States in the south with rivers such as the Mississippi, Alabama, Apalachicola and Chattahoochee.

The Steamboats of the 1800s The steam boats of the 1800s captured the imagination of the American people. They enabled relatively fast and comfortable travel across the rivers and waterways of the US - also refer to Erie Canal . There were dangers to traveling by the steamboats. Some sank, there were boiler explosions and fires. Some steam boats were attacked by Native American Indians.

Steamboats of the 1800s for kids: The Romance of the Steamboats People were captivated by the Steamboats of the 1800s. They were new, and exciting and there were occasionally steamboat races. However it was the Showboats that really captured the imagination of the public - but they were not steamboats. Showboats were pushed by a small tugboat! A steam engine would needed to have been placed right in the auditorium, where fabulous shows were performed.

Steamboats of the 1800s

● Interesting Facts about the Steam boats of the 1800s for kids and schools ● Steam boats of the 1800s of historical events for kids ● Definition of the Steam boats of the 1800s ● Thomas Jefferson Presidency from March 4, 1801 to March 4, 1809 ● Fast, fun, interesting facts about the Steam boats of the 1800s ● Foreign & Domestic policies of President Thomas Jefferson ● Thomas Jefferson Presidency and Steam boats of the 1800s for schools, homework, kids and children

ENCYCLOPEDIC ENTRY

Steam-powered vessels were important to the growth of the U.S. economy in the antebellum years.

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Steamboat River Transport

Steamboats proved a popular method of commercial and passenger transportation along the Mississippi River and other inland U.S. rivers in the 19th century. Their relative speed and ability to travel against the current reduced time and expense.

Image from Picturenow

Any seagoing vessel drawing energy from a steam-powered engine can be called a steamboat. However, the term most commonly describes the kind of craft propelled by the turning of steam-driven paddle wheels and often found on rivers in the United States in the 19th century. These boats made use of the steam engine invented by the Englishman Thomas Newcomen in the early 18th century and later improved by James Watt of Scotland. Several Americans made efforts to apply this technology to maritime travel. The United States was expanding inland from the Atlantic coast at the time. There was a need for more efficient river transportation, since it took a great deal of muscle power to move a craft against the current. In 1787, John Fitch demonstrated a working model of the steamboat concept on the Delaware River. The first truly successful design appeared two decades later. It was built by Robert Fulton with the assistance of Robert R. Livingston, the former U.S. minister to France. Fulton’s craft made its first voyage in August of 1807, sailing up the Hudson River from New York City to Albany, New York, at an impressive speed of eight kilometers (five miles) per hour. Fulton then began making this round trip on a regular basis for paying customers. Following this introduction, steamboat traffic grew steadily on the Mississippi River and other river systems in the inland United States. There were numerous kinds of steamboats, which had different functions. The most common type on southern rivers was the packet boat. Packet boats carried human passengers as well as commercial cargo, such as bales of cotton from southern plantations. Compared to other types of craft used at the time, such as flatboats , keelboats , and barges , steamboats greatly reduced both the time and expense of shipping goods to distant markets. For this reason, they were enormously important in the growth and consolidation of the U.S. economy before the Civil War. Steamboats were a fairly dangerous form of transportation, due to their construction and the nature of how they worked. The boilers used to create steam often exploded when they built up too much pressure. Sometimes debris and obstacles—logs or boulders—in the river caused the boats to sink. This meant that steamboats had a short life span of just four to five years on average, making them less cost-effective than other forms of transportation. In the later years of the 19th century, larger steam-powered ships were commonly used to cross the Atlantic Ocean. The Great Western , one of the earliest oceangoing steam-powered ships, was large enough to accommodate more than 200 passengers. Steamships became the predominant vehicles for transatlantic cargo shipping as well as passenger travel. Millions of Europeans immigrated to the United States aboard steamships. By 1900, railroads had long since surpassed steamboats as the dominant form of commercial transport in the United States. Most steamboats were eventually retired, except for a few elegant “showboats” that today serve as tourist attractions.

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Golden Age of Steamboats

The Golden Age of River Steamboats is roughly the period from 1850 – 1870. Specifically the ten years before the Civil War and the few years afterward were the best commercially for packets on the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio Rivers.

Str Virginia 1896 (Courtesy of the Murphy Library at the U of WI La Crosse)

In those days cabin passage on a packet was luxurious. Cut glass chandeliers in the parlor, oil paintings in every stateroom, gilded mirrors and marble tables, thick carpets, and steaming foods piled high. Life on the rivers was at its best. Neither homes nor hotels of the 1850’s could provide such comfort. Everyone whose life centered on the river was prosperous. Even the crew walked with a swagger jingling their plentiful silver.

The Civil War changed every aspect of the western rivers. The Missouri and lower Mississippi Rivers were virtually blockaded by the secessionists. Boats that had carried passengers in luxury were packed with Union troops and supplies. These civilian wooden hull warcraft had no protection other than a few iron plates shielding the pilot house. Often fired upon from the banks of the western rivers, many vessels were captured, looted, and burned. More fortunate steamers were simply riddled with holes. Their work was dangerous while their salaries and profits, if any, were reduced to well below the commercial rates before the war. As civilians, the crew were not entitled to pensions, yet they were subject to the same harsh treatment as prisoners of war if captured. Many of the independent owner/operators never recovered from the financial hardships caused by the war. These hardy steamboat men took the hard knocks but without the glory.

The Civil War was the first of two disasters that brought an end to the steamboat days. The second came creeping from the east on parallel rails of steel after the war. In late 1865, railroads were still months away from the Missouri River. Some packets on the lower Missouri were loaded with iron rails, locomotives and boxcars, spikes, fishplates, bolts and other railroad building supplies. They also transported the muscular young men looking for work on the railway projects subsidized by the Pacific Railway Act.

In the end, steamboats fell to progress – victims of the technological advances from which they at one time benefited. They had done their job of taming a continent, and had done it well with style. Quite frankly, few people had expected that railroads would make the proud packets a thing of the past. Their passing left people with a sense of loss. As railroad locomotives grew more powerful and numerous, steamboats became fewer and disheveled. First the pineapple tops of the lofty stacks disappeared followed by the stained glass windows and cut glass chandeliers. Gradually even fresh paint was seen less frequently – irritating the retina and spirit. The steamboat became the ghost of an era when men believed that anything could be accomplished.

And so the golden days of the packet were over, replaced by railroads on one hand and by the tug boat and barges on the other.

Str Bigfoot (Courtesy of U of W LaCrosse)

The threads of the past are woven into the fabric of today. That is what is meant when we talk about inland river steamboats as a legacy. The lives of the steamboat captains and their crew and the values that drove them continue to be important today. Their legacy is a gift, and a responsiblilty. It is up to us to preserve it and pass it along to future generations.

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The Steamboat Era: A History of Fulton's Folly on American Rivers, 1807-1860

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The Steamboat Era: A History of Fulton's Folly on American Rivers, 1807-1860 Paperback – May 26, 2020

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The steamboat evokes images of leisurely travel, genteel gambling, and lively commerce, but behind the romanticized view is an engineering marvel that led the way for the steam locomotive. From the steamboat's development by Robert Fulton to the dawn of the Civil War, the new mode of transportation opened up America's frontiers and created new trade routes and economic centers.

Firsthand accounts of steamboat accidents, races, business records and river improvements are collected here to reveal the culture and economy of the early to mid-1800s, as well as the daily routines of crew and passengers. A glossary of steamboat terms and a collection of contemporary accounts of accidents round out this history of the riverboat era.

Print length 307 pages
Language English
Publisher McFarland
Publication date May 26, 2020
Reading age 18 years and up
Dimensions 7 x 0.62 x 10 inches
ISBN-10 1476683689
ISBN-13 978-1476683683
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Publisher ‏ : ‎ McFarland; Reprint edition (May 26, 2020)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 307 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1476683689
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1476683683
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.23 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7 x 0.62 x 10 inches
#1,537 in Maritime History & Piracy (Books)
#30,262 in Transportation (Books)

About the author

S. L. Kotar and J. E. Gessler

“I write, therefore I am.”

My two earliest memories are being drawn to two diverse subjects: baseball and the Civil War. In a strange way, they both directed me toward where I am today.

My drive to absorb everything there was to know about the Civil War naturally drew me into the pre- and post-periods of the conflict, which developed into an intense love of Westerns. I began developing plots for the iconic series of the time: “The Lone Ranger,” “Maverick” and “Wagon Train.” At age 15 the direction of my life solidified when I saw my first episode of GUNSMOKE (“Seven Hours to Dawn.”) From that moment forward, my sole drive in life became the desire to write a script for Matt, Kitty, Doc and Festus. That dream came true in 1973 when my high school partner, J. E. Gessler, and I sold a script we had mailed in from Mechanicville, New York. Jack Miller, the story consultant, later wrote to us that the script was so professional he believed it had been ghost written by two 45-year-old male friends. Imagine his surprise to discover both our ages added together didn’t reach forty-five! We subsequently earned a Writers Guild of America, West, award as contributing to the “101 Best Written TV Series.”

At the same time we had written a script for “Ironside,” tailoring the guest star role for William Shatner. We gave the script to Bill who offered it to the producer, offering to take the lead role and/or direct it, or just have them buy it. Unfortunately, the series was cancelled before any of that could happen, but years later we turned that script into four novels (minus Raymond Burr’s sentient Chief Ironside), called NEW BEGINNINGS. The third book in the series, “Arrow Song,” is dedicated to Bill. During this period Bill also asked us to write scripts for a series he was developing. It never came to fruition, but from our efforts for that service, he bestowed me with the title “Captain,” a nickname I bear proudly to this day.

Subsequently, Joan and I published a Civil War magazine entitled “The Kepi,” which, not surprisingly, featured footnoted, iconoclastic articles on battles and leaders, while offering insightful and well-researched studies on antebellum life. Recently, the complete series was compiled into two texts.

My love of baseball eventually took us from Los Angeles to St. Louis, Missouri, home of the St. Louis Cardinals. Drawn to the brilliant and innovative managing style of Whitey Herzog (Hall of Fame 2010), we arrived just in time to follow the “White Rat” and the team through the 1987 playoffs and World Series. I’ve been here even since, not, however, following the Cardinals in the post-Whitey eras.

After a decade devoted to writing non-fiction, including a professional text on the interpretation of EKG (“Ambulatory Cardiac Monitoring and Full Disclosure Telemetry”), we wrote fully annotated texts on “Riverboat: The Evolution of a Television Series” and for McFarland Press, “The Steamboat Era,” “The Rise of the American Circus 1716 – 1899,” “Ballooning,” and three studies on the evolution of diseases, including, Smallpox,” “Cholera” and “Yellow Fever.”

The first major book series we created is called “the ReproBate Saga,” otherwise known as “RB,” and thus the titles all bear the initials of the two major characters, being the only letters capitalized. True to our roots, this series is historically accurate, following the adventures of Rudy Blake, a gunrunning privateer and Rose “Bud” Theodore, his unusual partner in crime. Occasionally diverting to write a number of science fiction, dramas and horror novels, our latest production is called, “The Hugh Kerr Mystery Series,” centered around a trial lawyer and his associates in the 1950s.

To my eternal sorrow, Joan died in 2014 but I will always list both our names as co-authors, denoting the honor and respect I accord her contributions, both past, present and future.

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Steamboats on the Missouri

by Candy Moulton | Apr 25, 2018 | Departments , Renegade Roads

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark took their Corps of Discovery expedition up the Missouri River using keelboats and pirogues that they poled and propelled by dragging the vessels using heavy ropes. Following them, the fur traders also used those labor-intensive methods of transportation to haul trade goods upriver, and bring furs and pelts back down the Missouri to markets.

In 1819 the steamboat Independence departed from St. Louis and steamed upriver to the area of the Chariton River. This was the beginning of steamboat travel on the Missouri River. The Western Engineer would take nearly three months to steam from St. Louis to the confluence of the Yellowstone River near Fort Union in North Dakota.

Steam-powered boats became the primary vehicles for commercial transportation. These faster, bigger paddle-steamers revolutionized travel on the river and carried both supplies and passengers.

Missouri Steamboat True West Magazine Arabia Steamboat Museum

The best place to start a trip that highlights steamboat travel on the Missouri River is in Kansas City, not far from where in 1987 a group of five men located the wreck of the steamboat Arabia in a Kansas field, fully a half-mile from where the Missouri then flowed. They dug it up, recovering a large proportion of the more than 200 tons of cargo that had been aboard, bound for the frontier. In the years since, they have cleaned, restored and preserved the cargo. Some of the items are now on display at the Steamboat Arabia Museum in Kansas City, looking ready for use, even though they are more than 150 years old .

The Arabia , a 171-foot side-wheel steamer built in 1853, headed upstream from St. Louis on August 30, 1856. The steamer docked at Westport Landing (in present-day Kansas City) six days later, but soon slid back into the river to continue toward St. Joseph, Missouri, intending to go on to Council Bluffs and Sioux City, Iowa.

The cargo on the Arabia —ranging from heavy tools, harness and leather shoes, to fine china, perfume, beads and buttons—represented the best frontier goods to be had. And there were kegs of whiskey aboard. Just upstream from Westport Landing, the Arabia hit a sunken tree snag that rammed the hull and sent the steamboat to the bottom of the river. One mule died in the sinking, and all the cargo was lost, though the captain and crew survived.

When the wreck was rediscovered and then recovered in the late 1980s, the cargo was still aboard—except for the whiskey! Visiting the Steamboat Arabia Museum is like stepping back in time. In addition to displaying cargo items, the museum has a piece of the hull and the snag that brought the boat down. You can even watch and talk with conservators who continue to preserve the cargo from the Arabia.

From Kansas City, I head north along the Missouri for a stop in St. Joseph. Best known for its Pony Express roots, St. Joe has 13 museums and beautiful historical archi- tecture. One interesting location to visit is Robidoux Row, which includes a museum dedicated to fur trader Joseph Robidoux, who built the structure in the 1850s.

Upper Missouri Steamboat True West Magazine

Brownville, Nebraska, established in 1854 was a regular stopping point for steamboat traffic on the Missouri. Today visitors see the Meriwether Lewis Dredge and Museum of Missouri River History, take a stroll through the town, and visit the historic Carson House, once owned by Brownville founder Richard Brown.

Desoto National Wildlife Refuge in both Nebraska and Iowa, north of Omaha, is a great place to observe a vast population of seasonal waterfowl and wildlife. Here you can see another collection of steamboat cargo that once was bound for the frontier. The steamboat Bertrand left St. Louis for Montana but struck a submerged log on April 1, 1865, and quickly sank int o the Missouri.

While a portion of the Bertrand ’s cargo was immediately recovered, far more went down and stayed submerged until rediscovered in 1958 by modern-day treasure-hunters Sam Corbino and Jesse Pursell. They recovered items including bolts of cloth, food, clothing and tools. The mud of the Missouri had successfully encapsulated the goods, keeping them surprisingly intact until their recovery. A portion of the recovered cargo is now on display at the Desoto National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center.

Missouri Steamboat True West Magazine Lewis and Clark State Memorial

If I were on a steamboat, I’d stoke up the fire in the boiler and make some good time following the river through the Missouri National Recreational River area, continuing on to Pierre and then Bismarck, North Dakota, before steaming to Fort Union, an early fur trade post now operated as a National Historic Site. Each of these locations has attractions ranging from the natural landscape, to places important to the American Indian tribes of the region, and later the fur traders and frontier soldiers. Once in Montana, it is time to head west toward my ultimate destination: Fort Benton.

The first steamboat reached Fort Benton in 1860. The goods brought by steamboat up the Missouri from St. Louis were unloaded at Fort Benton and were dispersed throughout Montana Territory for use in gold camps and frontier towns.

After passing up the Missouri en route to Oregon in 1805, Meriwether Lewis launched his canoe back to St. Louis in 1806 from the area that would become Fort Benton. When fur trappers and traders used the area, they launched bullboats or keelboats, and after the first steamboat arrived, Fort Benton’s levee saw ever-increasing use.

A tour along the levee at Fort Benton today includes monuments to Lewis and Clark, Sacajawea and Thomas Francis Meagher. Old Fort Benton, the Museum of the Upper Missouri and the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument provide interpretation about all eras of Fort Benton’s history.

Kansas City , Missouri , north on I-29 to St. Joseph, MO , Brownville , NE , Bellevue , NE , and Desoto National Wildlife Refuge, IA & NE ; Missouri National Recreational River , then Sioux Falls, SD ; turn west on I-90 to Pierre , SD , then US 83/Highway 1804 north to Bismarck , ND ; then northwest to Williston , ND, then west to Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site , then US 2 to Fort Benton , MT

Places to Visit

Steamboat Arabia Museum , Kansas City, MO ; Robidoux Row Museum , St. Joseph, MO ; Meriwether Lewis Dredge Museum of Missouri River History , Brownville, NE ; DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge , Bellevue, NE ; South Dakota Cultural Heritage Center , Pierre, SD; Lewis and Clark Riverboat , Bismarck, ND; North Dakota Heritage Center and State Museum , Bismarck, ND; Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site, Williston, ND ; Old Fort Benton , Fort Benton, MT

Good Eats and Sleeps

Pierpont’s at Union Station , Kansas City, MO; InterContinental Kansas City at the Plaza , Kansas City, MO ; Stoney Creek Hotel and Conference Center , St. Joseph, MO; Cattlemen’s Club Steakhouse, Pierre, SD; Blarney Stone Pub, Bismarck, ND; Grand Union Hotel , Fort Benton, MT

Wild Rivers, Wooden Boats by Michael Gillespie; Steamboat Treasure by Dorothy Heckmann Shrader

Road warrior Candy Moulton lives and writes in Encampment, Wyoming, or anywhere else she can find a place to open the laptop and work.

Joe Sonderman has turned out a nice addition to the annals of Route 66 history.…

jesse james before released to family true west magazine

St. Joseph, MO was in turmoil in the days after Jesse James was killed on…

I don’t study war too much, but Joe Johnston’s book, Necessary Evil: Settling Missouri with…

In This Issue:

From Frontier Soldier to Peacemaking President
History, Heritage and Hospitality
In Wine There Is Truth
Studio Props?
Clash of the Mad Madams
A Belle of Old Fort Sumner
The Cup Spinning Sequence

Western Books & Movies

Brides for Indians
DVD Review: 6 Bullets To Hell
River Master of the Colorado
Building Your Western Library: Kip Stratton
Unforgiving Frontier
Reality Cowboy Stars
Sand Creek Complexity
Titans of the West

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What History Has Taught Me: Allen Polt
Who was Arizona Territory’s most Notorious Outlaw?
Western Events for May 2018
U.S. Cavalry’s First Bolt-Action Carbine
Mountain Men, Mules and Miners
How Were Stagecoach Robberies Usually Executed?
How Long did it take a Cattle Drive to go from Texas to the Cowtowns?
Private Eye Cowboy?
In the Lonesome Dove Photo, I Could Pick out only Woodrow Call and Clara Allen. Did the Other Main Cast Members Leave the Set?
That’s My Steak, Valance
Custer’s Conspirator
What did Cowboys Typically Eat on a Cattle Drive?
An Electric Dream Burns Out
The Black Man at Little Big Horn

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The steamboat played an important role in Arkansas from the earliest days of the Arkansas Territory. Before being superseded by the railroad in the post–Civil War era, steamboats were the primary means of passenger transport, as well as moving raw materials out of Arkansas and consumer goods into the state.

The inland rivers steamboat, invented in the Mississippi River Valley in the first half of the nineteenth century, eventually connected every person on or near a stream to the larger world. The first major historian of the steamboat, Louis Hunter, saw the steamboat as the “most notable achievement of the industrial infancy” of the United States, not to mention the chief technological means by which the frontier advanced and by which steam power was introduced and spread in the United States. Building and supplying steamboats with hulls and machinery provided the infrastructure that pushed the United States’ transition from the “wood age” to the “iron age.”

In 1820, the steamboat Comet made it to Arkansas Post (Arkansas County) ; two years later, the Eagle was the first to visit Little Rock (Pulaski County) on its way to what is now Russellville (Pope County) with a load of supplies for Dwight Mission . The Arkansas Gazette reported numerous steamboats operating regularly on Arkansas waters even in the 1820s, including the Robert Thompson , Allegheny , Spartan , Industry , and Catawba . By 1829, the Laurel had reached Pocahontas (Randolph County) on the Black River , and two years later, Batesville (Independence County) on the upper White River was reached by the Waverly . The Ouachita River had its Dime , and even the Red River Raft was breached by the late 1830s. By about 1875, steamboats had reached everywhere in the state, up the Little Red River , into the Fourche La Fave River , up the St. Francis River and Bayou Bartholomew , and eventually up the Buffalo River as far as Rush (Marion County) . The keelboats that had once supplied these towns were supplanted by these vessels that could reach almost anywhere in the state with cargoes of factory goods and foodstuffs, along with emigrants and travelers, and then go downstream with cotton or subsistence staples.

It is difficult to find details on most of these steamboats. After the mid-nineteenth century, boats were required to be registered and their boilers certified, but even these requirements documented only such details as name, length, width, depth of hull, sometimes the number of boilers and the diameter of cylinders in the engines, and something called “tonnage,” which was calculated in different ways at different times. The earlier boats are especially poorly known, partly because the inland rivers steamboat had to be created to deal with unique conditions on inland rivers, a process that was poorly recorded. Rapid progress involved numerous false steps, hand labor, and experiment tempered by experience. Rapid development also took place in building and controlling steam engines to make them more reliable and safe, with the concurrent development of all the associated regulations and legal protections.

The form of the steamboat itself came into being particularly in the 1820s and 1830s. A steamboat is different from the deep-water, deep-draft vessel that has cargo, quarters, and everything else deep in the hull. The new form was simply a long, narrow, shallow pontoon upon which cargo was stacked and cabins were built higher and higher. Some cargo could be placed in the hull, but the engines and boilers sat on the main deck; passengers’ cabins and the salon were on the second or “boiler” deck with perhaps a “Texas” deck above that for the crew; and the pilot house perched at the front of the stack for visibility. The hull, much like a bridge, had to be reinforced with an extensive truss system, known as “hog chain” and consisting of long runs of wrought-iron rods over stout “sampson” posts, both along the length, as much as 350 feet, and across the width, up to forty feet plus overhanging “guards” that made the main deck even wider than the hull. The wrought-iron rods were fitted with enormous turnbuckles, and by tightening or loosening these turnbuckles, the flexible hull could even be “walked” over shallow sand bars.

There were variations in placement of the paddlewheels. Putting them on each side of the hull, as in those boats known as “sidewheelers,” made for smoother passenger travel and a bit easier steering, but the paddlewheels were outside the lines of the hull, leaving them vulnerable and making the vessel much wider. The sternwheeler put the paddlewheel at the back, creating a narrower vessel as well as protecting the fragile paddlewheel by hiding it at the rear of the hull. The sternwheeler eventually proved more efficient at pushing barges, and it was the sternwheeler form that survived the loss of the passenger trade brought on by the spread of railroads after the 1870s; in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, sternwheelers were used for towboats.

These wooden-hulled steamboats were vulnerable, and their lives were often short . The most frightening losses were from boiler explosions due to abuse, clogging by muddy river water, or design weaknesses. One of the most famous boiler explosions occurred on the sidewheel steamboat Sultana . The only photograph of the Sultana was taken during a short stop at the waterfront at Helena (Phillips County) on April 26, 1865. The photograph shows that the boat was astonishingly overloaded—in a vessel 260 feet long and forty-two feet wide, built in 1863 for 300 or so passengers, thousands of people could be seen, nearly all of them Union soldiers recently released from Confederate prisoner-of-war camps. Not long after the boat stopped briefly at Memphis, the boilers of the Sultana exploded near Mound City (Crittenden County) in the middle of the night on April 27. Approximately 2,000 to 2,300 people were killed. This remains the worst maritime disaster in North America. Many times the disaster was less spectacular, the result of accidentally holing the hull by ramming into submerged log, but the result was still loss of the vessel; most of the time, at least some of the cargo and steamboat machinery was salvaged.

In spite of their vulnerability, hundreds of sternwheelers and sidewheelers of various dimensions were an integral part of daily life in Arkansas for most of the 1800s, certainly from 1830s into the 1880s, when the network of railroads finally reached maturity. Any factory goods from ceramic tablewares to pianos traveled at least part of the way by steamboat, and even for isolated farmsteads, the wagon journey at the end was only a few miles from the riverside landing to the house. Cotton , corn, livestock, wool, bricks , lumber , staves , logs, and other products traveled only a short way to the docks.

Steamboats played a role in tumultuous events as well, beginning with carrying troops and supplies in the early 1800s to Fort Smith (Sebastian County) . In the 1830s, tens of thousands of Native Americans passed through Arkansas as part of Indian Removal , and many traveled on steamboats such as the Smelter , Thomas Yeatman , Reindeer , Little Rock , Tecumseh , and Cavalier , or on the keelboats often towed by these vessels. Moreover, much of the crew on antebellum steamboats were slaves .

During the Civil War , both Union and Confederate forces exploited steamboats for rapid communication and transport of troops, horses, and supplies on Arkansas waters. Little Rock, Pine Bluff (Jefferson County) , DeValls Bluff (Prairie County) , and Helena became major re-supply centers and shipping points, first by the Confederacy, then by the Union. Civilian vessels were chartered; in the case of the Homer , the Confederacy made use of it until its capture by the Union and scuttling in the Ouachita River in April 1864 at Camden (Ouachita County) . Bombardment of Confederate positions on land by Union gunboats was an important factor in the capture of St. Charles (Arkansas County) on the White River in June 1862, the destruction of Arkansas Post (Arkansas County) in January 1863, and the defense of Helena in July 1863. The Engagement at St. Charles included the scuttling of three steamboats by Confederates in a vain attempt to block the upstream advance of the Union fleet. The capture of Little Rock in September 1863 saw the sinking of more Confederate vessels, including the gunboat Pontchartrain . Throughout the war, Union-chartered steamers and specially built tin-clad and iron-clad warships were fired on regularly from the shore, and Confederates even managed to capture and burn the tin-clad Queen City at Clarendon (Monroe County) in June 1864.

After the Civil War, some of the biggest-ever sidewheel steamboats were built for use on the Mississippi, but by the 1890s, passenger travel had largely ended. Indeed, passage on many rivers was made more difficult simply by the construction of many bridges for the trains. However, improvements in sternwheel maneuverability and increases in power—combined with increasing improvement of the waterways by dredging, snag removal, and electric light channel marking—made the larger rivers such as the Arkansas, the lower White, and Red efficient for the transport of bulk cargoes such as iron, grain, construction materials, chemicals, gravel, sand, and coal. Water transport is still common today, when a diesel-powered all-steel towboat can push twelve to thirty-six steel barges, and just one steel barge can carry the equivalent of fifteen large hopper-type railroad cars or fifty-eight semi-trailers. Even a modern sternwheel passenger steamboat sometimes plies the Arkansas River , such as the Delta Queen , built in 1924–1927 for excursions on the Sacramento River in California and rebuilt for the Mississippi River system in 1947.

The chart below lists some of the steamboats that were notable in Arkansas history. A list of those involving fatal accidents can be found at the Steamboat Disasters entry.


	First steamboat to ascend the , reaching	March 31, 1820
	First steamboat to reach	March 16, 1822
	Sank after hitting snag at	October 4, 1824
	Sank after hitting snag at Helena	February 28, 1829
	First steamboat to ascend the to	1829
	First steamboat to ascend the to	1831
	Snagged and sank at Little Rock	April 12, 1835
	Snagged and sank at Little Rock	April 16, 1837
	Burned and sank on the at	June 24, 1841
	Snagged and sank on the at	September 28, 1842
	Snagged and sank on the Arkansas River at	March 29, 1844
	Snagged and sank on the Arkansas River at	November 17, 1845
	Snagged and sank at Lewisburg	June 12, 1846
	Lost in collision on the Arkansas River at	December 28, 1847
	Snagged and sank on the Arkansas River	1847
	Snagged and sank on the Arkansas River	1848
	Foundered at Clear Lake	March 25, 1848
	Burned and sank at Little Rock	September 24, 1849
	Snagged and sank at Little Rock	November 1849
	Snagged and sank on the Arkansas River	December 1850
	Snagged and sank on the Arkansas River at	May 13, 1851
	Snagged and sank on the Arkansas River	June 8, 1851
	Snagged and sank at the mouth of the	December 30, 1851
	Snagged and sank on the at	December 31, 1851
	Snagged and sank at Pine Bluff	February 26, 1852
	Burned and sank at	May 22, 1852
	Snagged and sank on the White River	August 6, 1852
	Snagged and sank 45 miles below Little Rock on the Arkansas River	August 13, 1852
	Snagged and sank on the White Oak Shoals of the Red River	May 4, 1853
	Snagged and sank on the White River	December 25, 1853
	Snagged and sank on the Arkansas River	February 1848
	Snagged and sank on the Arkansas River above Little Rock	August 1, 1854
	Burned and sank 25 miles below Napoleon	January 14, 1855
	Sank in a collision on the White River	September 17, 1855
	Snagged and sank on the White River at	February 12, 1856
	Snagged and sank on the St. Francis River near Linden (St. Francis County)	January 20, 1857
	Snagged and sank at Fulton	April 1857
	Burned and sank on the Mississippi River above Gaines Landing (Chicot County)	November 18, 1857
	Snagged and sank on the White River	January 13, 1858
	Snagged and sank on the White River	January 1858
	Sank in collision at Napoleon	December 1858
	Snagged and sank at Pine Bluff	February 6, 1859
	Snagged and sank on the Arkansas River at Van Buren	February 18, 1859
	Snagged and sank on the Arkansas River at	March 11, 1859
	Snagged and sank at Van Buren	April 10, 1859
	Snagged and sank at Van Buren	June 10, 1859
	Snagged and sank on the White River at	July 28, 1859
	Snagged and sank at Little Rock	September 24, 1859
	Burned and sank at Helena	November 11, 1859
	Snagged and sank at Smith Cutoff	May 25, 1860
	Snagged and sank on the Arkansas River at Swan Lake (Jefferson County)	June 21, 1860
	Snagged and sank on the White River	October 1860
	Burned and sank at Napoleon	November 29, 1860
	Snagged and sank at Badgett Landing	December 15, 1860
	Snagged and sank on the Arkansas River	December 17, 1860
	Snagged and sank at Pine Bluff	December 31, 1860
	Auxiliary vessel for Confederate navy captured by Union navy in St. Charles Expedition and then used by Federals	1861–1865
	Snagged and sank at Napoleon	January 4, 1861
	Snagged and sank on the St. Francis River	January 28, 1861
	Rumors that it was taking reinforcements to U.S. garrison led to	February 1861
	Snagged and sank at Little Rock	February 11, 1861
	Snagged and sank at Douglas Landing	February 12, 1861
	Snagged and sank on the Arkansas River at	June 2, 1861
	Steamboat converted to gunboat CSS , later burned by Confederates during	1861-1863
	Steamboat carrying	January–February 1862
	Steamboat carrying U.S. supplies seized at Napoleon	January–February 1862
	Steamboat converted into gunboat CSS	1862
	Steamboat used by Union forces	1862–1865
	Steamboat at St. Charles	June 17, 1862
	Steamboat scuttled to block the White River at St. Charles	June 17, 1862
	Used as Union transport in Eunice Expedition	August–September 1862
	Used as Union transport in	August–September 1862
	Burned and sank at Carson Landing	December 8, 1862
	Burned by Union troops	December 27, 1862
	Burned by Union troops at Van Buren	December 27, 1862
	Burned by Union troops at Van Buren	December 27, 1862
	Burned by Union troops at Van Buren	December 27, 1862
	Burned by Union troops at Van Buren	December 27, 1862
	Captured on the Mississippi River by Confederates, led to U.S.	January 1863
	Captured on the Mississippi River by Union troops	January 11, 1863
	Captured on the Mississippi River by Union troops	February 11, 1863
	Steam tug captured on the Mississippi River by Union troops and burned	February 17, 1863
	Auxiliary vessel for Union navy, used in	May 23–26, 1863
	Floating gristmill used by U.S. in of , later snagged and sank	1863–1864
	Captured on the by U.S. troops	August 11, 1863
	Burned by Confederates during retreat from Little Rock	September 10, 1863
	Burned by Confederates during retreat from Little Rock	September 10, 1863
	Burned by Confederates during retreat from Little Rock	September 10, 1863
	Burned by Confederates during retreat from Little Rock	September 10, 1863
	Burned by Confederates during retreat from Little Rock	September 10, 1863
	Burned by Confederates during retreat from Little Rock	September 10, 1863
	Burned by Confederates during retreat from Little Rock	September 10, 1863
	Burned and sank at St. Charles	September 12, 1863
	Burned and sank at Union Point on the Red River	October 7, 1863
	Snagged and lost on the White River	October 14, 1863
	Auxiliary vessel for Union navy	1863–1864
	Auxiliary vessel for Union navy	1864
	Auxiliary vessel for Union navy	1864
	Auxiliary vessel for Union navy, involved in , , and	1864
	Auxiliary vessel for Union navy	1864
	Captured on the Little Red River by U.S. troops, later converted to gunboat USS	August 11, 1863, to 1865
	Auxiliary vessel for Union navy captured and destroyed by guerrillas	February 1864–August 17, 1864
	Snagged and lost at Barnum, Arkansas	March 1864
	Snagged and lost at Napoleon	March 15, 1864
	Captured by Union troops and scuttled at	April 26, 1864
	Captured by Confederates and burned on the Arkansas River	June 12, 1864
	Burned above Helena	July 4, 1864
	Auxiliary vessel for Union navy attacked by Confederates	September 9, 1864
	Union transport	October 22, 1864
	Auxiliary vessel for Union navy	November 29, 1864
	Auxiliary vessel for Union used in	December 7–8, 1864
	Snagged and lost on the Arkansas River	January 1865
	Snagged and lost on the Mississippi River at Helena	January 10, 1865
	Auxiliary vessel used by Union navy in	January 4–27, 1865
	Auxiliary vessel used by Union navy in Augusta Expedition and	January–February 1865
	Auxiliary vessel used by Union forces attacked by Confederates at	January 17, 1865
	Auxiliary vessel used by Union forces attacked by Confederates at Ivey’s Ford	January 17, 1865
	Auxiliary vessel used by Union forces attacked by Confederates at Ivey’s Ford	January 17, 1865
	Auxiliary vessel used by Union forces attacked by Confederates at Ivey’s Ford	January 17, 1865
	Auxiliary vessel used by Union navy in Expedition from Memphis to Southeastern Arkansas and northeastern Louisiana	January–February 1865
	Auxiliary vessel used by Union navy in Expedition from Memphis to Southeastern Arkansas and Northeastern Louisiana	January–February 1865
	Auxiliary vessel used by Union navy in Expedition from Memphis to Southeastern Arkansas and Northeastern Louisiana	January–February 1865
	Auxiliary vessel used by Union navy in Expedition from Memphis to Southeastern Arkansas and Northeastern Louisiana	January–February 1865
	Auxiliary vessel used by Union navy in Expedition from Memphis to Southeastern Arkansas and Northeastern Louisiana	January–February 1865
	Auxiliary vessel used by Union navy in Expedition from Memphis to Southeastern Arkansas and Northeastern Louisiana	January–February 1865
	Auxiliary vessel used by Union navy in Expedition from Memphis to Southeastern Arkansas and Northeastern Louisiana	January–February 1865
	Auxiliary vessel used by Union navy in Expedition from Memphis to Southeastern Arkansas and Northeastern Louisiana	January–February 1865
	Auxiliary vessel used by Union navy in Expedition from Memphis to Southeastern Arkansas and Northeastern Louisiana	January–February 1865
	Auxiliary vessel used by Union navy in Expedition from Memphis to Southeastern Arkansas and Northeastern Louisiana	January–February 1865
	Auxiliary vessel used by Union navy in Expedition from Memphis to Southeastern Arkansas and Northeastern Louisiana	January–February 1865
	Auxiliary vessel used by Union navy in Expedition from Memphis to Southeastern Arkansas and Northeastern Louisiana	January–February 1865
	Auxiliary vessel used by Union navy in Expedition from Memphis to Southeastern Arkansas and Northeastern Louisiana	January–February 1865
	Auxiliary vessel used by Confederate forces captured on and burned during Expedition from Memphis to Southeastern Arkansas and Northeastern Louisiana	January 31, 1865
	Vessel used by Union forces for the and the	February 1865
	Auxiliary vessel used by Union forces during the Scout from Little Rock to Bayou Meto and Little Bayou
	Snagged and lost on the Arkansas River	December 1865
	Snagged and lost on the Arkansas River 15 miles below Little Rock	December 1865
	Snagged and lost on the Arkansas River at Little Rock	December 13, 1865
	Burned and sank on the Arkansas River	January 2, 1866
	Snagged and lost at	February 7, 1866
	Foundered on the Mississippi River at Helena	May 25, 1866
	Snagged and sank at St. Charles	September 15, 1866
	Snagged and sank at Pine Bluff	December 17, 1866
	Snagged and sank on the Mississippi River 30 miles below Helena	December 6, 1867
	Burned and sank at Clarendon	December 23, 1867
	Snagged and lost at Ozark Island at Napoleon	February 19, 1868
	Snagged and sank at Auburn Landing	May 27, 1868
	Snagged and lost on the Arkansas River	December 31, 1868
	Snagged and lost on the Arkansas River	1869
	Snagged and lost on the Arkansas River	May 10, 1869
	Snagged and sank at the Arkansas River cutoff	October 25, 1869
	Snagged and lost above Pine Bluff	October 30, 1869
	Foundered at Douglas Landing	November 23, 1869
	Foundered at Helena	January 10, 1870
	Snagged and sank on the Arkansas River	January 28, 1870
	Snagged and sank on the Arkansas River	March 23, 1870
	Snagged and lost at Helena	June 10, 1870
	Snagged on the Black River near	July 9, 1870
	Sank in White River Cutoff	December 10, 1870
	Foundered on the White River at Batesville	July 27, 1871
	Snagged and lost at	October 7, 1871
	Snagged and sank on the White River	October 27, 1871
	Snagged and sank on the Arkansas River	January 15, 1872
	Snagged and sank at mouth of the White River	November 24, 1872
	Snagged and lost at Pine Bluff	December 1, 1872
	Lost to ice at Helena	December 28, 1872
	Attacked in and later sank at Little Rock during the	1874
	Used to transport troops for during the Brooks-Baxter War	April 18, 1874
	Used to transport supplies to ‘s forces during the Brooks-Baxter War	May 10, 1874
	Used to transport troops for during the Brooks-Baxter War	May 12, 1874
	Foundered at	February 23, 1907
	Foundered on the Black River	July 23, 1907
	Burned and sank on the Red River at Fulton	October 8, 1907
	Snagged and lost at Rob Roy (Jefferson County)	January 5, 1909
	Foundered at on Arkansas River	October 15, 1914
	Lost to ice at Crockett’s Bluff (Arkansas County)	January 12, 1918
	Burned and lost at Arkansas City	December 26, 1921
	Burned and lost on the White River	April 10, 1933

For additional information: “As Much as the Water: How Steamboats Shaped Arkansas.” Center for Arkansas History and Culture, University of Arkansas at Little Rock. https://ualrexhibits.org/steamboats/ (accessed January 7, 2022).

Baldwin, Leland Dewitt. The Keelboat Age on Western Waters . Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1941.

Bates, Alan L. The Western Rivers Engine Room Encyclopoedium . Louisville, KY: Cyclopoedium Press, 1996.

———. The Western Rivers Steamboat Cyclopoedium, or, American Riverboat Structure and Detail, Salted with Lore . Leonia, NJ: Hustle Press, 1968.

Branam, Chris. “A Database of Steamboat Wrecks on the Arkansas River, Arkansas, Between 1830–1900.” MA thesis, University of Arkansas, 2003.

Brown, Mattie. “A History of River Transportation in Arkansas from 1819–1880.” MA thesis, University of Arkansas, 1933.

Dethloff, Henry C. “Paddlewheels and Pioneers on Red River, 1815–1915, and the Reminiscences of Captain M. L. Scovell.” Louisiana Studies 6 (Summer 1967): 91–134.

Fitzjarrald, Sarah. “Steamboating the Arkansas.” Journal of the Forth Smith Historical Society 6 (September 1982): 2–30.

Gandy, Joan W., and Thomas H. Gandy. The Mississippi Steamboat Era in Historic Photographs: Natchez to New Orleans, 1870–1920 . New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1987.

Haites, Erik F., James Mak, and Gary M. Walton. Western Rivers Transportation: The Era of Early Internal Development, 1810–1860 . Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1975.

Hawkins, Van. Smoke up the River: Steamboats and the Arkansas Delta . Jonesboro, AR: Writers Bloc, 2016.

Huddleston, Duane, Sammie Rose, and Pat Wood. Steamboats and Ferries on White River: A Heritage Revisited . Conway: University of Central Arkansas Press, 1995.

Hunter, Louis C. Steamboats on the Western Rivers: An Economic and Technological History . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1949.

McCague, James. Flatboat Days on Frontier Rivers . Champaign, IL: Garrard Publishing Co., 1968.

Stewart-Abernathy, Leslie C. “Ghost Boats at West Memphis.” Arkansas Historical Quarterly 67 (Winter 2008): 398–413.

Stewart-Abernathy, Leslie C., ed. Ghost Boats on the Mississippi: Discovering Our Working Past . Popular Series No. 4. Fayetteville: Arkansas Archeological Survey, 2002.

Way, Frederick, Jr. Way ’s Packet Directory, 1848–1994 . Rev. ed. Athens: Ohio University Press, 1994.

Way, Frederick, Jr., compiler, and Joseph W. Rutter. Way’s Steam Towboat Directory . Athens: Ohio University Press, 1990.

Leslie C. Stewart-Abernathy Arkansas Archeological Survey

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Soldiers on river bank between trees point and fire their guns at a steamboat on the river with mountains in background

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As Much as the Water: How Steamboats Shaped Arkansas

Center for Arkansas History and Culture

A Brief Look at American Riverboat Musical Styles

I was a free-lance trumpeter in the 1970s, performing in the horn sections of pop stars, jazz big bands, ice shows, for trade show and theater pit bands, and in orchestras. I traveled to the Middle East, Europe, the Caribbean, and throughout Canada and the continental United States.

The most interesting of all the musical engagements was a one-week tour with Hank Needham and the Riverboat Rhythm Kings aboard the steamer Mississippi Queen . A friend of mine, a regular band member aboard the Queen , asked me to come to New Orleans and fill in for him while he vacationed. Every day aboard the Queen we played Dixieland during happy hour at the paddlewheel bar. At night we played for dancing in the ballroom – waltzes, polkas, swing, fox trots, ragtime, ballads, Latin music, movie themes, and anniversary and birthday songs – if someone requested it, we were expected to play it. During lunches we played light background music. In the early evenings the piano player (Hank Needham) played the calliope. A calliope is a musical keyboard instrument that features organ pipes. It’s powered by steam and typically heralds a steamer’s arrival at river ports (DeVeaux/143). Go to http://www.steamboats.org/whistle-calliope/calliope-mississippi-queen.html for some riverboat calliope music recorded aboard the Mississippi Queen . When the steamer docked at Natchez or Vicksburg, Mississippi, we played Dixieland as the passengers boarded or de-boarded, as we also did on the New Orleans docks at the beginning and end of the cruise.

It was at the New Orleans docks that I was privileged to perform with clarinetist Willie Humphrey (1900 – 94). Born into a family of New Orleans musicians, Willie was a regular clarinetist in the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, both in New Orleans and on tours. Willie also worked on the riverboats with the Streckfus Line bandleader Fate Marable (Kenney/181) . In the early 1980s I met another musician who worked on the Streckfus boats with Marable, Arkansan Ralph Porter (1912 – 2000), a fellow member of the Arkansas Jazz Hall of Fame . Ralph worked in Marable-led bands between St. Louis and Pittsburgh (AJHF and Kenney/183). I never found the time to interview Porter, one of my research regrets.

The styles of music we played on the Queen were similar to the styles earlier musicians were expected to play all along the Mississippi and Ohio River watersheds except that they reflected popular music of each era. The function (dancing) did not change.

“Streckfus Steamers had built dance floors into their excursion boats and hired a dance band. Passengers were to dance. If they didn’t dance, they would become bored. If they became bored, they wouldn’t come back.” (Kenney/35)

Music performed aboard the Streckfus boats featured popular styles, not innovative ones. After all, the music was intended for dancing, not concertizing. Fate Marable, the most famous of the St. Louis Streckfus bandleaders, favored hiring New Orleans musicians (beginning in the teens but particularly in the early to mid-1920s) in part because of their unique and animated rhythmic style, which was rougher and featured a harder edge than musicians from other parts of the country. Blues, on the other hand, was considered too harsh for the boats. The New Orleans musicians were at the same time expected to learn refinement, leading to a hybrid of “edge” and “polish” (Chevan/159). Other aspects of the New Orleans traditional jazz style, e.g., polyphonic ensemble playing, were incorporated into some dance selections, but as “hot jazz” faded in the public imagination a new dance style replaced it – swing .

By the 1930s many Streckfus musicians were recruited in St. Louis, in part because of a regional emphasis on European musical traditions. Improvisation gave way to notation and a newer, more in control , sense of professionalism. Musicians who were able to consistently read arrangements in the swing style of the jazz big bands were hired instead of the hot traditional jazz improvisers. When hot jazz was requested it tended to be memorized or read from arrangements, not improvised. Charlie Creath, a St. Louis trumpeter and Streckfus bandleader “ emphasized a sweet style of playing and a well-rehearsed horn section ” (Chevan/167).

There isn’t very much documentation regarding the music on the boats in Arkansas. I mentioned Arkansan Ralph Porter above. Bandleader Alphonso Trent from Fort Smith, Arkansas, and The Alphonso Trent Orchestra , with guest soloist Louis Armstrong, played aboard the St. Paul in St. Louis in a battle of the bands opposite the Floyd Campbell band in 1928 (Chevan/158). The band played on the Mississippi river excursions for a brief time in 1928 (Rinne/239-40). Most of the excursion steamers that operated along the Mississippi and Ohio rivers and their tributaries were owned and operated by the St. Louis Streckfus family, of which there is plenty of material for inquiry and study.

For More Information

About the author.

NOTE: Chevan (Chevan/179) includes a discography (albeit slight in number of selections) of Riverboat bands from St. Louis.

Arkansas Jazz Heritage Foundation (AJHF), Ralph Porter, Arkansas Jazz Hall of Fame 1996 Bio, https://www.arjazz.org/artists/hof/1996/96_ralph_porter.shtml.

David Chevan, "Riverboat Music From St. Louis and the Streckfus Steamboat Line", Black Music Research Journal, Vol. 9, No. 2, Papers of the 1989 National Conference on Black Music Research (Autumn 1989) pp. 153-180, Published by the Center for Black Music Research – Columbia College Chicago and University of Illinois Press. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/779421 .

Scott DeVeaux and Gary Giddins, Jazz, 2009 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., ISBN 978-0-393-97880.

William Howland Kenney, Jazz On The River, 2005 The University of Chicago Press, ISBN: 0-226-43733-7.

Barry Kernfeld, editor, The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, 1988 Macmillan Press Limited, ISBN 0-333-39846-7.

Henry Rinne, "A Short History of the Alphonso Trent Orchestra", The Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Vol. 45, No. 3 (Autumn, 1986), pp. 228 – 249, published by the Arkansas Historical Association, stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40027761 .

http://www.steamboats.org/index.php

Tulane University Hogan Jazz Archive, http://jazz.tulane.edu/exhibits/riverboats . NOTE: an excellent source for pictures.

Tom Richeson, UA Little Rock Associate Professor of Music/Jazz Studies Coordinator. He’s performed trumpet or MIDI wind controller with jazz artists Pharoah Sanders, Jerry Coker, Stan Samole, Art Porter Sr. and Jr., Charles Thomas, Ted Ludwig, and Frank Sinatra, and on tours with many pop groups, including The Jacksons, Diana Ross, Lou Rawls, and The O’Jays. Honors: Arkansas Jazz Hall of Fame (2014), National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Fellowship (1986), Honorary Visiting Professorships at Qingdao and Binzhou Universities in China (2014). He’s the principal author of The Mystery of Music , McGraw-Hill (2012). Recordings include Jazz Tracks (2014).

IMAGES

Riverboat: The Evolution of a Television Series AND The Steamboat Era
Enjoy a Riverboat Discovery Cruise in the Fall.
A royal ship indeed. Tastefully decorated and impeccably preserved, the River Queen exudes
The Riverboat Era
First Modern Riverboat in the U.S. Sets Sail from New Orleans
The Riverboat Era

VIDEO

going on a riverboat cruise in china
riverboat (riverboat saga part 1 of 2)
The Revolutionary Steamboat of 1807: Robert Fulton's Life-Changing Invention!
Wilcannia, Outback Australia
Hudson River Steamboat
1956 Century Arabian

COMMENTS

Steamboats of the Mississippi
Steamboats played a major role in the 19th-century development of the Mississippi River and its tributaries, allowing practical large-scale transport of passengers and freight both up- and down-river. Using steam power, riverboats were developed during that time which could navigate in shallow waters as well as upriver against strong currents. After the development of railroads, passenger ...
Steamboat
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A Brief History of Steamboat Racing in the U.S.
A longtime competitor and frequent winner is the Belle of Louisville, built in 1914 and billed as the "only remaining authentic steamboat from the great American packet boat era." In a ...
Life on the Mississippi
Life on the Mississippi, memoir of the steamboat era on the Mississippi River before the American Civil War by Mark Twain, published in 1883. The book begins with a brief history of the river from its discovery by Hernando de Soto in 1541. Chapters 4-22 describe Twain's career as a Mississippi steamboat pilot, the fulfillment of a childhood ...
The History of Mississippi Riverboats
Riverboat gambling became popular in the early 1900s due to legislation surrounding gaming. By keeping poker, roulette, and other games of chance restricted to a riverboat, business owners could evade the anti-gambling laws that were in effect on land in states along the Mississippi River. Riverboat gaming in Mississippi was legalized in 1993 ...
The Age of Steamboats
Relics of the steamboat era are all but gone, though are still found in the names of the places they docked—such as Hart's Point on the St. Johns River in Palatka and Grahamville or Gores Landing on the Ocklawaha River. The story of steamboats in Florida is fascinating—and they had a role in making Marion County what it is today.
Riverboat
A riverboat is a watercraft designed for inland navigation on lakes, rivers, and artificial waterways. They are generally equipped and outfitted as work boats in one of the carrying trades, for freight or people transport, including luxury units constructed for entertainment enterprises, such as lake or harbour tour boats.
Steamboats of the 1800s
Steamboats of the 1800s. The idea of using steam power to propel boats occurred to inventors soon after James Watt patented an improved version of the steam engine in 1769. John Fitch (1743-1798) was granted a United States patent for a steamboat on August 26, 1791. His first steamboats demonstrated the viability of using steam for water ...
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The end of the Fulton monopoly ushered in a new era of rapid growth in the steamboat industry. By the 1850s steamboats dominated river transportation, especially in the West where there were only 17 steamboats in 1817, but 727 by 1855. Numbers, however, tell only half the story. Western rivers also presented a challenge to steamboat designers.
Steamboat
Steamboats proved a popular method of commercial and passenger transportation along the Mississippi River and other inland U.S. rivers in the 19th century. Their relative speed and ability to travel against the current reduced time and expense. Any seagoing vessel drawing energy from a steam-powered engine can be called a steamboat.
Golden Age of Steamboats
Golden Age of Steamboats. The Golden Age of River Steamboats is roughly the period from 1850 - 1870. Specifically the ten years before the Civil War and the few years afterward were the best commercially for packets on the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio Rivers. Str Virginia 1896 (Courtesy of the Murphy Library at the U of WI La Crosse)
Evolution of Craft From the Raft to the Steamboat on the Mississippi
THE KEELBOATS AND FLATBOATS OF THE EARLY DAYS — DISCOURAGEMENTS OVERCOME BY FULTON AND HIS ASSOCIATES. - From the New-Orleans Picayune. Lamothe Cadillac, one of the early Governors of Louisiana, sententiously declared: "No boat could ever be run up the Mississippi into the Wabash, the Missouri, or the Red River for any commercial or profitable purpose.
Those Roaring Riverboat Years: A History of the Steamboat Era
Author of Those Roaring Riverboat Years, a history of the steamboat era. Authored scores of documentaries and editorials for broadcast, and thousands of words in commercial copy. Author and director of five murder mystery dinner plays. Hobbies and interests include: Sailing/yachting, historical research, creative writing.
The Steamboat Era: A History of Fulton's Folly on American Rivers, 1807
A glossary of steamboat terms and a collection of contemporary accounts of accidents round out this history of the riverboat era. Read more. Previous page. Print length. 307 pages. Language. English. Publisher. McFarland. Publication date. May 26, 2020. Reading age. 18 years and up. Dimensions. 7 x 0.62 x 10 inches. ISBN-10. 1476683689.
Steamboats on the Missouri
The steamboat Bertrand left St. Louis for Montana but struck a submerged log on April 1, 1865, and quickly sank int o the Missouri. While a portion of the Bertrand 's cargo was immediately recovered, far more went down and stayed submerged until rediscovered in 1958 by modern-day treasure-hunters Sam Corbino and Jesse Pursell.
Steamboats
The steamboat played an important role in Arkansas from the earliest days of the Arkansas Territory. Before being superseded by the railroad in the post-Civil War era, steamboats were the primary means of passenger transport, as well as moving raw materials out of Arkansas and consumer goods into the state.. The inland rivers steamboat, invented in the Mississippi River Valley in the first ...
A Brief Look at American Riverboat Musical Styles
The most interesting of all the musical engagements was a one-week tour with Hank Needham and the Riverboat Rhythm Kings aboard the steamer Mississippi Queen. ... expected to play all along the Mississippi and Ohio River watersheds except that they reflected popular music of each era. The function (dancing) did not change.
New Orleans (steamboat)
Steamboat. Length. 148 feet 6 inches. Depth. 12 feet. New Orleans was the first steamboat on the western waters of the United States. Her 1811-1812 voyage from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to New Orleans, Louisiana, on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers ushered in the era of commercial steamboat navigation on the western and mid-western continental ...
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Permian
The Permian (/ ˈ p ɜːr m i. ə n / PUR-mee-ən) [4] is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period 298.9 million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.902 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleozoic Era; the following Triassic Period belongs to the Mesozoic Era. The concept of the Permian was ...
Chaykovsky, Perm Krai
Map of the town. The town is located in the Cis-Ural region on left bank of the Kama River, near its confluence with the Saygatka [9] in the southwestern part of Perm Krai.The confluence of the Kama and the Saygatka and the nearby Votkinsk Reservoir form a peninsula on which the town is located.. The area of Chaykovskoye Urban Settlement is 56.49 square kilometers (21.81 sq mi) (including the ...
Perm, Russia
Perm (Russian: Пермь, IPA: ⓘ; Komi-Permyak: Перем; Komi: Перым), previously known as Yagoshikha (Ягошиха; 1723-1781) and Molotov (Молотов; 1940-1957), is the administrative centre of Perm Krai in the European part of Russia.It sits on the banks of the Kama River near the Ural Mountains, covering an area of 799.68 square kilometres (308.76 square miles).