The complete story of a Steamboat, By Harry Shaw

SHAW

Posted By: Melvin Temple Jr. (email)
Date: 5/24/2004 at 03:40:19

I have no connection to any of the mentioned families in this typed Document. I found this typed story in a box of things that I purchased at an auction several years ago, It was enclosed in an envelope, And appears to have been typed many years ago, because of the yellowing of the paper and envelope. And it is in very fragile condition. So I thought I would share it with anyone who might take an interest in the story and it's history.

A MOUNTAIN TRIP BY STEAMBOAT

By Harry Shaw

    In the Spring of 1905, Capt.. Oscar Knapp, father of the late Geo. B. Knapp, U.S. inspector of steamboats for the District of Dubuque, Iowa, set out to buy a steamboat to ply as a short line packet on the St. Croix river. So up and down the Mississippi he went, but found nothing in the steam-boat line that would fit this trade, as the boat had to be of a shallow draft and light on fuel. However, he did not give up.
    So over on the Ohio he went, and after a few weeks of looking around, he was told that there was a boat at Burnside, Kentucky, on the Cumberland river. So on to Burnside he went, and there he found a steamboat by the name of "Burksville", which proved to be just what he wanted. With a full cabin and shallow draft, it was short on power but light on fuel because of it's one Clyde boiler. And a fine little boat it turned out to be. It was overhauled and fitted out at Dubuque, Iowa, for the St. Croix packet trade between Osceola, Wis.. and Taylor Falls, Minn., a run of eight miles.
  So she became a new boat with a new name; "O.K.", after the owner Capt. Oscar Knapp ( now deceased), veteran of the upper Mississippi, St. Croix , and Minnesota Rivers. I am sorry to say that the steamer "O.K." never turned a wheel in the packet trade on the St. Croix river. She was sold in June 1905 to Charles Stevens Transportation Co. with head-quarters at Mondak, Montana, a thriving little western city located on the banks of the Missouri River near the mouth of the Yellowstone river.
    On July 1st, 1905, the writer shipped up as a fireman on the "O.K." and was told that in a few days she would be on her way to the mountains in Montana some 2800 miles away.
    On July 5th, at ten P.M., the steamer "O.K." with her pretty coat of white paint backed out of the Dubuque harbor, headed for the mountains or on what was later called the mountain trip with the following crew board:

Captain - Abe Mitchell - Clinton, Iowa

Pilot - Tom O'Rourke - Dubuque, Iowa

Chief Engineer - John Schwartz - Dubuque, Iowa

Asst. Engineer - Thomas Forbes - Mondak, Montana

Firemen - Harry Shaw - Dubuque, Iowa, and Robert Trombley - Dubuque, Iowa

Deck hand - Herman Kuhen - Herman, Missouri

Cook - Mrs. John Schwartz - Dubuque, Iowa.

    The fourth day out of Dubuque found us tied up at Alton, Ill. coaling up for the long journey up the Missouri River.
    Next day at dawn the "O.K." was headed for the Missouri with a new pilot, I think Capt. Arthur Miller from St. Louis. We soon reached the mouth of the Missouri, and at that point our fun began.
    The river was high, full and drift wood, and the current was very swift. But the "O.K." steamed her, and we made St. Charles, about 28 miles, the first day. On the 3rd day we layed up at Capt. "Steamboat Bill" Heckman's town, Herman, Mo., and a pretty river town it is. A few more days of slow going found the "O.K." at Kansas City, only to take on more coal and get under way. So on to Omaha where we changed pilots, Capt. Miller going back to St. Louis.
    The late Capt. John Marsh took charge of the pilot house and circle work as far as the mountains. There were many steam boats on the Missouri, and as we neared Sioux City we would meet steam boats loaded with cattle and hogs for the Sioux City market. High bridges at that time were few and far between and so the ferry boats had a good, steady trade.
    Leaving Sioux City and on to Yankton, S. Dak., the whole country along the river seemed to change. Being used to high wooded hills, it was hard to get acquainted with the treeless rolling prairies of the Dakotas. So here at Yankton, we took on the last eastern coal we got. At Chamberlain, S. Dak., there were several steamboats at the levee taking on freight for up and down river points. These boats were operated by the Sanford Packet Company.
    At Dierre, S. Dak., there were no bridges so the Senechal Ferry Co. operated two ferries; the City of Fort Pierre, and the Scotty Phillip. A few more miles up the river we came to the famous Scotty Phillip Buffalo Herd and a sight it was, my first, to see those big fellows roaming over those treeless hills, grazing as they went.
    Every mile we went, the country became wilder and the rail roads farther away, but we became closer to the Red Man's, the native Indian's land. When we would tie up for the night, the Indians would come down and look us over, but in a peaceful way.
    The "O.K." kept scaping in her stacks, and the next town was Bismark,
N. Dak. Then boiler day and a night in town. Maybe it was pay-day. You know what steam boat men do on pay-day,
well I won't tell. The I.P. Baker Transportation Co. operated steam boats in and out of Bismark, and on one of these, we had the pleasure of meeting the veteran captain of the upper Missouri River, Captain Grant Marsh, father of our pilot Capt. John Marsh. The I.P. Baker boats carried many thousands of bushels of grain each year. It was now getting late in the fall, and the Baker boats were getting ready for the fall grain trade.   The "O.K." was now heading into strong, full North-West winds with Williston, N. Dak., in the distance. At Williston we had coaled the good steamer "O.K." with tons of old Lignitec and some coal. I remember that Bob and I had a hard time to keep her hot. Then 20 miles to the mouth of the Yellowstone River and our mission ended at Mondak, Mont., Sept. 15, 1905.
    The steamer "O.K." made several trips up the Yellowstone River carrying freight for the U.S. government, to Glendive, Mont., in the fall of 1905, and froze in Nov. 8 of the same year.
    In the spring of 1906, she was taken to the upper Missouri with the writer aboard to Milk River, and from there to Fort Benton, head of navigation onthe Missouri River. The mountains were reached and so ended the mountain trip steamer "O.K." from Dubuque, Iowa to Fort Benton, Montana.
    The "O.K." ran in the packet trade the summer of 1906 and 7 on the upper Missouri between Fort Benton and Milk River, Mont.
    Trading with ranchers and Indians, each trip the "O.K." had on board tons of supplies such as flour, smoked meats, canned goods, tobacco, clothing and any other commodities. One might say that the steamer "O.K." was a floating commissary. She was doing a thriving business in this trade when the end came.
    The steamer "O.K." became disabled and it burned with a total loss on the banks of the Missouri River in the month of June, 1908, at Fort Benton, Mont.. And so ended the good steamer "O.K.", formerly the Cumberland River Packet. "Burksville".
    It went to where all good steamers go, "Davy Jone's Locker."

The End

Messages In This Thread

• The complete story of a Steamboat, By Harry Shaw (views: 886)
  SHAW
  Melvin Temple Jr. -- 5/24/2004 at 03:40:19
  • Re: The complete story of a Steamboat, By Harry Shaw (views: 891)
    SHAW, DAVIS
    Dan Davis -- 1/11/2007 at 22:22:34