Full Steam Ahead!

I close the door to my car and cross the sandy beach that will -- in five hours -- be full of young adults playing volleyball.  At this time of the day, however, there isn't a soul to be found. 

Well, that's not exactly right. 

Before me rests a small houseboat, anchored to the sand in front of the Pettibone Beach House.  In the pre-dawn darkness, it is silhouetted against the lights coming from the Logistics Health buildings on the eastern side of the Mississippi River.  The boat looks empty, with an eerie blackness staring back at me.  I suspect there are sleeping people on board, so I quietly move past it.  What it's doing here is a mystery to me -- you would think the boat owner would need a permit or something to stay overnight.  But this isn't the first time I've seen it beached here.

As I step onto the beach, I'm amazed at the stillness of the river.  Patches of color reflected off the river are dispersed by the gentle current as it slowly heads downstream.  The air is thick with humidity and the temperature is already into the seventies.  Once the sun is up, it will be a scorcher -- reaching 91 degrees if you believe WIZM's "weather on the sixes."

To my left is a thicket of brush and river grass.  I can smell dead fish somewhere, but the smell and the buzz of mosquitoes don't deter me from walking through it to get to my destination.  With anticipation, I walk out onto a series of rocks that jut out into the river, careful not to lose my balance and fall into the water.

To my south, clouds -- appearing orange, pale blue and purple as the sun awakens from it's evening slumber -- paint a dreamy picture over the big blue bridges that span the 462 foot wide river.  Yellow lights outline the contrasting shapes of both bridges, one arching gracefully from Barron Island to La Crosse; the other looking like an aging battleship with its pointed, steel trusses crisscrossing it's way out of La Crosse.  These structures remind me that the river has always embraced both the past and present.

This morning, an even bigger tie to the river's past lies docked on the other side of the river in Riverside Park, its shadowy length dotted with deck lights.  According to the arrival/departure times I saw yesterday, the majestic boat is ready to depart for St. Paul within a few minutes.   I set my tripod down and adjust the camera lens to focus on the largest steamboat still operating on the Mississippi River -- the American Queen.


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Every summer and fall, La Crosse hosts the arrival of steam-powered riverboats.  Through the years, I've enjoyed seeing The Delta Queen, the American Queen, Queen of the Mississippi and our very own over-achiever -- the La Crosse Queen.  Today's steamboats -- with elegant woodwork, calliopes and steam-powered stern paddle wheels are meant to replicate the Victorian Era steam paddlers of old.  But while they look the part, they are anything but like the steamboats that traveled the Mississippi River during the 1800's.

For many years, boat travel on the Mississippi River was a slow affair, with products mostly traveling down river on flatboats and keel boats.  The only way to move things up river was to use poles -- and push -- and that meant a large amount of time and money.  So the development of steam to move people and goods upstream helped create a new economy and many new river towns, and brought fabulous luxuries to the settlers.  Suddenly, travel on the Mississippi River was no longer a one-way route!

To understand what traveling on the Mississippi River was like during the early 1800's, you need to know that there was little reason to travel this far north on the river.  In the late eighteenth century, most river travel was on the eastern rivers of the United States and the lower Mississippi River between New Orleans and St Louis.  Between sandbars, strong current and hostile Indians, travel on the upper Mississippi River was no sure thing.  There are accounts like this from the La Crosse Historical Society that paint a very rugged and dangerous country:

"The whole country west of the Mississippi River was in the undisputed possession of the various Indian tribes when a few straggling settlements began to appear.  The Winnebago, Sioux and Chippewa Indians were the principal tribes along the river when the whole country from Prairie du Chien to Fort Snelling was one continuous wilderness.  The scenery of this region was grand and picturesque, but offered few inducements for settlement as long as it remained in the hands of a barbarous population."

"Fort Snelling (in Minnesota) was for two decennaries the great -- and in fact the only -- trading post in the Northwest.  It stood alone as the only civilized center in the midst of a great Indian territory, and within a few miles of the head of navigation on the Mississippi River."  

"The first steamboat to reach the post occurred in 1823; and the necessity of having provisions taken to the post would bring a boat up there only a few times every year, until 1845, when boats began to make regular trips to the fort."

With continued expansion to the west -- including growth in areas like Dubuque, Prairie du Chien, La Crosse and St. Paul --  steamboats were becoming a familiar site along the river.  But they weren't the kind that visit La Crosse today on a regular basis.  These were flat boats -- called packet boats -- which carried crops up and down the river.  In fact many river towns were built near plantations and farms to make getting crops to packet boats easier.  La Crosse was one of those towns.

From the La Crosse Historical Society --

"La Crosse is exceptionally well located for river trade.  The bluffs come close to the river's edge both north and south of the city.  The bend of the Mississippi River as it rounds the end of Pettibone Island just above the mouth of the Black River causes the channel to flow along the eastern shore where the levee is deeper for boat landing."

"Indian trails from northern Wisconsin centered at Prairie La Crosse while the junction of the La Crosse, Black and Mississippi Rivers formed a break in the means of transportation and made the location a cargo-breaking point."

In 1824, Congress passed legislation to improve the navigation of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers by making rivers more accessible -- removing sand bars, dead trees and snags.  Part of the process was the development in 1829 of another type of steamboat called the snag boat.  These boats were to find sunken trees, stumps or boat wrecks -- and remove them.  With storms and unpredictable current, the Mississippi River was constantly changing.   So snag boats were a very important improvement that allowed continued expansion along our great river.

As the river conditions improved and more towns popped up along the river, the need to bring people up the Mississippi River grew.  In 1823 the small steam packet Virginia became the first boat to travel from St. Louis into what was called the Minnesota Territory, carrying a trickle of what would soon become  a deluge of immigration.  An interesting side note -- also on board the Virginia was Captain William Clark of the famed Lewis and Clark expedition.

 

Early passenger travel was not a pleasant experience:  many of these immigrant families traveled in horrible conditions.  Among them were cramped spaces, often among cattle and pigs.  Passengers were exposed to diseases and enjoyed few luxuries.  Despite these conditions, steamboat travel opened immigration to settlers and their children.  The speed of travel made it possible for families to travel together, rather than have the father leave loved ones behind while exploring the wilderness with the hopes of returning for them much later.

As the years passed, steamboat travel for passengers became better.  Boat builders added more luxuries, making the experience something to write home about.   Again from the La Crosse Historical Society --

"The saloons of the boats were highly decorated with brilliant if not always artistic paintings.  Music was highly attractive to the passengers.  As brass bands were too expensive , a colored stringed orchestra was usually to be found in the main cabin.  These Negroes also worked as deck hands when unloading or loading the boat.  Six or eight Negroes who could play the banjo, violin and guitar, as well as sing, and who were also barbers, waiters, baggage hands were hired.  During their time off, they furnished music and received a little extra pay for it.  It was about 1879 that the first steam calliope was heard on the upper Mississippi."

"Three good meals were served on the boats each day, and the passengers were welcome to eat all they wished.  This was quite a contrast to the lower river boats, where passengers were expected to furnish their own food.''

"In the days of the keenest competition, all this and dancing was offered at the lowest prices, each company trying to outdo the other in an effort to gain trade.  They went so far as to keep agents at the railroad stations to persuade passengers to take their particular boats."




The glamorous style known as "Steamboat Gothic" attracted pleasure-seekers and wealthy travelers.

Herbert Quick wrote in "Mississippi Steamboatin' " -- "To mid-westerners in those days cabin passage on a steamboat was the ultimate in luxury.  More comfortable than their setting rooms and more ornate than their parlors, these travelers had never seen anything like it before.  The wooden filigrees that stretched down the long aisle in a tapering vista illuminated by glistening cut-glass chandeliers; the soft, oil paintings on every stateroom door; the thick carpets that transformed walking into a royal march; the steaming piles of food on the long linen cloth in the dining rooms, and attentive waiters standing with more food and desserts -- neither home nor hotels were ever like this!"

As interesting as it was to travel on a steamboat, they could be quite dangerous.  On the upper Mississippi River it was common for rival steamers to race, beam to beam, down narrow channels.  Their captains could ignore safety measures and occasionally ram their competitors to gain an advantage.  Boilers -- pushed beyond their limits -- occasionally blew up and killed passengers.

A well-known steamboat in this area -- the War Eagle -- burned at La Crosse in 1879 at the confluence of the Black and Mississippi Rivers with the loss of two lives and $215,000 in property damage.  A picture of the boat is painted on the side of a building near downtown.

I've often wondered about cost -- both to build one of these boats and to be a passenger.  According to early record keeping, the average steamboat -- accommodating 200 cabin passengers and 100 second class passengers would cost from $25,000 to $30,000.  Monthly expenses for the crew, food, wood and sundries were $11,500.  Passengers would pay $5 for a cabin when traveling downstream from St. Paul to La Crosse.  Traveling upstream was a little more expensive -- $6 from La Crosse to St. Paul.  The profit of the average boat for a season was about $56,300.

The average life of a steamboat was eight years.  Based on the costs of operating the boat and the large profit being made, it's easy to see why river traffic increased so much during the mid 1800's.

As quickly as they became popular, however, steamboats began to lose their appeal as railroads gained popularity.  In the year 1830, there were only 23 miles of tracks in the United States.  By 1880, there were 93,000 miles of tracks.  As the country moved into the 20th century, the invention of cars, trucks and airplanes signaled the end of steamboat traffic as a preferred means of transportation.

In the early 1900's, the Great Depression, the explosion of shipbuilding capability on the river because of WWI and II, and the rise of diesel tugboats finally finished the steamboat era.


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As the great boat slowly pulls out from the landing, the quiet of the morning is disturbed by the mournful sound of the American Queen's steam whistle.  In my mind's eye, I image the captain in the pilothouse, grabbing the whistle handle and slowly pulling down against the pressure of the steam valve.  The captain's face is lit by the lights of the boat's control panel and the early morning glow of lamps in Riverside Park.

Another low moan can be heard from the gilded steam whistle atop the smokestack bonnet.  After blowing the long blast, the captain pauses to wait for the echo which comes shortly from the surrounding bluffs, barely visible in the early morning light.  It is almost like his last pull on the whistle has awakened the ghosts of previous steamboats that traveled this river almost 175 years ago.  The echoes continue until the last ghostly specter has vanished like a warm river mist.

And with a slight turn to the left, the American Queen continues its journey north through Winona, Wabasha, Lake Pepin and eventually St.Paul.

Life along the Mississippi River has inspired many people:  Mark Twain, with his wonderful stories of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn; and one of the greatest American musicals, Show Boat.  Both of these examples show the drama that lived in the daily lives of people along the river. “Ol’ Man River” and other songs are poignant reminders of how rivers wind their way through people’s lives as well as the American landscape.

"In my dreams I seem to hear a whistle shrill -
Like the whippoorwillin'  of the whippoorwill.
In my ears I hear it ringing
And the past to me it is bringing.

It reminds me of the dear old past
to me it is bringing.
It reminds me of the dear old Mississippi.

When I loaded cotton on that
stern wheel ship
They were the happiest days
there's no doubt.

On the Mississippi."

-- On The Mississippi, Ballard MacDonald, 1912