PAGE 14A: YANKTON 150 PRESS & DAKOTAN ■ SATURDAY, AUGUST 6, 2011

Missouri river from Edwin- vast amount of freight ton (Bismarck) into the and to appeal to the pas- Riverboats hunting grounds and un- sengers who were emi- ceded territory of the grating or traveling to From Page 12A Lakota. Montana. “It is the aim of Lt. Col. George Custer the Coulson Line to fur- had come north with parts nish two boats which steamboats, in turn, carried the freight of the 7th Cavalry via shall be models of luxury and passengers to destinations on the Yankton and the Dakota and at the same time pos- frontier where railroads did not yet exist. Southern to take com- Marsh Coulson sess abundant freight car- Eventually, the railroads reached those mand the commissioned rying capacity without a outlying areas as well, thus eliminating the fort named after the slain depth of hole that will retard progress,” steamboat as a profitable means of trans- 16th president. What would become according to the Press and Dakotaian. portation. However short the period, the known as the Expedition of 1873 brought ——— steamboats and the men that operated increased activity to Yankton and Ft. Ran- THE CLOSE OF THE 1879 SEASON was them provided transportation and sup- dall as steamboats were ordered into gov- indeed the end of an era. The Missouri plies to those who settled and helped ernment service while in transit, unloading Transportation Line would never again tame the Upper Missouri River area, and their shocked and surprised civilian car- succeed in winning the government con- made Yankton the focal point of the fron- goes where ever the telegraph could reach tract as the railroad had reached several tier concerning the Upper Missouri River to load military stores and armor the pilot points beyond Yankton. In the fall of 1879, Area. houses now being chartered into govern- the Milwaukee Road had reached Cham- ——— ment service. berlain, D.T., and by 1880, the Chicago THE STORY OF YANKTON AND HER Telegrams survive that show that Com- Northwestern stretched all the way to steamboats is a rich history that involves modore S.B. Coulson and Capt. JC McVay Pierre. The railroad had bypassed Yankton many newcomers to the region: Familiar were extremely busy shifting boats and and the government would ship freight as names such as Gens. Hancock, Custer captains into the government service and far as the lines ran. The Missouri River (bvt.) and Sheridan would pass through receiving an average of $350 per day per Transportation Line did not leave Yankton, this area. boat extra over the contracted rates. as it had offices in Bismarck and Fort Ben- This is a significant chapter in the his- P&D ARCHIVE PHOTO The campaign of 1876 found Marsh The legendary Far West, which raced into Montana in 1876 to pick up the remnants ton, but the effects were felt in Yankton. tory of Dakota, in which Commodore San- making the heroic trip turning the Far West The only area left yet untouched by the ford B. Coulson and the men who made up from the battles that included Gen. George Custer’s disastrous defeat at the Little around at night on the Little Big Horn Big Horn. (From the book “Yankton: The Way It Was!” by Bob Karolevitz) rail was the area above Bismarck. the Missouri Transportation Line played River and making the arduous record trip The competition between the lines con- an important part. conveying not only the wounded from the tinued. In 1880-81 the contract went to the Coulson and his older brothers, along controlling interests, and Marsh went to this instance, the secretary described the Reno and Benteen’s command, but the Washington in an attempt to win the two government’s mandate that a warehouse Peck Line of Sioux City. As a result of the with other investors, created a steamboat news to a stunned nation in the midst of reduction in business, the Missouri River company that would become the largest large government contracts for the newly must exist in the location of the deposi- celebrating America’s centennial that formed company. The U.S. government of- tory of government supplies and goods; Transportation Company began selling off on the river and made its headquarters in Custer’s immediate command had been part of their fleet. The Press and Dakotaian Yankton, Dakota Territory in the 1870s. fered bids on transporting all of the neces- without the warehouse, Yankton would wiped out to the last man. sary supplies for both the military forts forfeit both the incredibly large govern- announced that the Far West, built by the They operated on the Mississippi when These campaigns — along with the Coulson Line 10 years before, had been the Missouri froze over. Showing great and the Native American agencies on the ment business and also the Missouri River government contracts combined with the upper Missouri. These were coveted con- Transportation Line as both would then sold to the Peck Line for $6,000. Coulson profits and building more boats, they later gold rush to the Black Hills — brought continued to sell steamers, and eventually expanded their operations on the Missouri tracts that would provide for numerous resort to using Sioux City as a port and huge profits to the line as well as more other subsidiary occupations as well as supply depot. The page-long record of the the Far West, Black Hills and Key West were and opened offices in Fort Benton as well people to the area. The only way to go all purchased by the Power Line. as Bismarck. The Missouri Transportation outlets for the local ranchers and farmers. meeting shows the immediacy of the situa- was to travel with the “Old Reliable” as Government contracts for shipping freight tion and the consensus of the city leaders By 1885 the Missouri River Transporta- Line began a prosperous trade on the far as Ft. Pierre and then go overland to tion Company closed its offices in Bis- Upper Missouri in 1872; however, by 1890, and supplies to the frontier forts and In- to work together with the Coulsons to con- strike it rich. The city fathers of Dead- dian agencies were very lucrative. A gov- struct the warehouse as soon as the mate- marck, leaving the Power Line as the last the line ceased to exist, its prosperity se- wood crafted a letter to Commodore major Upper River steamboat line. verely affected by railroad expansion and ernment contract guaranteed that the rials could be obtained. steamboat company or companies that re- This settled, the Missouri Transporta- Coulson in an attempt to set up a perma- As for the boats, the Big Horn had fierce competition from other steamboat nent line of transportation from Yankton lines. ceived such an indenture would have tion Line, otherwise known as the “Coul- been rebuilt in Yankton in 1882. In 1883 ample business for the entire season. The son Line” or “Old Reliable,” began its to Deadwood, which they did also involv- she hit a snag and sank within five min- Coulson grew up in a steam boating Rosebud family and served the Union during the companies vied for these contracts, which history in Yankton. The Coulson Packet ing Dr. Walter Burleigh. The , cap- utes. The passengers were all safe, but Civil War. By 1870, he was the captain of assured large profits for the lowest bidder. Line began operating out of Yankton in tained by Mart Coulson, would pick up the $20,000 worth of cargo was destroyed the brand new steamboat, the Far West, of ——— 1873 with seven boats: the Far West, Nellie miners gone broke at the Fort Pierre land- and only insured for $5,000! This disas- which he helped design. Commodore Coul- THE GOVERNMENT HAD SIGNED nu- Peck, the Western, Key West, E. H. Durfee, ing and bring them as far as Yankton for trous episode proved to be more cata- son, as he would come to be known, was merous treaties with the Plains Indians the Sioux City and Mary McDonald. The no fee. (Interesting to note that gold was strophic for the line than the 1881 flood known for his ability to not only captain and as a result of the treaties, promised to new steamboat company took a risk by discovered by Custer in 1874, but the citi- and the loss of a completely stripped but also pilot steamboats. He brought the deliver supplies to the Indian agencies. A moving to the tiny town in Dakota Terri- zens of Yankton had been lobbying Con- Western. On June 19, 1884, Coulson wrote Far West up the Missouri and ran her out separate contract covered the shipment of tory, but the prospects seemed bright as gress for an expedition into the Black in the margin of a newspaper that he had of Sioux City on her maiden voyage to this military stores and troops to more than 21 outlined in an article in the Missouri Demo- Hills to locate the rumored gold since sold his stock in the Dacotah and that “... area in 1870 — the worst year on the river posts along the Upper Missouri. The crat: “The commerce of the Missouri river 1862.) she is at St. Louis now.” The Missouri that anyone could remember — yet he op- amounts to be delivered to the Indians in for the next ten years, will be greater than In 1879 the Coulson Line advertised River Transportation Company sold the erated her independently for the entire 1873 were staggering, as the Press and has ever been known. Yankton will be the the following steamers “plying between” Rosebud to the Power Line, and she made season without any issues. Coulson made Dakotaian reported: “Twenty-three million, St. Paul of the Missouri.” Yankton and Ft. Benton, Montana Terri- her first run for the Block P in May 1885. a substantial profit and had avoided the one hundred and fifty pounds of beef; five ——— tory: Montana, Rosebud, Big Horn, Daco- The Josephine was sold to the govern- many hazards that claimed hundreds of million, five hundred and thirty thousand SO BEGAN THE HISTORY OF THE tah, Key West, Josephine, Far West (with a ment in 1885 and converted into a snag- boats on the Missouri. Between Yankton pounds of flour; one million, three hun- largest and most famous of all the steam- new upper deck), the Western and the ging boat, only to come back to Yankton a and Sioux City there are close to a dozen dred and eighty thousand pounds of boat lines that plied the mighty Missouri Black Hills. few years later, purchased by Joseph boats that fell victim to the unpredictabil- bacon; add to this, 487,000 pounds of cof- River. The Coulson Line won many more In order to compete with the ever-in- Leach Sr. of Running Water, where she ity of the Missouri, including the North Ala- fee; 990,000 pounds of sugar; 69,300 government contracts, bringing more busi- creasing pressure of the railroad, the was used as an excursion boat until de- bama making a run to supply Ft. Randall pounds of tobacco.” ness to Yankton. company had designed and built three clared unfit for service in 1907. late in the season — a run that Coulson, The U.S. Army took bids on local terri- Many other steamers besides those of huge boats for the upper Missouri trade. And so the story of Yankton’s steam- commanding the Far West, turned down, torial items such as agricultural products, the Coulson Line docked here at Yankton, These three boats would have appeared boat history ended not by the flood of as did Grant Marsh. Sioux City at this time beef and pork, and items produced in and many independent boats as well were to be at home on the Mississippi as they 1881, but by another type of technology was the end of the line for the railroads Yankton, like flour. As a result, Yankton contracted by the line to sail under the dwarfed all other boats on the Missouri. that did not have to stop during five and thus served as the terminus for all area farmers and businessmen benefited Coulson flag especially during the Indian The Montana and Dacotah were com- months of the year but could operate for government and civilian supplies. Coulson and influenced by the amount of flour in campaigns of the mid to late 1870s. The pleted for the 1879 season and the the most part year-round. The individuals and his brothers, along with Grant Marsh, demand constructed the flourmill that still Great Flood of 1881 and the ice gorge Wyoming would begin her voyage from who started the Missouri River Trans- also had passed the Yankton area and saw stands in historic downtown Yankton. struck the steamers that had been pulled Pennsylvania the next spring. The Mon- portation Company were heavily involved that this little town offered a natural pro- Other items coming from the “states” were up on the ways for the winter and dam- tana, when empty, drew two feet aft and in the community and also branched out tected levee from the northwest and was transported on the Dakota Southern rail- aged many, but only two were destroyed 16 inches forward. She could haul freight into many different businesses. These further north of one of the most treacher- road, which had a span of rails that ran di- outright, the Western and the Fontenelle. and passengers, 1,200 tons overall. same men started the first bank in Yank- ous parts of the Missouri above Sioux City. rectly parallel to First Street a few yards The rest were repaired and sailed again. The Coulson brothers, McVay, Todd ton, what would become the First Dakota The city fathers of Yankton had been from the river levee. So Yankton was on Most of the Coulson Line boats were win- and Evans all had input into the design of National Bank, which they also used this trying to get the railroad to come to Yank- track to replace Sioux City as the coveted tering on the island west of town that is the three big boats. On April 29, some- as the operational headquarters for the ton for close to a decade. The Yankton government focal point for all military and today part of Lake Yankton. The news of thing truly exciting occurred and the en- Missouri River Transportation Company. Press and Dakotaian stated on April 23, agency trade. It was now the terminus of the flood was vastly exaggerated, and the They were hard-working, civic-minded in- the railroad and courting the interests eastern press had done such a thorough tire town of Yankton turned out at the 1873, in reference to the steamboat trade: levee to witness an extraordinary sight as dividuals who, with their families, made a “Upon the extension of the railroad to who were to create the largest steamboat job of retelling the disaster that Coulson’s commitment to the city, state and nation. line on the Missouri River. Insurance Company sent him telegrams the new Montana made her way to the Yankton, this town practically occupies levee. The Press and Dakotaian reported: They helped build a town that grew into a the place of Sioux City.” The Coulsons had sent a lobbyist to asking as to why he had not yet collected city and a territory that became a state. Finally the Dakota Southern became a Yankton to meet with the city fathers who on this losses! “The pride of the Coulson Line (and as a natural sequence of Yankton also which While this is only a small part of a much reality. The Missouri River Transportation agreed to pay for and build a warehouse at The 1873 military campaign brought larger the story, it is a story that needs to Company was created from interests of the the levee stretching from Walnut to Dou- more troops to the frontier in order to aug- is the home of the owners of the Coulson Montana be repeated and shared with the next gen- now split Sioux City Northwest Trans- glas streets. The original minutes of the ment the cavalry and infantry effort to sus- boats,) the big steamer arrives.” eration. portation Company, the Coulson brothers, town meeting were still in the basement of tain the surveying for the Northern Pacific They were designed with two pur- See you at Riverboat Days! J.C. McVay and Marsh made up most of the City Hall (they have since disappeared). In Railroads attempt to stretch across the poses in mind: the ability to transport a