Steamboat A-Comin': the Legacy of the New Orleans Dangers on The

CURRICULUM GUIDE

Dangers on the River by Jane Hedeen

for the Traveling Exhibition Steamboat A-Comin’: The Legacy of the New Orleans

developed in partnership with the Rivers Institute at Hanover College This is a publication of the Indiana Historical Society Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center 450 West Ohio Street Indianapolis, IN 46202-3269 USA www.indianahistory.org

Cover: Painting The New Orleans Steaming Upstream by Moonlight, 1811 by Gary R. Lucy. Courtesy of the Gary R. Lucy Gallery, Washington, Missouri. http://www.garylucy.com

Copyright 2010 Indiana Historical Society All rights reserved Except for copying portions of the teacher resources by educators for classroom use, or for quoting of brief passages for re- views, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without written permission of the copyright owner. All inquiries should be addressed to the Public Programs Division, Indiana Historical Society. Introduction Academic Standards This lesson is designed as a complement to the •• Indiana Standards traveling exhibition, Steamboat A-Comin’: The Legacy °° Grade 4 of the New Orleans, developed by the Indiana Historical Society in partnership with the Rivers • Social Studies 4.1.6––Explain how key Institute at Hanover College. The exhibition cel- individuals and events influenced the ebrates the 2011 bicentennial of the New Orleans, early growth of and changes in Indiana. the first successful steamboat to voyage down • Social Studies 4.1.17––Using primary the Ohio River, and explores the ways this event and secondary sources and online effected the economy, technology, and culture of source materials, construct a brief narra- the Midwest and the country. tive about an event in Indiana history. Steam technology and its innovative application • Social Studies 4.3.8––Identify chal- to river navigation allowed the local, state, and lenges in the physical landscape of national economy to grow exponentially. It also Indiana to early settlers and modern facilitated the westward migration of a large num- day economic development. ber of settlers, a trend that had a profound impact on Native American populations. While the river • Social Studies 4.3.9––Explain the posed many dangers, it also offered thrilling importance of major transportation adventures. For African Americans in particular, routes, including rivers, in the explo- the river was both the scene of hard labor and ration, settlement, and growth of a chance to experience freedom of movement. Indiana, and in the state’s location as a Those who worked, lived, and relaxed on the river crossroad of America. became adherents to a culture that was expressed • English/Language Arts 4.1.7––Use in poetry, literature, song, and legends. context to determine the meaning of The Steamboat A-Comin’: The Legacy of the New Or- unknown words. leans traveling exhibition is available to organizations • English/Language Arts 4.2.7––Fol- such as historical societies, museums, and schools. In low multistep instructions in a basic some cases a nominal fee is charged for use of the technical manual. exhibition. Lessons in the accompanying curriculum may be used to prepare students for a visit to the ex- • English/Language Arts 4.3.2––Identi- hibition, as a follow-up to a visit, or as a standalone fy the main events of the plot, includ- piece that provides historic context for this pivotal ing their causes and the effects of moment in history. each event on future actions, and the major theme from the story action. Overview/Description • English/Language Arts 4.4.4––Use In this lesson, students will examine a variety of logical organizational structures for primary sources to learn about dangers on the providing information in writing, such river, including snags, steamboat races, steamboat as chronological order, cause and fires, ice, and pirates. effect, similarity and difference, and answering a question. Grade Level • English/Language Arts 4.5.6––Write Elementary (grades 4 and 5) and middle/interme- for different purposes (information, diate (grades 6, 7, and 8) persuasion, description) and to a specific audience or person.

1 CURRICULUM GUIDE • The Dangers on the River • Indiana Historical Society • English/Language Arts 4.7.1––Ask confronting people during the found- thoughtful questions and respond ing era of the United States. orally to relevant questions with ap- • Social Studies 5.3.12––Describe propriate elaboration. and analyze how specific physical • English/Language Arts 4.7.7––Em- features influenced historical events phasize points in ways that help the and movements. listener or viewer follow important • Social Studies 5.4.4––Trace the devel- ideas and concepts. opment of technology and the impact • English/Language Arts 4.7.8––Use of major inventions on the business details, examples, anecdotes (stories productivity during the early develop- of a specific event), or experiences to ment of the United States. explain or clarify information • English/Language Arts 5.1.6––Un- • English/Language Arts 4.7.9––En- derstand unknown words by using gage the audience with appropriate word, sentence, and paragraph clues words, facial expressions, and gestures. to determine meaning. • Science 4.4.7––Describe that human • English/Language Arts 5.2.3––Rec- beings have made tools and machines, ognize main ideas presented in texts, such as x-rays, microscopes, and identifying and assessing evidence that computers, to sense and do things that supports those ideas. they could not otherwise sense or do • English/Language Arts 5.3.8––Identify at all, or as quickly, or as well. the speaker or narrator in a selection and °° Grade 5 tell whether the speaker or narrator is a character involved in the story. • Social Studies 5.1.6––Identify and discuss instances of both cooperation • English/Language Arts 5.5.5––Use and conflict between Native Ameri- varied word choices to make cans and European settlers, such as writing interesting. agriculture, trade, cultural exchanges • English/Language Arts 5.7.4––Select and military alliances, as well as later a focus, organizational structure, and broken treaties, massacres and con- point of view for an oral presentation. flicts over control of the land. • English/Language Arts 5.7.5––Clarify • Social Studies 5.1.19––Using primary and support spoken ideas with evi- and secondary sources to examine a dence and examples. historical account about an issue of the time, reconstruct the literal mean- • English/Language Arts 5.7.6––Use ing of the passages by identifying who volume, phrasing, timing, and gestures was involved, what happened, where appropriately to enhance meaning. it happened, what events led to these • English/Language Arts 5.7.13––Em- developments, and what consequences phasize points in ways that help the or outcomes followed. listener or viewer follow important • Social Studies 5.1.20––Read and in- ideas and concepts. terpret primary and secondary source • Science 5.3.8––Investigate, observe, accounts that pertain to a problem and describe that heating and cooling

2 CURRICULUM GUIDE • The Dangers on the River • Indiana Historical Society cause changes in the properties of evidence, and with visual or media dis- materials, such as water turning into plays that use appropriate technology. steam by boiling and water turning • English/Language Arts 6.7.7––Use into ice by freezing. Notice that effective timing, volume, tone, and many kinds of change occur faster alignment of hand and body gestures to at higher temperatures. sustain audience interest and attention. °° Grade 6 • Science 6.1.9––Explain how technolo- • Social Studies 6.1.14––Describe the gies can influence all living things. origins, developments, and innova- °° Grade 7 tions of the Industrial Revolution and explain the changes it brought about. • English/Language Arts 7.5.6––Use varied word choices to make writing • Social Studies 6.1.20––Recognize interesting and more precise. historical perspectives in fiction and nonfiction by identifying the histori- • English/Language Arts 7.5.7––Write cal context in which events unfolded for different purposes and to a specif- and by avoiding evaluation of the past ic audience or person, adjusting style solely in terms of present-day norms. and tone as necessary. • Social Studies 6.1.22––Differentiate • English/Language Arts 7.7.12––De- between fact and interpretation in his- liver narrative presentations that: torical accounts and explain the mean- establish a context, standard plotline ing of historical passages by identify- (with a beginning, conflict, rising ing who was involved, what happened, action, climax, and resolution of the where it happened, and relating them conflict), and point of view; establish to outcomes that followed and gaps in the presenter’s relationship with the the historical record. subject of the presentation (whether the presentation is made as an unin- • English/Language Arts 6.2.7––Make volved observer or by someone who reasonable statements and conclusions is personally involved); and contain about a text, supporting them with effective, factual descriptions of ap- evidence from the text. pearance, concrete images, shifting • English/Language Arts 6.5.6––Use perspectives, and sensory details. varied word choices to make • Science 7.1.10––Identify ways that writing interesting. technology has strongly influenced • English/Language Arts 6.7.4––Select the course of history and continues a focus, an organizational structure, to do so. and a point of view, matching the pur- °° Grade 8 pose, message, and vocal modulation. • Social Studies 8.1.28––Recognize • English/Language Arts 6.7.5––Em- historical perspective and evaluate phasize important points to assist the alternative courses of action by de- listener in following the main ideas scribing the historical context in which and concepts. events unfolded and by avoiding • English/Language Arts 6.7.6––Support evaluation of the past solely in terms opinions with researched, documented of present-day norms.

3 CURRICULUM GUIDE • The Dangers on the River • Indiana Historical Society • Social Studies 8.1.29––Differentiate National Standards (National Council for between facts and historical interpreta- the Social Studies) tions, recognizing that the historian’s •• I. Time, Continuity, and Change narrative reflects his or her judgment about the significance of particular facts. °° Demonstrate an understanding that different people may describe the same event or • Social Studies 8.1.30 – Formulate his- situation in diverse ways, citing reasons for torical questions by analyzing primary the differences in views. and secondary sources about an issue confronting the United States during °° Identify and use various sources for re- the period from 1754 to 1877. constructing the past, such as documents, letters, diaries, maps, textbooks, photos, • Social Studies 8.3.8––Gather informa- and others. tion on the ways people changed the physical environment of the United •• III. People, Places, and Environments States in the nineteenth century, using °° Examine the interaction of human beings primary and secondary sources includ- and their physical environment, the use ing digitized photo collections and of land, building of cities, and ecosystem historic maps. changes in selected locales and regions. • Social Studies 8.3.9––Analyze human •• VIII. Science, Technology, and Society and physical factors that have influenced migration and settlement pat- °° Identify and describe examples in which terns and relate them to the economic science and technology have changed development of the United States. the lives of people, such as in homemak- ing, childcare, work, transportation, • Social Studies 8.3.11––Identify ways and communication. people modified the physical environment as the United States developed °° Identify and describe examples in which and describe the impacts that resulted. science and technology have led to changes in the physical environment, such as the • English/Language Arts 8.1.3–-Verify building of dams and levees, offshore oil the meaning of a word in its context, drilling, medicine from rain forests, and even when its meaning is not directly loss of rain forests due to extraction of stated, through the use of definition, resources or alternative uses. restatement, example, comparison, or contrast. Social Studies/Historical Concepts • English/Language Arts 8.4.5––Achieve Transportation, nineteenth-century life, technol- an effective balance between researched ogy, and human interaction with nature information and original ideas. Learning/Instructional Objectives • English/Language Arts 8.5.6––Write using precise word choices to make Students will: writing interesting and exact. •• Examine and analyze visual primary sources • English/Language Arts 8.5.7–-–Write related to the dangers of river travel or steam- for different purposes and to a specif- boat disasters. ic audience or person, adjusting tone and style as necessary.

4 CURRICULUM GUIDE • The Dangers on the River • Indiana Historical Society •• Create a news broadcast in which they report °° “Steamboats Trapped in Ice on the Ohio on a steamboat disaster that resulted from River” (Indiana Historical Society Digital natural or human causes. Image Collections, Item ID M0945_ BOX16_2177) Time Required •• Paper and pencils or pens Two to three class periods •• Dictionary Materials Required •• Copies of the following materials from the Background/Historical Context Indiana Historical Society collections. Rivers were fraught with dangers for steamboats. In their natural state, prior to improvements such °° A Summer Journey in the West by Eliza R. as canals, dams, and locks, the western inland Steele, p. 212–13 (Indiana Historical Soci- rivers were filled with snags, debris, sandbars, ety Digital Image Collections, and other natural obstacles. Snags, in particular, Item ID F484_3_S79_1841_001) presented a danger to steamboats. Trees growing °° “Queen City with Damaged Wheel” along the riverbank died and fell into the water. (Indiana Historical Society Digital Image Their jagged limbs and root system, often hidden Collections, Item ID P0347_BOX17_ beneath the water, could easily rip open a steam- FOLDER1_C1728) boat’s hull. Steamboat pilots had to know the river well and attempt to navigate around these °° “Description of the Explosion of the often hidden snags. As you can imagine, navigat- Steamboat Moselle” in The West: Its ing around an obstacle not visible to the pilot Commerce and Navigation by James Hall, was a difficult task, so collisions with snags were p. 181–82 (Indiana Historical Society not uncommon. Henry Miller Shreve’s invention Digital Image Collections, Item ID F353_ of the snag boat helped to alleviate this danger H2_1848_181 and F353_H2_1848_182) by providing a way to clear rivers of these fallen °° “‘Indiana’ on Fire at Cincinnati” (Indiana trees. Shreve’s snag boat was essentially a steam- Historical Society Digital Image Collections, boat with a device on its bow that picked up and Item ID P0347_BOX11_FOLDER4_C1196) removed snags from the rivers. The snag boats had a sawmill on board that could then process °° A Summer Journey in the West by Eliza R. these fallen trees into usable lumber. Steele, p. 235–36 (Indiana Historical Soci- ety Digital Image Collections, Floating debris could also endanger steamboats Item ID F484_3_S79_1841_002) by getting caught up in the paddle wheel, causing it to break. Since lumberjacks commonly floated °° “Steamboats Racing on the Ohio River” logs to sawmills downriver, it was not unusual for (Indiana Historical Society Digital Image a few logs to be lost along the way. These stray Collections, Item ID M0945_BOX4_B_1) logs could easily find their way into a steamboat’s °° “Steamboats and Cargo Damaged or Lost paddle wheel, causing it to break and sending from Breaking Up of Ice on the Missis- debris flying everywhere. sippi River, 1865–1866” in Fifty Years on the Adverse weather conditions also presented a Mississippi OR Gould’s History of River Naviga- danger to steamboats. Since river commerce was tion, p. 434–35 (Indiana Historical Society limited to times of the year when the water was Digital Image Collections, Item ID F351_ not frozen, steamboat captains tried to take full G69_1889_434 and F351_G69_1889_435) advantage of times when rivers were free of ice. It was never certain when the first freeze would

5 CURRICULUM GUIDE • The Dangers on the River • Indiana Historical Society occur and ice would appear. Captains sometimes or bragging rights. There was pressure to move pushed their luck. According to Louis C. and quickly to reach as many landings and to transport Beatrice Jones Hunter, authors of Steamboats on the as much cargo as possible. This is how steamboat Western Rivers: An Economic and Technological History: captains made money. Rival steamboat captains also tried to clock the fastest time between cit- Steamboat captains ordinarily did not ies, earning recognition and “owning” the route lay up when they encountered the first ice between cities such as New Orleans and Saint of the season but pushed on as rapidly as Louis.3 As engineers sought to come out ahead possible in the hope of reaching their of the competition, they stoked the flames higher destination before the river closed com- and higher, and then closed the safety valves, pletely. . . . The chief danger from ice hoping to ensure the fastest travel time. Since came with the breaking up of the river. steamboats were mostly constructed of wood, Then steamboats moored in exposed posi- they were “veritable firetraps; an exploding boiler tions, especially those caught in midstream could quickly lead to a spreading conflagration.”4 when the river closed, were in danger of having their hulls crushed or ripped open Another danger to steamboats came from Na- by the surging masses of broken ice.1 tive Americans or river pirates. As settlers moved further west along the rivers, some native tribes As a result of being caught in an ice flow, steam- reacted to this encroachment on their lands by boats might be severely damaged or even sunk. attacking boats that carried newcomers. Hiding There were also man-made dangers. The boilers under cover of trees or foliage on the shore, that powered steamboat engines were at risk of Native Americans could shoot arrows or bullets at exploding. The inherent risk of explosion was steamboats––easy targets since they were entirely exacerbated by two factors––a lack of knowledge exposed on the open rivers. Travel books and and experience on the part of steamboat engi- images of the day describe this danger and depict neers and the tendency to overtax the engine in the Native Americans as savage attackers preying an attempt to outpace another boat. As Louis and on innocent travelers. Beatrice Hunter note: Early in the steamboat era, groups of pirates on By all accounts most engineers in the early the western inland rivers preyed upon steamboat steamboat decades were sadly lacking in crews and passengers, stealing cargo and the per- an understanding of the forces with which sonal possessions of passengers, and sometimes they had to deal and ignorant of the limits committing murder in the process. Samuel Mason within which engines and boilers could be was a legendary river pirate of the late 1700s, who safely operated.2 was said to sit in wait at Cave-in-Rock along the Illinois-Kentucky border on the Ohio River. Some engineers did not properly maintain the Supposedly, Mason’s men would offer to pilot flat- boilers, letting steam build up inside the engine, boats or keel boats through a dangerous section which would explode as a result of the pressure. of the river where reefs threatened to damage the As steamboats became more popular and steam- craft. In reality, the pirate deliberately grounded boat engineers gained experience, the risk of the boat at Cave-in-Rock, where Mason’s band explosion due to operator error decreased. of pirates boarded the boat, murdered the crew, Still, sometimes engineers deliberately pushed the and piloted the boat down to New Orleans, where limits of the technology, either for economic gain they sold the cargo. Although Mason abandoned 1 Louis C. Hunter and Beatrice Jones Hunter, Steamboats on 3 “Steamboating Dangers,” at http://xroads.virginia.edu/ the Western Rivers: An Economic and Technological History ~HYPER/DETOC/transport/accident.html (accessed (Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 1993), 258. August 19, 2010). 2 Ibid., 261. 4 Ibid.

6 CURRICULUM GUIDE • The Dangers on the River • Indiana Historical Society Cave-in-Rock around 1800, it had become clear stepped out first, took her pipe from her that “the dramatic increase in river traffic mouth and said quietly, “It’s only a log;” to New Orleans made this form of banditry “Oh, only a log;” “nothing but a log,” economically profitable,” and piracy continued echoed from every mouth, and return- along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers after Ma- ing to their cabins they all stepped into son’s death and until about 1830.5 their berths again. I looked around me in amazement. “Only a log!” said I to myself Fire, explosions, ice, snags, and Indian and pirate and what is a log. The steamboat is broken attacks were just some of the many dangers that and stops, all is confusion and crash, and I awaited steamboats on the western rivers. The ag- am told it is nothing but a log. “Madam,” gregate result of these dangers and obstacles was said I, turning to the Kentucky woman, that steamboats had an average life of just a few “will you have the goodness to tell me years. Natural dangers and obstacles also provided what a log is.” “There they are,” she said, impetus for improving the river through a net- pointing with her pipe to the river. Float- work of canals, locks, and dams. This system of ing along like so many alligators were improvements was intended to allow steamboats long branchless trunks, which had been to bypass dangers such as The Falls of the Ohio, wafted along thousands of miles from the snags, or shallow waters. Rocky Mountains perhaps. “But, pardon me madam, how are these logs able to Teachers Instructional Plan create such a disturbance?” “You seem a Introduction stranger child,” she replied; “as these are floating along, and we are riding among Introduce the lesson by reading students an ex- them, what more natural than that they cerpt from Eliza R. Steele’s travel diary, A Sum- should get in the water wheel, break it, mer Journey in the West, in which she discusses her and stop the boat. But see, the carpenters experiences as a passenger on a steamboat in 1840 are already at work, and I dare say they that was damaged by a floating log. Distribute will have it repaired in the course of two copies of this excerpt so that students may read or three hours.”6 along with you: As you read, ask students to make note of any I leaned over the railing and found the banjo vocabulary they do not understand or cannot player and his audience all in slumbering at- titudes, or swinging in their hammocks, and determine the meaning from the context. After every thing denoted silence and repose. Sud- reading of the excerpt, discuss the meaning of denly a terrific and astounding bang, clang any vocabulary words noted by students and and clatter, as if the boat had been cracked ask for a volunteer to summarize the event that to atoms, the wheel house was broken in Steele describes in her travel diary. Indicate to pieces, the boards flew over me, and a tor- students that Steele is describing how a steamboat rent of water flowing from it nearly washed was damaged by debris floating in the river. Ask me from the deck. In a moment every one students to brainstorm other dangers or obstacles tumbled out and rushed upon the deck that steamboat travelers or crews might face. exclaiming, “what’s the matter?” “are we After students have offered their ideas, describe snagged”––“has the boiler burst”––“is it a the dangers outlined in the historical background/ sawyer.” The old Kentucky lady who had context section of this lesson.

5 Marilyn Davis, “River Pirates,” review of X Marks the Spot: The Archaeology of Piracy, Perspectives (Fall 2006) http:// 6 Eliza R. Steele, A Summer Journey in the West (New York: perspect.siuc.edu/06_fall/river_pirates.html (accesssed John S. Taylor, 1841), 212–13. September 20, 2010).

7 CURRICULUM GUIDE • The Dangers on the River • Indiana Historical Society Procedure Suggested Modifications After completing the lesson introduction, divide Rather than creating a newscast, students might the class into groups of three to four students write a newspaper article as a group or individually. each. Give each group copies of an image and text excerpt that relates to a particular type of Students could also compose a journal entry in steamboat disaster. Some groups will work with the style of Steele’s travel diary about experienc- the photo of the Indiana steamboat on fire and ing a steamboat disaster or coming into contact the accompanying excerpt about the explosion with a dangerous situation. of the steamboat Moselle; some will work with the Have students research a particular steamboat photo of a steamboat race and the accompanying disaster of their choosing––some options are the excerpt about racing steamboats in Steele’s A Jour- Sultana, the Moselle, or the Belle of the West. ney to the West; and some will work with the photo Students may look for local newspaper articles of steamboats trapped in ice on the Ohio River that reported the disaster as one primary source. and the accompanying text, “Lost from Breaking Up of Ice.” Additional Resources Distribute copies of the handout, “Disaster! The Publications Dangers of Steamboating,” one per group. Paskoff, Paul F. Troubled Waters: Steamboat Disasters, Allow students fifteen minutes to read their written River Improvements, and American Public Policy, document and to use dictionaries to look up any 1821–1860. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State vocabulary words that are not familiar to them. University Press, 2007, p. xvii and 324. Then, allow each group approximately twenty min- The author looks at how snag-related utes to complete the analysis of their documents steamboat disasters prompted government and photographs. action to improve western rivers. After twenty minutes, indicate to groups that they James T. Lloyd. Lloyd’s Steamboat Directory and Di- should move on to step three––creating a news sasters on the Western Waters. Cincinnati: James broadcast about their assigned disaster. Within T. Lloyd and Company, 1856. their groups, students may decide who will take on the role of the anchor, the reporter, and the Listing and descriptions of steamboat witness. Allow students another twenty minutes to disasters to the mid-1850s. Full text of script their newscast. this publication is available on Google books. Go to the Google books Web site Each group will perform their newscast for fellow at http://books.google.com/ and search students, allowing time after each performance “Lloyd’s steamboat directory, and disasters for questions. on the western waters.”

Assessment Howland, S. A. Steamboat Disasters and Railroad Accidents in the United States: To which is Appended Accounts of Use a teacher-created rubric to assess the student- Recent Shipwrecks, Fires at Sea, Thrilling Incidents, etc. performed newscasts. Assess students on their Worchester, MA: Dorr, Howland, 1840. From the inclusion of factual information taken from the Internet Archive Web site at http://www.archive primary sources, participation in the presentation, .org/details/steamboatdisaste00howl (accessed and their inclusion of inferred information, such September 16, 2010). as emotions. Full text of the 1840 publication describing various steamboat disasters.

8 CURRICULUM GUIDE • The Dangers on the River • Indiana Historical Society Web sites Gailey, Billie J., “Early Steamboats with Emphasis on Pittsburgh’s Role in the Steamboat Era.” From Chatham University’s Web site at http:// www.chatham.edu/pti/curriculum/units/2007/ Gailey.pdf (assessed September 16, 2010). Curriculum guide about steamboats with an emphasis on the Pittsburgh area and includes some activities related to steamboat disasters. “Inland Riverboats Photograph Collection.” From the The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County Web site at http:// wiki.cincinnatilibrary.org/index.php/Inland _Riverboats_Photograph_Collection (accessed September 16, 2010). Extensive photograph collection of steamboats and steamboat-related topics. Search for “fire,” “explosion,” “snag,” etc. to find steamboat disaster photos.

9 CURRICULUM GUIDE • The Dangers on the River • Indiana Historical Society by Eliza R. Steele, 212–13 (Indiana Historical Society Digital Image Collections, Item ID F484_3_79_1841_001) 212–13 (Indiana Historical Society Digital Image Collections, Eliza R. Steele, by A Summer Journey in the West

10 CURRICULUM GUIDE • The Dangers on the River • Indiana Historical Society “Queen City with Damaged Wheel” (Indiana Historical Society Digital Image Collections, Item ID P0347_BOX17_FOLDER1_C1728) ID Item Collections, Image Digital Society Historical (Indiana Wheel” Damaged with City “Queen

11 CURRICULUM GUIDE • The Dangers on the River • Indiana Historical Society by James Hall, 181–82 (Indiana Historical James Its Commerce by and Navigation The West: “Description of the Explosion of the Steamboat Moselle” in Item ID F353_H2_1848_181 and F353_H2_1848_182) Society Digital Image Collections,

12 CURRICULUM GUIDE • The Dangers on the River • Indiana Historical Society “‘Indiana’ on Fire at Cincinnati” (Indiana Historical Society Digital Image Collections, Item ID P0347_BOX11_FOLDER4_C1196) ID Item Collections, Image Digital Society “‘Indiana’ on Fire at Cincinnati” (Indiana Historical

13 CURRICULUM GUIDE • The Dangers on the River • Indiana Historical Society by Eliza R. Steele, 235–36 (Indiana Historical Society Digital Image Collections, Item ID F484_3_S79_1841_002) 235–36 (Indiana Historical Society Digital Image Collections, Eliza R. Steele, by A Summer Journey in the West

14 CURRICULUM GUIDE • The Dangers on the River • Indiana Historical Society “Steamboats Racing on the Ohio River” (Indiana Historical Society Digital Image Collections, Item ID M0945_BOX4_B_1) (Indiana Historical Society Digital Image Collections, “Steamboats Racing on the Ohio River”

15 CURRICULUM GUIDE • The Dangers on the River • Indiana Historical Society Fifty Years on the Mississippi OR Fifty Years “Steamboats and Cargo Damaged or Lost from Breaking Up of 1865–1866” in Ice on the Mississippi River, History ofGould’s Item ID F351_G69_1889_434 and 434–35 (Indiana Historical Society Digital Image Collections, River p. Navigation, F351_G69_1889_435)

16 CURRICULUM GUIDE • The Dangers on the River • Indiana Historical Society “Steamboats Trapped in Ice on the Ohio River” (Indiana Historical Society Digital Image Collections, Item ID M0945_BOX16_2177) (Indiana Historical Society Digital Image Collections, in Ice on the Ohio River” “Steamboats Trapped

17 CURRICULUM GUIDE • The Dangers on the River • Indiana Historical Society Disaster! The Dangers of Steamboating

Step 1: Analyze your Written Document Read through your document and use a dictionary to help define any vocabulary words that are unfamiliar to you. Answer these questions: 1) From what publication is this excerpt taken?

2) What type of steamboat disaster or danger does the document describe?

3) Note as many details about these facts of the disaster as you can: a. When did the disaster occur?

b. Where did the disaster occur?

c. How did the disaster occur? What was its cause?

d. What was the result? (Did the boat sink, explode, catch fire, etc.?)

e. Who was affected? (How many people were killed or injured?)

4) From the text, can you tell what the reaction of the people involved in the disasters, either survivors or witnesses, was? (What were they feeling? Did they try to do anything to help?)

5) What two things about the account do you think are important?

18 CURRICULUM GUIDE • The Dangers on the River • Indiana Historical Society Step Two: Analyze Your Image Study the photograph for two minutes to get a sense of what is going on in the scene. Use the chart below to list the people, objects, and activities in the photograph.

Image Analysis Chart

People Objects Activities

Based on your observation of the photograph, answer these questions: 1) What do you think might be the scene on board the steamboat? (Chaos? Calm? How are the crew and the passengers reacting?)

2) What do you think might be the scene on shore? (Chaos? Calm? How are witnesses to the disaster reacting?)

3) What do you think will happen next? Describe what might have happened just after this photograph was taken.

Step Three: Report Your Findings Now, your group will create a newscast about this incident. One person may serve as the news anchor in the newsroom. He or she will announce the details of the disaster. Another student will serve as a reporter on the site of the disaster and give a live description of the scene. He or she will also conduct an interview with a witness. A third student will be the witness who gives a firsthand account of what he or she saw. Your group will broadcast the news story to your classmates.

19 CURRICULUM GUIDE • The Dangers on the River • Indiana Historical Society