E.B. Trail Photograph Collection (P0021) Collection Number: P0021 Collection Title: E.B. Trail Photograph Collection Dates: 1845-1963 Creator: Trail, Edgar Bradley, 1844-1965 Abstract: Dr. E. B. Trail was a collector of steamboat images and articles, which he kept in scrapbooks. Includes images of steamboats, rivers, and other boating-related scenes. Collection Size: 1.11 cubic feet (513 photographs) Language: Collection materials are in English. Repository: The State Historical Society of Missouri Restrictions on Access: Collection is open for research. This collection is available at The State Historical Society of Missouri Research Center-Columbia. If you would like more information, please contact us at [email protected]. Collections may be viewed at any research center. Restrictions on Use: Materials in this collection may be protected by copyrights and other rights. See Rights & Reproductions on the Society’s website for more information about reproductions and permission to publish. Preferred Citation: [Specific item; box number; folder number] E.B. Trail Photograph Collection (P0021); The State Historical Society of Missouri Research Center-Columbia [after first mention may be abbreviated to SHSMO-Columbia]. Donor Information: The collection was donated to the State Historical Society of Missouri by Dr. E.B. Trail in February 1951 (Accession CA0986). Additions were made to the collection from March to July 1965. Alternate Forms Available: Selected digital reproductions of images from this collection are available online through SHSMO’s digital collections. Other Finding Aid: Further description of the images is available in the SHSMO Photo Database. (P0021) E.B. Trail Photograph Collection Page 2 Related Material: E.B. Trail Collection (C2071) Processing Information: Collection materials were previously dispersed, both physically and intellectually, in a subject-based arrangement with other materials of varying provenance. Provenance was reconstructed, and materials were reprocessed (2012-2015) and brought together as a single collection. Processed by: Processed by Anne Cox, 4/11/2019. Historical Note: Dr. Edgar Bradley Trail was born January 20, 1884. He first became interested in steamboats as a boy in New Haven, Missouri, where he watched their arrival and departure on the Missouri River. Trail graduated from the Washington University dental school in 1905 and began his first practice at Marionville, Missouri. When ill health forced him to give up his dental practice for a year in 1908, he logged 5,600 miles on the Missouri River as a cub pilot. In succeeding years, Berger, Missouri, was the base for his dental practice, which included work at New Haven, Hermann, and Chamois. After the close of the steamboat era, Dr. Trail began to collect materials and photographs about early traffic on the Missouri River and its tributaries. For several years he used his own motor boat, made trips by automobile, and corresponded widely to develop his collection. Trail died on February 5, 1965, and is buried in Berger, Missouri. Arrangement: Collection materials are arranged by accession and identifier number. Scope and Content Note: The materials in this collection document river life, with an emphasis on steamboats. Trail collected materials on steamboats from a variety of sources, typically unidentified. Many of the photographs are copies, which vary widely in quality from blurry, screened prints to good reproductions from original photographs. Annotations by Trail, or text from published articles, accompany a portion of the collection. The best quality images are of steamboats that operated on the Gasconade River or the Missouri River between the Gasconade River and New Haven, Missouri. The collection overall spans steamboats that operated throughout Missouri, and beyond on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. The bulk of the images are 8” x 10” silver gelatin prints. Trail mounted some prints on recycled board from advertisements. Container List: f. 1-15 Steamboats, alphabetically by name Box 1 f. 1 A (1-16) f. 2-3 B (17-37) Go to top (P0021) E.B. Trail Photograph Collection Page 3 f. 4-5 C (38-66) f. 6 D-E (67-90) f. 7 F-G (91-111) f. 8 H (112-129) f. 9 I-Ja (130-152) f. 10 Je-K (153-177) f. 11 L-M (178-205) Box 2 f. 12 N-O (206-226) f. 13 P-R (227-253) f. 14 S (254-274) f. 15 T-Z (276-309) f. 16 Steamboats – unidentified (310-320) f. 17 Boats (321-339) f. 18-21 Steamboat documentation (340-381) f. 22 Steamboat life & related materials (382-412) Box 3 f. 23 Montana (413-419) f. 24 Landings & industry (420-439) f. 25 Portraits & landscapes (440-449) f. 26 Portraits (450-459) f. 27 Landscapes (460-465) f. 28 Portraits, bicycles, & river life (466-485) f. 29 Structures & pilots (486-501) f. 30 Portraits & landscapes (502-516) Box 4 f. 31 Wolff Milling Company (517) Go to top Image List: Identifier Title Description Location Date P0021-00001 A. L. Mason Steamboat A. L. Mason, on river and 1870 ca. crowded with passengers, c. 1870s; Note: They did not have any swinging stages at that time. P0021-00002 A. L. Mason Steamboat A.L. Mason being Madison, 1890 constructed at Madison, Indiana, 1890 IN with a short history and dimensions P0021-00003 Abner O'Neal Steamboat Abner O'Neal along n.d. shoreline being loaded with cargo; close-up view of workers loaded large sacks while passengers watch from upper decks P0021-00004 Ada Steamboat Ada on the Missouri River, n.d. with three unidentified men, pulling away from dock P0021-00005 Steamboats Aggie and Steamboats Aggie and Dora along the n.d. Dora shore of the Osage River with a crowd of people P0021-00006 Steamboat Alabama Steamboat Alabama on an unidentified n.d. river P0021-00007 Winter Quarters Steamboat Alert, towboat Sabrina, and n.d. other unidentified barges and steamboat in winter quarters, on the Gasconade River P0021-00008 Steamboat Alton Steamboat Alton on an unidentified n.d. river P0021-00009 Boats at St. Louis Steamboat Alton and Tugboat Susie St. Louis n.d. Hazard on the Mississippi River with the Eads Bridge in the background P0021-00010 Steamboat America Steamboat America loaded with cotton on an unidentified river P0021-00011 Gasconade River Steamboat Annie Dell and a cargo barge 1895 Boats on the Gasconade River close to the shoreline with a group of unidentified men on deck P0021-00012 Steamboat Antelope Steamboat Antelope, April 9, 1869, at 1869-04-09 dock with an article in Sioux City, Iowa, Sunday Journal, June 23, 1910 giving a brief history of it P0021-00013 Arethusa and U.S.N. Steamboat Arethusa pushing barge n.d. 37 U.S.N. 37 on an unidentified river P0021-00014 Arethusa Steamboat Arethusa on river with 1893-06 several unidentified men on deck and pilot W. L. Heckman, June 1893 P0021-00015 Ashby No. 2 Steamboat Ashby No. 2 docked n.d. P0021-00016 Steamboat August Steamboat August Wohlt on the 1906 Wohlt Gasconade River with a load of cargo (P0021) E.B. Trail Photograph Collection Page 5 P0021-00017 Steamboat Bald Eagle Steamboat Bald Eagle, owned by the n.d. Eagle Packet Company, on the Illinois River with a short history P0021-00018 Belle of the Bends Steamboat Belle of the Bends on an n.d. unidentified river P0021-00019 Steamboats Belle of Steamboats Belle of Calhoun and n.d. Calhoun and Alabama Alabama, owned by the St. Louis and Tennessee Packet, docked in front of barrels of apples from Calhoun County, Illinois P0021-00020 Cape Girardeau Levee Steamboat Belle of Calhoun docked on Cape 1898 the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau Girardeau P0021-00021 Belle of Calhoun Steamboat Belle of Calhoun, from n.d. Calhoun County, Illinois, on an unidentified river taking apples to St. Louis, MO P0021-00022 Steamboats at St. Steamboats Belle of Calhoun, Lily, and St. Louis Louis several others being helped by towboats at St. Louis, MO P0021-00023 St. Louis and St. Paul Steamboats Belle of LaCrosse and Tom n.d. Packet Trade Jasper, owned by the St. Louis and St. Paul Packet Trade, on an unidentified river P0021-00024 Belle St. Louis Steamboat Belle St. Louis, owned by Memphis & St. Louis Packet Co., part of the U.S. Mail Line, stopped along the shore P0021-00025 Belle of Shreveport Steamboat Belle of Shreveport, docked 1885 ca. with a crowd on the upper deck, before 1886 P0021-00026 Boats at the St. Louis Steamboat Benton No. 2, Flatboat St. Louis n.d. Levee Flossie, and several other boats, along the levee in St. Louis, MO during high water with buildings and railroads tracks in the background P0021-00027 Wreck of the Steamboat Benton wrecked at an Steamboat Benton unidentified dock P0021-00028 Steamboat Benton II Steamboat Benton II at Fort Benton, Fort 1888 Montana Territory, 1888, part of the Benton, Block P. Line of the T. C. Power and MT Co. P0021-00029 Barge Benton Barge Benton at Fort Yates, North Fort Yates, 1911-08 Dakota, August 1911 ND P0021-00030 Steamboat Bluff City Steamboat Bluff City docked at Cape Cape 1898 Girardeau, MO, 1898 with several Girardeau people on and off ship P0021-00031 Steamboat Bob Blanks Steamboat Bob Blanks moored at an n.d. unidentified shore Go to top (P0021) E.B. Trail Photograph Collection Page 6 P0021-00032 Steamboat Bright Steamboat Bright Light along the side of Light an unidentified barge loaded with numerous barrels P0021-00033 Bright Star Ferry Ferry Bright Star unloading wagons and Washington 1863 people at Washington, MO, 1863 P0021-00034 Steamboat Brilliant Steamboat Brilliant moored along an n.d. unidentified shore P0021-00035 Bryant's Showboat Steamboat Bryant's Showboat being n.d. towed by New Lotus close to shore P0021-00036 Tugboat Buck Elk Tugboat Buck Elk moored at an 1900 unidentified Gasconade River dock; unidentified men are on Buck Elk P0021-00037 Steamboat Burlington Steamboat Burlington from the Northern Light Packet at an unidentified dock P0021-00038 Steamboat C.