MISSOURI WORKHORSE: THE BOATS, BUSINESS, AND BACKS OF ST. CHARLES, MISSOURI A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Department of History East Carolina University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Masters of Arts in History by Christopher F. Valvano September 2007 2 3 5 CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ..…….....………………………………………….…. vii LIST OF MAPS .…………………… .………………………………………….…... ix LIST OF TABLES ………………….…………………… ..…………………….….. x ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ………… …………………………………………… .…. xi ABBREVIATIONS ……………………..……………………………………… .…. xiv ABSTRACT …………………………… ………………………………… ..………. xv INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………….…. 1 Chapter I. SCALING THE MODERN WORLD………...…………………….……. 9 II. THE UNITED STATES TRANSPORTATION REVOLUTION .……… 49 III. THE MARGINAL FRONTIER: TRAMP BOATS, WAREHOUSES, AND THE WAYSIDE ..……..……...…………………………………… 108 IV. CREDIT, TRANSPORTATION, AND THE RHYTHM OF BUSINESS: BUILDUP TO A ST. CHARLES PACKET .................…... 179 V. THE ORGANIZATION OF A ST. CHARLES PACKET ..…… .…..…... 221 VI. CONCLUSION ………………………………………………………….. 240 6 Appendix Page A. STEAMBOAT ARRIVALS AND TONNAGE ESTIM ATES COMPILED FROM MULTIPLE SOURCES ….....…….………………. 246 B. MISSOURI POPULATION MAPS FROM 1810 THROUGH 1860 …... 254 C. CONDENSED TYPESCRIPT OF GEORGE C. SIBLEY’S TRAVEL LOG APRIL–JUNE 1844 …………………..……………………… …… 260 D. DISTANCE TO LOCATIONS IN THE MISSOURI VALLEY BY LAND AND WATER…….……..…………………… ……….…………. 270 REFERENCES CITED …..………………………………………..……………….. 273 7 ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 1. Rudolph Goebel, Last Days of Brotherton, across the Missouri River from St. Charles, The Foot of Adams Street……...………..……..…….. 50 2. Stage, Canal, and Steamboat Register, for Upstate New York in 1829 ... 76 3. Fort Leavenworth as drawn in 1849 ……………………… ……………. 101 4. Unknown artist, Pen Picture of the Village of St. Charles from the East Bank of the River in 1835 ..………………………………………….….. 103 5. Certificate of Purchase for Ten Shares in the St. Louis Floating Dock and Insurance Company by Kenneth Mackenzie, 22 Nov. 1848 … …..….…. 117 6. George W. Ackerman, Unloading dry farm wheat, Wash., 1925 123 ……..... 7. Rudolph Goebel, The Steamboat General Meade Taking on a Cargo of Wheat at Marais Croche, 1870s ………………………………………… 123 8. Working Grain Elevator in southern Missouri …………………………. 124 9. James Vachon, Loading a Grain Boat at a Great Northern Railroad Elevator, Lake Superior, Wisc., 1941 ..………………………..……….. 124 10. Henry Lewis, Alton Illinois …………………………………………..… 129 11. Marine Insurance Policy of J. R. Stanford, 12 Aug. 1834 .…… .……..… 131 12. Detail from Missouri River Survey Map of 1858 ………..……..……… 135 13. Henry Lewis, The Lower Rapids of the Mississippi River ..……..…..…. 136 14. Business card of Von Phul & McGill, 1837 ….………………… ..…..…. 139 8 15. Bill of Lading for keelboat Water Witch …………………………..….… 142 Figure Page 16. Bill of Lading for steamboat Maysville ………….………….………….. 143 17. Henry Lewis, Flatboat without Sail Rigging Near Warsaw, Ill …..…….. 145 18. Advertisement for Tabor, Shaw & Tatum, commission and forwarding agents St. Louis, 20 March 1835 ………………..……………..……….. 150 19. St. Charles plan view redrawn from an 1858 survey map ..… .….…….... 164 20. Missouri River Commission Map, 1891 ...………………………..…..… 165 21. Newspaper advertisement for George Garriott’s dry goods business …... 170 22. Newspaper advertisement for George Garriott’s dry goods business …... 171 23. Note with shipping instructions from George C. Sibley to George W. Garriott …………………………………………….……….. 192 24. James McConathy to George W. Garriott, 12 October 1848, showing a curious mathematical error …..…………………… …………… ....……. 198 25. Advertisement for steamboat Uncle Toby ….…………..……..….……... 199 26. Preprinted Wheat Receipts for George W. Garriott ..…………………… 201 27. Two “coupons” redeemable for flour at the St. Charles Mill .……… …... 218 28. City Weigher Certificate from St. Louis with hand written calculation for the price paid for wheat …………………………………..………..... 226 29. A. Ruger, St. Charles, Pen Picture of St. Charles and the Little Village of Brotherton, 1869 ……………………………………..……..……..… 236 9 LIST OF MAPS Map Page 1. Location of Select River Towns in Missouri, 1860 ……………………….. 51 2. Population of Missouri and Mississippi River Counties, Missouri 1820 …. 93 3. Population of Missouri and Mississippi River Counties, Missouri 1860 …. 94 10 LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Weights of Grain ..………..………………………………………………. 203 2. Comparative Monthly Prices of Flour per Barrel at St. Louis 1844–1848... 204 3. Comparative Prices of Flour per Barrel at New Orleans 1843–1848…...… 205 4. Comparative Monthly Prices of Wheat per Bushel at St. Louis 1844–1848 ……………………………………………………….……….. 206 5. Flour Production in St. Louis City Mills 1847 …..……………..………… 213 6. Arrivals and Tonnage of Watercraft to St. Louis 1847–1848 ...….………. 214 11 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am greatly indebted to several people and organizations for their help in writing the following thesis. Although the challenge of completing this final task towards my Master’s degree was never simple, it was made much more so by the help of my committee, peers, and family. Perhaps it is the high quality of their advice and friendship that makes thanking them my most difficult challenge. In summer 2003, I collected nearly all the original source documents during a four- week research trip to St. Charles, Missouri. Funding for my trip came from two sources: The Greater Saint Charles Convention and Visitors Bureau, and the Sons and Daughters of Pioneer Rivermen who administer the J. Mack Gamble Fund. I cannot express enough thanks to either organization for making possible my first independent research endeavor. I hope they find their investment well served. While in Missouri, I relied on the expertise of archivists and librarians at the Saint Charles County Historical Society, the Missouri Historical Society, the Western Historical Manuscripts Collection, and the St. Charles City-County Public Library– Kathryn Linnemann branch. At each place, I found people with a deep passion for history and with a friendly patience to answer all my questions. They made Missouri’s past both accessible and a delight to study. I would likely to personally thank Carolyn Roth of the Saint Charles County Historical Society for continually offering her precious time and vast knowledge of the town’s records. Her work keeps the memory of St. 12 Charles’s forefathers and mothers alive, and she is truly one the town’s favorite daughters. Each of my committee members provided an incredible amount of advice, encouragement, and motivation. My director, Larry Babits pushed me harder than I ever expected. He expects only good work and because of this he gets the best work out his students. I am truly indebted to him for his motivation and commitment. Will Lass is a professor emeritus of history with Minnesota State University–Mankato. His expertise and comments greatly improved the accuracy of my work and expanded my understanding of the nineteenth-century Missouri Valley. Don Parkerson’s comments were equally valuable and his assistance is much appreciated. Carl Swanson’s remarkable knowledge of colonial history was absolutely invaluable. Besides being a master educator of the colonial era, Carl is brilliantly skilled at teaching the mechanics of constructing sound arguments vital to the sophisticate craft of history. He is a doctor in the fullest sense of the word. When I began writing my thesis Annalies Corbin served as my director. Towards the end of the process, the PAST Foundation needed her full attention and she made the difficult decision to retire from her professorial position at East Carolina University. Her move gave me the opportunity to have two of the best directors ECU has to offer. It also made me appreciate her guidance in a new light because her commitment to my education remained unaffected. Nearly everything I learned at ECU seems to be rooted in Annalies’s mentorship. She gave me my first research assistantship scouring nineteenth-century newspapers for 13 details of steamboats wrecked in the Missouri River. She taught me how to navigate the bureaucratic web of the National Archives as well as the broken bits of shipwrecks beneath the waves. Of all the countless lessons Annalies taught me, in and out the classroom, I find myself continually returning to the lessons she taught me through her example. In the past few years, I have taught archaeological methods in several field schools. Whenever I have difficulty reaching a student or making a tough de cision, I find myself wondering how Annalies would handle the situation. All I have to do is pattern my teaching style on her patience, caring, and attention to detail, and the situation is resolved. Every time I practice her example, I find my students become confident, excited, and top-notch archaeologists. She is my mentor and my compass; for this reason I will always be her student. I would also like thank my friends at ECU: Heather, Holly, Jackie, Sam, and Drew. They were always available for encouragement, venting, or harmless debauchery. I would especially like to thank Josh Howard for being a better historian than me, but never pointing it out. I also thank him for proving that the fraternity of Southern gentlemen is thriving in our generation, and that it has enough room for a damn Yankee like me. Finally, I would like to thank my family for giving me the confidence to move far from home for my education. I especially thank my grandparents George and Irene Divizio for whom this thesis is dedicated.