The following is a list of boats run in the trade this season: Equator, Wave, Galena, Golden Era, Fanny Harris, City Belle, Northern Belle, Ocean Wave, Kate Cassel, Flora, Excelsior, Lady Franklin, Time and Tide, Alhambra, Ben Carson, War Eagle, Falls City, Clarion, Reville, H. T. Yeatman, Metropolitan, Berlin, Granite State, Hamburg, Laclede, Luella, Conewago, Jas. Lyon, Globe, Oakland, A. G. Mason, Minnesota Belle, Lucy May, Arcola, Mansfield, Thos. Scott, Royal Arch, Golden State, Jacob Trabor, York State, Editor, H. S. Allen, Matte Wayne, Sam Young, Rochester, Montauk, Greek Slave, Ben Bolt, Gipsy, Fairy Queen, John P. Luce, White Bluff, Des Moines Valley, Violet, Minnesota Valley, Diomed, New St. Croix, Forest Rose, Fire Canoe, Brazil, Gossamer, Badger State, Henrietta, Grace Darling, Tishemingo, America, Julia Dean, Atlantic, Delegate, St. Louis, Henry Graff, Carrier, Bongo, W. G. Woodside, Chart, Vienna, New York. The whole number of boats was seventy-nine; and the number of arrivals at St. Paul, 759. Capt. E. 'H. Gleim died at the De Soto House in Galena early in the season this year. He was a very popular boatman and an estimable gentleman. 1857. Navigation opened May 1st, the latest date ever known up to this time, the first arrival being the Galena, Capt. W. H. Laughton. The great activity of the steamboating during the years 1855 and 1856, and the promise of immediate railroad connections at Prairie du Chien this season, the reputation which the Territory had acquired for its climate and fertility of soil, and the commerce that had grown up so fast between Galena, Dubuque, and the upper Mississippi, so stimulated everybody connected with it that the Galena, Dunleith and Minnesota Packet Company, realizing that more new boats would be necessary to control the trade, resolved to build three larger and nicer boats to meet the trade of 1857. Capt. Orren Smith went to Ohio in the fall of 1856, and contracted for the construction of the Grey Eagle, Milwaukee, and Northern Light. Almost at the same time the Dubuque and Minnesota Packet Company made its appearance on the Ohio to build two new boats as well. Each company had supposed that it was the only one to have new boats in the spring of 1857. The mutual discovery that each of the companies was building large and expensive boats put a damper on the outlook for the coming season's business, and resulted in a reorganization of the Galena Company under the name of the Galena, Dubuque, Dunleith and Minnesota Packet Company, with Capt. Orren Smith, President; J. P. Farley, Vice President; J. R. Jones, Secretary; and Capt. R. Blakeley, General Agent at Dunleith. All the boats were transferred to the new company. The following is the description of the five new boats: Grey Eagle, 250 feet long, 35 feet beam; Milwaukee, 240 feet long, 33 feet beam; Northern Light, 240 feet long, 40 feet beam; Itasca, 230 feet long, 35 feet beam; and Key City, 230 feet long, 35 feet beam. Their tonnage measurement was from 350 to over 400 tons each, and no better boats were ever built for the upper river. The business season commenced with the following boats and officers: Grey Eagle, Capt. D. S. Harris; Milwaukee, Capt. Stephen Hewett; Northern Light, Capt. P. Lodwick; Itasca, Capt. D. Whitten; Key City, Capt. Jones Worden; War Eagle, Capt. Kingman; Galena, Capt. W. H. Laughton; Northern Belle, Capt. J. Y. Hurd; City Belle, Capt. K. Lodwick; Ocean Wave; Granite State, Capt. W. H. Gabbert; Fanny Harris, Capt. Anderson; and Alhambra, Capt. McGowen. When the Milwaukee and Prairie du Chien Railroad was ready for business, the Milwaukee, Capt. S. Hewett, the Itasca, Capt. D. Whitten, and the Ocean Wave, were assigned as the packets for that line; and for the Galena, Dubuque & Dunleith line, the following steamboats: Grey Eagle, Capt. Harris; Northern Light, Capt. P. Lodwick; Key City, Capt. Worden; War Eagle, Capt. Kingman; Galena, Capt. W. H. Laughton; City Belle, Capt. K. Lodwick; Granite State, Capt. W. H. Gabbert; Golden Era, Capt. Scott; Golden State, Capt. S. Harlon; Fanny Harris, Capt. Anderson; and the Alhambra, Capt. MoGowen. These boats made double daily lines from Galena, etc., some of them being special packets and others for freight. The St. Louis and St. Paul steamboat men decided to divide the time between them so as to form a regular line to St. Paul. Prominent in this line were the following boats: Canada, Capt. James Ward; W. L. Ewing, Capt. M. Green; Denmark, Capt. R. C. Gray; Metropolitan, Capt. T. B. Rhodes; Minnesota Belle, Capt. Thomas B. Hill; Pembina, Capt. Thomas H. |