Cole County Steamboat History

Steamer J.W. Spencer at the dock in Jefferson City where it provided ferry service locally until the construction of the first bridge in 1896.

The history of the steamboat on the Missouri River is a relatively long one; but the length of that history is very regional. The first steamboat appeared on the Missouri River in 1819 making several trips up the river as far as Franklin in Howard County. Incidentally, the first steamboat wreck on the Missouri River was at Cote sans Dessein in 1819. The steamboat was primarily for military use and supply of the fur trade until about 1835 when it was becoming available for use by the general public and the building of steamboats and spread of use on the rivers of the United States, to include the Missouri River.

In 1848 you see the first signs of what was called packet steamers or packet service. This was essentially a commuter service and transportation service where departure time and location and arrival times and locations along an advertised route were published in local newspapers. This was essentially the golden era of the steamboat on the lower Missouri River. During this period, the number, size and opulence of those steamers grew to the point that at any point on the lower Missouri River there would almost always be at least two steamers in sight at any given time. Whether this is true or not I can't attest to. Please refer to appendix A for some of those stops or to the attached advertisements. See also the attachment which documents landings along the Missouri River in the area of Callaway County on both sides of the river. These locations were taken from the Army Corps of Engineers surveys of 1879 which were published by the Missouri River Commission in the early 1890's.

In September of 1858 two railroads were completed which crushed competing steamboat traffic in the affected area and the advertisements of packet service in that area completely disappeared by late November of 1858. Those railroads were the Hannibal & St. Joseph and the North Missouri Railroad, both terminating at St. Joseph and one beginning at St. Louis - St. Charles and the second beginning at Hannibal. Steamers were either pushed further up the Missouri River where there was no railroad to compete with or to the rivers in the agricultural south where few railroads existed.

The coming of the Civil War completely changed the outlook for the steamboat where steamers either fled to the southern states or were seized by the Federal Government for use for supply and troop movement to supplement railroad transportation which was constantly under attack by guerrilla forces in areas sympathetic to the southern cause. During the years of the Civil War more steamers were lost than at any other time in their history, some because of direct conflict and others because they were forced into missions where there were many dangers in the river.

After the close of the Civil War there was a tremendous void for the steamboat with the competition from railroads and very few steamers to meet any major traffic on the lower Missouri River. The remaining steamers either moved into the waters of the Upper Missouri River, converted to local ferry service or moved on to smaller rivers like the Osage and Gasconade Rivers where they could successfully compete for passengers and shipment of materials. These steamers were more of local design and construction, smaller in size and lacked to opulence of their former state. On these smaller rivers they were highly important to local transportation and some persisted into the 1930's when railroad service and suitable roads and bridges made other means of transportation more feasible. On the upper Missouri River we see a similar pattern; but the general widespread use of the steamers probably ended by 1920.

The use of steamers for local ferry service was rather sparse and spotty; but took hold and filled an existing need provided there was potential for sufficient commerce to support it. Local ferries existed in locations where major roads without bridges encountered a major river or stream. The ferry at Jefferson City, J.W. Spencer or John L. Ferguson, and Huber's Ferry where current highway 63 crossed the Osage River. Steamers operating on the Osage River would frequently venture out onto the Missouri River to make deliveries to Jefferson City or Herman and occasionally to St. Louis. Obviously, that ferry service would lapse immediately with the construction of a bridge at that site, as did the ferry J.W. Spencer which stayed in the Jefferson City area for a number of months after the completion of construction of the Missouri River bridge in 1896. The steamer was purchased by other investors and moved to provide ferry service in the St. Charles area.

Slowly, the steamboat became a part of our history that is barely evidenced now or remembered by none other than through the oral tradition and an occasional photograph. The same fate is evidenced in our rail service and surely will show in our alirline service. All will become a part of our history in their own time.

The documentation of the steamer is much better on the upper Missouri River and the upper Mississippi River where it persisted much later in their history and photographs were more readily available. It is amazing how rapidly these periods disappear into our history.

Appendix A
Glasgow, Arrow Rock, Boonville, Rocheport, Providence, Nashville, Marion, Claysville, Jefferson City, Osage City, Smith's Landing, Portland, Herrman (sp.), Washington, South Point and St. Louis.
Arrow Rock, Boonville, Rocheport, Mount Vernon, Providence, Nashville, Marion, Stonesport, Jefferson City, Osage City, Cote sans Dessein, Smith's Landing, Young's Landing, Portland, Herman, Loutre Island, Pinckney, Washington, South Point, Mount Pleasant and St. Louis.

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Steamer Timour (No.2). Ed Dix, master. She exploded just below Jefferson City, August 26, 1854, causing the loss of many lives. The timbers of her hull can yet be seen in low water. The writer, as a barefooted boy, was an eye-witness to the explosion of the Timour. It was on Saturday, about two P. M., that I was standing on the levee at Jefferson City, waiting to be crossed over the river to my home, which was on the opposite shore. My eyes were resting on the boat, watching her as she was ascending the river-when there came a loud report as of a tremendous blast, and the boat was enveloped in a great cloud of steam and smoke. In a moment the cloud had blown away, but, alas, the boat had disappeared. The ferryman and I at once realized what had occurred, and, jumping into a skiff, rowed as rapidly as possible to the wreck, which was about three miles distant. We were the first to arrive, and what a horrible scene met our gaze. All of the boilers of the boat, three in number, had exploded simultaneously, wrecking the entire forward part of the boat, and causing the hull to sink aft of the forecastle. The shrieks and groans of the dying, and their piteous appeals that they be put immediately out of existence, to end their sufferings, were heartrending, and resound in my ears to this day, although more than a half-century has passed. Many lives were lost, how many was never completely known, as many bodies were blown into the river and never recovered. Those still alive were so badly scalded as to have but little resemblance to human beings. Among the dead were Captain Dix and his brother Charles, and Charles Eckler, the clerk. The wounded were removed to Jefferson City, where many of them died.

The preceeding is an account of the explosion of the Timour #2 by Philip E. Chappell written about fifty years after the event. Philip Chappell grew up on the family steamboat landing in Callaway County about four miles east of Cedar City. Philip Chappell later was a steamboat owner and operator and eventually owner of a line of steamboats operating on the Missouri and Osage Rivers. He sold interest in his steamers and was one of the principals of the Exchange Bank, served two terms as Mayor of Jefferson City and one term as State Treasurer before moving to Kansas City, Missouri and starting two banks which brought him great wealth. Philip E. Chappell is the author of two short books, History of the Missouri River and History of Steamboating on the Missouri River, both exceptional works in their own right.

TIMOUR 2
Type: Sidewheel wooden hull packet Size: 232 tons
Power: 1851 after rebuild, engines 19's-7 ft., 3 boilers
Launched: 1849, St. Louis, Mo
Destroyed: 1854, Aug., blew up 3 mi. below Jefferson City, Mo. killing 19 people including the Capt., pilot and clerk. She was taking on wood, and many passengers were ashore picking wild flowers.
Area: 1849, Made trips up Mo. R. with Capt. Miller
Owners: When exploded, Capt. Edmund F. Dix, Charles F. Eckler and others
Captains: 1849, Miller
Comments:
1849, May 17, badly damaged in The Great Steamboat Fire at St. Louis docks.
1851, Rebuilt.
1852, collided with and wrecked the FLORA.

Testimony of Captain Edmund F. Dix regarding the explosion of the Timour 2.

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