Here, then, is the answer to our question—What of the future? Turn this river out upon the lands. Unlock its imprisoned power. Where the rains do not fall let it supply the need. Then the new and greater history of the Missouri River will begin. Utility will take the place of romance. The buffalo, the Indian, the steamboat, the gold-seeker, the soldier, will be seen in its valley no more, but in their stead the culture and comfort, and the thousand blessings that come with civilization. Such, let us hope, in drawing the curtain over a mighty past, will be the consummation of a still more mighty future.[74]
FOOTNOTES
[44] The fact of this attack on the Sam Gaty has been questioned by some; but there would seem to be no doubt of its truth in all essential details.
[45] Brother of Susan B. Anthony, and at the present date editor of the Leavenworth Times.
[46] This was the opinion naturally held by Southern sympathizers in Missouri. The unbending will of this stern and ardent patriot would overbear and crush without compunction anyone who had even a taint of disloyalty about him. Though La Barge had taken a stand which was quite as honorable, and more self-sacrificing than that of Lyon, still the latter could not forget that the Captain’s environment and training had made him more sympathetic with the Southern cause than a Northerner could possibly be. Lyon’s temperament, moreover, aggravated the severity of his patriotism. He was not popular with his associates in the old army on account of his overbearing disposition.
[47] Fisk repeated the expedition several times. It virtually amounted to emigration at government expense. The military authorities did not think much of either Fisk or his scheme, and officially denounced both. Thus General Sully, September 9, 1864: “Why will the government continue to act so foolishly, sending out emigrant trains at great expense? Do they know that most of the men that go are persons running away from the draft?”
[48] In 1866 the Deer Lodge, which left Benton about May 20, met the following boats on her way down: St. John and Cora at Fort Benton; Waverly at Eagle Creek; Mollie Dozier and W. J. Lewis at Fort Galpin; Marcella at Fort Charles; Big Horn, above Big Muddy; Only Chance 30 miles below Union; Favorite and Ontario 70 miles below; Tacony and Iron City 130 miles below; Amelia Poe and Walter B. Dance near White Earth River; Jennie Brown, Peter Balen, and Gold Finch in Big Bend; Miner below Fort Clark; Luella above Fort Rice; Helena at Fort Rice; Tom Stevens 40 miles below Fort Rice; Huntsville at Grand River; Lillie Martin at Island below Grand River; Sunset 20 miles below Swan Lake Bend; Agnes at Devil’s Island; Ned Tracy and Mary McDonald above Big Cheyenne; Marion 30 miles above Fort Sully; Jennie Lewis above Pierre; Gallatin below Fort Sully; Rubicon at Cadet Island; Lexington above Great Bend; Montana below Crow Creek; and Ben Johnson at Bon Homme Island.
[49] The names were N. W. Burroughs, George Friend, Franklin Friend, Abraham Low, James H. Lyons, Harry Martin, Frank Angevine, George Allen, James Andrews, and James Perie (colored).
[50] This account is taken from the published narrative of Mr. Hubbell in the St. Paul Pioneer Press of December 11, 1898. Mr. Hubbell has published several most interesting and valuable accounts in the St. Paul papers of his early experiences as a Missouri River trader.
[51] “The Ida Stockdale reached Fort Benton June 29, 1867. She could not have returned to Trover Point before the 1st or 2d of July. The Sunset picked up the boy July 11. The time that he was alleged to have been lost could therefore not have been far wrong, and the distance he traveled is known with accuracy.”