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The Old West #12
Rivermen
Book by O'Neil, Paul
240 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1975
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63 people want to read
About the author
Paul O'Neil
10 booksLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 25, 2017
I was going to Starbucks here in Pomona one day and saw over head an enormous 747 jetliner that was slowly drifting towards Ontario International Airport. As I looked up at that incredible marvel of 20th century technology I thought how strange it would be if I had never seen one before. I had the same thought as I read Paul O'Niel describing stern-wheel paddle boats driving farther and farther up the Missouri River all the way up to what one day would become Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota. The Sioux called them "fire canoes" as they gazed at the strange machines that churned the muddy waters of the river that cleaved the great plains and lead to the gold fields of the Dakotas. It was these very same paddle boats that brought Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer and the 7th Cavalry Corp on May 17, 1876 to Fort Abraham Lincoln just below Bismarck. It was these same paddle boats that evacuated the remnants of the 7th Cavalry after Crazy Horse and 2,000 Sioux warriors annihilated it on June 26th and 27th, 1876 near the Little Big Horn River. The American prairie is an ocean of grass in the middle of North America; I kept imagining these stern-wheel paddle boats exploring alone vast stretches of undiscovered country on rivers that many times were not more than four feet deep. Many of us now think of these vessels as quaint reminders of a by-gone era and are fit to haul tourists around Disney's "Rivers of America" but truth be told shallow draft river paddle boats were the key to the colonization of Africa, Asia, and North America. Stern-wheel paddle boats churned the muddy waters of the Congo and Yangtze rivers at the exact same time as they did the Missouri. Shallow draft and the ability to haul massive amounts of freight (or soldiers) to any local on an extensive river network lead to the rapid domination of large swaths of the planet due to this technological innovation. Before reading "The Rivermen" I had no idea that this colonial drama played here on the plains of Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Montana as it had in Africa and Asia but it had in very similar fashion. The next time I am at Disneyland and riding the Mark Twain river boat I will have more to ponder than I previously had.
February 8, 2010
The Time-Life series on "The Old West" was well done in its time. The volumes that I got had a nice leather cover, slick pages, and many illustrations and photos. An attractive package with good material inside.
This volume focuses on "The Rivermen" of the Missouri River and its tributaries. As the author puts it (Page 7): "For generations of explorers and exploiters, the Missouri was the key to the West." And how to traverse the Missouri? A variety of vessels are featured on page 20--from dugout canoe to keelboat to side wheeler to stern wheeler. Of course, other rivers were important, too, such as the Red, the Des Moines, and the Colorado. But the mightiest of the rivers allowing travel to the West was the Big Muddy, the Missouri River. On page 21 is a map of the "boatable passages" through the wilderness.
Pages 36 and following show the progression of the landscape along the Missouri and provide an element that gives the reader a sense of this mighty river.
The use of the Missouri began when trapping was a major "industry" in the west, with the river providing a means of getting to fur territory and moving the pelts to market. Then, the story of Mike Fink (who spelled his name Miche Phinck), who was quite a character, and whose death seems unhappily appropriate and fitting. The third chapter examines the steamboats as they became the dominant form of transportation along the rivers. On pages 96-99 is a nice schematic diagram of a stern-wheeler. The Missouri, though, could be a rough customer, and one of the nice features of this book is a discussion of the dangers of navigating this river (including some pictures of wrecks).
What of the people who commanded and steered these vessels? There is a whole chapter of these "wizards," with some of the best known featured in photos on pages 132-135. An interesting side bar is one of the extraordinarily rare women who became a licensed steamboat captain, Minnie Hill.
The book ends by describing the ultimate triumph of rail over the riverboats.
This is a nice volume, accessible to a more general audience.
This volume focuses on "The Rivermen" of the Missouri River and its tributaries. As the author puts it (Page 7): "For generations of explorers and exploiters, the Missouri was the key to the West." And how to traverse the Missouri? A variety of vessels are featured on page 20--from dugout canoe to keelboat to side wheeler to stern wheeler. Of course, other rivers were important, too, such as the Red, the Des Moines, and the Colorado. But the mightiest of the rivers allowing travel to the West was the Big Muddy, the Missouri River. On page 21 is a map of the "boatable passages" through the wilderness.
Pages 36 and following show the progression of the landscape along the Missouri and provide an element that gives the reader a sense of this mighty river.
The use of the Missouri began when trapping was a major "industry" in the west, with the river providing a means of getting to fur territory and moving the pelts to market. Then, the story of Mike Fink (who spelled his name Miche Phinck), who was quite a character, and whose death seems unhappily appropriate and fitting. The third chapter examines the steamboats as they became the dominant form of transportation along the rivers. On pages 96-99 is a nice schematic diagram of a stern-wheeler. The Missouri, though, could be a rough customer, and one of the nice features of this book is a discussion of the dangers of navigating this river (including some pictures of wrecks).
What of the people who commanded and steered these vessels? There is a whole chapter of these "wizards," with some of the best known featured in photos on pages 132-135. An interesting side bar is one of the extraordinarily rare women who became a licensed steamboat captain, Minnie Hill.
The book ends by describing the ultimate triumph of rail over the riverboats.
This is a nice volume, accessible to a more general audience.
November 12, 2012
This was in interesting history of the men who navigated the
steamboats up the Missouri River to the Rocky Mountains. They faced the dangers of a treacherous river and hostile Indians as they transported fur trappers, gold miners and adventure seekers.
Grant Marsh, captain of the Far West, made history when he escorted George Armstrong Custer and the 7th U.S. Calvary to suicidal defeat at the Little Bighorn River. The trip back down the river with the survivors from other batallions was the "wildest, fastest steamboat voyage in American history".
steamboats up the Missouri River to the Rocky Mountains. They faced the dangers of a treacherous river and hostile Indians as they transported fur trappers, gold miners and adventure seekers.
Grant Marsh, captain of the Far West, made history when he escorted George Armstrong Custer and the 7th U.S. Calvary to suicidal defeat at the Little Bighorn River. The trip back down the river with the survivors from other batallions was the "wildest, fastest steamboat voyage in American history".
November 5, 2024
As I have said before, if you have an interest in the actual Old West and have not tapped into the old Time-Life series that now flooding antique stores then you are missing out. The pictures are an excellent study and the information rises above plain anecdotes to help the reader understand the social and economic forces that were necessarily in play to make the settling of the West possible.
In this outing, the author describes the advancement of civilization down the Missouri River and its tributaries. This is an oft-neglected, but crucial element of bringing American settlers west and the book goes into the technology, wit, and guts that made it possible. He also deals appropriately with the affects of these changes on the Indians of the region.
The surprise treasure is the 6th chapter in which a detailed account of the rivermen's work in the Little Bighorn campaign is detailed.
In this outing, the author describes the advancement of civilization down the Missouri River and its tributaries. This is an oft-neglected, but crucial element of bringing American settlers west and the book goes into the technology, wit, and guts that made it possible. He also deals appropriately with the affects of these changes on the Indians of the region.
The surprise treasure is the 6th chapter in which a detailed account of the rivermen's work in the Little Bighorn campaign is detailed.
March 25, 2023
A piece of American history that I knew very little about. Great detail and pictures like all the Time Life Books.
April 11, 2013
I got this one for $1 from the local Hospice thrift shop. They had the whole "Old West" set but I only grabbed this and "The Loggers". I felt bad for breaking up the set which had "The Eugene A Peterson family, 1979" transcribed on all the covers. The photos, illustrations and stories are very interesting with some very detailed captions. That was some rough life traveling up the unexplored Missouri river with grounded boats at every bend and boilers that would blow up without warning. Fun times!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews