May 16 Sunday – Pennsylvania arrived in New Orleans. While there, Sam met fourteen-year-old Laura Wright (1845-1932). They spent most of the three days together. Sam was then twenty-two, but the age difference was not unusual in those days. Laura was with her father, Judge Foster P. Wright of Warsaw, Missouri, visiting her uncle, William C. Youngblood and her cousin Zeb Leavenworth on the John J. Roe. Sam went to visit Zeb and Beck Jolly, old mates from past trips. In his Autobiography Sam described Laura:

May 10 Monday – Pennsylvania left for New Orleans.

May 5 Wednesday – Pennsylvania arrived in St. Louis.

April 30 Friday – Pennsylvania left for St. Louis.

April 26 Monday – Pennsylvania arrived in New Orleans.

April 20 Tuesday – Pennsylvania left for New Orleans.

April 16 Friday – Pennsylvania arrived in St. Louis.

April 10 Saturday – Pennsylvania left for St. Louis.

April 6 Tuesday – Pennsylvania arrived in New Orleans.

February 6 Saturday – The Pennsylvania, now repaired and refitted, left New Orleans with William Brown as pilot, George Ealer as co-pilot, John Simpson Klinefelter (1810-1885) as Captain. Sam had procured a job for Henry as “mud clerk,” so called because the job required leaping to shore in places where there was no pavement or dock. The job did not pay, but was a way to rise in the ranks. Henry Clemens was nineteen, and would make six trips with his brother Sam [Powers, MT A Life 84].