May 14, 1853 Saturday – Sam wrote “News Item About Steamboat Arrivals,” in the Journal as “Rambler,” praising the “charming” steamboat Kate Kearney, which “came walking the water like a thing of life” [Branch, “Steersman” 206n10].
Steamboats
The Minneapolis, which carried Clemens from Hannibal to St. Paul, was crushed by an ice gorge at St. Louis on January 30, 1884.
LOGES, MAX L. “The Life and Death of the ‘City of Baton Rouge.’” Mark Twain Journal 42, no. 2 (2004): 2–8. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41641543.
Steamboat: NEBRASKA
Built: 1854
Tonnage: 683
Clemens' Service: 14 May 1861 - 21 May 1861
Pilot: Zebulon Leavenworth
Captain: Ambrose Reeder
Fate: converted to troop transport during the War; took 91st Infantry Volunteers Illinois from St. Louis to Vicksburg in July 1863. Sunk in the ice at St. Louis 14 January 1866.
Steamboat: NEW FALLS CITY
Built: 1858
Tonnage: 880
Clemens' Service: 30 October - 8 December 1858
Pilot: probably Horace Bixby
Captain: James B. Woods
Fate: 1861 acquired by Confederacy and later sunk in Red River to block river traffic. Wreckage wasn't cleared until 1880. [Cub Pilot]
Steamboat: PAUL JONES
Built: 1855
Tonnage: 353
Clemens' trip from Cincinnati to New Orleans: 16 February - 28 February 1857
Pilot: Horace Bixby
Co-Pilot: Jerry Mason
Captain: Hiram Hazlett
Fate: 1861 acquired by Confederacy and later sunk at Big Black River at Bovina, Mississippi to prevent capture by Union forces. [Cub Pilot]
Steamboat: PENNSYLVANIA
Built: 1854
Tonnage: 486
Clemens' Service: 27 September - 26 November 1857
and 17 February - 5 June 1858
Pilot: William Brown
Co-Pilot: George Ealer
1st Mate: Abner Martin
Captain: John Klinefelter
Fate: 13 June 1858 lost by explosion [Cub Pilot]
Steamboat: RUFUS J. LACKLAND
Built: 1857
Tonnage: 710
Clemens' Service: 9 July - 30 July 1859
Captain: William B. Miller
Fate: Obtained by Confederacy in 1861 and sunk in shallow stretch of Yazoo River to block Union traffic.
April 9, 1852 Friday – The Saluda, a side-wheel, wooden hull packet, 223 tons, christened in 1846, sank in 1850 but eventually was raised and restored. On Apr. 9, 1852, Good Friday, with Mormon emigrants aboard, the boat was headed for Council Bluffs, Iowa. Upon arriving at Lexington, the current was swift. Pilot Charles S. LaBarge pushed her too hard and her boilers blew. Pilot and Master Belt and about 75 others died. It was the worst disaster to that time on the Missouri River.
July 18, 1861 Thursday - Orion and Sam left St. Louis on the Sioux City for St. Joseph, Missouri
Day 4: Monday, 22 August 1853. 8:00 a.m., from Monroe across Lake Erie to Buffalo, New York, by the steamer Southern Michigan.
Southern Michigan 1852 - 1863: Wooden sidewheel Great Lakes passenger and package freight vessel. Built at Buffalo NY by Bidwell & Banta.
Steamboat: SUNSHINE
Built: 1860
Tonnage: 354
Clemens' Service: 6 December 1860 - 8 January 1861
Pilot: Capt. George W. Willard in 1860; Absalom Grimes in 1861
Captain: Henry G. Carson
Fate: burned 13 July 1864 in St. Louis by Confederates
Pennsylvania left for St. Louis. About thirty miles above New Orleans it was struck by the Vicksburg and lost its wheelhouse. The boat was laid up for repairs near New Orleans for eleven weeks. Some accounts say the two boats were racing, an illegal but common activity for steamboats. On Mar. 19, 1858, Sam would give testimony for a lawsuit in the matter. See November 26, 1857:
Steamboat: WHITE CLOUD
Built: 1857
Tonnage: 345
Clemens' Service: 20 - 26 October 1858
Pilot: probably Samuel Bowen
Captain: Daniel Able
Fate: Converted to troop transport; took the 7th Iowa Volunteers up the Tennessee to Pittsburg Landing; with Admiral David D. Porter on the Red River in 1864; sank in the ice at St. Louis 12 February, 1867. [Cub Pilot]
Steamboat: WILLIAM M. MORRISON
Steamboat: WILLIAM M. MORRISON
Built: 1856
Tonnage: 662
Clemens' Service: 2 December 1857 - 12 Feb 1858
Pilot: Isaiah Sellers
Co-Pilot: George Haggerty
Captain: John Bofinger
Fate: acquired by Confederacy [Cub Pilot]
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