Volume 8, Number 12 - Summer 1985
Forsyth Steamboat Landing
by Don A. Sullenger, Historian of Steamboat Landing Committee
For Section 43. "HISTORY AND SIGNIFICANCE"
Prior to 1766, when Francois d’ Armand opened a trading post at the mouth of White River, few people, other than the Indians, had ever ascended the stream to its headwaters which lay, via the river some 700 miles inland. The upper White River Valley constituted the drainage area of the stream above the mouth of Black River and embraced over 11,000 square miles of Ozark wilderness.
This vast area, sparsely inhabited by roving bands of Indians, was destined for frontier settlements, with White River serving as the main avenue of trade and commerce. Even though the French and Spanish had made limited exploratory expeditions into the region, in search of precious metals, few white men had penetrated the upper White River Valley before 1800, when the trappers and fur traders pushed their way into the area. Through them, the country’s reputation for an abundance of wildlife, clear flowing streams, virgin forests, and intermittent prairie became well known. By 1818, a thin chain of log cabins extended up White River as far as the mouth of Beaver Creek.
All sorts of river craft, such as canoes, keelboats, dugouts, and flat boats came into common use. On January 14, 1819 as he descended White River on his return trip from the upper James River country, Henry Rowe Schoolcraft observed a trader’s keelboat anchored at the mouth of Big North Fork River.
The services of the fur traders were extended farther and farther up the river as more people settled in the upper portion of the White River Valley. Among the articles brought by the river merchants were: flour, salt, whiskey, gunpowder, coffee, calico and numerous articles of hardware, which included pots, pans, knives, etc. These were exchanged for bear bacon, buffalo beef, beeswax, honey, furs, and peltry.
During the first quarter of the 19th century, the major portion of the early settlers reached their destination in the upper White River Valley via the river. Keelboats and flatboats were their principal vehicles of transportation.
Flatboats and keelboats were the fore-runners of the steamboats on the White River. However, both were used extensively even after the advent of the steamboat. Flatboats were perhaps the most popular craft used by pioneer families. They were more easily constructed and varied in size from 20 to 60 feet long and from 10 to 20 feet wide. The sides of the flat-boat rose from 3 to 6 feet above the surface of the water and drew from 1 to 21/2 feet of water when loaded and consequently could travel in shallow water where steamboats could not go.
Keelboats were sharp or pointed at both bow and stern, and although of shallow draft, could carry heavy loads. They were usually from 40 to 70 feet long and built of heavy 4-inch square timbers. These timbers, known as the keel, were placed so as to take the shock of a collision with underwater objects. Keelboats were from 7 to 9 feet wide. Both flatboats and keelboats were often equipped with a sail to help propel them along if winds were favorable. Both were equipped with long oars and poles to help propel them. Under normal conditions it was not too difficult to navigate the first 300 miles up stream from the Mississippi to the mouth of Black River. But as the boats entered upper White River, the currents were stronger, and the rocky shoals were more difficult to ascend.
Overland roads were not opened into the upper White River Valley until the early 1830s. Those who entered the "hunter’s paradise," as the region was called, came by way of the river, or with their pack horses, following overland trails used by the Indians. Even those who arrived in the 1830s and 1840s, via the White River trace and the Fallen Ash Military road, looked to the river for their commercial ties with the outside world. By 1840, enough settlers had arrived to establish five counties with a total population of nearly 20,000 people.
White River commerce was so important to those early settlers that the first County Court to meet in Greene County, on March 12, 1833, ordered a road laid out to the mouth of Swan Creek to connect the Springfield region with the White River. In time, other roads were opened to the river so trade could be carried on with the river merchants who had slowly and Laboriously worked their cargoes up the treacherous winding river. It was 505 miles from the mouth of White River to the mouth of Swan Creek. Such upstream journey’s against the currents of the river involved weeks of time and tremendous effort before the advent of the steamboat.
During this time, flatboats carried the bulk of the cargo. It was not unusual, under favorable conditions, to see these broadbottomed craft piled high with grain or loaded with livestock quietly drifting down the river to distant markets. At other times, when the river was flushed with heavy rains, the flatboats were swept downstream at an accelerated speed which was often
[12]
frightening and dangerous. Many accidents did occur and entire cargoes were lost; also human lives.
In time, steamboats found their way far up the river’s main watercourse. In 1831, the steamboat Waverly reached Batesville, Arkansas, to set a new upstream record for steam-powered craft. By the mid-1840s, steamboats were unloading their cargoes at Dubuque, Arkansas, two miles below the Missouri-Arkansas state line.
It was a challenge to steamboat captains and river merchants operating on lower White River to push farther upstream in quest of trade and adventure. The settlers living along the main watercourse of the stream, as well as merchants of inland villages who were supplied from the river ports, highly desired steamboat travel and the opportunity it offered for trade.
So great was the interest in obtaining steamboat navigation on upper White River that the matter was brought to the attention of the Missouri Legislature, which responded on March 3, 1851, in appropriating $8,000 out of the State Treasury for the improvement of the river above the Arkansas border.
Steamboat navigation on upper White River was the hope and the talk of almost everyone in the region. One manifestation of this interest resulted in the official seal of Taney County, approved about 1850, bearing the imprint of a steamboat. (Figure 1)
Prior to 1850, steamboats pushing up White River turned back before reaching Elbow Shoal on the Missouri-Arkansas border. In the spring of 1851, one steamboat attempted to pass over the shoal but without success.
In June of 1852, the steamboat, Yohogony, with Captain Childress commanding, left Jacksonport, Arkansas for a trip on the upper White River. A number of stops were made on the way to discharge cargo and take on wood to fire the boilers. After leaving the landing at Dubuque, Arkansas, Captain Childress directed the Yohogony upstream -- destination, Forsyth, Missouri. Within a short time, the captain and his steamer approached the newly cut channel on Elbow Shoal, completed recently by Harrison Snapp and his men. The steamboat labored in the channel all day long trying to pass over the shoal. A number of passengers disembarked to lighten the load, and waited on the banks of the stream. Still, the Yohogony failed in its efforts and was compelled to back downstream and unload 300 sacks of salt belonging to the merchants of Forsyth, Missouri. The following day, she ascended the shoal and completed her trip. Jim and Tom Clarkston were employed to haul the salt by ox wagons overland to Forsyth, Missouri.
The steamship Yohogony was the first steamboat to battle the rugged shoals and treacherous currents as far up the river as Forsyth, Missouri. She reached Forsyth in June, 1852. This feat was a harbinger of things to come of more steamboat commerce on the upper White River. Another of the steamboats to reach Forsyth was the Ben Lee in the spring of 1853. It passed through the channel on Elbow Shoal in five hours; but on her second voyage that spring, she fought the gushing waters of the channel two days before conquering the strong currents. The Ben Lee reportedly made four trips to Forsyth in 1853.
At last two shallow draft steamboats ascended White River to the mouth of James River. On May 18, 1858, the Thomas P. Ray piloted by Hardin Shipp, unloaded a cargo of freight at the mouth of the James River for the merchants of Ozark, Missouri. For her "down river" cargo, the steamboat took on a shipment of cotton, destined for Memphis, Tennessee. As she passed Forsyth on her return trip, she had her upper deck gayly decorated with flags, and whistles were blowing in celebration of her notable act of performance.
The upper White River, with all its might, resisted
[14]
the encroachment of the steamboats and their captains. In the long struggle, the old river claimed its fair share of victories. Wrecked hulks of steamboats and flatboats along the water course were undisputed evidence of the river’s successes. A few of the steamers lingered too long before retreating downstream. One such boat was the Mary H. Patterson. The early summer drought and low water of 1860 kept her at bay, anchored at the Forsyth landing from April 1860 to February 1861.
Little steamboat activity was carried on north of the Missouri-Arkansas line during the Civil War, except to reinforce the Confederate forces at Forsyth in the early days of the conflict.
After Elbow Shoal became navigable and when the flow of water was sufficient, a number of river boats unloaded their cargo at the Forsyth landing where much of it was hauled overland to Springfield and other towns. Among the boats reportedly plying the waters of upper White River were (wood-burning):
The Mary M. Patterson, Jesse Lazear, Mary L. Darity (Daugherty), Ben Lee, Thomas P. Ray Oakland, Yohogony, Ralph, Ranger, Alberta, Batesville, and the Lady Boone; and the gasoline-powered Eureka and Moark. Steamboat commerce was again revived after the Civil War, but with less enthusiasm. The Ralph and the Alberta were among those reaching Forsyth in the latter part of the steamboat era.
One of the most interesting steamboats plying the waters of the upper White River in the 1870s was the Batesville - the third such boat to carry the name honoring Batesville, Arkansas. The Batesville was 120 feet long with a beam 26 feet wide, and a hold that measured 4 feet and 3 inches. The stroke of its lever engine was 3½ feet. It was equipped with cylinders 10 inches in diameter and two double flue boilers 18 feet long by 30 inches in diameter. It possessed a double-geared steam capstan, had a carrying capacity of 125 tons and displaced only 10 inches of water when empty. It was built explicitly for the upper White River trade, with adequate cargo tonnage and an elegant cabin finished in the most modern style of accommodation of the traveling public.
Down-river flatboat commerce continued past the turn of the century. Even after the railroad was completed to Chadwick in Christian County in 1883, interest in White River navigation continued, though considerably curtailed. Flatboats, built at Forsyth and elsewhere along the river, kept moving products down the river to markets in Arkansas and other down-river ports. Upon reaching the market, the cargo with or without the flatboat, was sold. In case of the latter, the flatboat was sold elsewhere for lumber or for further use down the river.
The volume of commerce on upper White River probably reached its maximum about 1900. Even though there was little or no steamboat activity on the Missouri portion of the river, business increased below the state line. This was brought about by increased cotton production, mining endeavors, and transportation of supplies for the construction of the railroad, which was not completed until 1906. The big timber boom was underway at this time, with good markets for cedar logs and cross ties at Batesville, Arkansas and Jacksonport, which resulted in hundreds of thousands of logs and ties being rafted down the river.
The completion of the Missouri Pacific Railroad through Branson, Missouri in 1906 spelled an end to the hope of commercial steamboat travel between Forsyth and Batesville, Arkansas. So now the people of Forsyth then centered their interest in connecting the county seat of Forsyth with the railroad at Branson by means of a steamboat line. To accomplish this, the businessman of Forsyth sold stock in the venture. Plans called for construction of a steamboat 64 feet long and 16 feet wide powered by a double marine engine. Somehow the plans to build the boat were abandoned. So then a group went to St. Louis and purchased the Dolly B. It was their intention to navigate the Dolly B. down the Mississippi River and up White River to Forsyth. The ill-fated Dolly B. never reached its destination. It developed boiler trouble and was docked at Cairo, Illinois and was later sold.
During this period, Forsyth’s most successful river boat was the Moark. The Moark made a number of round trips from Forsyth to the railroad town of Branson when the water level in the river would permit. Records indicate it transported up to 8 tons of freight on its return trips. But even the Moark’s days were numbered. In 1911 and 1912, Powersite Dam, an obstacle 60 feet high, more formidable and insurmountable than even the natural fury of the river, rose to close the curtain on the long and sometimes turbulent era of steamboat travel and trade on the upper White River.
Arkansas and Missouri were part of the great Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Missouri became a state of 1821 and Arkansas became a state in 1836. Previous to this, these states were just part of the great unsurveyed territory of the Lousiana Purchase. This part of the territory was a wild and beautiful, unspoiled land with its virgin forests, beautiful clear blue skies, and clear streams teeming with fish. Great uncut forests were abundant with game of all kinds; deer, bear, wild turkey, elk and mountain lion roamed at will. There were birds of every description; wild turkey, wild geese, ducks, and the bald eagle.
[15]
Passenger pigeons were abundant in the Ozarks. The last one was killed about 1911; they are now extinct.
With all this beautiful unspoiled land, travel was very difficult and oftentimes very dangerous. There were no roads, only trails used by the wild animals and Indians. Some of these trails would perhaps later on become wagon roads and highways. Only the very hardy would penetrate this beautiful but dangerous land. From 1861 to 1865 during the great Civil War, it was very dangerous to move from place to place. Infamous desperados and murderers, such as Alf Bolin, preyed upon the unfortunate, especially upon soldiers of the Union Army.
Travel by steamboat on the White River was much safer for people coming into this territory than traveling through the great forests inhabited by wild animals, hostile Indians, and desperados.
My great, great grandmother, Elizabeth McClure, came to Taney County and settled four miles north of Forsyth, Missouri on beautiful Swan Creek, in 1844. When she arrived at Forsyth, they still had the old log courthouse. That year, in 1844, there was a great flood on White River which inundated the old log courthouse. It is believed Grandmother McClure came part way up White River, possibly to Batesville, Arkansas or a little farther, as there is no record of a steamboat reaching Forsyth before 1852. The steamboat Yohogony had that distinction in June of that year. Elizabeth McClure was born in Kentucky in 1795. Her family originally came from Ireland. It is believed her family reached America about the time of the American Revolution or before. She was the grandmother of James M. Sullenger who was born near Carthage, Missouri in 1844, who at 17 years of age joined the Union Army and was stationed at Forsyth in 1881. He served under Capt. (later General) Thomas W. Sweeny, the one-armed Irishman. On August 10, 1861 he was with Captain Sweeny at the bloody battle of Wilson’s Creek, near Springfield, Missouri.
My grandmother, Louise Margaret Curtis, born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1849, was 12 years old when Fort Sumpter was fired upon in April 1861 and the great Civil War started. The bombardment lasted for days. The country was in turmoil. It is believed her parents, who were well-to-do, were killed during the battle. She and her brother, James Curtis, were (we think) put on board a steamship, came around the tip of Florida to the mouth of the Mississippi River, up the Mississippi to the mouth of the White River, and on up the White River by steamboat. They tied up their steamboat at old Forsyth, Missouri. Their steamboat was tied to the old iron stake, in the early summer of 1861, which still exists to this day driven in the rock ledge just upstream from the present highway 76 bridge which crosses Lake Bull Shoals. At present (May 15, 1985) the iron stake is inundated by several feet of water, but can be seen when Lake Bull Shoals is at low water.
Louise Margaret Curtis and James Curtis were a niece and nephew of Cyrus McCormick, inventor of the reaper. Their mother was Cyrus McCormick’s sister. She was born in Virginia, married a man named Curtis, and moved to Charleston, South Caroline where Grandmother Curtis was born in 1849. She met my Grandfather James M. Sullenger, who was stationed at Forsyth in 1861. They were married at Bolivar, Missouri, after the Civil War in 1865. Cyrus McCormick (1809-1884) was a millionaire before he was 40 years old. He moved his reaper and farm machinery factory to Chicago, Illinois where he founded the great International Harvester Company. Several years after Cyrus McCormick’s death in 1884, lawyers at Forsyth wanted to get my grandmother to file a claim for her part of his estate, but the matter was dropped. Back then, communications and travel was poor, so she never filed.
Source of information: Elmo Ingenthron. "Land of Taney," The School of the Ozarks Press, Point Lookout, Missouri.
[16]
MEMBERSHIP ROLL ADDITIONS May 1 to August 1
Mrs. C. M. Barnhart, Spokane
Mrs. Marcella Johnston, Roseburg, OR
Mrs. Wanda Perkins, Parkdale, OR
Joan Pierce, Forsyth
Mary Hartman, Forsyth
Jerry Gideon, Forsyth
Vada Smith, Theodosia
Flo McHaffie Brown, Sparta
Emma L. Adams, Ft. Smith, AR
Mrs. Bruce Jones, Galena, KS
Mrs. Robert Yager, Osawatonie, KS
Rae Watts, Rogersville
Fae Harvill, Sparta
Otis Teague, Ozark
Mary Humble, Sparta
Gene Teague, Sparta
Maxine Cunningham, Bruner
Bobby D. Teague, Bruner
Beryle Cox, Bruner
Missouri unless stated otherwise.
[16]
This volume: Next Article | Table of Contents | Other Issues
Other Volumes | Keyword Search | White River Valley Quarterly Home | Local History Home
Copyright © White River Valley Historical Quarterly
