Source: Report and Historical Collections, Compiled by State Department Of History Volume IX, Steamboat Wrecks in South Dakota, 1918.

In the Annual Report of the Missouri River Commission for the Fiscal year ending June 30th, 1897, Captain Hiram M. Chittenden¹ publishes a compilation showing the loss of 295 steamboats on the Missouri river from the beginning of steam navigation to the date of the report. Of these 20 were lost within the boundaries of the present state of South Dakota. Captain Chittenden's report may be found by those interested as Appendix W. W. of the Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers of the Army for 1897. We have herewith extracted from it the information pertaining to the South Dakota wrecks, arranged them chronologically and added to them such additional information as we have been able to secure.

Kate Swinney, usually written Sweeny. The first wreck noted is that of the Kate Swinney, which occurred August 1st, 1855, at what has since been known as "Kate Sweeny Bend," between Vermillion and Elkpoint, where the line dividing Union and Clay counties meets the river. The boat was a side wheeler of 328 tons and was returning to Saint Louis from a trip to Fort Union and was loaded with Fur.² She was owned by Capt. Pierre M. Chouteau.³ George Anderson, her mate and Henry Dickson her fireman started to walk from the wreck to Sioux City and were never again seen and were supposed to have been killed by the Sioux.⁴ The boat was named for Miss Kate Swinney, daughter of Capt. W. D. Swinney, of Glasgow, Missouri. From the Saint Louis newspapers of the period we are enabled to get some of the particulars of the wreck:

1.Hiram Martin Chittenden, brigadier general U. S. A., born Western, New York, October 25, 1858, graduated from military academy 1884. Was long connected with the engineering work on the Missouri and other western rivers and is the author of several works on western history and upon engineering.

2.This is an error as a further reading of this narrative will show. The Kate Swinney was employed that summer to carry soldier's and military supplies to Fort Pierre and was returning empty.

3. Pierre M. Chouteau, of the notable Chouteau family of St. Louis, son of the Pierre Chouteau of Port Pierre fame.

4. I can find no evidence confirmatory of the statement that these men were killed by the Sioux.

Fetcoe the pilot and Black the carpenter got away in a life boat and reached St. Joseph in safety. Before leaving the wreck the Captain sold the salvage to "some nearby settlers"⁵ for $300.

Peoria Belle. A side wheel steamboat 180 by 22 feet, Capt. James Clarke, Master, was grounded upon a sand bar at Arcrow's Store five miles above the mouth of the Cheyenne, at the bow of Little Bend, in October 1864. She lay there until the next spring when she was cut down by the ice and lost. The Peoria Belle had been employed by the government the previous summer in transporting supplies for Sully's army in its first campaign against the hostile Sioux. She was for a long time grounded near the camp on Peoria Bottom north of Pierre and it was from her that the Bottom took its name. In his journal for July 28th, 1863, Sergeant J. H. Drips, historian of the expedition says: "The Belle Peoria went down today and took our mail. The boats brought provisions for 2500 men thirty days."

When the Belle stuck and it was found impossible to get her off a messenger was at once dispatched to Fort Rice for help and a company of soldiers were sent down armed with shovels. It was thought that the sand could be dug away and the boat floated off but the diligent efforts of 80 men availed nothing and the vessel was left in care of a guard in the hope that a late rise might float her. The rise did not come and the gallant Belle lies under the Big Sand bar at the bow of Little Bend.

Tempest snagged at Bon Homme Island. No particulars. 1865

5. I cannot locate any settlement in the neighborhood unless it might have been the traders still at old Fort Vermillion. There is no record of any settlement nearer than Sioux City on either side of the river. Theophile Bruguier the enterprising Sioux City Frenchman was long engaged in trade at Fort Vermillion and perhaps it was he who saw a bargain in the wreckage of the Kate Swinney.

7. There must have been another "Kate Swinney." for Phil Chappell in the Kansas Collections, Volume IX, p. 343, tells of a "Kate Swinney," a lower Missouri river boat of 600 tons that navigated the Kansas river in time of flood as far as Lawrence with a great cargo of lumber, in 1858.

8. Arcrow's Store. I have been unable to secure any information of this trader. It is probable that he was trading for the American Fur Company, supplying the needs of the considerable band of Sioux who always resided about Little Bend. According to Basil Clement Acrow was post trader at mouth of Grand River 1840-41.

Pocahontis No. 2. Sidewheeler, 180x32, in Fort Benton trade, but at the time was carrying Indian supplies. Snagged and lost at Pocahontis Island, opposite Academy, Charles Mix County, August 10th, 1866. No particulars learned.

Imperial. A stern wheel boat of moderate size was destroyed by the ice at Bon Homme Island in 1867. The vessel was grounded on a bar in the fall and destroyed by the ice in the spring. During the winter Judge Wilmot W. Brookings attached the vessel for a debt and the action was still pending. Out of the wreck he secured the bell, which he presented to the Congregational church at Yankton and it was mounted on the old Capitol building where the church held services. It was taken from the capitol building to Yankton Academy and finally passed into the possession of the school board and is said to be still in use in the high school building at Yankton. Prof. Durand, however fails to confirm this statement.

Livingston. Sunk by ice at Runningwater, in 1868 but afterward raised without much loss.

Helena No. 1. Owned by Senator Power of Montana, Capt. McGarrah, master, snagged and sunk at Bon Homme Island, Oct. 31, 1868, but raised with small loss.

Antelope owned by W. R. Massie, a fine boat of 326 tons and valued at $20,000 loaded with $38,000 worth of goods burned at Bon Homme Island April 12th 1869. A chambermaid was burned to death. The boat and cargo was a total loss. I do not learn the name of the woman burned. The boat was lost below the island and near the Bon Homme-Yankton line.

Urilda, bound up river loaded with merchandise April 24th 1869 ran upon a snag at the foot of Kate Sweeney bend. There is a tradition that the vessel had a large cargo of whiskey which connoisseurs consider must be well ripened by this time and several efforts have been unsuccessfully made to recover the liquor from the wreck which has been located in the quick sands and portions of which are at times uncovered by the river.

9. Life of Joseph Ward of Dakota, p. 76.

Bachelor, a stern wheel boat struck a rock in the channel and sunk at Fort Pierre in November 1869 and was wholly lost. No further particulars are obtainable.

Hiram Wood No. 1, a little stern wheel boat 100x22 feet owned by Dr. W. A. Burleigh, engaged in transporting Indian supplies was snagged and sunk at the old Rosebud landing, opposite Bijou Hills, in March 1870. Capt. Grant Marsh bought the wreck and converted it into a ferry boat.

North Alabama, a stern wheel vessel 160x32 feet engaged in the Upper Missouri trade, Capt. James McGarrah, master, was snagged and sunk near Vermillion, October 27th, 1870. About this vessel Phil Chappell, in Volume IX of the Kansas Historical Collections has the following notes: "North Alabama, 1868. Sunk at mouth of Vermillion River on upper Missouri in 1870. Telegram in the New York Tribune, July 12th, 1906, 'Vermillion, S. Dak., July 11, 1906: The river steamer North Alabama, which was sunk in the Missouri river six miles below here, in 1870 strangely rose to the surface yesterday and today crowds of spectators line the banks. The boat carried a cargo of flour and whiskey for the Yellowstone district. The fifty barrels of thirty-six year old whiskey have attracted the lovers of good liquor and already a scramble to find the prize has begun. As yet it has not been reached, owing to the quantities of mud accumulated over the lower decks.'¹² The Vermillion Plain Talk of July 12th 1906 identifies this wreck as the "Evening Star," but this is an error, the Evening Star having burned at the wharf, St. Louis, August 24th, 1869. The Plain Talk speaking of the wreck further says: "After all these years under water the old boat is now partially in sight. Within the past few days the bow has seemingly pushed upward and now shows plainly from either shore. At the time when the boat went down it was in the main channel of the river but in recent years the channel has been changing and this is no doubt responsible for the raising of the front end of the boat."

10. See note on "North Alabama," following. The Urilda lies below Kate Sweeny Bend, not far from Elk Point while the Alabama lies above this bend and nearer to Vermillion.

11. Captain Chittenden is in error as to the date of this disaster. The Bachelor was lost in 1884. Mr. H. E. Cutting of Pierre was then in charge of river transportation at Pierre and certifies to the fact. Other citizens recall it.

12. See "The Urilda," above.

Ida Reese, stern wheel, 180x32, 225 tons, snagged near mouth of White River, June 20th 1871. The boat was owned by Durfee & Peck, Indian traders and was returning from Fort Benton loaded with fur. Most of the cargo was saved. John Gillam was her master.¹³ Phil Chappell, at p. 303, Vol. IX, Kansas Collections is mistaken when he says the Ida Reese was sunk by ice at Yankton in 1871.

Sioux City No. 2. Owned and operated by Capt. C. K. Baker. She was side wheel 160x30 and was in the mountain trade. She was caught by the freeze up at Fort Sully in the fall of 1872 and the next spring, March 19th, 1873 was cut down by the running ice. Capt. Baker also owned Sioux City No. 1 operating on the lower river.

Carroll, No. 2, owned by Dr. W. A. Burleigh of Yankton, carrying Black Hills supplies and passengers, from Yankton to Fort Pierre was burned on the night of April 19th, 1877, at Hot Springs Island very near to the southwest corner of Castalia township, Charles Mix county where the boat had tied up for the night. Among the passengers aboard was Dan Scott,¹⁴ the Sioux Falls newspaper man and he sent out graphic accounts of the fire. The following accounts are from the Yankton Press and Dakotan of the Period:

A brief dispatch in our telegraphic columns conveys the intelligence of the total destruction by fire of the steamer Carroll and her cargo this morning fifty miles above Fort Randall. A confirmatory dispatch has since been received from Walter A. Burleigh, Jr., clerk of the boat, who is on his way down in a yawl and will reach Yankton tonight. He represents that the boat and cargo are a total loss. The Carroll left Yankton last Monday afternoon with 285 tons of freight and about eighty passengers besides officers and crew. Her passengers were all bound for Pierre and the Black Hills and a portion of the freight of the boat were the private goods of Hills emigrants. Several Yankton parties also had supplies, lumber and wagons on the boat for Pierre and the Hills. The following is a partial list of parties who had goods on the boat:

Adler & Ohlman, Yankton, liquor and cigars $4,000, insured for $3,500;

Dewitt & Co., Yankton and Ft. Thompson, flour and oats, $400;

Richey & Dix, Yankton, hardware, $150;

M. T. Woolley, groceries, $50;

Bross & Leeper, Ft. Pierre and Yankton, merchandise and household goods;

M. W. Sheafe, Jr., Elk Point, lumber for warehouse and grain;

J. D. DeRussey, Lower Brule, merchandise;

Louis Volin, Ft. Pierre, new freight wagons;

Dr. H. F. Livingstone, Ft. Thompson, merchandise;

Dr. A. J. Lambough, Lower Brule, merchandise;

O. M. Roberts, Fort Thompson, merchandise;

O. P. Stafford, Fort Pierre, merchandise;

William Swartz, Yankton, household goods;

M. D. Johnson, Fort Pierre, flour;

Clark Lewis, corn and flour;

Charles Collins, Gayville, printing material;

H. C. Ash, Yankton, household goods.

On the losses there was no insurance except the $3,500 on the stock of Adler & Ohlman.

The Carroll was built two years ago at Pittsburgh at a cost of $20,000, was owned by Dr. W. A. Burleigh and Capt. Tim Burleigh, of Yankton, and was running in Burleigh's Yankton and Pierre line. She was one of the staunchest and fastest running boats on the river and was a general favorite with steamboat men. Our telegraphic account states that she was completely destroyed and as there was no insurance on the boat the loss falls wholly on her owners. As intelligence of the disaster was received at a late hour we have been able to gain only the above particulars concerning the boat and her cargo for today's issue and have put them together hurriedly. A more complete account will appear tomorrow.

13. John Gillam was of a very notable family of Boston seamen, who nearly three hundred years ago were famed for' their daring enterprises, especially into the Huson’s Bay.

14. Dan Scott, born in Montgomery County, New York, Feb. 19, 1841.

A Later Report

Intelligence confirmatory of the destruction of the steamer Carroll at Hot Springs, yesterday morning was received last night by the arrival of Walter A. Burleigh, Jr., at half past eleven o'clock. He came down in a yawl, making the trip of about one hundred and seventy miles in twenty hours. He abandoned the wreck about the time that the fire had burned it down to the water's edge and as nothing more could be done made haste to reach Yankton with the books and papers. The steamer Meade, which arrived this forenoon brought down a number of passengers who were on the Carroll and from Judge Leeper we have gained a few particulars of the disaster.

The Carroll tied up for the night to the east bank of the river, near Hot Spring Island, shortly after dark. Their landing place was against a high steep bank, the face of which was perpendicular from the water and in places even overhung the boat. Most of the passengers retired as early as half past nine o'clock. Between eleven and twelve o'clock an alarm of fire was given and the passengers all aroused, but were given plenty of time to dress themselves. Fire had been discovered in the hold just under the ash pan, where a quantity of baled hay was stowed. The heat from the coals raked into the ash pan had fired the charred wood of the decking underneath, a hole burned through and fell into the hay and fired it. The hatches were immediately closed and the hold was filled with steam from the boilers by means of pipes which had been provided for that purpose when the boat was built. For about an hour the flames were confined to the hold and it was thought the boat would be saved, but they finally found vent and the work of destruction from that time was speedy and complete. During this interval the passengers and their baggage had been removed from the boat. This was no easy task, owing to the steep bank, and it was only accomplished by placing planks from the upper deck to the shore. Most of the passengers were drawn up the planks by ropes and their baggage was landed in a like manner.

Very little freight was saved, most of it being piled on the lower deck and in the hold. The light freight and baggage was stored on the upper deck where it was easily reached and mostly taken off. While the passengers and the goods saved were being landed and during the whole of the exciting scene the officers and crew of the boat labored in the coolest possible manner and it is the testimony of all on board that they are entitled to the highest credit for their presence of mind and the efficiency with which they labored. After the passengers had landed efforts were made to scuttle and sink the boat, but she was so much lightened up that all attempts proved unsuccessful. After the flames had broken from the hold the work of destruction was rapid. The hold was largely stored with inflammable material and needed only air to spread the fire over the whole interior. A large quantity of seasoned lumber was piled near the boilers and when this got well to burning the heat was so intense that the boilers and machinery were rendered wholly worthless. It is thought that a portion of the hold cargo may yet be got out in good condition, but this is only surmise, as no inspection has been made.

Most of the passengers were taken on board of the Key West, which passed yesterday forenoon, and carried to Fort Pierre, while the balance returned to Yankton on the Meade, the Carroll officers paying their passage to both points. They were handsomely treated by the officers of both these boats, everything which would tend to their comforts being attended to.

The Western owned by the Coulson line, a stern wheeler 212x34 feet was cut down by the ice at Yankton in the great gorge of March 29, 1881. A large field of ice ran against her with such force as to flatten her port boilers. She was built in 1872 and was deemed worth $15,000 at the time of her loss. The first injuries were not fatal to the vessel and hope was entertained for raising her when the water subsided. However the water did not immediately recede as anticipated but rose to unprecedented heights and ice piled mountain high about the wharves. April 21st the Press and Dakotan completes its story:

"The Steamer Western lies where she was cast by the flood a crushed and disintegrated mass of wood and iron. Through the melting mass of ice can be seen enough of the wreck to convince the explorer that the Western was completely chewed up, in the jaws of the gorge. The forward part of her hull lies upon the bank right side up and the stern projects over and against the bank apparently in an inverted position. The ice has not melted away sufficiently to establish the fact that the hull of the Western broke in the center and the stern half turned bottom side up." A half dozen other boats at the Yankton wharf or nearby were roughly handled but most of them were repaired within reasonable cost. They were the Helena, Black Hills, Livingston, Nellie Peck, Rosebud and Butte were among these.

The General Meade was forced into winter quarters at Pease island about ten miles south west of Geddes, and thirteen miles above Ft. Randall by the extraordinary early freeze up in the fall of 1880. The crew went down to Yankton for the winter leaving the boat in care of S. M. Richardson and a young Norwegian boy whose name is not recalled. During the long winter evening this youth was regularly instructed in the mysteries of navigation, particularly that portion that relates to the spring smash up. On Saturday, March 27th the break-up came with a heavy flood and the Meade was torn from her fastenings and carried off in the raging torrent in a field of floating ice. Richardson immediately started ashore with a heavy line in the hope that he could secure a turn around a tree, but the rope was pulled away from him leaving him on shore while the boy was left alone on the renegade vessel which soon took a position stern downstream and followed the principal channels. Mr. Richardson undertook to follow it on the shore but soon ran into Pease Creek impassible from the flood and was compelled to go back and find a skiff and take his chances amid the crushing ice floes of the channel. When the boy reached Fort Randall he made himself heard on shore telling of his helpless situation and asking that points below be notified that means of rescue might be devised. From Randall all the lower points were notified and guards were kept out at Niobrara, Springfield and Yankton throughout the night but the vessel did not appear. At White Swan the boy assured the people that it was impossible to guide the vessel into the shore. In the meantime however Mr. Richardson was following with all diligence and eight miles below Randall he overtook the boat and relieving the boy of his charge succeeded in landing her over a quarter of a mile from the river back on the prairie. He says the Meade is uninjured.

Mollie Moore, the largest boat on the river, 225x33 feet, 1400 tons, in the Fort Benton trade, caught on the bank in a falling river at Chamberlain and over turned in 1881.

Minnie Hermon, a small boat running from Sioux City to Le Beau was snagged five miles below mouth of Moreau river and lost, August 3rd, 1887.

Senator, a ferry boat was burned at Yankton, 1888.

New Ella, ferry boat sunk and lost at Fort Pierre, 1881.