Far West
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The Far West was a paddle steamer that operated from 1870 to 1883 on the upper Missouri and the arms of the Yellowstone River in Dakota and Montana Territories . It became famous for bringing news and injuries from the Battle of Little Big Horn to Bismarck , making it a symbol of transportation in the pre-railroad era.
The Far West was light, strong and fast. It was known as a fast boat because it had a relatively powerful engine, a hull with little flow resistance and, due to its low superstructure, little air resistance . It set a number of speed records for both upstream and downstream journeys on the Missouri and Yellowstone. In addition to the shallow draft, it was the ability of “grasshopping” (a technique of using spars and steam pills at the bow of the ship to pull herself over sandbanks ) that enabled her to navigate through particularly shallow channels and over shallows . This enabled her to leave other ships far behind.
The ship was originally operated by the Coulson Packet Line , which had signed a contract with the United States Army in the 1870s to provide steamships to support Army expeditions on the Yellowstone River in Montana Territory. The Far West was also used for this purpose together with her sister ship Josephine . She was regularly piloted by the then famous captain and pilot Grant Marsh .
Its place in both the military and the steamboat story gained Far West in the war over the Black Hills . It was set up under contract to a column with infantry - and cavalry units under General Alfred Terry , Colonel John Gibbon and Lt. Support Colonel George Armstrong Custer . This column approached Yellowstone in search of a large camp of Sioux and Cheyenne Indians , which was moving south on the tributaries. The Far West supplied equipment, but was also used by General Terry as headquarters and to move troops across the river. On the evening of June 21, 1876, Terry, Gibbon, and Custer met on the Far West to discuss how their mission would proceed. They decided that Custer with the 7th Cavalry should proceed along the Rosebud Valley towards the Bighorn River in search of the Indians. That decision ultimately led to the famous Battle of Little Bighorn . The Far West itself came across the Bighorn River to the mouth of the Little Bighorn , where it received the wounded in the battle. She reached Bismarck after a record journey of approx. 1,150 km in just 54 hours and, in addition to the injured, also brought the first news of the devastating defeat.
After 1876 the Far West was sold by the Coulson Packet Line. She continued to sail on the rivers of Yellowstone and Missouri until she ran aground and sank on a stump near St. Charles, Missouri in 1883 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Hanson, Joseph Mills: The Conquest of the Missouri, Being the Story of the Life and Exploits of Captain Grant Marsh . AC McClurg & Co., Chicago 1909, p. Chapter XXXI, p. 237 et. seq .