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Title: Fourth Annual Report of the Board of Directors of the Mercantile Library Association of St. Louis, MO
Date: 1850-01-08
Description: This document contains the fourth annual report of the Mercantile Library Association written in January of 1850 about the year 1849.

Title: A New Kentucky State Register: Accurately Compiled for the Year 1852
Date: 1852-05
Description: Containing the names, duties, salaries, terms of service, etc. of every officer in the State and the principal officers in the Federal Government; the names and address of every Clergyman, Lawyer, Physician, Merchant, and Tradesman in the State; the Literary Institutions, Colleges, male and female, Newspapers and Periodicals, with their Editors and location; also, useful statistics compiled from the late Census returns.

Title: Great Crevasse of the Mississippi
Date: 1858-06-05
Description: The great crevasse of the Mississippi on the plantation of Mr. Bell, near New Orleans, April 11, 1858.--See page 7.

Title: Table of Distances on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and Navigable Tributaries
Date: 1851
Description: Printed at Kennedys Franklin House, Third Street Opposite the Post Office, 1851. Chart of distances broken down by river and tributary. "This Chart has been the result of much labor, time and trouble, and is confidently presented to the public as containing the most correct River Distances yet published. It has been carefully compiled from Congressional Documents, and other reliable sources. The Slackwaters are from the published surveys of Companies which constructed them upon the various streams alluded to. The Ohio is from the last survey of the U. S. Topographical Engineers, and it will be seen that it is much shorter than the opinion generally held by river men and others who have travelled upon it -- disagreeing in this respect with many published works, no two of which agree.", Pencil ownership of G. W. Jacobs St. Louis, MO June 16th on inside of folder.

Title: Chouteau Pond. 1850.
Date: 1850
Description: 20x16 in photograph of Chouteau Pond in 1850 with what may be McDowell Medical College in the distance.

Title

P-046 William Charles Redfield Letter

Date

1856-06-24

Description

A four page letter that William Charles Redfield wrote to his brother, James Starr Redfield, after a 300-mile steamboat trip on the Mississippi traveling from Dubuque, Iowa to St. Paul, Minnesota. The letter documents the itinerary of the trip and several side trips of Mr. Redfield and his family. Mr. Redfield also explains to his brother how and when to meet up with him when they begin their journey home. Mr. Redfield discusses the growth of towns along the Mississippi River and his amazement at the success of farming west of Lake Erie.

William Charles Redfield was born on March 26, 1789 in Middletown, Connecticut. Mr. Redfild was self-educated in meteorology and the law of storms, specifically directionality of winds in hurricanes, and later received an honorary degree from Yale in 1839. Mount Redfield in Essex County, New York is named for Mr. Redfield after he organized and was a member of the first expedition to Mount Marcy in 1837. Mr. Redfield was also one of the founders and the first President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1848. He became the first American expert on fossil fish. Mr. Redfield died on February 12, 1857 in New York City.

Title: Terrific Fire Among the Steamers In the Harbor of St. Louis, Mo.
Date: 1856-07-26
Description: Between five and six o'clock on Wednesday morning the 2d of July, a fire broke out in the cabin of the steamboat St. Clair, lying at the extreme end of the upper landing, which immediately communicated to the Paul Anderson, lying below her, and before many moments both were enveloped in flames. The hawsers were immediately cut loose, and the burning boats were sent floating down the stream. The current drove them alongside the Grand Turk, Southerner, and Saranak No. 2, lying immediately below, and the flames instantly communicated with those steamers, and in a moment those boats were also enveloped in a terrific blaze of fire. The J. M. Stockwell, lying below the Saranak, also caught fire, and in less than three quarters of an hour, and before the engines could possibly arrive, the above six steamboats were totally destroyed. The Southerner was a splendid new steamer, and only came out at the beginning of the season. She was built in Mobile, entirely of maple wood, and valued at $35,000. She was undergoing extensive repairs, and about to have a magnificent passenger cabin placed on her for the trade between this port and New Orleans. She was not insured in any of the offices here, as far as we could learn. The Paul Anderson was an old boat and was not worth as she stood more than $1000. Her machinery had been taken out, which rendered her all but valueless excepting the wood work and the hull, which was not considered of much account. The J. M. Stockwell was a Wabash river boat, worth about $800. The St. Clair was also an old boat, and not considered worth more than $10,000. The Grand Turk, although a very old craft, was still in fair condition, and was valued at about $20,000. She, years ago, cost $60,000, but had passed the best of her days, and was not worth more yesterday at the outside than the above amount. The Saranak No. 2 was also an old steamboat, not worth more than about $6000. The St. Clair was an old boat, valued at about $10,000. The total amount of property destroyed would probably amount to $75,000. With the exception of the Southerner, none of the other boats were worth much. There were immense crowds of persons collected on both sides of the river, witnessing the fire, which presented at one time a fearfully grand and picturesque sight. It is supposed to have originated through the work of an incendiary.

Title: Steamboat Wharf Locations at St. Louis
Date: 1953
Description: This map, plotted out by Norbury Wayman, shows the various locations of steamboat lines and related companies on the St. Louis levee, detailing three periods of time; before 1865; 1865 - 1900; and 1900 - 1953. Lines and companies are donated by name, location and years of operation. Nearby streets are mapped as well, for easy frame of reference. Scale in feet: 100 ft. = 1 inch.

Title: Thomas Hart Benton Portrait
Description: Engrave portrait of Thomas Hart Benton ca. 1850 by J. Rogers Co. with train vignette underneath.