Large two-page spread of the Steamer Sultana that originally appeared in Ballou's Pictorial Drawing Room Companion, circa 1856. The image has the caption, "Steamer Wooding Up on the Mississippi River."
A photograph taken by Marine Co. documented the damage in St. Louis from a severe flood on June 18, 1858. The streets were completely covered in water and make-shift planks provided a safe walking platform for people to safely cross from boats to the semi-submerged buildings. Two people can be seen assessing the flood damage from the rooftop of the tallest building on the left of the photograph, while others on the right stand safely on the deck of a steamboat..
This dinner bill of fare is a list of dishes offered for the passengers traveling on the Saint Louis and New Orleans steamboat on February 15, 1857. The steamboat was commanded by John N. Bofinger. The menu includes a list of soup, boiled and roasted dishes, cold dishes, entrees, relishes, and desserts, as well as a list of wines available to the passengers. Also includes a timetable of steamboat and railroad departures.
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.
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.