In the 1870s the great American tradition of bird's eye views became a popular way of depicting the seemingly limitless potential and growth of the great American cities. St. Louis was no exception and several documented the city's prominence in this period. Bird's eye view of the city of St. Louis from the waterfront stretching west. Important places are listed at the bottom of the view: Carondelet, Shaw's Botanical Garden, Compton Hill Reservoir, Market, Insane Asylum, Gas House, R. C. Convent, St. Louis & Iron Mt. R.R. Depot, Pacific and Missouri R.R. Depots, City Hall (Four Courts), St. James Hotel, Southern Hotel, Washington Sq., Masonic Temple, Jewish Synagogue, Laclede Hotel, Court House, Planters House, New Post Office, Missouri Republican Bldg., Missouri Park, New Post Office, St. Louis University, Odd Fellows Hall, St. Louis Life Ins Co, Union Market, New Reservoir, Mississippi Bridge, Fair Grounds, Hyde Park, St. Louis Kansas & Northern R.R., Elevator, Northern Park, Water Works. Many steamboats and much commerce can be seen in the foreground., Statement of responsibility: Sketched & Drawn on Stone by Parsons & Atwater.
Improvement of Mississippi, Missouri and Arkansas Rivers. United States Snag Boat J. N. Macomb. Designed by and built under the direction of Major Charles R. Suter. Corps of Engineers, U. S. A. 1874. Longitudinal Section Through Centre.
Light on the River - August 18, 1880. The Steamer Chas. P. Chouteau, lying at the foot of Market street, attracted considerable attention along the levee last evening by its two electric lights, which shone forth with intense brightness. The Chouteau is the first steamer at this point on the Mississippi River to substitute an electric llight for the old fashioned pine-torch illuminators, and the enterprise is one that will amply repay the owners of the boat for the expensive outlay. There were two lights on the boat, near the bow one on each side pendant upon the end of a boom about 30 feet long. The lights were surrounded by a crystal globe similar but smaller than the one used on 6th street. The experiment was made under the direction of Mr. H. Heisler who was present with a corps of assistants, managing the engine and regulating the lamps. The engine used is of 6 horsepower of the Smith & Rankin make, an upright piece of machinery and a little beauty. It requires three horsepower for each light, which is of 10,000 candle power. When the engine was first put in motion the lights were disposed to flicker, owing to the unsteady running of the engine, caused by the slipping of the band as it stretched. This difference was obviated by tightening the band, after which the light burned steadily and without difficulty. It was a fine exhibition, taken all in all, and the officers of the boat as well as the spectators generally expressed their satisfaction with the experiment.
Receipt of goods from commisions agent Jos. Macheca & Co. for delivery from Cincinnati, Ohio to Paducah, Kentucky aboard the steamer Thomas Sherlock, 1874.
Photograph of the steamer MONTANA. "Carried 1000 tons Pittsburgh to St. Louis on maiden trip. Could have easily carried 500 tons more. Greats carrier on shallow water."
"Built at California, Pennsylvania in 1879 of finest Pennsylvania oak. Some of the fine boards were 60 feet long. She was extreme shallow draft - 7" forward - 11" amid ship and 14" on the stern when light. On her maiden trip - Pittsburgh to St. Louis - she brought around 1000 tons and carried it with the greatest ease. She could have easily carried 500 tons more. The Montana, Dacotah and Wyoming were sister boats. The Wyoming was slightly larger in tonnage. Each of these great boats went to Fort Benton, Montana in the Mountain trade, but the came to late to reap the golden harvest in that trade. They were to big for the upper Missouri and the wind up in the country made them very difficult to handle. When they came down they never went back again. The wreck of the Montana lies at the St. Charles bridge. These hulls were as fine as any ever built, and those skilled ship carpenters did it all without any blueprints as sternwheel boats go they ranked as the finest."
This lithograph illustrated the destruction of the steamboats "Grand Republic" and "Carondelet" from September 19, 1877 when the steamboats caught fire and burned to the shore. The boats were shown shrouded in smoke and engulfed in flames as men rushed back and forth along the shore in an attempt to extinguish the fire.
Thomas T. Kerslake writes of his travels from Ontario, Canada to New Zealand in 1877. He leaves Plattsville, Ontario, Canada on September 29, 1877. Traveling across the United States by rail, he gives accounts of large and small cities (Chicago, Des Moines, Council Bluffs, Omaha, Promontory Point, San Francisco) and of the landscape and wild life on the plains and the Mississippi River. At San Francisco he boards the boat "City of Sydney" sailing across the Pacific Ocean, stopping in the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands before landing in Wellington, New Zealand in early November 1877.
The sternwheeler E.H. Durfee, for example, made regular trips between Pittsburgh and Fort Benton, Montana, between 1872 and 1876, a voyage comparable to going from New York to Copenhagen or from Japan to Honolulu, Fort Benton being 3,495 miles from Pittsburgh.
Improvement of Mississippi, Missouri and Arkansas Rivers. United States Snag Boat J. N. Macomb. Designed by and built under the direction of Major Charles R. Suter. Corps of Engineers, U. S. A. 1874. Plan of Boiler Deck. Section through officers cabin. Section through dining room. Section through store room. Section through kitchen. Section through laundry. Section through wash room. Section through captain's cabin.
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.