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Behind The Lines: The La Crosse Packet Company during the Civil War

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 July 2012

Robert C. Toole
Robert C. Toole
Affiliation:
Research Associate of the Business History Foundation
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Abstract

River transport was for a time a critical link in the upper Mississippi Valley transportation system, bridging diminishing gaps in the railroad network and linking those river-axis trade centers through which were pouring the human and commodity tides of war and frontier development. Riverboat operations in such an environment offered limitless challenges to management and provided opportunities for both disaster and great profit.

Type
Research Article
Information
Business History Review , Volume 34 , Issue 2 , Summer 1960 , pp. 170 - 193
Copyright
Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 1960

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References

1 Among the many who have written about the La Crosse Packet Company are Merk, Frederick, Economic History of Wisconsin during the Civil War Decade (Madison, 1916Google Scholar); Shippee, Lester B., “Steamboating on the Upper Mississippi,” Mississippi Valley Historical Review, Vol. VI (March, 1920Google Scholar); Hartsough, Mildred L., From Canoe to Steel Barge on the Upper Mississippi (Minneapolis, 1934Google Scholar); Hirshheimer, H. J., “La Crosse River History and the Davidsons,” Wisconsin Magazine of History, Vol. XXVIII (March, 1945Google Scholar); and Hunter, Louis C., Steamboats on the Western Rivers (Cambridge, 1949Google Scholar).

2 Private and Local Laws … of Wisconsin … 1857 (Madison, 1857), pp. 776–779Google Scholar; History of La Crosse County, Wisconsin (Chicago, 1881), pp. 478–482, 496–498, 585Google Scholar; Derleth, August, The Milwaukee Road (New York, 1948), pp. 51, 288Google Scholar.

3 St. Paul Financial, Real Estate and Railroad Advertiser, April 2, 1857.

4 History of La Crosse County, p. 483.

5 Pioneer and Democrat (St. Paul), Aug. 7, 1858Google Scholar.

6 Minnesota Commissioner of Statistics, Minnesota: Its Place Among the States (Hartford, 1860), p. 106; Minnesota Pioneer (St. Paul), Apr. 13, 1854.

7 Corlis, Carlton J., Main Line of Mid-America: The Story of the Illinois Central (New York, 1950), p. 77Google Scholar; Minnesota Pioneer, May 15, 1855; Pioneer and Democrat, Apr. 24, 1856, Mar. 14, 1858.

8 Mankato Weekly Record, Nov. 22, 1859; Pioneer and Democrat, Sept. 15, 25, Nov. 8, 18, 1859; Toole, Robert C., “Steamboat Pioneer: The Early Career of William F. Davidson,” Minnesota History, Vol. XXXVI (Sept., 1959), pp. 250–258Google Scholar.

9 Blakely, Russell, “History of the … Advent of Commerce in Minnesota,” Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. VIII (St. Paul, 1898), pp. 408–409Google Scholar; Pioneer and Democrat, July 28, Aug. 16, 25, 31, Sept. 4, 5, 25, 27, 29, Oct. 2, 13, 1860, Jan. 30, 1861.

10 Journal, p. 8; Minute Book, pp. 9–12. Papers, Davidson, Minnesota Historical Society; Blakely, Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. VIII, p. 408Google Scholar; History of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Chicago, 1881), p. 1,342Google Scholar.

11 Mankato Semi-Weekly Record, May 21, 1861; Pioneer and Democrat, Apr. 2, 26, May 22, 28, 1861.

12 St. Paul Press, May 21, 1861; Pioneer and Democrat, Aug. 2, 3, 1861; McMaster, S. W., 60 Years on the Upper Mississippi (Rock Island, 1893), p. 186Google Scholar.

13 The steamboats were the Eolian, Favorite, Frank Steele, Keokuk, Northern Belle and Wenona. Stock Certificates Nos. 1–7; Minute Book, p. 18. Davidson Papers.

14 Minute Book, p. 19. Davidson Papers.

15 Pioneer and Democrat, Aug. 13, 1861.

16 The boats added were the G. H. Wilson (1861); Moses McLellan, Pomeroy (1862); Hudson, Mankato (1863); Albany; Ariel; Chippewa Falls; Clara Hine; Enterprise; G. H. Gray; H. S. Allen; Mollie Mohler; and Stella Whipple (1865). The Wenona and Frank Steele were rebuilt and renamed the Annie Johnston and the Addie Johnston, respectively; Journal, pp. 6, 7, 11, 12, 21, 27, 29, 39, 41; Minute Book, pp. 23, 33, 34; Account Book, n. p.; Ledger, p. 44; Bills of sale, A. R. Morrell to William F. Davidson, Oct. 5, 1862, and George Houghton et al. to Davidson, April (n.d.), 1865. Davidson Papers; Pioneer and Democrat, Feb. 14, May 3, 1862; St. Paul Pioneer, Oct. 15, 1863, June 25, 1864; Saturday Evening Post (Burlington, Iowa), Jan. 24, 1914Google Scholar, Jan. 16, 1915, April 27, 1918; Lytle, William M., Merchant Steam Vessels of the United States, 1807-1867 (Mystic, Conn., 1952), pp. 2, 10, 64, 68, 155, 200Google Scholar.

17 Frederick Way, Way's Directory of Western River Packets (n. p., 1950), pp. 107, 111, 185, 215, 226; Lytle, Merchant Steam Vessels, pp. 2–200; Pioneer and Democrat, Nov. 25, 1860; St. Paul Pioneer, Dec. 13, 1866; Post (Burlington), various issues from Oct. 4, 1913, to Nov. 8, 1919; Hunter, Steamboats on the Western Rivers, p. 363.

18 Account Book, n. p. Davidson Papers.

19 Quoted in the St. Paul Pioneer, Mar. 13, 1863.

20 Minute Book, p. 41. Davidson Papers.

21 Pioneer and Democrat, May 27, June 3, 1862; St. Paul Pioneer, Sept. 19, 1865.

22 Memo Book, 1862, n. p. Davidson Papers. The Corps of Engineers listed this distance in 1959 as 141.2 miles, but this did not include the great number of crossings which steamboats made to stay in the channel going down-river and out of the channel going up-river.

23 St. Paul Pioneer, Nov. 29, 1863, Dec. 31, 1864.

24 Journal, p. 36. Davidson Papers.

25 Pioneer and Democrat, April 17, 30, 1862; St. Paul Pioneer, April 4, May 5, 8, Nov. 12, 25, 1863, March 18, 1864; Journal, p. 41. Davidson Papers.

26 Account Book, n. p.; Minute Book, pp. 33–34. Davidson Papers.

27 St. Paul Pioneer, Nov. 29, 1863.

28 Pioneer and Democrat, March 27, 28, May 3, 1862.

29 Goodhue County Republican (Minn.), Oct. 10, 1862; Pioneer and Democrat, Apr. 26, 1861, May 9, Aug. 19, 1862; St. Paul Pioneer, Jan. 7, May 14, June 16, 1863, May 24, 1864.

30 Hughes, Thomas, “History of Steamboating on the Minnesota River,” Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. X (St. Paul, 1905), p. 159Google Scholar; Pioneer and Democrat, Aug. 2, 1861; St. Paul Press, May 3, 1863.

31 Weekly Pioneer and Democrat (St. Paul), June 16, 1859; Pioneer and Democrat, Jan. 31, 1860, March 2, May 2, June 1, 1861, Jan. 17, April 4, 1862; St. Paul Pioneer, Nov. 12, 1863, Jan. 21, 1866.

32 St. Paul Pioneer, Nov. 10, 12, 25, 1863.

33 John Lawler to William F. Davidson, April 20, 1865; Account Book, n. p.; Stock Certificates Nos. 25, 29–33. Davidson Papers.

34 Contracts, Feb. 4, 1864, Feb. 17, 1865. Davidson Papers.

35 St. Paul Press, Nov. 18, 1862; St. Paul Pioneer, Nov. 29, 1863, Nov. 13, 1864.

36 Larson, Henrietta M., The Wheat Market and the Minnesota Farmer (New York, 1925), p. 46Google Scholar; St. Paul Press, Dec. 12, 17, 1865.

37 Edwin H. Goodrich to William F. Davidson, Jan. 16, 1864. Davidson Papers.

38 St. Paul Press, June 29, 1864.

39 William F. Davidson, Diary, 1864, n. p. Davidson Papers.

40 Pioneer and Democrat, Jan. 1, May 3, 1862; St. Paul Pioneer, June 30, 1865.

41 Railroad Commissioner of Minnesota, Report for the Year Ending August 31, 1873 (St. Paul, 1874), p. 86Google Scholar, and Report for the Year Ending June 30, 1877 (Minneapolis, 1878), p. 21Google Scholar; St. Paul Pioneer, Dec. 27, 1863, March 15, 1864, June 30, 1865, April 19, 1866; St. Paul Press, Aug. 31, 1865.

42 St. Paul Pioneer, Nov. 30, 1865.

43 Telegrams, H. W. Holmes to William F. Davidson, Sept. 21, Oct. 1, 27, 1864; R. Johnson to Davidson, Sept. 22, 1864. Davidson Papers.

44 Pioneer and Democrat, March 23, 27, 1861, Jan. 14, 1862; St. Paul Pioneer, March 6, 1863.

45 Minute Book, p. 26. Davidson Papers.

46 St. Paul Pioneer, June 2–5, 1864.

47 Ibid., Nov. 5, 6, 1864.

48 Pioneer and Democrat, July 16, 1862; St. Paul Pioneer, June 20, 1863.

49 St. Paul Press, June 20, 1863.

50 St. Paul Pioneer, Oct. 6, 1863.

51 Journal, p. 29. Davidson Papers.

52 St. Paul Pioneer, May 22, July 10, Aug. 9, Sept. 3, 1864.

53 Ibid., Aug. 24, 28, 1864.

54 Ibid., Nov. 30, 1865.

55 Pioneer and Democrat, March 3, 1861.

56 Ibid.. May 3, 1862.

57 St. Paul Pioneer, June 30, 1865.

58 Pioneer and Democrat, Nov. 2, 1861, June 8, 10, 11, 14, 1862; St. Paul Press, Dec. 31, 1864.

59 Memo Book, 1864, n. p. Davidson Papers.

60 William F. Davidson, Diary, 1864, n. p.; Account Book, n. p. Davidson Papers.

61 Minute Book, p. 29. Davidson Papers.

62 Stock Certificates Nos. 12–14. Davidson Papers.

63 Pioneer and Democrat, June 2, Nov. 15, 1861, Aug. 22, Nov. 23, 1862; St. Paul Pioneer, May 27, Oct. 8, Nov. 1, 1863, June 20, 27, July 6, Sept. 12, 1865. The Sioux War of 1862 was discussed in detail by Folwell, William W. in A History of Minnesota (St. Paul, 1924), Vol. II, pp. 109–264Google Scholar.

64 Petersen, William J., Steamboating on the Upper Mississippi (Iowa City, 1937), p. 138Google Scholar; St. Paul Pioneer, April 24, 29, May 13, 19, 21, 1863.

65 Account Book, n. p. Davidson Papers; Pioneer and Democrat, June 9, July 12, 1861, Aug. 31, 1862; St. Paul Pioneer, Dec. 1, 1865.

66 Pioneer and Democrat, June 12, 1861.

67 Ibid., June 30, 1861, June 8, 1862; St. Paul Pioneer, Aug. 28, 1864.

68 Ibid., July 28, 1865.

69 Pioneer and Democrat, Aug. 22, 1862; St. Paul Pioneer, April 11, May 21, Nov. 14, 1863, April 22, 23, 29, May 13, 1864.

70 Pioneer and Democrat, June 22, Dec. 3, 1861; May 7, 10, 13, 18, 1862; St. Paul Pioneer, April 22, 1863; St. Paul Press, June 6, 1862.

71 Account Book, n. p. Davidson Papers; Minnesota Assistant Secretary of State, Statistics of Minnesota … For 1869 (St. Paul, 1870), pp. 12, 22, 26Google Scholar; St. Paul Press, Jan. 1, 1862.

72 Pioneer and Democrat, Dec. 3, 1861, May 7, 1862; St. Paul Press, May 24, 1863.

73 Account Book, n. p. Davidson Papers.

74 St. Paul Press, June 7, 1861; St. Paul Pioneer, May 2, 5, 14, 1863, April 27, 1866.

75 Account Book, n. p. Davidson Papers.

76 St. Paul Press, Aug. 17, 1861; Pioneer and Democrat, Dec. 3, 1861, May 25, 1862; St. Paul Pioneer, May 7, June 2, 1863, April 23, May 13, 1864.

77 Account Book, n. p. Davidson Papers.

78 Pioneer and Democrat, April 16, June 17, 1862; St. Paul Pioneer, Nov. 7, 1865.

79 Railroad Commissioner of Minnesota, Report for the Year Ending June 30, 1877, p. 21; Pioneer and Democrat, Sept. 10, 1861.

80 St. Paul Pioneer, May 31, 1863, June 19, July 8, Aug. 9, 1864, June 16, 23, Aug. 31, 1865.

81 Minute Book, pp. 23, 26, 31, 33; Stock Certificate No. 11. Davidson Papers.

82 Real Estate Book, pp. 30–38; Contract, W. F. Davidson et al. and Minnesota Valley Railroad Co., Dec. 5, 1865; H. Thompson to Davidson, Dec. 30, 1865. Davidson Papers; Williams, J. Fletcher, A History of the City of Saint Paul Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. IV (St. Paul, 1876), p. 414Google Scholar; Shippee, , Mississippi Valley Historical Review, Vol. VI (March, 1920), p. 475Google Scholar.

83 Pioneer and Democrat, June 25, 1861; St. Paul Pioneer, June 5, 1863; Jan. 24, 1865.

84 Ibid., June 3, 1863.

85 Ibid., March 22, 1865.

86 Ibid., Oct. 25, 1865.

87 St. Paul Press, Feb. 20, 1864, Jan. 14, 1866; St. Paul Pioneer, Aug. 20, 1865, Feb. 7, 8, April 24, 1866; Derleth, Milwaukee Road, p. 90; Merk, Economic History of Wisconsin, p. 308.

88 St. Paul Press, May 4, 1866.

89 North Western Union Packet Co. Journal. Davidson Papers; Railroad Commissioner of Minnesota, Report for the Year Ending June 30, 1877, p. 21.