Captain W. W. Withenbury's 1838–1842 "Red River Reminiscences"

4. The Relief and Hunter Go Up

30  Red River Reminiscences 4  The Relief and Hunter Go Up • This letter concerns the trips of the Relief and Hunter to the Upper Red River in 1840, where both stayed through 1841 (the subject of the next letter). Withenbury was not on this trip of the Relief. Capt. Hildreth of the Concord had returned to Cincinnati and told Joseph Ross that the river was open and that the commercial possibilities were great, which Ross responded to by building the Relief. The Relief left Cincinnati in October 1840. On reaching Shreveport, Capt. Ross found that the raft had reformed and took the western bypass (Figure 3), followed by the Hunter under Capt. Benjamin Crooks, who had taken this route to Fort Towson with the Indian in 1834 and the Rover in 1836. Capt. Jim Gamble of the Mariner was immediately before them, attempting to block their passage so he could monopolize the Upper Red River trade. The Reminiscences  31 Figure 3: Western Bypass  H aving done with the Concord and her day in Red River, I will “drop down” to the days of the Relief, and after having, from the recollection of others, 32  Red River Reminiscences given a few notes of her first year’s history, I will quote from the “log-book” of an old Western friend1 who spent the season of 1841–42 on board of her with Uncle Joe Ross, Jonathan Hildreth, E. Philley and other “birds of passage,” who in those days knew no better than to go to Red River expecting to share in the profits (?) of the business in proportion as their merits, when compared with others engaged in the same calling, should entitle them. The Relief was built at Brush Creek, Ohio, in the year 1840. The necessary capital in cash was advanced by Uncle Joe, others having promised to contribute and failing made the burden fall rather heavy on him, and he left this city a little short. But the picture of prospective profits having been beautifully painted by the Concord’s crew, Uncle Joe bade good bye to home, family and friends, and “shoved out” hopefully. After many tedious days of toil and peril, the little Relief reached Shreveport, and there the fact became known that the Raft had closed and a different route or channel must be taken in order to reach the waters of Upper Red River. This route was by way of Twelve mile Bayou, which empties into Red River four miles above Shreveport, thence through Sodo Lake twenty miles to Stumpy Bayou, (two miles long, and often two days’ run,) thence through Clear Lake six miles to Black Bayou, thence seven miles to Erwin’s Bluff and Caddo Prairie, where Black Bayou and Red Bayou were connected by an artificial canal of three quarters of a mile in length, and as “crooked as a ram’s horn,” and through Red Bayou fully twenty long, weary, crooked miles to Red River. The point at which Red Bayou connects with Red River is about thirty-five miles above Hurricane Bluff, by way of the river, which in those days was the head of the Raft. The whole distance of this route from Shreveport to Upper Red River is about seventy-five miles, and a more hazardous piece The Reminiscences  33 of steamboat navigation, I will venture to say, has not been tried, in the whole Mississippi Valley, than was this, at the time I am writing of, and if I know myself, it is not very easy yet. Well, Uncle Joe (I suppose I ought to call him Captain Ross,) and his crew nerved themselves for the undertaking, and after many days of exploration and hard labor, the recital of which would be too tedious for this article, they found themselves at “Stump Dam,”2 a point in Red Bayou five miles below its entrance into, or rather its debouchure3 from the river. At this point the Bayou was so narrow that it was necessary to “strip the wheels,” that is, take out all the arms projecting down below the boat’s guards,4 and pull the boat by the capstan5 as long as the power of the crew was sufficient; and when that failed, by applying steam and using the main shaft. Here I will state that the Relief was but nineteen feet beam,6 and in many parts of this last five miles of...