St. Louis, MO: 1865 Waterfront

If you are here because of "C&NW's West Elgin Depot," then you need to go there.

I don't normally write notes with just one photos, but this one dramatically illustrates the importance of steamboats before the railroads took off. And this shows how grain was shipped in bags until the railroads forced the invention of grain elevators and bulk grain shipment. I first learned that grain was shipped in bags when I studied the grain warehouse along the I&M Canal in Seneca, IL. The farmer did not get paid for his grain until it reached its destination, say a flour mill in a town along the Mississippi River. So insuring the bags for all of the things that could go wrong during a long trip was a big deal.

Derby Gisclair posted

St. Louis Waterfront

An unattributed photograph circa 1865 of the St. Louis waterfront. A notation states that the Shamrock (1863 - 1875) is left of center behind the smoke.

Lloyd Scott Hardin shared

Update:

Derby Gisclair posted

St. Louis Waterfront

Likely taken from the Eads Bridge, this sweeping vista of the St. Louis waterfront is chock full of unidentified steamboats. In the foreground, multiple side-wheel and stern-wheel steamboats are moored along the levee, their tall smokestacks rising in a uniform forest of chimneys. Many of these packets and freighters are tied up bow-forward into the sloping riverbank, which served as St. Louis’s natural landing stage before the era of concrete wharves.

The levee itself is crowded with freight, including stacked lumber, barrels, crates, cordwood, cotton bales, and other goods. Wagons, drays, and teams of horses fill the long sand-and-dirt roadway, forming an unbroken line of commercial activity stretching into the distance. To the right stands a dense row of 19th-century commercial buildings, warehouses, and merchant offices that lined the St. Louis riverfront.

R Dale Flick: *~* Thanks to Derby for a great period photo and to Geoff for his following comment. Geoff, I too am interested in the various "freight" we see in photos on the landings, aboard the boats or on wharfboats. Before unification of rail lines, steamboats the way all was moved from A to Z with even secondary boat lines or "forwarding" of steamboat cargo. One saying was, "Anybody living within 20 miles [another said 50] miles either side of a navigable stream with steamboats were impacted directly." Later boats and rails united for service. Packaging then saw cargo in barrels, bales, wood boxes, crates etc. Even building materials, carriages, wagons etc. loaded on and off. Cargo was where the real money was with boats booked with passengers aboard delaying departure hours and even days until a full cargo was aboard. Let's just hope all that cargo we see is quickly loaded or forwarded by receivers before a 'pop rise' gets it all wet. Would be interesting to "go back...spend time" but be sure you're healthy and take antibiotics, medications and other needs with you they didn't have then. Cheers.