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THE
LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF
CAPT. STEPHEN B. HANKS,
BURNING OF THE GALENA AT RED WING LANDING
Oct 22
On the return trip we had a moderate
amount of freight and a few passengers. The water had praised
a few inches by the time we reached the rapids on the return
trip but not enough to help us much as the freight was all put
on the barges and hauled up the shore by horses and we crept
over with the boat as best we could. We ended the trip at le
Claire where the Alhambra was put on the ways for the winter.
I went directly home from Le Claire and prepared to spend the
winter there.
Meantime my wife had returned from
Galena and on November 5th, soon after my arrival
home, a fine baby boy came to our house to our great delight.
During the winter an additional room was built on the D. C.
Hanks home and we went there to live with father Bennett,
having been boarding with the family of W. G. Newitt
previously. It was not a pleasant winter for any of us. My
wife did not get along well after the birth of the boy and
there was much sickness in our large household, at one time
five of the children being ill. David lost his oldest child,
a girl some four years of age and our own little one was taken
from us after we had him about four months. The others
recovered and we were all glad to see spring again.
My work in 1858 began about the middle
of March, the first trip being to Le Claire from where I took
the Itasca to Galena. My first trip north was on the Grey
Eagle with Capt. Smith Harris but we went only to Read’s
Landing as the ice was not out of Lake Pepin. On our return
to Galena I was transferred to the Galena for the regular
seasons work. Our crew was much the same as the year before
except that we had George Blish for clerk.
This season we felt the effect of the
panicky times that were in much of the country the year before
and the general unrest that was in the country preceding the
War of the Rebellion Money was getting scarce and hard to get
passengers travel gradually fell off but our freight business
kept up reasonably well. The settlers were beginning to have
a surplus of crops to dispose of and the increase in our down
stream shipment helped to off set the decrease in those going
up stream. Wheat, oats, ginseng and Petri continued to come
to us and to these were added other farm produce, but the
commercial depression was slowly making itself felt and was
visible in the general unsettling of values, decreased wages,
produce values getting lower and the country flooded with so
called wild cat money that might be worth from par down to
nothing.
I have now no recollection of any event
of special interest occurring during the early part of the
season. We were making a round trip every five days and the
line was running smoothly. On June 30th we were on
our way up river and I had the watch ending at midnight. As
soon as relieved I went to bed but had hardly fallen asleep
when the cru of “Fire” came. During my watch we had an up
stream wind which laded the sparks from the smoke stacks
directly on the boat. It was supposed that some sparks fell
on some mattresses that were piled up on the forward part of
the boat. Just below Red Wing is a steep and very high bluff
coming very close to the river. As we passed this bluff and
came to the open valley between the two ranges of bluffs there
the wind come down the valley and fuelled the smoldering fire
into a blaze which spread so fast there was no chance to stop
it, so a general alarm of fire was given and orders were to
land the boat as quickly as possible and fortunately the
regular landing at Red Wing was made. My first information
was from the engineer who came running up to the texas and
called to us to get out for our lives as the boat was on fire
and sure to go. I hurriedly attempted to dress but did not get
much on except my trousers and one boot and one shoe. Then I
gathered up an arm full of clothing and made my way down
stairs and off the boat and found then that the clothing I had
belonged to the other pilot, so my own clothing, including my
wedding sty was lost.
The officers and crew on watch
endeavored to clear the cabin of passengers, of whom we had
about a hundred. In some cases the state room doors were
smashed to save time in getting the people out and ashore. Few
got away with enough clothes to dress themselves, many having
a single garment only, a number of women and a newly married
couple being in this predicament. We had landed right in
front of the hotel facing the levee and it at once threw open
its doors and took every one in; stores were opened and many
were able to buy clothing, others got goods and made temporary
outfits. Much of the baggage went into the river and the next
day the banks were lined with clothing for miles below, some
being recovered but most was lost or picked up by fishers and
others who were not interested in finding the owners.
There were five lives known to have
been lost, one being an old lady who was traveling with a
niece or daughter. The old lady was dazed and the younger
women had much difficulty in getting her from the room but
when she had succeeded and hurried on shore, presuming the old
lady would follow, she discovered that the old lady did not
follow her. A gentleman passenger said he noticed her just
aft of the wheel on the shore side just as he was about to
jump into the river, apparently hesitating and undecided as to
what she had better do. He at once decided to throw her into
the river but before he could reach her to carry out his
purpose she turned and ran back into he room, right into thee
fire and he saw no more of her and mumped for his life. I
retain a more personal recollection of him than of most of the
other passengers as he afterward sued the company for loss of
his baggage.
Another was a child lost in the
confusion and probably burned as no trace was found of it. It
belonged to a family that was emigrating and they had a lot
of stock on board. There were some thirty head of cattle and
a lot of pigs. The most of the cattle were cut loose and
driven overboard and many were afterward picked up.
I do not wish to sell unduly on the
heart rendering scenes of this disaster. Many such have
occurred on this great highway and this is but one of the
series that have followed steamboating from the beginning and
a mild one at that for many have resulted in death in one of
its dreadful forms to hundreds and leaving others in a
condition often worse than death. This was no such disaster
as it might have been but it was sufficient to leave an
indelible impression on me that I never wanted repeated.
It was evident that all had been done
that could be done and those of us who were not driven to hunt
for covering for nearly naked bodies or looking after the
welfare of friends soon became thoroughly fascinated by the
scene which now made a most magnificent as well as terrifyi8ng
spectacle. The boat as were most of the packets the, was a
side wheeler, each wheel being propelled by a separate
engine. In the hurry landing the steam to the engine o the
outside of the boat had not been shut off and the engine
continued to run and the wheel to revolve as the fire
destroyed the wheel house, making a scintillating mixture of
fire and water. The wheel house was all burned away and until
the great heat of the fire had softened the copper steam pipe
so that it burst with the pressure that was still on from the
boilers and the deafening roar of escaping steam was added to
the already distracting din. |
