kayakbird Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 (edited) With a self-imposed travel restriction due to the extreme fire danger in most of my Montana old bench mark target area I've had time to read 'Packets to Paradise, steamboating to Fort Benton 'by John G. Lepley. available on line: http://www.fortbenton.com/museums/bookpages/lepleypackets.html Five of the 148 steamships that docked at Cow Island or above from 1860 to 1890 had MORC triangulation stations named after them. CHIPPEWA 12 MI BELOW FT BENTON 1859, FT BENTON 1860 SPREAD EAGLE FT BENTON 1862 AMELIA POE FT BENTON 1866 GALLATIN FT BENTON 1866 IRON CITY FT BENTON 1866 One of the earliest boats above the Yellowstone River (RM 310 on the 1894 MORC maps, measured along the channel from the Bismark Bridge) and my first packet name logged, ST ANGE, made it to the Poplar River (RM 407.6) in 1851. ST ANGE TO POPLAR R. 1851 And my favorite recovery only made it to the Musselshell River in 1867 where it ran aground and was abandoned. JAMES H TROVER AGROUND AT MUSSELSHELL R. 1867 Seven more Tri's are near named rapids and a bunch more at prominent landmarks. The last commercial steamboat reached Fort Benton in 1890, yet the Corps of Engineers continued to run a snag boat until 1921; and a railroad lift bridge was built about seven miles above the Yellowstone confluence at Snowden in 1913. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowden_Bridge Great History! kayakbird Edited July 10, 2012 by kayakbird Quote Link to comment
TillaMurphs Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 (edited) ... I've had time to read 'Packets to Paradise, steamboating to Fort Benton 'by John G. Lepley. Five of the 148 steamships that docked at Cow Island or above from 1860 to 1890 had MORC triangulation stations named after them. ...and my first packet name logged, ST ANGE, made it to the Poplar River (RM 407.6) in 1851. ... the Corps of Engineers continued to run a snag boat until 1921 Great History! kayakbird That is great history. (I confess, I had to look up the definitions for “packet boat” and “snag boat”). It is interesting to find out the origin of Tri station names. I have some for which I don’t think I will ever to be able to determine the source of the name. Sorry about the fire danger worries there. In Oregon we currently have 2 fires in/near Harney county. One of them is the largest blaze in the country the other is threatening the Historic French Glen Hotel. Not too far from one of your recent benchmark trips. Here is a link - Oregon Fires Edited July 13, 2012 by TillaMurphs Quote Link to comment
JBAndersen Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 (edited) Hi. Excuse me, but I can't help myself from jumping into this thread. My one experience with MORC benchmarks was in North Dakota. NESSON It was a very easy find. Just drove up to it. None of the drama that you experienced in the Missouri Breaks. It was found during a visit to in-laws, I'm not familiar with the area at all. I have no clue how it got its name. Google Maps shows no landmarks nearby with that name. Possibly a landowner at the time? One more thing. The Yellowstone River was also used for steamboat travel also. Most notably was the Far West, which brought the news of the Little Big Horn Battle back east, in 1876. The Snowden Lift Bridge you mentioned has a companion on the Yellowstone. Fairview Bridge Interestingly, the Fairview Bridge has an accompanying tunnel. A railroad tunnel in North Dakota? Yes. Like you said, fascinating history! Thanks for your posts from Montana. It brings back fond memories of time I spent there 30 years ago. (I remember a chili dinner one night at the Winnifred bar) (maybe it was hunter's stew) jb Edited July 13, 2012 by JBAndersen Quote Link to comment
CallawayMT Posted July 15, 2012 Share Posted July 15, 2012 With a self-imposed travel restriction due to the extreme fire danger in most of my Montana old bench mark target area I've had time to read 'Packets to Paradise, steamboating to Fort Benton 'by John G. Lepley. available on line: http://www.fortbenton.com/museums/bookpages/lepleypackets.html Five of the 148 steamships that docked at Cow Island or above from 1860 to 1890 had MORC triangulation stations named after them. CHIPPEWA 12 MI BELOW FT BENTON 1859, FT BENTON 1860 SPREAD EAGLE FT BENTON 1862 AMELIA POE FT BENTON 1866 GALLATIN FT BENTON 1866 IRON CITY FT BENTON 1866 One of the earliest boats above the Yellowstone River (RM 310 on the 1894 MORC maps, measured along the channel from the Bismark Bridge) and my first packet name logged, ST ANGE, made it to the Poplar River (RM 407.6) in 1851. ST ANGE TO POPLAR R. 1851 And my favorite recovery only made it to the Musselshell River in 1867 where it ran aground and was abandoned. JAMES H TROVER AGROUND AT MUSSELSHELL R. 1867 Seven more Tri's are near named rapids and a bunch more at prominent landmarks. The last commercial steamboat reached Fort Benton in 1890, yet the Corps of Engineers continued to run a snag boat until 1921; and a railroad lift bridge was built about seven miles above the Yellowstone confluence at Snowden in 1913. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowden_Bridge Great History! kayakbird Thanks for the history Mike! We haven't talked in awhile, have you had a chance to stop at the Headwater's to see if North Base went downstream since last year? I'm sure it did, based on my last view of it and how high the rivers were last spring. Talk to you sometime soon. Kurt Quote Link to comment
kayakbird Posted July 16, 2012 Author Share Posted July 16, 2012 square nail photo Kurt, I've been avoiding going back - afraid that I would end up being banned from our state parks. MEL Quote Link to comment
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