The Steamboat Yellow Stone

Description

On the afternoon of April 18, the Yellow Stone encountered a stretch of water so densely packed with snags that it could proceed no further under its own power. Maximilian recorded in his journal for this day, "Again we lay still for a long time, fathomed and cut off dangerous trees, then 26 men were put on a sandbank on the left to pull the steamboat." At around two o'clock the,steamer was under way, but again ran aground in less than half an hour on a large sandbank. Here it remained overnight. The next morning a flatboat from Fort Osage, located some three and a half miles upstream, arrived to unload part of the ship's cargo and lighten its draft. Bodmer waded ashore and from a distant bank made a sketch of the steamer. Maximilian observed in his journal for April 19, "Mr. Bodmer had made from shore this morning a pretty sketch of the ship as it was unloaded, but the wind was so unpleasant and stirred up so much sand, that he could not paint."This cene was reproduced as Tableau 4 in the atlas of aquatints.