Traveling by Steamboat

By: Peggy Henderson

While doing some research for my current WIP, I came across this article I wrote for an earlier book in that particular series, and thought it would be fun to share here. My characters usually travel by horseback or on foot through the remote mountains of the Rockies, but for my book, Teton Splendor, I needed them to travel part-way via steamboat up the Ohio River. I never thought I'd have to revisit that again, but now that I'm working on another book in the series, I found myself revisiting this method of transportation.
                                                       
Before the railroads took over as the fastest way to travel west, steamboats were the premier  mode of transportation along the Mississippi River and its tributaries. In the 1820’s and 30’s, steamboats were mainly used to transport furs, lead, and army supplies to forts and encampments along the Mississippi. In the late 1840’s, settlers swarmed into the new Minnesota Territory, and for the first time, entire families could travel together. 

Early settlers, however, usually did not get to travel in luxury. Only the wealthy could afford the luxurious accommodations that were available on the finer steamboats. The average settler had few comforts. The poorer passengers slept on the freight decks, which also housed the boiler, fuel, and cargo. There was little or no protection from the elements for deck passengers, who would sleep on cargo crates or bales. They were allowed to cook their own meals using stoves provided by the captain. However, it was often too crowded to even prepare a simple meal.  Otherwise, they could eat with the crew if they paid the cook. 

Those who could afford the price could travel on the upper deck in private cabins. These passengers ate their meals in the state room, and were entertained in the grand salon. Some of the finer steamboats featured grand salons that ran the entire three hundred foot length of the boat, and were considered floating palaces, with heavy wood furniture, gilded ceilings, and mirrored walls. Dining experiences rivaled the best restaurants in New York at the time. Some boats had bands or musical entertainment, and even theater performances. 

 

Traveling by steamboat was not without danger, however. Deck passengers were in constant danger of boiler explosions, or being shoved overboard. Boiler explosions were common and often disastrous. Boats were often caught on sandbars or snags, and many times the passengers were asked to get off the boat to lighten the load. Captains didn’t always return for their passengers in those instances. And, of course, the river was teeming with thieves who loved to prey on unsuspecting passengers. 

Overall, steamboat travel was preferred to overland travel for its speed (up to eight miles per hour!) and comparative luxury, until the railroad’s influence in the 1860’s and 70’s.

Peggy L Henderson

Western Historical and Time Travel Romance

“Where Adventure Awaits and Love is Timeless”

Award-Winning and Best-Selling Author of:

Yellowstone Romance Series

Teton Romance Trilogy

Second Chances Time Travel Romance Series

Blemished Brides Western Historical Romance Series

Wilderness Brides Historical Romance Series

               

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Peggy L Henderson is an award-winning, best-selling western historical and time travel romance author of the Yellowstone Romance Series, Second Chances Time Travel Romance Series, Teton Romance Trilogy, and the Blemished Brides and Wilderness Brides Western Historical Romance Series. When she’s not writing about Yellowstone, the Tetons, or the old west, she’s out hiking the trails, spending time with her family and pets, or catching up on much-needed sleep. She is happily married to her high school sweetheart. Along with her husband and two sons, she makes her home in Southern California.

Christmas Surprise!

I have a Christmas Surprise for my readers! If you're a fan of the Yellowstone Series and the Teton Trilogy - the Walkers, Osbornes, and Russells got together for Christmas! 
I wasn't going to write a Christmas story this year, because I simply didn't think I'd have time. I had worked all summer on Yellowstone Origins, then had to get Emma, Bride of Kentucky (the 15th book in the American Mail Order Brides Series) done before its deadline, and by then, it was already well into November.

My editor told me that I needed to take a break, and not even start a new  book this year. I sort of agreed with her...for about a week. I had mentioned that I really wanted to write a Christmas novella that I had thought of last year, but I ran out of time then, too. A few days after she declared I needed to go on a break, she contacted me and said "you know, if you want to write that Christmas story, maybe you should do it."
So, I hit the keyboard, and, voila! the story that I wanted to write a year ago finally came to life. I loved bringing together the Walkers from the Teton Trilogy with the Osbornes and the Russells from the Yellowstone Series. The thought of, "what would happen if Lucas Walker ever got together with Chase Russell on an adventure," was too good to pass up. The possibilities were endless with those two!

The end result is a novella that was about 8,000 words longer than I had first anticipated (coming in at around 29,000 words), so that's good news for my readers. It was so much fun to write, and I hope you will love it, too!

So, here it is .... Teton Season of Joy (A Yellowstone and Teton Romance Series Crossover Christmas Novella!)

Blurb:

Lucas Walker's life couldn't be more different from a few years ago. Now married and expecting his first child, he wants nothing more than to provide a good home for his family.  With Christmas coming, he sets off to find the perfect surprise for his wife.

As Tori Walker approaches the time for her baby to be born, she is comforted by the expert care that surrounds her. However, winter in the mountains can turn deadly at the blink of an eye. When her prankster husband fails to return from a short hunting trip, she doesn't know whether to be angry or worried.

Christmas is a time to reminisce and enjoy family time. Young or old, all who gather in the Walker home this holiday can share memories of falling in love, being saved from near death, and not being able to imagine life without each other. When Lucas and his companion are feared lost in the wilderness, this holiday season may well be remembered as the season of mishaps, rather than a season of joy. 

Excerpt:

“You’ll probably want to stay out of the kitchen,” Joseph warned, coming up next to him. “The women are baking pies and cookies, getting ready for a Christmas feast in a few days, and us menfolk are under strict orders not to touch anything unless they give permission.”

Lucas grinned. “Well, then I’d better go check in on them and sample some of what they’re cooking up.”

Joseph shook his head with an indulgent smile. “Suit yourself. The kitchen is hostile territory at the moment. You’re living dangerously if you go in there, but what else is new.”

Lucas shrugged off his brother’s words and followed his nose to the kitchen. He peered around the corner of the entry so he could survey the scene without being noticed right away. Girls giggled and chattered loudly. Must be Chase’s two youngest daughters, Hannah and Rebecca. His second-oldest, Kara, had just married a few years ago, and lived with her husband in St. Louis, as did his oldest, Emily.

“You know I’d normally have your back, Lucas,” Chase called from somewhere behind him. “Afraid we won’t be able to come rescue you if you get into trouble this time. The opposition is much too fierce.”

Lucas ignored his friend’s jab and let his eyes roam the room without walking in. It was always best to get a feel for what he was up against before confronting an adversary.

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Peggy L Henderson

Western Historical and Time Travel Romance

“Where Adventure Awaits and Love is Timeless”

Award-Winning Author of:

Yellowstone Romance Series

Teton Romance Trilogy

Second Chances Time Travel Romance Series

Blemished Brides Western Historical Romance Series

               

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A Fur Trapper's Wife

By: Peggy L Henderson

Life in the early 1800's was extremely difficult for both men and women. The life of a fur trader was even more difficult as he tried to survive in the uncharted wilderness to make a living as a trapper. Women of European descent were virtually unheard of in the fur trade. The very few women, usually wives of managers of fur companies such as the Hudson’s Bay Company or the Northwest Company, who accompanied husbands to remote outposts, were considered “tender exotics.”

Because of society’s class structure in those days, most of these women didn’t last longer than a year on these posts before suffering from mental health problems or returning to cities in the east. Wives of managers were expected to associate only with other wives of other managers, and in those remote posts, these were far and few between. The women were not allowed to associate with Indian women or half-breed women, even if they could communicate somehow. Servants (Indian women) were usually available to perform domestic duties, so there was nothing for a wife to do to even relieve her boredom. Her only duty was to her husband and family, and most of the time the husband wasn’t even at the post, traveling for months at a time.

 

Fur trappers in the Rocky Mountains often took Indian women as wives. An Indian woman’s primary responsibilities in her tribe was that of housekeeping, which included child rearing, butchering, cooking, the labor-intensive task of tanning hides, collecting firewood, preserving food for winter, setting up and maintaining camp, and sewing clothing.

A man who wanted to take a bride would have to provide the woman’s father (or oldest male relative if the father was dead) with certain trade goods such as horses, guns, blankets, etc., in exchange for the woman. The bride price was determined by the father based on the value he placed on his daughter’s loss of productivity around his lodge.

Many Indian women considered it an honor to be chosen as the wife of a fur trapper. It offered the woman a different way of life which was often easier physically and offered her more material things. An Indian woman married to a trapper either remained at her village, or moved to the fort or trading post with her husband. She might also accompany him on his wanderings. If a woman remained with her village, her life probably didn’t change much, except that she had access to many luxury items which were not available to the other women.  Items such as kettles, knives, awls, wool and cotton fabrics greatly eased the domestic burdens of the women.

Because there were no preachers or priests to perform wedding ceremonies, marriages were “after the customs of the country,” or a la facon du pays. This arrangement met both the needs of the Indian and the trapper. By making their women available to trappers and traders, the Indians were able to forge trade alliances and social bonds, and expected access to trading posts, provisions, and trade goods.

Trappers also realized the benefits of marriage to an Indian woman, especially the daughter of a chief or highly respected hunter. Such an arrangement provided the trapper with a translator and cultural liaison within the tribe. The domestic chores the wife performed freed the trapper to spend more time trapping and trading.

Marriages were easy to terminate by either the man or the woman. A man could simply “turn off” his wife by leaving her behind, and a woman who wanted a “divorce” would indicate this by leaving the man’s belongings outside their lodge. Statistically, most marriages lasted up to 15 years, and most ended with the death of one or the other spouse.

Anyone who has read any of my Yellowstone Romance Series books knows that I fudge with the  historical accuracy quite a bit, but hey! It's fiction. And romance! And the location and era make such a great backdrop for a romance series. My mountain men heroes live in the remote Yellowstone region year round, which most likely never happened, and even more far-fetched is it that they would marry a white woman and raise a family there. My Teton Romance Trilogy is set a little south of Yellowstone in the Teton/Jackson Hole region, and I introduce a new mountain man hero, and the woman who proves herself strong enough to endure all that the wilderness (and the people of the era) can throw at her. 

Peggy L Henderson

Western Historical and Time Travel Romance

“Where Adventure Awaits and Love is Timeless”

Author of:

Yellowstone Romance Series

Teton Romance Trilogy

Second Chances Time Travel Romance Series

Blemished Brides Western Historical Romance Series

               

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