Bring Back the Milwaukie
James Buck and Andrew Wheeler
James Buck and Andrew Wheeler
A Buffalo man named Mr. Hotaling came to Milwaukee in 1838, to convince Mr. Juneau to invest heavily in a first-class steamboat for the lakes. The vessel was known as the Milwaukie, and Mr. Juneau invested heavily.
The venture turned out to be a most unfortunate affair. The thing dragged heavily, and finally Mr. Hotaling came again and applied to Mr. Juneau for another advance of ten thousand dollars, on top of the $17,000 he had already furnished. With a liberality that was characteristic, he gave Mr. Hotaling a draft on the Green Bay Bank for the additional sum. A couple of years passed, the matter growing more dubious all the while. For some reason the Buffalo people did not afterwards evince the same eagerness to complete the transaction as they had manifested at first. The Milwaukee people kept quiet for a time, as they concocted a scheme to surprise their Buffalo friends. In 1841 a small and trusty crew, led by Capt. Lester H. Cotton, left Milwaukee and proceeded to Buffalo, as they said, "to bring back the Milwaukie." At Buffalo they found that the boat had been taken up the river as far as possible, and laid up under the watchful care of a trusty keeper. On a summer’s night the Milwaukee men got on board the vessel, seized the keeper, gagged and confined him where he could give no alarm, got up steam, cast off the moorings, and quietly passed down the river and out into the lake. Once in the lake they gave the Milwaukie all the steam she could carry, and away she went, at a speed too great for any other boat on the lakes to overtake her. The vessel was built to run, and run she did, at a speed of twenty miles an hour. She had a powerful low-pressure engine and sharp waterlines at the bow and stern, which made her somewhat unstable. At Silver Creek the Milwaukee men released their prisoner. They made straight for Put-in-Bay, where they took on plenty of wood, and passed rapidly on up the lakes to Milwaukee. The appearance of the Milwaukie was hailed with delight by the people of Milwaukee, who flocked to the mouth of the river on the 8th of July to watch the noble steamer leap the sandbar and navigate the curves of the river. They were disappointed, however, when the steamer, with her happy crew of jubilant pirates, ran hard onto the sandbar at the mouth of the river. There she lay, during which time the enthusiasm and the steam went down. The steamboat was not freed until November 21st, when she was taken up the river and tucked away out of reach from a possible rescue expedition from Buffalo. Much litigation and vexation followed. The gentlemen who had brought the boat all the way from Buffalo did not seem to be aware that she towed a disagreeable lawsuit after her, or they might have left her in the Porte du Morte. She was afterwards sold to Mr. Newberry of Detroit, who used her engine to build the Nile. The litigation eventually resulted in a compromise. Mr. Juneau received only an eighth of his original investment, including steamboat furniture and mattresses, which he removed to his dwelling. |