The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 91, July 1987 - April, 1988 Page: 96
619 p. : ill. (some col.), maps (some col.), ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Hzstorical Quarterly
destined to show up in unusual places at interesting times. Arranged
chronologically, the account occasionally slips backward and forward to
provide context for and closure to related events. Although making no
attempt to show daily movements of the vessel, the book focuses in detail
on the major travels of the Yellow Stone. three long trips up the Missouri
for the American Fur Company, shorter voyages on the Missouri and
upper Mississippi, use on the lower Mississippi, and finally its rambles
in Texas. The book's only weakness is its fanciful ending, in which the
boat, having vanished without explanation, is likened to a ghost ship forever
sailing the seas to pay for its sins-smuggling whisky and cheating In-
dians in trade.
On another level, this volume depicts currents of the westward expan-
sion, relating the boat's travels to the history of the period, including the
fur trade, Indian relations, lead mining, Mississippi River trade, and the
settlement of Texas.
On yet another level, the book explores the importance of this new
technology, the steamboat, in opening the West, comparing the steam-
boat's contributions to those of the windmill, repeating firearm, barbed
wire, and railroad. However, the technological advance would, perhaps,
have been better illustrated by a comparison with keelboat use and with
the difficult land trip across Louisiana to Texas, for the Yellow Stone pro-
vided transportation where it had before been almost impossible.
Jackson made good use of major resources throughout and evaluated
them carefully. Many minor sources related to the boat's movements are
omitted, but the author's discovery of Washington Irving's contact with
the steamer, Joseph Smith's passage, and the rebuilding of the Yellow Stone
in New Orleans are contributions to the Yellow Stone's history.
Trinity University THURMAN J. ADKINS
Papers of Jefferson Davzs, Volume 4, 1849 - 1852. Edited by Lynda Lasswell
Crist. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1983. Pp.
xxxix + 472. Introduction, acknowledgments, illustrations, notes, ap-
pendices, sources, index. $37.50.)
Papers of Jefferson Davis, Volume 5, 1853 - 1855. Edited by Lynda Lasswell
Crist. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1985. Pp.
xlii + 557. Introduction, acknowledgments, illustrations, notes, ap-
pendices, sources, index. $37.50.)
Quite a few years ago Frank E. Vandiver, a leading American Civil
War scholar who has since become an academic administrator at Rice
University, North Texas State University, and now Texas A&M Univer-
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 91, July 1987 - April, 1988, periodical, 1987/1988; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101211/m1/122/?rotate=90: accessed April 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.