Steamboating
Mississippi Riverboat Transportation

The Mississippi was the longtime highway of the northern wilderness. Expanding civilization brought greater demands on transportation and the timber industry expansion required a more efficient method to transport supplies and men to the northern interior.

Festival of Adventures offers an opportunity to talk with a 1890s riverboat captain about life on the Mississippi. You will also see historical displays regarding Aitkin's rollicking Mississippi steamboat era, featuring actual artifacts.

Foresight Brings A Community & Industry To Life

In about 1870, three brothers by the name of Tibbetts who worked for the Northern Pacific Railroad came through the present-day Aitkin area as part of a survey crew establishing a route for the original NP rail line. They saw the potential for a town here, as this was the first access via rail to the Mississippi from the port city of Duluth. This meant goods could be shipped to this site by rail, then travel north by boat up the Mississippi to pinery camps. The idea caught on and the town of Aitkin was started in 1871. It became a major Mississippi riverboat transportation center literally overnight.

The Gateway To Northern Minnesota

The community was the home to numerous riverboats that operated between Aitkin and what would later become Grand Rapids. The town of Grand Rapids was actually founded by Aitkin businessmen who tried to get a competitive edge over their competitors by establishing warehouses for their goods where the "rapids" prevented further riverboat travel. The era of riverboat transportation lasted from the 1870s to the early 1920s. In addition to supplying pinery camps, the steamers provided transportation for immigrant settlers, timber cruisers, and explorers heading as far north as the border country. They carried supplies, carried news from town, brought farmer's produce to market, and supplied the towns that later sprang up along the river.

All Work and No Play?

Aside from their weekly routine, there would sometimes be moonlight excursions that were purely entertainment. A small orchestra and several couples would board a riverboat at dusk and not return from their delightful evening of dance and merriment until early morning. The captains were colorful characters as well. One such man was Captain C.C. Sutton. Not only was he a riverboat captain, but a doctor and preacher as well. When he saw a flag placed along the riverbank, he knew he either had to pick up cream, take on a passenger, marry a couple wishing to "tie the knot," prescribe a remedy for someone ill, or perform a funeral service.

The Era Of The Steamboat Fades

By the 1920s, the county was beginning to see improved roads and much greater access. Motorized vehicles traveling these roads could now carry materials more efficiently and quickly. The riverboat industry quietly slipped away with hardly any notice after nearly half a century of service to the region. The only remnants of this once hearty industry are the exposed ribs of boats sunk or burned at their moorings. The romantic images of moonlight excursions, colorful riverboat captains, the piercing cry of the steam whistle and the splash of the sternwheel still excite the imagination a century later.

TIMELINE

HISTORY FESTIVAL

MUSIC FESTIVAL

SITE INDEX

©2007 Aitkin Festival of Adventures Committee


and the Mud River Music Fest

"Festival of Adventures" is a trademark/servicemark of the Aitkin Festival of Adventures Committee

In addition to our Festival of Adventures fur trade rendezvous, we also offer an 1890s pinery camp experience. In the era that followed the statewide Jack Pine harvest, White Oak became an important replacement to Jack Pine. During the pinery camp era, White Oak was cut as a hardwood. White Oak was used in the making of furniture and for cooperage. As the river pigs floated the White Oak logs to the mill, deer would gather along the river to drink. Deer and the river were the constant companions of the men as they floated White Oak to the mill each spring.