54 Sioux City Academy of Science and Letters. 



derecl a marriage license and another a tombstone. All 

 sent to me, supposing I could get them whatever they 

 wanted. 



The trade was so good that the public soon got its 

 eye upon it. Competition set in, and became very keen. 

 The Union Pacific hurried up construction on its western 

 division so that traffic would go to Salt Lake by rail 

 and thence to Montana by wagons. 



I recollect the first gold brought back from Montana 

 in 1862. The ijarty owning it came down the Missouri 

 in boats, which they abandoned here, and proceeded the 

 rest of their way east by stage. I met one man in the 

 party whom I knew. He was an old blacksmith from 

 Mansfield, Ohio. Mr. Thompson, for that was his name, 

 sat and told me stories of the far West for two or three 

 hours. From Sioux City he went by stage to Dubuque 

 and thence to St. Paul. 



After the railroads reached Sioux City in 1868 steam- 

 boating revived here and became better than ever. A 

 regular line of boats made this their headquarters. Car- 

 goes coming here by the railroad were then reshipped 

 and made the rest of the journey to Montana by boat. 



Finally the Utah Northern was completed into Mon- 

 tana. Then, in 1870, the Northern Pacific was built and 

 we were cut off all around. The steamboat business, 

 which was at its height in 1868, began to decline about 

 1870 and by 1875 it was practicallj'- a thing of the past. 



FAMOUS MEN RECALLED — SCIENTISTS. 



In the fall of 1868 or 1869 I met Audubon as he came 

 down the river, returning east after an expedition to 

 Montana. He was accompanied by Louis Agassiz. xVud- 

 ubon was old and feeble and did not stop here, but con- 

 tinued down the river. Agassiz, who was in the prime 

 of life, stoiDped off for a couple of days. Sioux City was 

 the first railway station then as one came down the Mis- 

 souri. From here he went by rail to Chicago. While in 

 town Agassiz spent most of his time in the office of Doc- 

 tor A. Lawrence, the owner of a line of steamboats. It 

 was there that I met the great naturalist and had sev- 

 eral talks with him. He was neither tall nor robust. 



