60 Sioux City Academy of Science and Letters. 



a boat up the Missouri River were Joseph and John La 

 Barge, two French brothers, who lived in St. Louis. 

 After serving the American Fur Company for years they 

 at length purchased boats of their own and operated 

 them independently. For years they stopped at Sioux 

 City both fall and spring. Our house acted as their 

 agents here. John La Barge, the younger of the two, 

 died in the service of the Benton Transportation Com- 

 pany. Joseph, the elder, continued steamboating till the 

 early nineties, when the business languished and finally 

 died. His career was as long as that of the business he 

 followed. In his "History of Steamboating on the Mis- 

 souri River," Col. Chittenden weaves his story around 

 the life of Joseph La Barge, and makes a hero of him. 

 While Joseph was older and was the head and front of 

 the La Barge interests, still John was a steamboat pilot 

 and captain whom everyone looked up to. In my opinion 

 he was as good a pilot as any the river every had. He 

 was a man of undoubted veracity and good character, 

 too. 



Joseph was a large, portly man. He used glasses 

 and always wore a beard. He was a man of few words, 

 much more dignified and reserved than John, who for 

 this very reason was the more popular. 



IX)CAL, CHARACTERS. 



Among the first men I met after I came to Sioux City 

 was Dr. John K. Cook. He was a man of splendid phy- 

 sique, an Englishman by birth, educated as a physician. 

 He came here in the early days as a Deputy United 

 States Surveyor. It was said that he came to this coun- 

 try for the purpose of joining the Mormons, but of this 

 I have never seen any definite proof. He was a man 

 of good habits, considering that everyone on the frontier 

 drank whisky and chewed and smoked tobacco; all of 

 which he did, but with moderation. 



Cook was the first postmaster of Sioux City, and it 

 was said that he had his office in his hat and handed 

 out letters to the citizens whenever he happened to 

 meet them on the streets. I can't vouch for the truth of 

 this statement, for when I came here Mr. [S. T.] Davis 



