Travel by steamboat up the Arkansas River was a precarious business in the early days of river navigation. Besides the ever present danger of hitting “snags” — submerged logs and other debris — boiler explosions and fires were also a hazard to the steam-powered boats. Few steamboats survived more than four or five years of service between New Orleans and the Three Forks.

One such steamboat was named the Cherokee, which plied the rivers between New Orleans and Fort Gibson and the Creek Agency. In December 1840, the Cherokee carried as a passenger Capt. William Armstrong, the superintendent of Indian Affairs for the western tribes. Armstrong had traveled to New Orleans to secure a payment for the Cherokees in accordance with their treaty with the federal government. The payment of more than $100,000 was to be made at Fort Gibson.

The paper money making up the bulk of the payment was sealed in watertight kegs. An additional amount in gold and silver coins was locked in two strongboxes and kept in the clerk’s office.

After the steamboat had passed Little Rock and was 60 miles upriver of that town, the Cherokee’s boiler exploded. Tragically, some 15 crew and passengers were killed and several others were wounded. The boat was torn apart by the explosion, and within an hour sank in the Arkansas River.

Capt. Armstrong reported to his supervisor that the box of gold was blown onto shore, split open and the coins were spilled about. Armstrong estimated about $90 worth of coins were lost. The box of silver coin, dimes and “half-dimes,” was blown onto the bow of the boat and virtually disintegrated. Armstrong scrambled to retrieve all the change he could and estimated he saved all but about $50.

The kegs holding the paper money fell to a lower deck of the boat, but because they had been secured with iron hoops they did not break apart. None of the paper money was lost. Armstrong, however, was forced to wait several days at the site of the explosion, guarding the money. It was a great relief to him when another steamboat arrived to carry the retrieved funds on to Fort Gibson where they were distributed to the Cherokees gathered there.

Such tragic and frightening incidents were quite common in the days of steamboat travel. The depths of the Arkansas River may still be littered with the remains of vessels that plied its waters in earlier times.

Reach Jonita Mullins at jonita@netscape.com.