Paddle steamers in the Plains Wars.

[dualer]

Whilst researching my latest project, I saw that a shallow draft paddle steamer was used during the advance to the Little Bighorn. Were steamers commonplace during this period and who crewed them? I assume civilian contractors with a military escort. I ask as I have a Grand Manner paddle steamer  which I'd love to use in a future scenario.

[FifteensAway]

Know nothing about Grand Manner boats but the steamer in question at Little Big Horn was the Far West and I have a primed but not yet painted model of it from OldGlory25s shipyards - in 15 mm.  I'm sure you can google images of the boat.

And, yes, they were quite common on the rivers of the west and the main means of moving large quantities of freight where the railroads did not run - with a navigable river, of course.  Challenge was some rivers only had enough water for part of the year.  The Far West ascent for Big Horn was one of the highest (the highest?) ascent of the river up to that point.  The Mississippi must have had hundreds of boats at this time, maybe thousands if you count all the tributary rivers and especially the Ohio River.

Not, however, that common in Plains Wars that I'm aware of.

We actually have a restored steamer of the era converted to a floating hotel on the local river near where I live - the Sacramento River, the boat being the Delta King (formerly of the Mississippi if memory serves).

I'm on the lookout for a riverboat to use as a gambling institution as part of my Old West/Plains Wars/Apache Wars collection.  One of the few items I'm still looking to add to my collection that might be available - the others things I want not yet made that I know of, like a horse drawn hears in 15 mm and a chain gang from the local territorial prison with suitable guards, and those Chinese for the laundry and the joss house - and maybe a damsel in distress, or would that be undress?, an asian soiled dove of three.

[rebelyell2006]

Steamers were common on the larger rivers, like the Missouri River.  Before the railroads became widespread, the army would move soldiers and supplies on rivers.  Merchants brought trade goods and settlers going westward, and various unprocessed goods going eastward.  The Steamboat Arabia was a famous steamboat that sank near Kansas City in 1856.  Augustus Meyers wrote of taking a steamboat to Fort Pierre in South Dakota.  Steamboats were privately owned, but contracted by the military as needed to ferry soldiers and supplies.  Flatboats were more common on shallower rivers.  The steamboats had a habit of running aground or hitting trees, and the crew would on occasion toss military supplies overboard to overcome those obstacles (but not the merchant goods, because those could be sold).  They were mostly for transportation, as soldiers or armed civilians could basically treat them as floating bunkers; the Lakota would have needed artillery to defeat them.  Attacking a steamboat would have been pointless.  Sneaking on to one and trying to steal army payroll or specific merchant goods would have been a far more likely scenario, particularly at night or while unloading in a town.

[ichwillauch]

Kitwood Hill Models has a small O Gauge Paddle Steamer that looks a little bit like the Far West used at Little Big Horn
http://www.kitwoodhillmodels.com/ships/

[Poiter50]

That's nice, very similar to the Redoubt one, IIRC.

Kitwood Hill Models has a small O Gauge Paddle Steamer that looks a little bit like the Far West used at Little Big Horn
http://www.kitwoodhillmodels.com/ships/