Annalies Corbin and Bradley A. Rodgers: The Steamboat Montana and the Opening of the West: History, Excavation, and Arch
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Annalies Corbin and Bradley A. Rodgers: The Steamboat Montana and the Opening of the West: History, Excavation, and Architecture University Press of Florida, Gainesville, FL, Hardcover, 176 pages, $59.95, ISBN 13: 978-0-8130-3254-2 Jim S. Dolwick
Published online: 6 November 2012 Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2012
What can a shipwreck offer to the study of the past? Is it mainly to supplement historical research or can it offer something more? As Annalies Corbin and Bradley Rodgers explain, ‘a shipwreck is unique, like a fingerprint’ (xv). Their goal with the present book is to go beyond history and to instead incorporate archaeological analysis of the technology and tools that helped to create the steamboats of the West. The steamboat Montana was one of the last great western river steamboats ever constructed. Her architecture is a shining example of mid-to-late nineteenth century technological design and sophistication. She was built in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, towards the latter half of the century, during the winter of 1878–1879, by ambitious steamboat entrepreneur, Sanford Coulson, for service on the Missouri River. Montana served as an all purpose vessel, carrying both passengers and freight, for roughly 5 years before accidentally colliding with a railroad caisson near St. Charles, Missouri, in 1884, ending her career. Over a century later, in 2002, an archaeological team directed by Bradley Rogers and assembled by East Carolina University and SCI Engineering discovered her remains and started investigating the wreck. The book documents the team’s efforts. Corbin and Rodgers explore three main topics: Montana’s history and accident, the wreck’s site-formation processes and excavation, and the steamboat’s unique architecture and construction. Montana was one of three unusually large luxury steamboats, over 1,000 tons, built by Coulson for Missouri River service. Coulson constructed Montana at the same time as sister steamboats, Wyoming and Dacotah, to accommodate passengers as well as freight and to resemble the iconic Mississippi River steamboats, which set the standard for passenger elegance from the midnineteenth century onwards and were known for their amenities and elaborate fittings. All three of Coulson’s newly built steamboats were lavishly decorated and cost twice as much as contemporary Missouri River steamers, although it is not clear why Coulson constructed his new steamboats with such extravagant features. At the time, Missouri River steamers, unlike their Mississippi River counterparts, were Spartan and utilitarian in design and mainly carried cattle and freight. By also carrying passengers, it is possible that Coulson
J. S. Dolwick (&) Centre for Maritime Archaeology, University of Southampton, Southampton SO14 6TU, UK e-mail: [email protected]
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J Mari Arch (2012) 7:287–289
was attempting to establish his own competitive niche on the market and gain an advantage over rival Missouri River steamboats, which did not cater to passengers. Unfortunately, Coulson’s exp
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