The Steamboat Yellow Stone

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Artist

Karl Bodmer

Birth and death dates

1809 - 1893

Artist Nationality

Swiss

Title

The Steamboat Yellow Stone

Date

April 18, 1833

Dimensions

8 5/16 × 13 3/8 in. (21.1 × 34 cm)

Medium

Watercolor on paper

Institution

Joslyn Art Museum

Credit Line

Gift of the Enron Art Foundation

Accession Number

1986.49.131

Rights (i.e. copyright information)

Joslyn Art Museum

Photographer credit

Photograph © Bruce M. White, 2019

Commentary

On the afternoon of April 18, the Yellow Stone encountered a stretch of water so densely packed with snags that it could proceed no further under its own power. Maximilian recorded in his journal for this day, "Again we lay still for a long time, fathomed and cut off dangerous trees, then 26 men were put on a sandbank on the left to pull the steamboat." At around two o'clock the, steamer was under way, but again ran aground in less than half an hour on a large sandbank. Here it remained overnight. The next morning a flatboat from Fort Osage, located some three and a half miles upstream, arrived to unload part of the ship's cargo and lighten its draft. Bodmer waded ashore and from a distant bank made a sketch of the steamer. Maximilian observed in his journal for April 19, "Mr. Bodmer had made from shore this morning a pretty sketch of the ship as it was unloaded, but the wind was so unpleasant and stirred up so much sand, that he could not paint." This scene was reproduced as Tableau 4 in the atlas of aquatints.

References in Journal

April 19, 1833

Labels:

genre, riverscape , Yellow Stone (steamboat)

Approximate Depicted Location:

Three and a half miles downstream of Fort Osage, Missouri