Snags on the Missouri

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Artist

Karl Bodmer

Birth and death dates

1809 - 1893

Artist Nationality

Swiss

Title

Snags on the Missouri

Date

April 26, 1833

Dimensions

8 3/4 × 10 3/4 in. (22.2 × 27.3 cm)

Medium

Watercolor and graphite on paper

Institution

Joslyn Art Museum

Credit Line

Gift of the Enron Art Foundation

Accession Number

1986.49.150

Rights (i.e. copyright information)

Joslyn Art Museum

Photographer credit

Photograph © Bruce M. White, 2019

Commentary

Navigating between the rafts of driftwood on the Missouri became increasingly difficult as the Yellow Stone plied upriver toward the mouth of the Platte. On April 26 it passed the mouth of the Nemaha River, or "Grand Nemaha" as Maximilian calls it, and again encountered snags and sandbanks. Maximilian wrote in his journal on this date, "For a long time we could not get away from this spot here and often ran aground (behind an island here the Tarkio River discharges) but finally with a little force of the engine we moved on." Dated this same day is a watercolor sketch of the Missouri in which Bodmer delineated the encumbering snags in the immediate foreground. This view formed the basis for the aquatint later designated as Tableau 6 in the atlas of plates published in Europe.

References in Journal

April 26, 1833

Labels:

genre, riverscape , Missouri River , Yellow Stone (steamboat)

Approximate Depicted Location:

Near Mouth of Tarkio River, Missouri