1. Joseph Marie LaBarge was an American steamboat captain, most notably of the steamboats Yellowstone, and Emilie, that saw service on the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, bringing fur traders, miners, goods and supplies up and down these rivers to their destinations.
Joseph LaBarge routinely offered his steamboat services gratis to Jesuit missionaries throughout his career.
Joseph LaBarge managed to avoid the first cholera epidemic in the United States, which at that time killed half the crew aboard the Yellowstone.
Joseph LaBarge was born on Sunday, October 1,1815, in St Louis, Missouri.
Joseph LaBarge's father was Joseph Marie LaBarge, Senior and his mother was Eulalie Hortiz LaBarge.
Joseph LaBarge was the second of seven children, three boys and four girls, who all survived to adulthood.
Joseph LaBarge Senior fought in the War of 1812, most notably at the Battle of Frenchtown where he lost two fingers during the battle.
Joseph LaBarge Senior was a trapper who worked as a guide and engaged in many trapping expeditions in the upper Missouri River.
Joseph LaBarge was considered a riverman in his own right; subsequently all three of his sons, Joseph, John and Charles, aspired to the trade and became riverboat pilots.
Not long after Joseph LaBarge was born his parents bought and moved to a farm in Baden, Missouri, six miles distant from St Louis.
Joseph LaBarge first attended classes at the residence of Jean Baptiste Trudeau, a noted and reputable teacher in St Louis, where he studied the common branches in education, all in French.
At age twelve Joseph LaBarge attended Saint Mary's College in Perry County for three years.
Joseph LaBarge's parents had intended to educate their son for the priesthood, and Joseph's curriculum at Saint Mary's was selected for that purpose.
However, the young Joseph LaBarge did not aspire to such vocation and began associating with young ladies to the extent where he was not allowed to finish school at Saint Mary's.
Joseph LaBarge married Pelagie Guerette on August 17,1842, whom he knew since his childhood.
Joseph LaBarge was a lifelong Catholic in religion, and in politics, a lifelong Democrat.
The demands of the fur trade were largely responsible for the advent of steamboat use on the Missouri River, and by 1830 the young Joseph LaBarge bore witness to the steamboats coming to and departing Saint Louis, which were employed in the service of this trade, their principal business in the mid-nineteenth century.
Not content working as a shop clerk, the young Joseph LaBarge joined the crew of the steamboat Yellowstone, serving as a clerk, when the vessel was engaged in the sugar trade in the lower Mississippi River.
Since Joseph LaBarge spoke both English and French, his services were found useful.
Joseph LaBarge returned to the Yellowstone and traveled up the Missouri River to Council Bluffs, Iowa, where he worked in the flourishing fur trade along the Missouri River.
Joseph LaBarge earned his Master's license for piloting riverboats at the age of 25.
Now acting as both pilot and engineer, and realizing the danger, Joseph LaBarge took the boat up a short distance from the mouth of the Kansas on the west shore of the Missouri, where there were no inhabitants.
Captain Bennett gave orders to Joseph LaBarge to turn over the cargo to the consignees before he left.
Joseph LaBarge, accordingly, set off on foot to find the trading post and tell Chouteau to come and get his goods.
About a mile from the trading post, which had quarantined itself from the cholera epidemic, Joseph LaBarge was intercepted by a man stationed there, wary of the outbreak, and watching for anyone coming from Missouri.
Joseph LaBarge was not permitted to proceed and was threatened to be shot if he persisted.
Joseph LaBarge agreed to remain where he was if the man would inform Chouteau of the purpose of his arrival.
Aware of the possible predicament, Joseph LaBarge jumped into the river and swam over to the yawl, gained control and landed it a short distance downstream from the Platte, an episode which demonstrated Joseph LaBarge's ability as a swimmer.
In 1847, acting as captain and pilot aboard the steamboat Martha, Joseph LaBarge journeyed up the Missouri River carrying supplies for various Indian tribes on the upper Missouri River.
In 1850 Joseph LaBarge was making a voyage aboard the steamer Saint Ange heading for Fort Union, on the upper Missouri River in the dense wilderness of north-west North Dakota.
Joseph LaBarge was nearby and immediately dove into the river and seized him, keeping the boy from being taken in by the steamboat's sidewheel and got the youth safely to shore, an event that again demonstrated Joseph LaBarge's ability as a skilled swimmer.
Joseph LaBarge exceeded the existing speed record for steamboats on the Missouri that year when he piloted Saint Ange, with more than a hundred passengers aboard, from Saint Louis to Fort Union at the mouth of the Yellowstone River in twenty-eight days.
Joseph LaBarge was a close friend of De Smet, and always offered the services of his steamboat to the Catholic missionary effort.
At that time Joseph LaBarge had purchased and supervised the completion of a new steamboat he named the Saint Mary, which he used in making the transfer of the former post to the War Department's new post further north in South Dakota, near Chantier Creek, and in moving the Fur Company's inventory and supplies there.
Joseph LaBarge was then commissioned to transport army personnel to the newly acquired fort.
In 1852, Captain Edward Salt-Marsh arrived from Ohio to Saint Louis with the Sonora, a steamboat that Joseph LaBarge considered "an excellent craft".
Joseph LaBarge permanently ended his service to the American Fur Company in 1857 and spent the next three years mainly on the lower Missouri river, rarely venturing beyond Council Bluffs, Iowa.
Joseph LaBarge was now the proud owner, designer, builder, and master of his own private riverboat.
Joseph LaBarge was a sidewheel vessel, 225 feet in length, had a beam of 32 feet, with a hold 6 feet, and could easily carry cargoes of up to 500 tons.
Joseph LaBarge embarked on Emilie's maiden voyage on October 1,1859, which happened to be his forty-fourth birthday.
Joseph LaBarge subsequently appealed to General Price, explained his situation, and asked him for help.
Price wrote a letter for him, stating that Joseph LaBarge had acted under duress and was forced to help against his repeated protests.
The Joseph LaBarge brothers managed affairs concerning the steamboats, while Harkness went to Washington to obtain the necessary permits from the Interior Department, and to establish friendly relations with the Office of Indian Affairs.
Two weeks later Joseph LaBarge, piloting the Emilie, set out, loaded with 160 passengers and 350 tons of freight, and in the process set speed and distance records.
The Spread Eagle, owned by the American Fur Company, and commanded by Captain Bailey, departed Saint Louis first, two days before Joseph LaBarge departed in the Emilie, the faster of the two vessels.
Captain Joseph LaBarge saw service in General Custer's campaign in 1876.
Joseph LaBarge made about thirty miles that day, making one stop at Fort Union to drop off General William Babcock Hazen and pick up a load of beef for the troops.
The Indians had already crossed the river, and Captain Joseph LaBarge immediately began the task of ferrying Reno's troops over, which was accomplished before nightfall.
Joseph LaBarge then left for Buford the next morning, with General Terry, his staff, and 270 troops.
From 1890 to 1894 Joseph LaBarge worked for the city of Saint Louis.
Captain Joseph LaBarge managed to survive most of his associates involved with shipping and trade on the Missouri River, and was often consulted by historians and others who had occasion to recover accounts about people and events involved with the Missouri's early history.
In Volume II of his work he quotes Joseph LaBarge expressing his love of the Missouri River.
Father Walter H Hill, a lifelong friend of LaBarge, gave the final funeral sermon, expressing that LaBarge had led a good life and that no stigma or vice could be attached to his name.
Joseph LaBarge was buried in his home state of Missouri in Calvary Cemetery near the Missouri River.