St. Paul, 1888 via steamboat
By Sarah Costello

We came to St. Paul via steamboat up the Mississippi River from Lynxville, Wisconsin in 1888. At this time, railroads were just beginning to be built in this Middlewest area. The Burlington Road was being extended from Dubuque, Iowa to St. Paul, but was not quite completed for passenger service when we left in June 1888. Later that year it was completed for service.

Up to the coming of the railroads, the chief mode of travel was by steamboat, anyway in this area. Now a choice line of them was operating on the Mississippi River from New Orleans to St. Paul. These boats were palatable in design and had every comfort for their guests. I can still remember the splendor of our boat. It had a spacious ballroom where the passengers danced in the evening to a fine orchestra. Boat travel was slow so people going on long trips spent the night on the boat. There were several dining rooms all beautifully furnished, fine china and fine linen. Plush furniture, beautiful pictures, full-length mirrors, books, and pretty lamps made the living room very attractive. Comfortable deck chairs on all the decks made for a fine view of the magnificent river bluffs all along the trip.

We had dinner in the family dining room. A wide choice of meats, vegetables, and fruits that had been taken on the boat at New Orleans was available to all. I am quite sure that now the dinner could not be duplicated at any price, yet, I doubt if it cost Father any more than five dollars for all of us.

All the help on the boat was colored, and one of the cooks was especially nice to four-year-old Jim and six-year-old Cole. She was a large colored woman, and would hand out sandwiches and fruit to all of us all the while we were on the boat. Needless to say, she was popular with us. Jim and Cole followed her around wherever she went. She loved it. The trip, today would take but a few hours, if by train, but we spent a day, a night, and the morning of the next day on the way by boat. It was a most delightful trip. The towering banks of the Old Mississippi River that bordered on either side were covered with the flowers of June, and of birds and trees, a peaceful relaxing sort of trip. Even today, this trip is beautiful in summer. It has been compared with other travelers who have said that the upper Mississippi exceeds in beauty, a trip up the Rhine in Germany or up the Hudson in New York. The only thing lacking today to make the trip as nice as in the days of yore are the comfortable steamboats of the days before the railroads.