STEAMBOAT  YELLOWSTONE

Built for the American Fur Company in1831, the Yellowstone was the first steamboat to navigate the Missouri River above Nebraska. In 1832 she reached the Yellowstone River and the fur trading post of Fort Union, near the present Montana/North Dakota border, proving that steamboats could navigate the Upper Missouri River. In addition, the Yellowstone ferried Sam Houston's troops across the Brazos River to defeat Santa Anna's Mexican Army at the battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836.

In 1833 Karl Bodmer, a Swiss artist, painted a watercolor of the Yellowstone, the origin of this drawing.