study of the
swells made by steamboats when under way. When the boat was being built
in the famous shipyards at Elizabeth, on the Monongahela, the wheel
beams were set twenty feet farther back than was customary. Converse was
struck with this unheard-of radicalism in design, and balked; King was a
man given to few words; he was resolved to throw convention to the winds
and trust his judgment; he refused to build the boat on other lines.
Converse felt compelled to let Chouteau pass on the question; in time
the laconic answer came: "Let King put the beams where he pleases."

Thus the craft which Converse thought a monstrosity became known far and
wide for both its design and its speed. In 1844 the J. M. White made the
record of three days, twenty-three hours, and nine minutes between New
Orleans and St. Louis. * Of course the secret of Billy King's success
soon became known. He had placed his paddle wheels where they would bite
into the swell produced by every boat just under its engines. He had
transformed what had been a handicap into a positive asset. It is said
that he attempted to shield his prize against competition by destroying
the model of the J. M. White, as well as to have refused large offers to
build a boat that would beat her. But it is said also that an exhibition
model of the boat was a cherished possession of E. M. Stanton, Secretary
of War, and that it hung in his office during Lincoln's administration.

* This performance is illustrated by the following comparative
table showing the best records of later years between New Orleans and
St. Louis, a distance estimated in 1844 as 1300 miles but in 1870 as
1218 miles, owing to the action of the river in shortening its course.

YEAR BOAT TIME
1844 J. M. White 3 d. 23 h. 9 m.
1849 Missouri 4 d. 19 h. --
1889 Dexter 4 d. 9 h. --
1870 Natchez 8 d. 21 h. 58 m.
1870 R. E. Lee 3 d. 18 h. 14 m.

The steamboat now extended its service to the West and North. The
ancient fur trade with the Indians of the upper Mississippi, the
Missouri, and the Arkansas, had its headquarters at St. Louis, whence
the notable band of men engaged in that trade were reaching out to the
Rockies. The roll includes Ashley, Campbell, Sublette, Manuel Lisa,
Perkins, Hempstead, William Clark, Labadie, the Chouteaus, and
Menard--men of different races and colors and alike only in their
energy, bravery, and init