STEAMBOAT MITTIE STEPHENS

MITTIE STEPHENS.

The loss of the sidewheel steamboat Mittie Stephens took place on the dark night of February 12, 1869, in Caddo Lake near the Texas-Louisiana border. Sixty-one people perished out of 107 passengers and crew members.

The vessel was built in Madison, Indiana, in 1863 at the Madison Marine Railways Company by Alexander Temple and company for Joseph L. Stephens of Booneville, Missouri. It was probably named after his daughter who was born about the same time the boat was being built. Intended for the Missouri trade, her first run was made about May 25, 1863, when she left Madison, Indiana bound for St. Louis. It is claimed she was illegally seized by the Union and made to serve as a naval transport.. She took part in the failed Shreveport campaign as a part of Adm. David Porter's fleet.

In 1866 the Mittie Stephens began serving on the New Orleans-Red River route. At that time Jefferson, Texas, was the head of navigation via Caddo Lake due to the great log raft that obstructed vessel traffic on the Red River. The riverboat traffic was quite heavy; 226 steamboats called at Jefferson in 1872.

The Mittie Stephens left New Orleans for Jefferson on February 5, 1869, with passengers and an assorted cargo, including 274 bales of hay. A breeze blew a spark to the hay from the torch baskets that lighted the bows of the boat, and the fire that resulted could not be contained. The boat headed for the shore, 300 yards away, but grounded in three feet of water. The bow and forward part of the boat was engulfed in flames; the stern was in deep water. The pilot and the engineer kept the wheels running in an attempt to force the boat to shore; the action of the wheels pulled the people struggling in the water into them and killed most of them. The Mittie Stephens burned to the water line. Her safe, bell, boilers, and machinery were salvaged shortly after the sinking. Parts of the wreck could be seen above the water until the early twentieth century.

An exploratory survey was carried out by the Texas Antiquities Committee in association with the Marion and Harrison County historical commissions in the summer of 1982. The results of this survey were followed by the formation of the Mittie Stephens Foundation and raising of private funds for an in-depth scientific underwater archeological research project. Background research for this project was carried out by marine archeologists from Texas A&M University. Electronic surveying and underwater site-test excavation have been used to locate what may be the wreck of the Mittie Stephens on the Louisiana side of the border. 

The Jeffersonian, (Jefferson, Texas) 1993

The U.S. Corps of Engineers began feasibility studies relative to creating a commercial waterway through Caddo Lake. Part of the study required an investigation of historic sites that might be affected by the waterway. One of the researchers employed by the Corps, Jacques Bagur, felt certaiin that the wreck of the Mittie Stephens would have to be located due to its probably proximity to the proposed channel. This news was encouraging, but optimism faded as time went by, no archaeologists were hired by the Corps, and ultimately, the waterway project was cancelled.

But Bagur, no longer employed by the Corps, felt confident that an old map of Caddo Lake correctly showed the location of the wreck. By transferring that location to modern maps of the lake, he determined the location to be virtually on dry land, but very close to shore. In the 1860's the Caddo Lake level was normally higher than today's lake due to water backing up behind a log jam on the Red River.

The old map was drawn by E.A. Woodruff, director of the Corps of Engnieers and responsible for removing the log jam on the Red River in the 1870's. The map was drawn prior to removal of the log jam and only a few years after the Mittie Stephens burned. Previous researchers considered the location of the steamboat on the map to be arbitrart, but Bagur felt it was precise.

To prove his point, Bagur was encouraged by Shreveport physician, David Nave, to try to locate the wreck. On Feb. 20, 1993, Nave and others accompanied Bagur to the exact spot shown on the old map to be the elusive steamer's final resting place. What they found in the top soil along the riverbank was nothing less than what would have been on an 1860's steamboat: broken china, crockery, glass, old iron spikes and pipe fittings, the flange of a cast iron stove, and all showing signs of being in a fire and all confirmed by a local historian and archaeologist to be mid 1800's vintage. Even fused window panes, believed to be part of the cargo surfaced frequently as if to confirm, "This is it."

When news of the weekend's find reached interested ears in Jefferson, it was electrifying. Those who could, visited the site and anticipated a complete archaeological excavation and ultimate discovery of the hull remains, the nearby mass grave, and more artifacts. It is hoped that Jefferson will be recipient of some of these finds, that the long awaited arrival of the Mittie Stephens will finally be a reality.

Search crews searching in the 1980's, under the direction of Ervan Garrison of Texas A&M University, were unsuccessful in their efforts to find the boat, but they were diving in the lake, not looking on land. Photographers of the search efforts shot pictures from dry land of Jeter's Point. They may well have been standing on the actual site while they photographed the diving team.

For the visitor to Jefferson, a new Mittie Stephens exhibit along with some of the recently discovered artifacts can be seen at the River Museum, 222 E. Austin. The steamer's bell, retrieved shortly after the fire, is currently on display at the Jefferson Historical Museum.